Interview Series: Laxo.
Laxo is a Los Angeles native and yet another young producer who’s been taking the game by storm. His songs are groovy, catchy, and very much in line with the hottest genres right now – including elements of future, electro funk, chillwave etc. – however, his music remains the antithesis of boring or formulaic.
Rather, Laxo keeps things new and exciting with smooth, polished drum lines, perfect chord progressions, and great synth work, thus giving birth to a sound which is eclectic in terms of the sources from which it draws inspiration, but cohesive in terms of its ability to put a smile on your face. In some ways, it would almost seem as though Laxo’s beats are to some extent influenced by the environment in which he lives – while vibing out to his stuff, one can’t help but be transported to a sun-kissed LA beach surrounded by palm trees, enveloped by a warm breeze and salty ocean air.
His music, at its essence, is ultra colourful, bouncy and happy. What’s most interesting about his style is that Laxo is supremely adept at combining totally varying tempos, cadences, and emotions in his work. “Set It Off,” as an example, sounds like the awesome fusion of a future banger and a chill trap ballad, and is reminiscent of the sounds coming from some of the other uber impressive up-and-comers in those realms like ‘whereisalex.’
“Touch,” on the other hand, has strong ‘mura masa’ vibes to it – a complement, to be sure, as he in no way copies other artists, but instead draws upon a vast array of sonic inspirations to craft a style which is, increasingly, becoming uniquely his own. This guy is one for the future, and at 18 years of age, there’s no telling what Laxo can achieve. Give all of his work a listen, stay tuned for future material, and read on for the full interview below!
What has been your musical journey up until this point and where would you like to go from here?
I started my journey about 6 years ago when I first heard deadmau5 and Kaskade’s track “I Remember,” which really just moved me with how beautiful the chords were. Since I wanted to emulate my idol, I downloaded the trial version of FL Studio. For a while I never really knew what I wanted to make, and I fluctuated between progressive house, melodic dubstep, instrumental hip-hop, and whatever else interested me at the time.
Even now I don’t think I’ve quite developed my own sound, so that’s what I’ll hopefully be doing in the future. I’ve finally got some tracks on the way that are closer to the sound I’d like to continue to pursue, so stay tuned!
Tons of great LA producers right now – have you connected with many for collabs or otherwise?
I’m not a guy that collabs very often, but me and my boy atsum (soundcloud.com/atsum, check him out, he’s super dope) have been bouncing ideas off of each other and working on stuff for a while now. He’s a great guitarist as well as a great producer, I highly suggest that anyone who’s reading this gives him a listen. Other than that, all my collabs have been with people out of state.
A couple of your tracks seem to have pretty strong funk and/or jazz vibes – do you take inspiration from other genres such as these?
Yeah, absolutely. The producer that I would consider to be my all time favorite would have to be Nujabes, who has a very strong jazz influence in his music. Nujabes’s music has gotten me into gypsy jazz, bossa nova, and all kind of jazz music that I likely would have never found on my own. After listening to his discography dozens of times over I’m sure I’ve absorbed at least a little bit of that jazz influence.
Saw that you were out there at the madness with Ramzoid/Sam Gellaitry/Hex Cougar all playing at that Brownies and Lemonade show – how was it like to witness such a gathering of who’s who on SoundCloud?
It was one of the craziest shows I’ve ever seen. By the midpoint of sammy g’s set, I was hardly even able to move on my own, the crowd just swept me up in a giant wave of very lit older teens – young adults. Being able to hear all the tracks that I’ve been hearing for months/years on soundcloud in a live setting gave me some irreplaceable insight on how to work a crowd. I’ve never played any live shows yet, but that was definitely some great incentive to start spinning as soon as I can.
Who are a few of your favourite artists right now?
That’s pretty hard to pick, there have been some insane artists that have popped up on soundcloud over the past few years. But if I had to pick, the acts that have been killing it consistently would be Louie Lastic, Medasin, Jarreau Vandal, Tennyson, and Grynpyret. If you’re looking for artists that are a bit less soundcloud based, then I’ve been digging a lot of White Lung, Kamasi Washington, and of course, king Kendrick.
You still in school? What are your plans for the next while?
As of about 3 months, I graduated high school, and I’m planning on spending a year at home before I go to college, so I’ll probably be doing a lot of part time jobs, and a lot of music! I’m planning on seeing a lot of shows, and maybe even playing a few shows, who knows!
What – other than music – do you get up to in your spare time?
Recently, Pokemon Go has been my time-waster-of-the-month, so there’s been a lot of that. Other than that, mostly just talking with friends and doing average 18 year old kid stuff.
If you could only listen to one song for the rest of your life, which one would you choose?
I’d have to go with “Who’s Theme” by Nujabes, it’s my favorite song by my favorite artist, so it only seems logical. I’ve already heard it hundreds of times, so I’m sure a few thousand more wouldn’t hurt.
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(And check out our full SoundCloud Artist Spotlight playlist for Laxo here.)
