Tell us about yourself and your music
We are a collective of electronic music artists based on the west coast of Canada. We started out by sharing music online and slowly established ourselves as a label. We organize events throughout the year, collaborate with other collectives, musicians and visual artists. The 3 core artists to this initiative are Andre. W, Shehaq and Konstantin, we decided to start this little collective with respect to our shared passion for producing music and spinning records, moving into a house together made the Beatsolow crib a reality, a place where artists of all kinds gather together and send the nights away enjoying each other’s company. Our collective aims to provide a wide array of styles, although our main focus is on the 4×4 rhythm, we don’t hesitate to release soundscape compositions and ambient pieces.
Talk to us more about your latest release
The last release included two singles from Andre. W and Konstantin, the pioneers of the initiative. It includes a soundscape piece and 3 tracks with a broken 4×4 rhythm. The EP is rather melodic and soothing, yet it has the drive to be considered electronic dance music. It was the first release after a long halt during which we were occupied with scouting more artists to join our initiative.
https://soundcloud.com/beatsolow/sets/sounds-from-our-crib-ep
What inspired you to write this release?
This release was inspired by our newly found taste for break music, Sounds From Our Crib is something we haven’t necessarily tried before and so it served as a great experience to explore more styles that we would love to promote on our label.
Describe the writing and recording process
Andre. W produced his music in the studio located at the Beatsolow crib, his process utilizes a mixture of analog and digital techniques as well as live recordings of a Rhodes keyboard. After gathering all his material, Andre. W composes his music using Ableton.
Konstantin, on the other hand, sticks to digital means, however, he does sample a lot of material from his soundscape recordings. He is an academic studying the field of acoustic ecology and soundscape research, hence a lot of his composition utilizes the audio recordings gathered through his research. The particular piece Local, was rewritten a few times, the melodic progression has been reiterated until serving his preference.
https://soundcloud.com/beatsolow/sets/sounds-from-our-crib-ep
Any plans to hit the road?
We generally operate from Vancouver/ Burnaby, but our network spans Pakistan, UK, Hong Kong, the USA, and France. We plan to continue hosting events and are also working on an event that would be held in the woods of British Columbia. To simply respond to this question, no, but we are always considering possibilities.
As an indie artist, how do you brand yourself and your music to stand out from the rest of the artists out there?
Simply we don’t focus on what the standards sound like, we merely express our feelings and experiences, which in itself is unique. If your music comes from your sincere heart it is not so hard to note. We are all different people essentially, so making your music as a form of communication, trying to tell others something that you can’t always put into words, will inherit the aspect of the individual you are.
Who have you been listening to lately?
Lately, we have been all over the place. When in this particular genre of music, it is hard to stick to one artist, there are just so many talented producers out there that limiting yourself to one doesn’t serve any good. Although on the more frequently played side of our listening history sit artists as Gullen, Tiefshwarz, Galcher Lustwerk, Budakid, Fabian Dikof, and many others.
Who are your biggest influences?
Our biggest influence is the community, we reflect our sound to fit with our listeners. And since we don’t necessarily focus on the standards and what others sound like, there is no real musical influence other than the music we grew up listening to, but even that doesn’t particularly serve as an influence, because our urge to make music is not to sound like someone we follow, but rather to develop and experiment with our own sounds.
Tell us about your passions
Our passions are all over the place. With consistent collaborations across the art industry here, we have worked with Algorithmic and artificial intelligence visual artists like Lx Studio. We have our hands-on photography, digital design, animation and film making. Most importantly our passion is having the chance to bring people together at shows, curating the perfect experience for our friends and fans.
What else is happening next in your world?
We are working on a documentary to help engage the local artists into dialogue. It seems as the scene is very dispersed, everyone knows who is who, but people tend to stick to their own crew. Nothing wrong with how it is and who are we to barge in and change the dynamics? But regardless, we personally want to know more about the local artists and we hope to inspire others to do so as well.
Thanks for an awesome interview, Beatsolow
Connect with Beatsolow
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beatSolow/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beatsolow_/Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb4XH3v5SKMQXJWL_lAiUbg?view_as=subscriberSoundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/beatsolow
