On January 4, Tripzy Leary introduced us to his latest pallet of mind altering frequencies in a new release to kick off 2019. Still buzzing from the release on Liquid Stranger’s Wakaan label with Arrival alongside GDubz, Tripzy Leary now dialed in the coordinates for his biggest body of work yet in the form of the Space Migration LP.
On the billion year voyage to higher intelligence, the Cyberdelics federation seek out planets with evolutionary delay, dismantling any political forces who deceptively manipulate a specific species of DNA seeded across the universe. In this 12 track LP, Tripzy Leary tells the story of the cyber-pilots’ journey to their space migration destination.
During this psychedelic trip to outer-space, listeners are greeted with rumbling wubs and sonic vibrations in ‘Departure’ that will rattle the darkest depths of unearthly galaxies and beyond. Elsewhere, ‘Access Granted’ touches on modern day technology drawing on social media vocal samples among a bubbling bassline. Continuing the voyage, ‘Space Migration’ spans a landscape of intricate sound designs, with some cleverly crafted production to mimic the likes of UFOs, aliens, and the general ambiance of an eerie universe. ‘Force Field’ and ‘Game Over’ depart from the experimental bass realms, with upbeat rhythms and grooving drum lines that draw on bass house and trap. Overall, the Space Migration LP truly takes listeners to celestial dimensions that span a new level of mind bending discoveries, and is sure to have you questioning your own existence.
Hot off the trippy sonic journey that is the Space Migration LP, we had the chance to catch up with Tripzy Leary to chat about everything from his origins, to his thoughts about aliens and space travel, to his inspiration for his latest works. Check out the full interview below!
Tell us a bit about the origins of the Tripzy Leary project and where your fascination with morphing psychedelics and bass originates from.
I grew up listening to hip hop and rap music, it had me really fascinated as a kid. Another interest I had growing up was computers, my dad was into computers a lot. I was kinda into video games for a bit but as soon as I got a hold of a digital audio workstation like Audacity when I was 14, that’s where it all began. I was inspired by psychedelic artwork or sound, making trippy music has always been my thing. For 7 years after this discovery, I was particularly focused on lyrics, and that eventually lead me to audio engineering school in 2010 – 2012. This is where I started to fall in love with producing, and at the same time I started volunteering at Shambhala Music Festival and discovered Timothy Leary. I used to go by Tripzy but when I found Leary it all came together and made sense.
I found the music festival to be a very psychedelic experience which shaped the next 7 years after this discovery. During this time, I was focusing on producing and Shambhala helped shaped those years while I was living in Vancouver. Last year was the end of what I like to call the 7 year cycle, which ended in a series of events like landing on Wakaan (Arrival), playing at Shambhala, and releasing my album (Departure) on my new record label, Cyberdelics. From here I am guiding my listeners over the year to the official launch date of January 2020. I’m scouting for artists and developing my next album while launching a Space Migration remix album in the next couple months. Everything is on time and flowing well. I’m really in no rush and taking everything slowly. We have a few dates locked in across the States and I’m looking forward to having my own mini tour over the spring that we will announce in February, and then hit up festivals over the summer. I’m just tying up this decade and everything I’ve learned from it and transforming that into energy for the 2020’s.
Shambhala was the best time of the year, it would give me enough motivation and inspiration to shape my style and craft to the unique way it became.
How was performing at Shambhala? What was it like performing at such a community-driven festival? How did the crowd react to your unique style?
The first time I went to Shambhala was in 2012; I was referred by my friend which quickly became my manager, we worked together in artist relations hospitality. I did that for 6 years in a row. It was a reset environment for me from everyday life. Every August. Shambhala was the best time of the year, it would give me enough motivation and inspiration to shape my style and craft to the unique way it became. Working in AR taught me how to work with artists and create a wonderful experience for everyone that attended there. It’s a mixed scene there compared to other festivals. So being around the energy of others was normal at Shambhala. Very intimate vibe. And the influence of 300+ artists helped me find a unique sound for Tripzy Leary. Planet Shambhala is 5/5.
You also seem to be intrigued by everything space and alien-related. Do you believe in aliens/extraterrestrial beings? Why or why not?
I believe we are becoming like aliens. We were once terrestrial caterpillars, hunter-gathers that had a thirst for technology and speed, and throughout the ages of being cocooned, the cultures of computers, psychedelics, atomic weapons, TV/radios, 5G networks, Internet, etc. have mutated (radiated) us into extraterrestrial butterflies or half mutated caterpillars with butterfly technology. Our minds are wanting to become less gravity bound and more in flight. Co-pilots of the cyberspace. To migrate to higher mind state beyond the body.
On a similar note, given the opportunity, would you travel to the Moon? Mars? Beyond?
I believe the final frontier is the mind. I think being in outer space with body vessel wouldn’t be able to take on all the unknown energy out there that could disrupt it, so sending the mind in an avatar or computer ship is the best way. Or from the living room of your home. Space travel is everywhere around us, we’re unidentified flying organisms. Our bodies nervous system is like the spaceship of our minds. We just need to build different spaceships.
Let’s talk about Space Migration. You capped off 2018 with two solid EPs, and catapulted your way into the new year with this newest LP. How long has Space Migration been in the works?
I started on this direction back in the end of summer of 2017, we found out Martin was fully interested in working with us and was playing my music at every festival in the States. I finished reading a book by Timothy Leary called Info-Psychology. With the right friends and family and timing everything came together over the years developing these songs towards playing at Shambhala, it was like I was making these songs for the Shambhala mix, which later became my album mixed with Wakaan music and favorite producers of mine, remixes and edits.
Our bodies nervous system is like the spaceship of our minds. We just need to build different spaceships.
What was your goal in creating Space Migration? Any hidden themes or a secret storyline listeners should be aware of?
My goal in creating this album was to stand out and sound unique, something different from everything else in the scene, otherworldly. After Arrival on the sweet Earth is the ‘Departure’ on the Quantum G7 (‘Access Granted’) to migrate to a higher state of mind within cyberspace. Cyberdelic music that takes you on a trip. A special message or medium to travel through. The destination is Cyberdelics. The era of the 2020’s.
How did you want to make the album different than the Arrival and Terraformer EPs?
Arrival was a concept I came up with in 2015. I designed the main synths from Serum when it came out in 2014. It was about the same time Wakaan started as a label collective. They kind of sat around over the years and were revamped by myself and GDubz. He brought them back to life and we created a few newer ones in the process like the ‘Blocc Is Hawt’ and ‘Sweet Earth’. It was perfectly selected by Martin and the team themselves and we rolled with it. Terraformer EP was made in the heat of the moment last year. I was just about to play at Shambhala and I was so motivated and inspired that I made that EP super lightening fast. It completed my 3 point story as well. Terraformer’s theme was about radioactivity, 1945 and the atomic bomb, the blast radius… some history and science I am astonished by.
Compared to Arrival, what were the main positives and drawbacks to working on an entirely solo project versus working with a fellow artist?
I went solo with it because I will be releasing a remix album later this year. This will be Cyberdelics first compilation packed with my favorite artist friends.
Space Migration is the first release on your Cyberdelics label, right? You previously mentioned launching it in 2020, but you seem to be ahead of schedule. What do you envision with this label? What kind of music do you want to promote with it?
After terraforming and the arrival, I wanted to dedicate 2019 towards the great migration that is taking place. By 2020, I will put out my next album and start to release all the artists we scout out during 2019 and present them in orderly fashion over the course of 2020. I want folks to think of Cyberdelics as the future signals/messages guiding us towards the theme of a technological future. It’s like computers on psychedelics, we call it Cyberdelics! Sounds that we trip to. Destination: vibration!
