With a storybook career that needs no introduction, Ill.Gates has consistently been one of the most forward-thinking minds in the music industry for well over a decade now. Taking his vast collection of knowledge and imparting it onto hopeful future production wizards, he started the Producer Dojo, a veritable Library of Alexandria for people that want to make their own assortments of high-fidelity bleeps and bloops. One of the rising stars from the Dojo comes in the form of Alex Saldana, also known by UHNK, who has swiftly separated himself from the pack with a sound built for large-scale sound systems. Putting their two immense artistic visions and talents together, the pair have collaborated on ‘Trapezoid,’ a sweltering funk-fest of bassy delight. We had the pleasure of chatting with these two artists around this release, all things Dojo related, their influences, and the current civil rights movement taking place in the United States. Check out ‘Trapezoid’ and the full interview for yourself below!
Your first official collaboration ‘Trapezoid’ is a delightfully engaging piece that is sure to set dance floors ablaze when they open again! How did it come about, and is there any significant meaning behind it, or was it just a fun vocal sample to serve up all sliced and diced to fans’ ears?
UHNK and RIP KENNY were both hanging at the Dojo one day, Kraddy was there too, and we were all just kicking it and thought “fuck it! Let’s start something!” so we dug around for a ‘spark’ (that first sound that gets the ball rolling) and UHNK busted out this ill Riff Raff sample “in elementary my favorite shape was a trapezoid.” We all laughed and looked around at each other. Green light! I could hear the track in my mind right away. It’s like it wrote itself. Magic.
Educated responsible people need to step up. If you’re in the position to provide love and stability as a foundation for the next generation it’s time to step up. We can’t let assholes and idiots outfuck the good guys. I’ve always tried to make music that helps smart people fuck each other, I’m just taking it a little more seriously now.
To ill.Gates: you recently had your first daughter Asha a little over a year ago! How has fatherhood affected you so far as a person, and as a musician?
To be honest I was never really pro-children until my wife challenged my thinking. She’s a war refugee and an orphan and has so much love in her heart that I just couldn’t deny her the blood family she craved. Sure there are way too many humans on the Earth, sure the future looks grim at times, but we can’t let the movie Idiocracy become a documentary. Educated responsible people need to step up. If you’re in the position to provide love and stability as a foundation for the next generation it’s time to step up. We can’t let assholes and idiots outfuck the good guys. I’ve always tried to make music that helps smart people fuck each other, I’m just taking it a little more seriously now.
To ill.Gates: You’ve really curated your Producer Dojo label as a one-stop-shop for anyone trying to dive head-first into making electronic music, how did you come up with the original idea, and how has it evolved over time?
My mother is a publisher and educator and my dad is a full time guitarist and songwriter. I’ve always valued both music and education as a means of contribution to society. I used to teach workshops to fill gaps in my tour schedule and then eventually realized it was more effective to record the classes and put them online. When the online workshops blew up it was great, but I missed the community element. Producing music can feel lonely sometimes. There is so much more to it than just sitting at a computer by yourself.
When I started coaching on Patreon things really started to change. I realized I didn’t have to be tied to the road anymore, that I could survive anywhere I had an internet connection. So I subletted my place in SF and went vagabond. Nunich and I went to Singapore, Bali, Australia, Cuba, Israel, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Hawaii and Canada. I trained myself and I trained my crew of Patreon supporters, developing the techniques that form the core of the Dojo. The techniques were so effective that suddenly all of my Patreon supporters were making music I wanted to play in my sets! I decided to release the first ‘Class of 808’ compilation on Muti Music and the response was incredibly positive. We made so many videos and sound packs and training exercises and downloads during this period that it was just too much for the Patreon system to organize. This necessitated our splitting off from Patreon to create ProducerDojo.com. It’s an explosion of creativity and education that cannot be contained. The community has overgrown my wildest dreams and gets stronger by the day.
UHNK’s production prowess actually came about because of the Dojo, how awesome is it to see someone from your class flourish as much as he has recently, and also how does it feel to collaborate with one another?
Alan Watts said the guru is like a pickpocket selling you a treasure that was yours all along. As much as I’d love to bask in your praise I gotta give credit where it’s due. UHNK’s hard work, passion, vision and skill did all the heavy lifting. I am proud of the part I played but the real victory is his.
If you listen to music, really LISTEN. You will hear the voices of the unheard. You will hear the struggle, the pain. Nearly all genres of modern music are echoes of slavery. The phrasing, call and response etc. that we all take for granted come from slave songs. Even Country music has it’s roots in slavery. Music is medicine. Music is salvation. Music is church.
2020 has been a hell of a year with COVID b2b the largest civil rights movement in the history of the modern world, what are your support systems currently looking like during these immensely stressful times, and what are some of your favorite things to keep yourselves centered?
I MISS PLAYING SHOWS.
It is who I AM.
But
We have to take a stand right now. Police violence affects people of all races. Sure #BLM were the first to push the snowball down the hill but after seeing so many new videos of police violence against all races every day you must concede that the cause is universal. I can never unsee the George Floyd murder video. I can never unsee Philando Castile being murdered in front of his four year old daughter. I can never unsee that 75 year old protester bleeding from his ear in Buffalo. White privilege is changing the channel. People of color do not have that luxury.
We’re drowning in hate and disinformation right now. There is so much noise in the system that we need a lodestar to guide the way. For me it has always been music, whenever things get dark in my life, whenever I need to process something, I turn the stereo up and search my feelings.
If you listen to music, really LISTEN. You will hear the voices of the unheard. You will hear the struggle, the pain. Nearly all genres of modern music are echoes of slavery. The phrasing, call and response etc. that we all take for granted come from slave songs. Even Country music has it’s roots in slavery. Music is medicine. Music is salvation. Music is church.
This is why we’ve decided to donate 100% of the proceeds from Trapezoid to the American Civil Liberties Union https://action.aclu.org/give/now . No matter which race you are, no matter which side of the political spectrum you are the ACLU is standing up for your rights and freedoms.
You said that the Producer Dojo actually has an event coming up that is centered around raising awareness and funds for the BLM movement and several associated charities! Would you guys like to touch on that for us?
I am 100% down with #BlackLivesMatter but the movement right now is beyond even that. The movement is about civil rights for all people. Yes “all lives matter” but not as a rebuttal, as a rallying cry! #BLM is just one of many voices calling for an end to oppression and police violence. It is not OK for the police to murder people and get away with it. Everyone can agree on that. That’s why this moment has such power.
I’m really trying to get people to understand that we the people have a real opportunity to make change right now. We can stand together for individual rights and against police violence. This message transcends the political divide in America. This is why we’ve decided to donate 100% of the proceeds from ‘Trapezoid’ to the American Civil Liberties Union https://action.aclu.org/give/now . No matter which race you are, no matter which side of the political spectrum you are the ACLU is standing up for your rights and freedoms.
I’ve watched friends and relatives work themselves to the bone until they were 65 or even longer at an office job and 3 years ago I decided there is NO WAY I am doing that until I die.
To UHNK: You’ve stated that you were a well-accomplished Sys-admin before diving head-first into producing with the obvious support of Ill Gates. What was the catalyst for you deciding to move away from computers and into music?
I’ve been listening to electronic music since the early 90s, and have been going to shows for about 13 years. For the longest time it was music that I would put on at home, or play in the background while I was playing CS 1.6 deathmatch. This particular video is one that is a perfect example of what I’m talking about https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwyvRK62f6o
The tracklist includes:
Justice – Phantom II (Soulwax Remix)
Feed Me – The Spell
The Prodigy – Invaders Must Die
I initially got into the high energy dance music literally through computer games. I didn’t even realize that raves were a thing. I slowly started finding different warehouse parties, then some clubs that played techno and electro. Fast forward, I go to a Bassnectar concert and I’m just like ok, this is what I’ve been missing. I’ve graduated college in 2011 and have been working in tech since then. I’ve watched friends and relatives work themselves to the bone until they were 65 or even longer at an office job and 3 years ago I decided there is NO WAY I am doing that until I die. At a Bassnectar show 3 years ago I decided I wanted to try my hand at writing heavy, high energy dance music. I had played drums growing up but had zero musical knowledge otherwise. Fast forward to today, apparently people really vibe with my sound so I am just going to stay strapped to the rocket and keep making tunes!
To UHNK: You have a very distinct sound already into your fresh career that really focuses on grimy basslines and vocals chopped to perfection. Was there a distinct influence behind that, or have you felt like that’s the sound you wanted to convey since you started?
Ever since I was an angsty 13 year old listening to System of a Down I had my equalizer on my walkman with the bass cranked to max. When I listen to music, any music I appreciate the song in its entirety, but I also mentally remix the song in my head as it plays. There are SO many songs that I think are like 95% amazing but there are small spots where I would prefer a different fill, a different rhythm, note or otherwise some articulation that I like more than the original. I spend HOURS painstakingly editing small bits of my music so that from start to finish there is a “flow” that is never broken. This probably has something to do with my participation in drumline but I absolutely have to have everything in my song sitting perfectly. As far as sound selection goes, I am all about those grimy bass lines that just make you feel like a gigantic skyscraper sized monster is smashing one of his giant arms across the room. I visualize basically every sound in my head and each one of my songs is a music video in my imagination. The vocal chops are sort of just the sort of rap that I really enjoy. Very technical rappers like Tech N9ne, Twista and Busta Rhymes really get me going. There’s something about that repetitive syllable goodness that just lands in all the right spots rhythmically that really makes a song just relentlessly keep going and getting better and better. I can’t rap worth a damn so I chop up vocals and then sort of “rap” by arranging the words and syllables into a percussive element over the top of the track. If you listen to my music there are all sorts of double meanings and hidden messages in the vocals. You can do all sorts of cool stuff like make words “You can” also sound like “Jukin” and alternate back and forth depending on the context of the words before and after them. To me vocals are drums with meaning.
To Ill Gates: I heard a new album titled Arrival is coming in the near future, can you tell us a little about what to expect from the project as a whole, and the creative process that went into it?
This is the culmination of the airport trilogy. It started with Terminally iLL, an album of big vocal tunes that made it worth flying me around the world to play, then continued with Departures, a sojourn off the beaten path. Now Arrival is the most evolved and integrated ill.Gates sound to date. I’ve been around the world making this music, I’ve built the Dojo, I’ve brought my daughter Asha into the world… this is IT! THE ARRIVAL!
I’ve been lucky enough to have known Lorin since he was a wee lil’ fella struggling along in the underground like me. He was really into my music and played it all the time so he sought me out online and we became friends. Over the years he has had a massive impact on my life, exposed me to new worlds and opportunities I never would have dreamed of. We’ve made all kinds of music together and I love him to death.
To ill.Gates: It seems like you’ve been extremely close with Bassnectar for years now. How has that shaped your career up to this point? Also, several years ago Bassnectar hinted at a collaborative EP with you that was already finished, will that ever see the light of day, or has it been permanently shelved?
I’ve been lucky enough to have known Lorin since he was a wee lil’ fella struggling along in the underground like me. He was really into my music and played it all the time so he sought me out online and we became friends. Over the years he has had a massive impact on my life, exposed me to new worlds and opportunities I never would have dreamed of. We’ve made all kinds of music together and I love him to death.
To clear up any negativity, here’s the typical pattern:
Lorin gets excited about things, people, music, causes, etc. He bats ideas around and gets really pumped up about making an actual impact. It feels good talking about it. It feels exciting! He gets everyone super pumped up about whatever vision and they all start talking about it. Then: life gets in the way. Maybe it’s a management issue, maybe it’s a time issue, maybe it’s a logistical issue, and inevitably some of the things he’s trying to do fail. He’s trying to do ALL THE THINGS he cares about and he runs himself ragged. Sure it’s disappointing when things that have such dramatic effects on my own life don’t work out, but whatever. Does that make him a bad guy? Fuck no it doesn’t! His overall impact is so overwhelmingly positive that I’m not losing sleep over the details.
I worked on Star Wars bitch.
To Ill Gates: In a past interview you touched on being approached by Disney for a secret project doing Film scoring, can you give us any updates on that? And have you had more subsequent opportunities since because of it?
Yes! It’s actually not a secret anymore! I made a bunch of tracks for Oga’s Cantina at Star Wars Disneyland! It was SO FUN! Check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYF91CJbPVg
The process was CRAZY. I was working on a huge team with my dawg Zain Effendi and we had to make all this music that a space DJ in Star Wars universe would be playing. They animated robots and stuff to dance around and act out the songs for people while they drink space booze. It was a very different experience, we had to write lyrics in Huttese and other Star Wars languages. They did some stuff to the final mix that I wouldn’t have done, *ahem putting reverb on the entire mix *ahem but whatever. I worked on Star Wars bitch.
Like was stated in the interview, 100% of all proceeds from the release of ‘Trapezoid’ will be given to the American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU to help fight injustice in the United States. We strongly urge you to donate in this time of need if you can spare it, and also receive some pretty sweet music in the process.
