Interview: FloFilz on New Album Close Distance, His Musical Journey, and the Beat Scene

Back in 2019, I had the pleasure to interview one of the legendary beatmakers out there - FloFilz, right after his Transit album got out.

3 years later, he's back with another great record via Melting Pot Music, the 16-track Close Distance, featuring amazing acts like Alfa Mist, Blue Lab Beats, Jerome Thomas & more. He dropped by for a chat for our Fox Tales podcast to share more details about the album, his musical journey so far, and the peculiar beat scene nowadays.

Check the full conversation below or search "Fox Tales" on your favorite podcast platform:

Transcribed some bits of the interview, too:

[13:35] On the pandemic, the beginning of Close Distance & the title meaning

I was working on it during the whole period of the pandemic, some track ideas were from before the pandemic. The idea of a new project started a bit before but it wasn't very set, I didn't know what theme it would be. But then obviously now with the name Close Distance, it has two meanings in a way - with the pandemic there's this feeling, you weren't really seeing people, you're kind of isolated, so you're getting closer to yourself in a way, I guess, but you're also far away from other things. And then also the features, quite a few of them I wasn't working in person with.

[34:58] On remixing "Follow" by Tom Misch & Laura Misch

The first time I met Tom was in Berlin actually, we were both playing at this concert organized by Majestic Casual, I think it was 2015, it was even before Tom was playing concerts with a band, he was DJ-ing that night and I was playing a beat set. The Majestic guy introduced us backstage, we were chatting a bit, then we stayed in contact and a bit later, Jakarta Records had a label showcase in London, there were people from Jakarta there and Tom was also there. It's funny because that evening was one of the only times I spontaneously added a violin to my beat set, improvised on some tracks and he actually lent me his violin. I also had this track with Barney Artist on the Speakthru album with Jakarta Records, he was also performing that night and then we did a track together, I was playing a beat, Tom was playing some guitar and I played a bit of a violin, it was this spontaneous jam. I think it was that night, we were chatting and he said "It would be dope if you want to do a remix of one of the tracks", so he sent me the files. It was really cool to be able to do that because I'm a massive fan of his and it was really fun working on it.

[41:16] On his view on the beat scene nowadays

A lot of people are evolving and trying a different sound and going in different directions but on the other hand, there are so many people who get into the beat thing, the whole hype around the lofi plays a big role and the playlisting, which also attracts people, I guess. We talked about this in the previous interview but there are so much more people nowadays in comparison to when I started. Sometimes I feel it's quantity over quality, a lot of things are sounding very similar but at the same time it's also possible to find so much cool stuff that's very original and inspiring as well. But yeah, it's definitely like a big wave of beatmakers that started to arrive.

[55:43] On advice to up-and-coming producers

Obviously, it's easier said than done maybe but with the whole streaming thing nowadays, everything is so focused on just going into a playlist and maybe even adjusting your sound sometimes so it fits better. I feel like in the beginning, it's just important to really go for the sound that you want to make and not compromise too much for those things. It's very important to find this sound and people are also gonna notice it if they can hear something special about you.

Also, I often see that people are very scared to release music which I totally understand - every musician has this problem to some degree when you're scared of what people are gonna think, if they're gonna like that track. But I feel like, what we talked about earlier already - you never know what track people are gonna like, they always hear it with a different ear because they're not involved in the process. I think it's just best to not hold onto things for too long and just put the music out there. Because how are people supposed to find you, to get to know you, your music if you're not really putting it out there, right. You just have to kind of get over that fear. But yeah, I know it's not that easy