The world of vinyl has made a serious comeback in just a few years and even a handful of musicians are reintegrating vinyl into the ears of the world with a present-day twist. Atlanta-based producer and vinyl-enthusiast Rhett Whatley aka Daily Bread is finding major success in this art.
Rhett's craft of assembling sample canvases blended with involved instrumental and synthesization techniques is anything but conventional. Even his live orchestration is something of its own nature. Not just a DJ, rather a human whose tireless passion and focus on details fosters a pleasant clash of two musical paradigms.
In the mix, you'll find an exploration of various themes and sounds to inspire your day. You'll even find some unreleased material. We recently featured fellow brethren of the collective Philos Records, Derlee and Ageless, on the minimix series and couldn’t be more excited to hear what's going on with Daily Bread.
Tracklist:
What’s good, Rhett? Thanks again for that minimix. Tell us about yourself, man – what’s the story behind Daily Bread?
Daily Bread represents music's roll in my life and is a metaphor for the music I make & collect. The concept itself was born in 2007 when I started digging and looping records for friend’s video parts, but I've always played instruments and collected music.
I gotta say, Rhett is a pretty cool name – What’s the origin?
It's kinda unique, I like it. The name is most common in the Southern U.S., where I'm from. I think it stems from a book titled "Gone With The Wind", which is a popular book here that romanticizes the civil war. I haven’t read it yet.
So, I understand that you’re big into vinyl. What role does vinyl play in your production and general expression as a musician?
I actively buy and sell vinyl every day. I listen to records the majority of the day and help run a record shop in Atlanta called Sweet Melissa Records. Most of the sounds I use to translate the themes of my songs are sourced from various LP records from my collection. It's tedious as hell but kinda distinguishes my style.
Your music encompasses some existential themes. From your view, what do you think someone would gather from Daily Bread’s music at the end of the day?
I aim to engage listeners differently for each track I make, but yeah they're often of existential nature. The themes of my music usually revolve around binaries and themes of duality like good & evil, love & hate, life & death. So when one listens to my music they often relate to the songs quickly and can find favorites fast.
I’ve heard that you go about live production at your shows in a variety of ways. Can you explain some of the aspects of your live performance that make is unique?
Right now the live show is unique in the sense that most all the music I play is original and sourced from my personal record collection. I'm sitting on quite a few remixes and exclusive tracks that I only play at my live shows, too. In the future I'm looking to involve custom production with original video.
You’ve already hit the stage with some of the greats and will play this weekend alongside Philos brothers Artifakts and Derlee. What choices have been essential for you to get into this position where you are now professionally?
Linking up with the Philos crew was essential I'd say. Those guys all have a transparent love for the music and are all very talented. It also helps to surround yourself with productive, positive people in the industry. Getting involved with the REP Atlanta / Aisle 5 collective here in Atlanta has been essential to the project on a local level. Those guys have become my family.
You’ve also been into remixing – you even threw in Derlee’s “Off The Beat’n Path” in the mix – what do you enjoy most about the ritual of remixing songs?
Remixing is refreshing because it often takes the tedium out of writing and crafting the original idea. I tend to pour more focus into things like sound design and instrumentation when I remix.
You’re due to release a new this summer … any hints on what we can expect from it?
I'm exploring concepts of duality for the next album. I'm calling it “Divided Soul” as of now. So far I've got tracks about politics, a hypothetical police chase, boom-bap stuff...it's gonna be my most diverse release yet I'd say.
Overall, what’s the spring and summer looking like for you?
We've got some really great times coming up for Spring and Summer, playing some amazing festivals like Euphoria, Camp Bisco, and SweetWater 420 Fest. We have some dates in select cities in between, too, and will be adding new shows whenever we can. I've drawn a ton of inspiration from my first little tour stints lately, so I'm excited to be traveling more. Definitely come out and get down if we make it to your town!
Any last words of wisdom or shout outs -- Anything you’d like to just put out there?
Big thanks to everyone who's lent support over the years. Never stop creating.
Keep an eye on Daily Bread as the project makes some serious moves, including a show with Artifakt and Derlee this weekend as well as a solid line up of summer festivals.
You can find Daily Bread on Facebook | SoundCloud | Twitter | Instagram. Feel free to download the mix for free here!
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