Stereofox Mini Mix://30 Artist (Late June)

That must have been the quickest discovery - mini mix time span in the history of mini mixes.

6 days ago I stumbled upon a beautiful, somehow mellow blend of alt pop & future beats called "Right Now". Today I'm happy to share with you more insights about the producer behind  that track - Sonny from Auckland, New Zealand.

I hope you enjoy his take on our mini mix series and the interview we did below.

TRACKLIST:

Hey Sonny! Thx for being part of our mini mix series. I discovered your music less than a week ago and have been mind-blown with the vibe you've managed to create. Where do you draw inspiration from?

Mostly like life events and how I feel at a particular time. I live in the city so there's heaps to draw from there like, just passing people everyday and walking everywhere, finding hidden things and stuff. More recently I find inspiration from emotion and use it as a form of self-expression, which just comes more naturally with music.

And the mini mix? How would you describe it in a sentence?

I love every artist in there, so like lush, dark, beautiful.

You're one of the few NZ producers we have so far on the website. What's the scene like over there?

Oh it's pretty good like, I'm not that into the scene because I don't really go out much outside of like uni and parties that my mates have. The DJ scene is like growing and vibrant but with the music I make I try stay away from that whole parade. Gig's would be nice though. *laughs*

Why Late June?

There's a few ways I could tell you guys why I chose this name, but like it's more of a conceptual thing. I guess I have my meaning, and other people have theirs. It also just sounds really nice! *laughs*

A photo posted by Sonny (@latejunee) on Jul 28, 2016 at 2:31pm PDT

All of your SoundCloud images are black & white. What's the symbolism behind this?

Kinda like, idk aesthetically it looks really nice. Plus I just have an obsession with black and white photography I think it looks amazing. Symbolism would probably be me like stripping the colour from the 'cover' of the book in a way I guess. Like if you want to explore the colour of the music you have to like bare through the dark appearance. It's one of those see your own meaning behind it.

I honestly think black and white images suit the music a lot more as well, that way when I release a whole album like the artwork I take for that has more colour and like can read as a cohesive piece of work.

What does your average day look like, is music a full time thing right now? Tell us a bit about yourself.

My average day is waking up at 7am, eating some fruit, answering emails and browsing SoundCloud for any new music I can play on my walk to uni. Then leaving a 7:30am and walking to uni so I can grab coffee then sit outside and doing the same thing on my phone. Then getting home anywhere between 1pm or 6pm.

I wish music was a full-time thing for me tbh, but it would drive me insane. I did that last year for about 6 months after finishing a short course I did at my current uni. I was working part time as well. Which worked really good, until I got less hours... then it was like too much time on my hands.

At the moment, being at a fine arts uni and coming home and producing music, is working super well. I am enjoying this year at the moment, but I think I will graduated from first year then start to do music and work full-time the next year. Because music is my life.

I'm 19 years old, I go to a fine arts university where I study photography, graphic design and painting/drawing in the first year. I live in the city thanks to my parents, I eat healthy of course! I also like to create music almost erratically and I find comfort in playing video games with my friends online and drinking coffee.

What's the biggest thing you had to sacrifice in the name of music?

Right now, possibly any future as a photographer or teacher or graphic designer although I'm getting good marks in uni, I just don't see myself going back. In the past, relationships with friends and family, relationships and often health.

How did you get into producing? Do you come from a musical upbringing and how do your family react to the whole music thing?

I got into producing because I listened to music all the time when I was a kid upto when I was an adult. Then I started hearing about more and more electronic musicians and just decided to do it myself. Originally I was kinda afraid of not being a musician because I couldn't play an instrument until I learned about electronic music. I don't really come up from a musical upbringing, I was always kinda nerdy as a kid and played a lot of video games as like an outlet. Where as my parents would often try to get me to play sports and stuff but it just didn't intrigue me as much *laughs*.

Embarrassingly enough to admit I guess, but I think that's what made me so creative as I grew up being surrounded by art and music all the time as apposed to the latter. My family I think like when I started 4 years ago it was just another thing I think, like I just wanted to get better and for so long I didn't. But like a few years later I got a little better each time and I think my parents sorta began seeing it as a more intense hobby. It was more so like... last year and this year that my parents have started to support me a lot more seeing it as a necessity in my life and I think they actually really like my music, as personal as they say it is though.

What's on your playlist right now? Some artists we should be paying attention to?

Uh, okay ill list now haha: ta-ku, bones, xxyyxx, flume, $uicideboy$, MISOGI, Atu, Asa, Koan Sound, Drake, Pouya, Germ, Chance The Rapper, Syringe, Wicca Phase Springs Eternal, Future, Rihanna, ANKA, Nok From The Future, Dylan Brady, Night Lovell, corbin/spooky black, Logic, surrenderdorothy, greaf, as well as (every producer on teamSESH).

You often collaborate with other musicians and singers. How do you choose who to work with?

I usually just listen to music from my friends or in collectives and often find singers and stuff, or other times they hit me up. My friend Fluxxy and I are in the same collective but we had known each other before then. Sarah was a friend of a friend I had just met and was a quick collaboration which is awesome.

Randomly me and Puhham linked up when me and my friend Jxsh created a collective which just like died really quick, and puhham was just thrown into the mix and since then we just kept talking. Jxsh I knew from grave, and I think $hy was in grave or I might have met him through Jxsh.

What do you wish to yourself music-wise in the next few years?

I want to like get more experienced I guess uh and just keep creating things and see where it takes me. I want to start creating more bouncier music and some chill stuff because I've been listening to a lot of ta-ku but idk.

I really want to just like, meet everyone and do everything. I also want to meet my fans because that would be surreal.

Thanks a lot for the time, man! Any last words or shoutouts?

Uhm, I love you all thank you for listening. Also thank you for interviewing me, it was fun :)

-sonny <3

Don't miss out on keeping in touch with Sonny from his artist profile. Also, a friendly reminder - the mini mix is available for free download here.