Last week I stumbled upon A D M B's beautiful soundscapes and I was immediately hooked. The London-based producer's SoundCloud page sent me to some seriously chilled mind spots, so it didn't take long before I reached out to Adam and few chats later it was obvious he should be our next mini mix guest!
The mix is seriously out of this world and it features some prominent and upcoming artists you may already know from previous features. Hope you guys enjoy our talk as well!
TRACKLIST:
Hi, Adam! Thanks for the mini mix and the interview. Could you share some information about yourself?
Hey man nah its my pleasure. Yeah sure, so I’m 33, live in the UK just south of London, and in the rare free time I have that I’m not working on music, I love surfing, skiing, and i’m also a total movie nerd too. Oh and i’m a bit of a petrol head haha, I love my cars and motorbikes - anything fast! (i’m not too sure what to say here… should I say I enjoy Meg Ryan movies and long walks in the park?)
Besides producing, what instruments do you play? Do you think this is an important must for today's up and coming producers who exist in a field where everyone's releasing awesome music every single day?
I play bass, guitar and keys, and i’ve messed around with drums but i’m definitely not much of a drummer! Personally I don’t think its too important. While its nice to bring as much to the table as possible, some of my friends who produce don’t play any instruments at all, and their music is amazing. I’ve always felt like a producers most important instrument is their ear, and there are always weird and wonderful ways to create without necessarily picking up an instrument. Its the same with DAW’s.. there always seems to be an ongoing debate over which is best for what genre etc… but ultimately it comes down to whats in your head, and then getting that out. If you work at it enough generally the music will find a way out. I know a dude from SoundCloud that makes incredible beats just using an iPad.
How does your average day looks like? Is music a full time thing?
Oh man I wish! Well I have two young daughters so most mornings i’m woken up at an ungodly hour where i’m making breakfast and enduring kids TV.. and then I set off for work. I work full time for a large global audio visual firm, so music is a part time thing in the evenings and wherever else I find time.
You've done releases with Mellow Orange and Blvnt Records - two labels we admire a lot. What's like working with the guys and how did you end up collaborating?
Yeah working with both those guys has been a really cool experience. I think what i’ve found the most beneficial when working with labels like these is just how much you can learn from them if you’re open. They’ve put out so much music with so many incredible artists that I’ve just tried to be like a sponge and learn as much as I can from their experience. Take it all in. In terms of how it came about i’m still kind of unsure to be honest haha! I’ve been pretty lucky. I got to know the guys over at Mellow Orange maybe a year or so ago, and they’ve been awesome ever since. I pretty much had no online ‘following’ or anything at all when we linked up, but they supported me and showed love regardless. It really is about the music with those guys and I have so much respect for that. I’d been a big fan of them and their artists for a long time so I was pretty stoked to put something out with them. Blvnt came about more recently, but they’ve been unbelievably supportive and signed me to their roster recently. I’m pretty humbled to be on the team and look forward to releasing some new music with them soon.
What's on your playlist right now? Any artists we should be checking out?
Oh man! Where do I start! Well right now i’m really digging the new Jordan Rakei album, Cloak - have you heard it? [actually we did - check our interview w/ Jordan here] Man its ridiculous. I still have the recent Radiohead album on repeat pretty much, I’ve really been digging James Blake’s last record too. Artists to check out? To be honest I actually just listen to lots of my friends’ music! My mate Street Rat just put out a crazy EP (INSANE guitarist and vocalist), and theres a dude not too many people know about called Miyagi, who just released a really cool album on SoundCloud, definitely check him out he’s a beast. Also my main dude Seneca B, she’s a close friend, but I pretty much listen to her Friends LP every week. It’s an amazing piece of work.
If you could wish one thing for yourself, what would that be?
Well without sounding too corny I feel like i’m already doing it! I get to make music whenever I want, and a few people listen to it. I’ve been in love with music since I can remember and thats all I wanted really, so I feel like a pretty lucky dude. I guess to be able to make music full time and earn a living from it would be the ultimate dream though.
In the light of recent events, how do the music community in UK accepts the #brexit results last week. Do you think this would have any tangible effect on the scene esp in London?
Well I certainly can’t speak on behalf of everyone, but I think the nature of making music tends to lend itself to a pretty liberal mindset, and if I were to take just my Facebook feed as an indication, then i’d say the majority probably were leaning toward a remain result. But never discuss religion or politics! Either way, personally I don’t see it affecting the music scene in terms of output at all. Part of the beauty of todays music scene and the evolution of technology is that its very much put creation in the hands of the artist, and most producers/rappers/singers etc that I know are now able to roll out of bed and record to a very high standard then and there in their bedroom. I don’t see a brexit result affecting that. I wouldn’t be surprised to see more politically motivated music start emerging though, I think thats to be expected, and healthy too.
Any last words of wisdom or shout outs? Anything you’d like to just put out there?
Definitely no words of wisdom, but a big thank you to Sterefox for the interview and the support, you guys are awesome. Big shouts to my labels Blvnt Records and NINETOFIVE, as well as Mellow Orange and Flow Theory for the continued support. Most importantly huge shout out to my good friends/collaborators that work with me and make me sound better than I am! Street Rat, Seneca B, Joon Jukx, Sophie Meiers.. and anyone who listens to my music! Making music is my favourite thing in the world so it means so much for people to enjoy it. Thank you!
