Is music going towards a more localized landscape, then?
It’s just like having ideas. Like Madonna signing with Live Nation, or Radiohead releasing their own records, those ideas to put it back into control of the artists directly. The formula to do that never really worked out, it’s kind of a good idea and worked for them and Girl Talk to some extent. But these kids are like 20 years old and doing it, and not even that savvy. You have to think with a real clear mind about what to do. You can’t really have any ideas of the old way of doing shit: you have to start over again.
Bottom line is just to reach people, to have music that reaches them. Rappers are rapping about so much fashion and so many car makers that kids don’t even know what the fuck Jay-Z’s talking about anymore. And Brokencyde’s just rapping about…I don’t even know! I’m not even a fan, I think they’re pretty bad actually. Hypercrush is alright, kind of funny, Millionaires are whatever. For me, I look at it from an anthropological standpoint, it’s fucking crazy, and it’s like a complete mess of what we’ve all done. It’s the end of the world. And that kind of music is completely post modern. Not having no rules, on what’s cool, what’s underground, how to dress… they’ll drop M.I.A, they’ll drop Justice, and even do it like Linkin Park with screaming and rapping. Linking Park was completely fabricated and these kids just copied it and put more crunk behind it.
So you think they took something manufactured and made it legitimate?
Yeah. But, um, it’s just taking little bits of everything, like, fuck it, we don’t care. They’re like bastards, they got no parents. Musically they have no rules. I’m into it, ’cause culturally it’s really fascinating to me. I make music. I just read a review of Santogold’s record and they’re like “and then she enlisted the help of cheesy mashup DJ Diplo.” And I’m like, “I never played a mash-up in my life.” I mean, we did Hollertronix like four years ago (the Missy and Clash thing) but it wasn’t really, we wasn’t thinking of mash-ups. I didn’t even hear too many DJs back then, they weren’t doing it on purpose. But the people who still think of me like that must be reading Rolling Stone from four years ago. And in the meantime, I’ve produced like mad records and shit. So I think like all I want to do is the push the envelope and make shit louder and stupider and… you know have different ideas. I just went on tour with Dark Meat, which is like a psychedelic horn cult band from Georgia, and I produced a record for them. And if I stop doing shit like that, then I’m kind of boring, then I’m gonna be like whoever-the-fuck producer sitting in LA doing shit. But until then I’m definitely trying to find all the corners of society and culture that no one’s fucking with.
Are you guys doing any more spotlight mixtapes (like with Paper Route Gangstaz)?
Well, that one just came about because the band we really like, Paper Route, they’re just a good group. I don’t think it had anything specifically to do with Huntsville. Just that they’re all from around that area. I just did a Santogold mixtape which is the precursor to the next record I’m doing called Major Laser, which is like me and Switch doing a dancehall album. So that’s kindof like a preview of it, in a way, ’cause a lot of its influence is punk rock and reggae. I’m gonna be producing an indie rock band next.
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