The release of the album “Distopiate” marks the end of a chapter in my progress as a musician and a creator. It serves as a sort of middle ground for me musically, with a lot of my darker lo-fi influences and style choices at play, but also a slight change in direction present in the form of house music and EDM.
I remember becoming very interested in electronic music the first time I heard the album “Dig Your Own Hole” by The Chemical Brothers. At the time, my musical diet mostly consisted of rock and jazz, and I was starting to slowly dip my feet into other styles and genres. So the first time I heard sounds like that, crafted without instruments, I was absolutely floored. I still wouldn't fully dive into electronic music in a big way for many years until I was out of high school and my need to explore every kind of music out there was at it's peak. That's when I looked into the big names of that era like Dedmau5 and Flume and Nero and Flux Pavilion and so on and so forth, and was launched head first into the big web of influences and collaborations that had occurred since the beginnings of electronic music and discovered artists like Aphex Twin and Venetian Snares that pushed the boundaries of what was possible with both software and hardware.
All of this to say that EDM has been a big part of my listening for a long time now, and that I would like to delve into creating more of it myself. That being said, I am still unsure as to whether that music will lend itself to the vibe and image I have created with the moniker Blakk Dogg. I think that it may very well end up becoming it's own thing and I would love to see what it becomes and how it helps me grow and develop as a musician.
That's not to say that I won't be releasing any more music as Blakk Dogg, actually far from it. In fact, Distopiate is also special in the sense that it marks my last instrumental release for the time being, as I will now focus all my efforts on completing some songs with lyrics and vocals (both rap and song) that I have had waiting in the wings for far too long, either due to lack of completion or dissatisfaction with the overall mix and sound.
It has been hard for me to put the perfectionist mentality aside when it comes to my own music, but ultimately very necessary, as I would never have even released what I have put out up to this point without just letting go of the little details that bother me about the things I have created. Realistically, nothing I create is going to be perfect. I am not a professional in any of the avenues in which I have wandered aimlessly over the years, but I am certainly not going to be recognized in any capacity if I don't put anything out there to be judged to some degree.
Letting go of that fear of judgement, the idea that people will point out the very flaws that I see in my own work, has been more and more important to me as I come into my own style and my own place in this world. I have been trying to focus more on embracing whatever idiosyncrasies happen along the way and developing something that, no matter how it is engineered or produced, remains one hundred percent authentically me.
So what do you have to look forward to in the coming days after Distopiate?
- Two albums of full songs with lyrics and vocals
- Another full album release with the John Muka Band
- A new project focusing strictly on EDM
Those are my goals and realities for the time being, so stay tuned to see what I come up with.
Cheers,
Robert O.