Hailing from St. Louis, Vandalyzm represents that rare artist who is equally capable in the production chair and behind the microphone. It shows on Megatron Majorz, where over half of the eighteen tracks are self-produced, and the other half by no other than Flying Lotus, FlyamSam, Black Spade, 14KT, Khrysis, and Swiff D. Get the sampler here picture by demondmeek.
Seriously good 4 track 12″ from Samiyam on the brilliant Hyperdub label…
Hyperdub’s first US signing, and first hip hop tempo release comes from Flying Lotus sidekick, straight out of LA, Samiyam. With colab releases with Flylo under the name FLYamSAM, a recent selfmade CD ‘Rap Beats’, and a stunning, recent remix for Pattie Blingh for Ramp Recordings, Samiyam is rising fast. All the tunes on the Return E.P. carry Samiyam’s signature synth sound, melancholy melodies, and off-kilter, post-Dilla funk that will make you bump, your brain tingle, while you are simultaneously crying your eyes out. This style is perfected on the track ‘Return’ which has been featured in many a Flylo mix from the last couple of years, and the ultra-lazy grooves of the 8-bit ‘Trick Platform’ which plugs in nicely to recent Hyperdub releases from Quarta 330, Ikonika, Zomby and Rustie. On the flip, ‘Moon Shoes’ and ‘Cheesecake Backslap’, the drums get turned up, and the quantize function thrown out the window. Loose, lop-sided but totally funktional, this release brings a bit of smoggy, toxic West Coast sunshine to stiff old, gloomy UK. Get it on Rushhour. And the lost Luckiest Charm Flylo track. Photo by Theo Jemison.
Samiyam - Moonshoes
Flying Lotus - Luckiest Charm
Steven Ellison, our favorite sculptor of hazy, spacy laptop beats, is no stranger to the comforting bleeps and bloops of the Nintendo generation. He name-checks Mortal Kombat 2 as an influence and credits the Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim with giving him his first big break. Here, ‘FlyLo’ shows off his fluid style as he switches with ease between discussing musical legends in the family (great-aunt Alice Coltrane, cousin Ravi Coltrane) and kicking ass on Street Fighter and Galaxian. www.xlr8r.com.
Samiyam Rap Beats Vol.1
Wassup, my name is Samiyam, from Michigan, just moved out here to sunny LA. Enjoying the weather out here as my homies back home freeze their ass off.
When did you first develop a vested interest in music?
I dunno, I’ve been listening to music forever. I used to play instruments, like the piano and the clarinet for a while. I really started thinking of making my own music in high school, listening to hip hop and wondering how the fuck people make this shit.
How would you discribe your first beats?
Wack. Not very good. I guess some of that shit is all right but the mixes would be super fucked up. I started off with the MP first off. I don’t think I was that great on it at first.
When did you first notice a sound developing in your shit?
I guess at one point when I was using the MP I was doing some shit that had a little sound to it, sampling records and I had bought a little synth and I was playing bass lines. Shit was coming out with a little sound to it. I made some shit maybe a year or so after I started making shit and thought, ah, that sounds allright. Even after listening to it after a couple of months, I was just kind of making shit and having fun before that, making stupid shit.
How do you see your shit, or do you not even see it in a certain way and it’s just something you do?
I don’t really see it in in a certain way, it’s just some shit I do. I got the machine I like to make music on, just turn it on and do some shit. I mean I guess the shit sounds a certain way sometimes when it’s done but I don’t think of shit in any special way, that question’s kinda weird.
For the Full Interview go to SweeneyKovar (Another Blog On That Next Shhh)
Samiyam - Rap Beat 8
Samiyam - Rap Beat 21