weird inside is Ani, a junior in high school who likes peanut butter, music and cute stuff. He manufactures a variety of goods including music and visuals. We chatted with him.
Here’s what he said:
When did you start making music? Do you remember when you uploaded your first track to sc? How was the immediate response?
The first track that got a cool response was 2 months after I started making music. It was called ‘biology,’ and I’m pretty sure that was released in March 2014, or somewhere around there. It didn’t get past 500 plays, but it felt good that people actually listened to stuff that I made. Things just kept going up from there, and I kept improving and learning new things. I hope it stays that way!
What inspired the name ‘weird inside’?
Being weird is a good thing to me, and being ‘cool’ or ‘in’ isn’t. If people think you’re weird, you’re doing something right because you’re not following what’s new, or what other people like. In short, it’s good if you do you. The ‘weird’ part came from there. As for the ‘inside’ part, I don’t really talk about myself that much. I’m okay at talking to people and socializing and stuff but most of the time I keep my thoughts to myself.
What instruments do you play? Do you come from a musically inclined family?
My family isn’t really musically inclined, my parents and relatives are all into science rather than art. However, my mom introduced me to south indian classical music at a young age. I sang it from the age of four until the age of fourteen, but I never kept a teacher for more than two years because they’d always have a health problem or move away. I played the violin in school for four years, but I was never really good at it and just fooled around in the orchestra. I’m trying to learn how to play the piano better, and I also want to learn how to play the drums and guitar.
Do you do your own cover art? It’s dope, man.
Thank you much!! I do. I’m really into editing videos and visuals and stuff aside from music, and it’s kinda fun and rewarding to make everything happen in a release.
Do you plan to go to school and study something music related? Do you want to make this a lifelong profession?
I don’t love school but if I had to go to a university for something, it’d be graphic design. I think going to school for music is cool, but I don’t think I’d go for that. I still want to keep making music though, keep putting stuff out to tickle people’s ears until I stop breathing haha. It’d be cool to make music for a living, but I’m not gonna get too caught up in that for now.
What inspires a track?
It’s usually emotions or weather. I’m emotional and soft on the inside even though I don’t show it, and I take in the environment around me in like a sponge. When I make music, I try to transfer all of those details and emotions into sound. I really like rainy and sad music, but also cute music. I really like cute things.
How would you describe your sound?
It’s like sleepwalking in your pajamas while being wrapped in a blanket of marshmallows while it’s snowing indoors, but you’re still warm and getting milk from the fridge to go with the peanut butter sandwich you just made. I think my sound is soft and homey while still being upbeat, but I can’t really say for myself exactly what I sound like or how to describe it. How would you describe it?
I would describe it as the feeling of gliding through space. Groovy. Floating past the stars. Vibey & cute. What collectives/labels are you part of? How do each of them differ? How are they similar? What do you like most about being part of a collective?
Right now I’m a part of The Umbrella Method, Film Noir, and Melody Soul. They’re all really nice because they’re more like an extended family to me than they are labels; the people in them make me feel at home and it’s just an overall cool environment in all three.
I joined the Umbrella Method first, in August 2014, and I really like that it’s a small group of like minded people working and sharing ideas with each other. Because it’s so small I think we’re more tightly knit than most other collectives, which is nice. Film Noir, on the other hand, is slightly bigger, but I enjoy it for the same reason; everyone’s always talking to each other and everyone has mad jokes, so the mood is always great. Melody Soul is just crazy, man. They’re crazy. Like, totally wild. I don’t really know how else to explain it.
Who are some of your musical influences?
Taylor McFerrin, Tokimonsta, Flying Lotus, and pretty much every prominent 90s hip hop producer. My peers also have a huge effect on my music. I’m influenced by all kinds of music though, from country to neurofunk, but these are the artists that I pull the most inspiration from.
What are you working on right now?
Just making a lot of things! I don’t really like planning things out, that freaks me out and makes me stressed haha. Right now though, I’m working on a remix of Robert Glasper’s ‘Somebody Else,’ and some visuals for a friend’s (contour) music.
Any future collabs?
I don’t wanna say something and then have it not happen haha, but I worked on a track with the homie slom recently. I want to work with a lot of people but I think I need to get my sound together totally before I can start having people entrust me with theirs, you feel me?
I feel you, breh. Any shout outs or final thoughts?
Yo, special shouts out to my lunch table, froyo ma, my mom, peanut butter sandwiches, the midi boys, umbrella method, film noir, some kid named khari, and everybody I’ve ever met, talked to, bumped into, or shared oxygen with. I love you.
Check weird inside on Bandcamp
