With so much new music floating around the interwebs, sometimes it’s hard to dig a little deeper and find out more about a promising artist.
That’s why The Profile is breaking it down for you. The Pitch takes care of the nitty gritty factual bits, The Plot serves as a Q & A with the artist, and The Plug is where you can go for more.
The Pitch
Little is known about The Basement Tapes, the moniker of an anonymous producer, and that’s part of the allure of his music. Anonymity, of course, has long been a quality positively associated with electronic music and that’s the way we like it. It’s the back story of The Basement Tapes (or rather, the lack thereof), in addition to his music, that explains his great appeal to many. The newly released Vapour E.P. incorporates modern electronica and hip hop beats with soulful pop infused vocals.
The Plot
Hometown:
“Suburban Auckland, New Zealand. Its a pretty isolated area, I live about and hour drive from the Auckland CBD, so there isn’t a lot of distractions when working on music. We have a pretty wicked underground electronic music scene, which is hugely supported by the Auckland radio station Base FM, who continuously plays, promotes and puts on events for electronic producers, which is always inspiring, and because the scene is pretty small, you get to rub shoulders with musicians which you really respect.”
Influences:
“Two tracks I’ve have been obsessed with the last month are Bondax’s ‘Gold (Snakehips Bootleg)’ and Stray’s ‘Matchsticks’.
I’m mostly influenced by other people’s music, but if I would have to say anything like film/TV shows have had an influence on my music its the aesthetic or mood of the film, I would like to think my music would sit well in the films/TV Shows of David Fincher.”
“Probably Hermitude , just so I can learn off them especially, and in terms of a vocalists, I love female vocals and electronica, so somebody like Lauren Mayberry from Chvrches or Norah Jones.”
“Venue or festival you’d love to play:”
“Laneway or Coachella.”
First song you ever wrote:
“When I was nine and on a family vacation, we had been driving for like 4 hours so i tried to make a song in my head while being very bored in the back seat, after working on it for ages I realised it was just ‘Under The Bridge’ by The Chilli Peppers with the lyrics mixed around….hmm.”
Gear of choice:
“Laptop, Ableton, Novation Launchpad, Alesis Midi Drums!”
Favourite local act:
“From New Zealand, Julien Dyne/Ladi 6 and Broods. From Australia, Hermitude and The Kite String Tangle.”
The Plug
The Vapour EP is out now. You can stream it below. To find out more about upcoming releases like The Basement Tapes’ Facebook page here.
