YOGI
Burial feat. Pusha T
TMN: Today I get to have a wonderful international call with three amazing guys who collaborate to the name of YOGI, guys welcome welcome and thanks for being our Resident Artists this month!
YOGI: Thanks for having us, cheers.
TMN: Well let’s start a little ways back here. Could each of you tell us a little bit about your music background? For example, did any of you grow up in a musical household? Did you play an instrument as a kid, sing in a choir, all of those things? And please let me know who is chatting, I could try and tell your voices apart but I would probably do a crap job ☺
Blake: This is Blake. I came from a musical background from playing the piano to playing a bit of drums and then I got into production.
TMN: Got it so you have a lot of music in your background?
Blake: Yes quite a lot.
Yogi: Yogi here…I came from a DJ background I have been dj-ing since I was 11ish.
TMN: Wow, since you were 11?
Yogi: Yeah well my dad was distributing technics in the UK so I grew up in a household around all of that. My dad used to DJ when he was young as well so I have always been around dj-ing.
I/O: Bryn, this is I/O. I don’t come from any musical background at all. I basically started dj-ing after I saw one of my friends dj-ing and soon after that I quickly decided that I didn’t want to be a DJ, I would rather make all the beats. So a friend of mine gave me fruity-loops which is what I started on and just started making beats from there.
TMN: That is awesome, you all come from different backgrounds with music but obviously it works for you all now.
YOGI: Yeah definitely.
TMN: We all have some musical influences in our lives. Who were some of your favorite artists/musical influences back in the day? And even today, do you have some artists who you look up to and admire? Or any young up and coming artists who you are excited to see make a name for themselves in the music world?
YOGI: The obvious is Michael Jackson. James Brown, Prince as well. Damn, there are so many man but those are the main ones.
Yogi: Marvin Gaye as well. My dad was an avid vinyl collector so I have got a lot of vinyl like original James Brown. His record collection was so big and I drew from there. Today I would say we are all influenced by Dr. Dre, the Neptunes, Timbaland and when newer people like Diplo came in that kind of blew my mind with what he was doing. Skrillex as well, those kind of guys were the first to kind of cross the genre between hip-hop and reggae and dance and house and I think that created a great opportunity for people like us to start making that music in the UK. I mean look, there are loads of influences but when you ask the question it’s hard to think of them all.
TMN: It’s so true and I have to say there is nothing better then listening to old vinyl at the end of a work day.
TMN: You all started off producing music for other artists and then decided to collaborate and start producing your own music which, let’s be honest, was a very good decision on all your parts. What do each of you bring to YOGI?
Blake: I think that my keys playing my percussions which leads to crazy grooves and drum patterns.
I/O: I would say my extensive knowledge of different catalogues, that is how I actually met Yogi in the first place. Mostly programming work and making beats. Basically we clicked because we were using the same system at the time.
Yogi: I don’t know what I bring (laughs) I just feel like I know what sounds good and give that opinion. So maybe just that overall opinion?
TMN: Hey we all need that opinion to say good or not so good in music. Maybe you bring class and charm too?
YOGI: (Laughs) Oh yeah. You know actually we have to take away some class and charm because it just gets too overwhelming. We appreciate that, thank you.
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