It's Going to Be Fine
Andrew Bayer, the rising and talented super star that is taking the electronic scene by storm is set to release his forthcoming If It Were You, We’d Never Leave LP April 15 via Anjunabeats. Working with tender and beautifully layered experiences that mash between hip/hop, ambient and experimental, his textured sounds, while mainly electronic, feel just as alive and organic. We have been following him closely and after getting a sneak peek at his latest album, we just had to learn more about the man behind the beats.
We met up with Andrew in Miami, this first weekend at Ultra to talk more about his upbringing and his music going forward:
TMN: First of all thanks for sitting down with us. How has your time in Miami been so far?
TMN: You have been a professional musician for a while now, where does this experience rank against the others?
Well Miami is always an interesting time. I feel like half the reason why you go is to hang out with all the people you work with on a daily basis that you don’t normally get to see. It is such an international community, the electronic community in general, I communicate with people that are in different continents every day that when you have everyone in one place it is just amazing to be able to see them face to face. It’s like “I have been talking to you for a year! And I’ve never met you”. That is my favorite aspect.
TMN: Let’s talk about your music, did you grow up playing instruments or is that something you started later in life?
I actually grew up playing piano. I took lessons during childhood and throughout my schooling as well. But I was never really that serious about the piano. It was always just being creative and served more as writing utensil; I was not a performance based musician. I definitely have a musical background but I couldn’t just go play some Chopin or something, as much as I would like to.
TMN: Haha we would be pretty impressed!
Haha, yea I could probably play it if you give me a week to practice!
TMN: We had the chance to preview the new album, we were all really impressed. Once thing that we noticed is the presence of a very intense atmospheric vibe, talk to us more about the production behind creating those experiences.
I love layering. That is my favorite thing to do in production. So what I would do is I will layer tons of noisy soundscapes that are all combined into one backdrop. A lot of these tracks start with weird sounds, that sound like something is breaking and stuff like that.
TMN: We love that feel, it really adds such a depth to your sound. Touching on that, do you create a lot of these sounds using effects and synthesizers or do you use samples more?
It is a combination of all. The way this album started was based off a sample, I was trying to chop up samples and use them. A lot of these things I will chop up into a 4 bar sample so it sounds like I am actually retriggering it. Then I will make these sound beds and literally process them through and through at 12-bit algorithms so it sounds like it is triggered from an NPC. There are a lot of that aspects in my music that makes it sound like a sample.
TMN: Your style seems to have evolved in this album, somewhat more down tempo and glitch hop at times, why this direction? Is this something you are super passionate about?
Yes. I feel like with every record you get a chance to do something different. While there was some glitch hop on my last record, this one is definitely more in the relaxing and chill-out section of that genre. But absolutely I like to be able to sit down and kind of do whatever I want, which is a marketing nightmare for the label as they are like “Holy shit! This is a dubstep track, what are we going to do with that?” and I am like, “I have no idea either!” haha But I do like with an album you can focus on one direction. Who knows what I am going to do next.
TMN: Who do you draw inspiration from? On this last album, for me personally, I think of Little People, Sigur Ros, Apex Twin, are those in line with the people you draw inspiration from?
TMN: What can our readers expect from you moving forward, what is on the horizon for 2013?
We will be doing a lot of definitely interesting things with this record, a lot of remixes and putting it out too. It is bizarre to me that we are actually putting it out this year. I started it 4 years ago and finished it about a year ago. We have all, the entire label community; have been living with it for so long. Everyone kind of assumes that everyone has listen to it already so it’s just so intense that we will be unleashing it to the public this year. I am really looking forward to that campaign and sharing it with everybody.
TMN: Will you be doing a tour to support it afterwards?
I think so. I will try to implement more of the club sound with the ambient, hip/hop sound, which I think will be a nice mix mash.
TMN:: Will you be doing that today?
What I have been doing in a lot of my sets is opening with some bits from the album and closing. So you kind of get an encapsulation of the two things with the club music in the middle. So that is what I will be doing today.
TMN: Make sure you come to Denver! Now its time for our rapid fire round. We will ask you a couple of random questions and please say the first thing that comes to mind.
TMN: If I ordered a shot it would be?
Tequila!
TMN: If I were on death row my least meal would be?
Steak!
TMN: Who is your favorite Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle?
Did not get into TNMT, which is embarrassing to say.
TMN: Whats your favorite Robert De Niro movie?
Believe it or not, STARDUST! He plays a gay pirate. It is a comedy fantasy. It is the most fucking insane thing and the least role you would expect De Niro play and that is why it is my favorite.
TMN: If your music were an animal what would it be?
Some kind of weird deformed giraffe with two really opposite shaped legs. Jesus I cant believe I just say that.
TMN: Haha that sounds awesome! Thank you so much for your time and we are really looking forward to your set.
