The madman named Lubelski has been on a wild ride you wouldn't believe. Lost in a modular synth odyssey of massive proportions, he has returned to port with a strange collection of tunes designed to make you dance, think, and then dance louder.
We have had the pleasure of interviewing Lubelski and this has been the result.
Can you tell us a little about your experience? Where are you from / how did you get into music?
I grew up listening to a lot of different genres — classic rock, r&b, electronica, jazz, and world music. I’m from Los Angeles and played instruments my whole life. Music has always been a part of who I am.
How is your sound evolving? What artists and genres do you enjoy mixing right now?
Lately, I’ve been trying to stray away from the tech house that seems to be very popular these days. I’m trying to find more substance in my music, whether that’s in pursuing more mature arrangements, deeper musical concepts, or unique songwriting. I love to mix a wide variety of music but I’ve really been feeling a lot of the new music from artists like DJ Tennis, Red Axes, KiNK, Melé.
How do you feel that your music influences or impacts your listeners?
I’d like to think that I’m in a really good position to show a lot of the people that listen to the labels I’m associated with, something different. I’ve always tried to expand people’s minds on what’s possible with sound design and music. I’m nowhere near the most experimental or most sound design driven or most talented artist out there, but I do my best. I like to tell younger producers to “put mustard on their popcorn, try something different.”
What projects are you working on right now? What can you tell us about your last job?
I just released an album on DIRTYBIRD on November 12th which is pretty different from what they’ve released in the past. Now I have a couple of EPs and some remixes that I need to finish before the year is over.
Where are you and what have you been doing now?
I am currently in Los Angeles. I just kicked off my album tour and will be playing shows all over the US. In my downtime, I work on music, exercise, eat good food, and try to keep healthy.
Has that sound changed a lot in recent years? What is your musical criteria?
I’d say my sound has remained fairly consistent. I think recently I’m leaning a lot heavier into my analog synthesizers and into my own songwriting. I have some side projects that I am also working on that is much more indie and experimental music.
Do you feel safe now to play a more experimental sound?
I think I’ve always felt safe to play more experimentally. Someone told me that I shouldn’t play such weird music because people will feel uncomfortable. But I thought that was terrible advice because people are smart and I think if they hear something unique and different they will respond to it.
We all know that the digital revolution has affected sales, but has it affected creativity?
I don’t feel that my creativity has been affected by it. But it is interesting to see people releasing shorter songs just to play by the rules of these streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music. I miss when songs were all 10 minutes long and super unique. Now we have the same 3 or 4 minute songs recycling big pop songs and calling them originals. I know there will always be a market for that and I still love some of those songs but I do feel we are all capable to create something new.
Can you tell us what your present and future projects are?
I want to work on my modular live set, maybe start a collaborative project, with singing and instruments and stuff like that. Other than that I will keep going around telling people to put mustard on their popcorn.
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