Interview curated by our founder Michael.
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Phuture: Well well if it isn’t the gem king himself – XTALS! So beyond ecstatic to finally have you onboard Phuture Collective :D. You’ve put in the time and work releasing across pretty much every other bass label but ours so it was just a matter of time. Let’s start things off with what you had for breakfast!
XTALS: Yo! I’m beyond excited to be releasing a track with Phuture Collective. I’ve always looked up to your releases and I’m stoked to be a part of the fam!
My breakfast usually just consists of black coffee via French Press. Nothing like a hot cup of coffee to start the day 🙂
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Phuture: Let’s take a walk through ‘Detachment’. What inspired this track & what message do you hope the listener discovers?
XTALS: When I first wrote the song, it was very centered around the drops with the surrounding sections being more percussive and atonal. But, as I developed the song I really found it beautiful to put these spaced out melodic sections in there instead.
With the melodic sections I wanted to show that there could be beauty in being separated from something. That when we get comfortable, removing ourselves from that situation can be daunting and feel like you are swimming alone in an empty ocean but if you persevere you can grow immensely from it.
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Phuture: Top 5 musical artists of all time? (Yeah this one’s a toughie 😉
XTALS: Well, off the top of my head in no particular order: Queens of the Stone Age, The Gorillaz, John Frusciante, The Doors, and Foals.
That’s definitely not a definitive list and if you asked me again tomorrow I would probably have a different answer.
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Phuture: If you could do a single action to bring the world closer to peace & prosperity what would that be?
XTALS: I would eliminate currency in some sort of a sustainable way. Money does allow us some nice things in our current society but it’s also the source of a lot of the world’s problems. If we didn’t have money driving a lot of the world’s actions I feel we would be able to take better care of the Earth and live in a more sustainable way without as much hunger and impoverishment.
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Phuture: What do we have to look forward to from you in 2020??!
XTALS: For the rest of the year I’m looking to finish a couple of EPs as well as a lot of collaborations! I have a few label goals in mind, especially for the EPs!
Aside from that I’m looking forward to taking the XTALS image and sound even further and developing it further. I have some ideas about where I want to go and I’m excited to start exploring some new sounds and ideas.
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Phuture: If your music was fruit based, what fruit(s) would it consist of?
XTALS: Mangos, Grapefruits, and Blackberries. These are just some of my favorite fruits! I feel like the difference between all of them fits with my music as well because a lot of my releases vary in their genre and style.
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Phuture: How would you describe music to a deaf person?
XTALS: Well, I would probably go with the more scientific route because that’s more of my personality. I’d describe music as a collection of sounds composed and organized by a person or group of people. Music has so many broad forms I wouldn’t want to be too specific with it!
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Phuture: Name 5 artists who are going to take over 2020!
XTALS: sømething, Runnit, Slang Dogs, So Sus, and camoufly
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Phuture: Anything else you want to add before we part ways for a brief moment?
XTALS: Thanks again for believing in this track and helping me develop it into what it is today! I’m really excited about this release 🙂
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Explore more of XTALS here:
SoundCloud
Spotify
Twitter
Instagram
Audius
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