Jacob Aedam delivers effortlessly his unique perspective on rap music while the one and only Mono/Poly adds to the production with his signature production excellence. Read out discussion with the artist below!
Describe your sound in three words
Psychedelic Spaghetti Western
Tell us a few things about your song Dead Mon’s Hand. What is the main idea behind it?
Dead Man’s Hand was originally released as an instrumental on my EP Lone Mountain! That EP also comes with a picture book / diary called ‘Who Shot Bill?’ designed by Scott Coller. It’s a murder/mystery set in Las Vegas during the summer of 1971, following protagonist; Jack McCall. This was a physical release but I really wanted to bring one or two of those tracks off the EP into the digital world. I was put in touch with Buddy Ryan through another local producer, Swerv. It took a while to find someone who could copture the Who Shot Bill ? / Lone Mountain story and put it into lyrics. Then at the 11th hour, Buddy showed up. After chatting with Buddy and getting him familiar with the story, he sent me a voice memo recording of his verses. I actually used a lot of that voice memo in the track! He captured the protagonist’s headspace and emotions so perfectly to what Scott and I tried to showcase in the book. One of my closest friends Liam Conroy wrote & performed the chorus vocals too. It came together so quickly when all of the cogs started turning! We filmed a music video for Dead Man’s Hand during lockdown last year, only using iPhones to record it. I’d never edited or tried to direct any kind of video before – I found it really therapeutic. Editing the video on a 2011 MacBook Pro however, was chaotic.
Mono/Poly is one of the hottest nomes in the game and one of our personal favorites. How did this collaboration with him remixing your song happen?
I’ve always been a huge fan of Mono/Poly’s production, when I saw he started a Patreon page I thought it would be a great way to connect. I had a one-on- one production walkthrough with him
and we got to dive into one of his latest tracks. We talked about drum sounds, synths, sampling and other cool production techniques. I explained the ‘Who Shot Bill? / Lone Mountain’ project over
our zoom and sent him a copy after our session. A few months went by and I reached out again, this time with stems for Dead Man’s Hand. I had no expectations as I knew Mono/Poly had other projects on the boil. He asked me when the deadline was, then after a few weeks he sent me the remix. I was at a friends engagement party when I got the email – I ended up leaving early so I could go back to the studio and listen to it
ha ha. I’m extremely grateful for Charles (Mono/Poly) adding his sonic flair to the ‘Who Shot Bill? / Lone Mountain’ universe – I’m still pinching myself.
You keep delivering projects in physical format. Is digital technology helping or hurting the music industry?
Streaming and buying music digitally is so convenient and game changing, I still really love owning music in physical format though. When Scott and I started talking about the idea of making a murder/mystery story where we wanted people be apart of the universe, putting out a vinyl record / book seemed like the most fun and engaging way to do it. Go to your nearest record store (or phone them if you’re in lockdown) and ask what local stuff is going hard at the moment. Buy it. I can guarantee you won’t be disappointed.
Favorite vinyl you bought the post decode?
Flying Lotus – Cosmogromma. I picked up that record based on the cover art not really knowing his music other than one track I’d heard online somewhere. My mind was blown when I dropped the needle onto ‘Clock Catcher’ – I couldn’t even describe what I was hearing at the time but it shook me. I come back to it once every few months and it still leaves me in awe. Pretty sure the grooves on that record are beginning to fade, might need to pick up a new copy soon!
How do you relate to the Melbourne music scene?
Melbourne’s scene is so diverse and highly creative. When the pandemic started I found a community of other really passionate artists, we were all flocking online to share ideas and get inspired. Melbourne producer Swerv started a weekly ‘producer workout’ series on Twitch where we would all come online to produce beats for 40 minutes, only using one sample. I met a bunch of crazy talented producers and artists because of that platform. We’re able to experiment, try new ideas and encourage each other to push the boundaries. It’s kind of like a virtual Low End Theory’ heh. I’ve even started working with some of that crew outside the stream (Buddy Ryan, Yung Shdgun, Close Counters, Daniel Joshua, Tom Benter)
What was the best film you hove watched during the quarantine?
Mandy by Panos Cosmatos. The visuals and colour-grade are stunning and really dreamlike. I think it was one of the last soundtracks Johann Johonnsson worked on before his passing too. It’s beautifully haunting and mesmerising.
Last question..Who Shot Bill?
The story ain’t over yet … More clues coming soon ! 36° 10′ 55756″ N / 115° 8′ 8752″ W
Thank you!
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