Hailing from Grass Valley CA, up and coming free form bass producer Iterate, has caught the eyes and ears of many, pushing out some incredible bass tunes. He continues this climb with the release of his latest EP entitled Buffer, serving as a glimpse into his first full length album coming the January. This entire EP is absolute stacked top to bottom with infectious genre bending energy with each track entrancing listeners with its unique sound design. Our premiere today, “Sticky”, combines glitchy synths and an overall old school hip hop vibe melded perfectly together with a driving bass line. This track showcases the unique soundscapes of the Iterate project, with its classic rolling breakbeats and wubby tune. After hearing all that Buffer has to offer, we are estatic to see what else is in store for us in January . Let’s take a deeper dive into why we are calling “Sticky” a certified bop.
“Sticky” is a track I started on Elektron boxes, and further developed in Bitwig. It has an overall vibe of old school boom bap hip hop, but with a lot of glitch edits, and big FM basses.
Diving Deep w/ Iterate
1.How did you decide to get into music? Was there a certain event in your childhood/life that made you stop and realize that you wanted to pursue a career in music?
I didn’t really have a decision that it would be a career. It started as a hobby, like it does for most people, and everything just kind of fell into place. I was spending a lot of time making electronic music, and I was very immersed in festivals, Burning Man, and the psychedelic electronic music scene in the Bay Area in the mid/early 2000’s. I had a lot of exposure to electronic music when I was young. I was a kid in the 90s when electronic music was huge, and got a lot more mainstream exposure than it does today. It was normal in the 90s to see acts like Aphex Twin, Orbital, Future Sound of London, The Prodigy, and Autechre played on MTV regularly. So, I think a lot of kids growing up then were able to get exposed to electronic music. Also, my sister and dad were involved in the psy-trance scene in San Francisco in the 90s. I started going to electronic music events/ festivals as a teenager with my dad. He was an artist, and showed art at a lot of festivals/ burning man etc… Back then, in the early/ mid 2000’s idm/glitch and breaks were very popular in the west coast psychedelic music scene. I was very drawn to that kind of music. The music I’m making now has a lot of influence from music back then. I took a couple of classes on how to use Reason and Pro Tools, around the end of high school. Then, I went down the rabbit hole of exploring music production on my own. Eventually, Ableton became my DAW of choice (it is Bitwig now). As I was making music, I would give out demo CDs to friends/other producers at festivals, and after not much time, I started getting offered dj sets. I played a lot at underground parties in Santa Cruz and the Bay Area. In 2007, I met Dov from Muti Music, and we released my first EP, “Space Case,” in early 2008. That was released under my first moniker, “Heyoka.” From there, momentum built and I ended producing and performing music for a living.
2. It can be very hard sometimes separating music from day to day life when it’s a huge part of your life. How do you personally separate your artist life from your everyday life, and have you faced any challenges doing so?
I don’t really think about it. I try to work on music all the time. Of course, we all have other things to do as well, but it’s the dominant thing in my life. I have always been a night owl. I basically work on music all night every night, and sleep during the day. Then, I do whatever else I need to do, and repeat. Whenever I break the cycle to go out, or when I used to play shows more, it would often take a while to get back in the flow with production. So, when I have chance of time to just work on music, that is pretty much what I do.
3. If there was one thing you could change for the betterment of society, what would it be and why?
That’s a pretty big question. I don’t even know where to start. Everything in this world seems to be spinning out of control exponentially. I suppose a heavy psychedelic dose throughout the world’s water supply could help, but I’m not gonna be the one to do that. I don’t encourage anybody else to either, but it might be our only hope.
4. What has been the biggest lesson you’ve learned since you started making music? Do you have any words of wisdom for aspiring producers hoping to follow in your footsteps?
That’s a hard question too. I’m still figuring it all out. I think what’s important for progressing in music production is to dedicate time to it. I think constantly experimenting and exploring different techniques helps bring about a unique and original sound, and keeps you learning new things. For me, some of the funnest times with music is stumbling onto new types of sounds through experimentation. I think it’s good to not worry about sticking to genres or breaking “rules” either. All of that can be pretty limiting. So, basically, don’t do anything else with your life, but sit in your room making weird sounds, and hope for the best. Then, either you will be a total mess, a successful electronic music producer, or most likely some combination of the two.
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