[Digiview #9] An interview with Forest Kids Collective
Forest Kids Collective is a musician from Philadelphia, he specializes in creating mind blowing music. FKC has released more then a dozen projects under different aliases,
He's also a multi-talented artist that dabbles in various genres such as slush wave, ambient, and dream pop, I had the pleasure of interviewing this amazing artist.
How's your day going?
Going pretty good, felt inspired so I'm continuing a tune I started last night. Just a lazy Saturday I guess
Sounds fun!
How long have you been incorporating your vocals into your music?
Oh shit. since like the beginning honestly. Like "modulation" from Phlegmatic Stare which is like a 2011 release of mine uses "vocals" to achieve some of those background textures. I've always used my voice as much as I could where I would seem fitting.
In my lofi and electronic stuff, I typically use it for oohs and aah's just for some background textures. Although my favorite way I use vocals is in my project "Talplex" - Which is basically me using my voice as a synth/instrument using a mix of gibberish and some actual words.
All that is pre - "L a z u l i _ y e l l o w". I knew I would be using vocals frequently for a vaporwave project so that always had vocals in it.
That sounds perfect, I love how you use your voice to add extra ambiance to your tracks
Oh, snap thank you. what are some of your faves if you don't mind me asking or at least stood out to ask that question
I really enjoyed "when you were young" and your new project "super gra fx"
Well sheesh thank you
What's your favorite piece of gear in your home studio?
My favorite piece of gear has to be.... my boss's multi-effects pedal with so many sounds to just mix and match and play with. There are some effects on this pedal that inspired complete albums. I miss - Long Drive Home has most of the instruments going thru this pedal
Not much of a gear person honestly. I'm much more into manipulation within computers etc
Great answer, I know you can do a lot of different things with effect pedals.
And same here, I love using my DAW as much as much my physical gear. Sometimes you can use both in different scenarios
I know you have a podcast, can you tell the readers a little bit about it?
Well, in every episode I have a different guest with some sort of creative output. Musicians, producers, artists, whatever and I dive into the history of that person. How they got hooked on creating, and what their journey was like to get to where they are now. Everyone I have on the show I'm already a fan of so it is somewhat cathartic on my end, haha not to mention some episodes are just off the rails rambles and some are really funny.
Do you have any artists that you take inspiration from?
I mean there are definitely people that have inspired me to start projects and genres. Aphex Twin's Windowlicker is a precursor for my project Talplex. I wanted to continue that sound into a whole project and expand on that concept.
Mindspring Memories & desert sand feels warm at night are huge inspirations for me as well. They're the inspiration I needed to jump into the vaporwave / small soft / slushwave genre. Huge fan of them.
Boards of Canada is one of my biggest inspirations as well. Songs like Over the Horizon Radar are the reasons I started writing music in the first place.
And finally, I have to talk about Lemongrass and C418. Lemongrass was such a breath of fresh air and his such a vast discography. His old stuff from "Filmotheque" "Pour glamour" and "Drumatic Universe" speak to my soul. Such perfect lounge / electronic chillout albums. And yes C418. After falling in love with Minecraft mainly for the music back in 2010. I looked into C418's discography and finally found the style of ambient music I was looking for. "I will perhaps never meet you in person" felt like a drug the first time I heard it. Albums like "Life-Changing Moments Seem Minor in Pictures" and "Little Things" opened my mind up to so many possibilities for music.
Those are very inspiring artists especially boc their music is stellar, your influences shine in the music you create.
Thank you
I love how your music has a dreamy and psychedelic feel to it, do you have any tips on how to achieve that sound?
layers and layers and layers
Like throwing effects at any track can make something sound otherworldly but it's how you treat them from the instrument to the overall sound. Sometimes going against the vibe of a song turns the whole thing around in a positive way.
I mean also set and setting helps for me. I'm a big fan of RGB lights and just making sure I'm in the right vibe to create a vibe
Who were the first artist or band you've gone to see perform live and your favorite
The first artist I saw was Angles and Airwaves and god damn that was fucking sick haha And hmm that's a tough one. I've seen some really amazing shows. One of my favorites is seeing Death Cab for Cutie play with the Magik Magik Orchestra. That was such a magical show. They released that set live on vinyl and that's one of my favorite records too. But I mean sheesh I saw Baths perform when Ocean Death came out and that was sick. I just saw Real Estate play the 10th anniversary of "Days" which was really great too. Bunch of different experiences. id say Narrow Stairs and before is gold, that's a weird way of saying codes and keys was the last good album so just start from the beginning. honestly some really great songwriting in there
Do you have any upcoming projects that you would like to share?
Not sure what I should announce several cool releases are happening this year. Videopolis on Oasis Ltd. is dropping the March 4th which will be both an audio and visual experience. Me and Vivi Vulture are working on Secret Levels 2.
More releases & physicals coming from INTERACTIVE CO. later this year.
And getting an older double EP re-released on cassette as well!
Good to hear! Looking forward to your upcoming projects man
If you were stranded on an island which 3 music-related items would you take with you?
Oh my god, that's hard, do I have electricity or now?
Yes you do
Oh then my laptop / USB mic / midi keyboard
Thanks for chatting with me this afternoon for the interview!
Thanks again I appreciate it
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-VDMR
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