With a distinctive, and innovative sound that tinkers with the Glitch Hop, Funk, and Breakbeat genres, Aussie producer and turntablist, Slynk, has risen up over the past decade to establish himself in the electronic music scene. Having first started out by spinning vinyl in an underground café in his hometown of Brisbane, Slynk begun by getting involved in Hip Hop production, and has since developed his own signature style, which has garnered him a dedicated fan base, as well as gigs at some major events, such as British Columbia’s Shambhala Festival.
Much to the delight of fans, Slynk has just dropped his newest LP entitled Front Yard Futon, and needless to say, it does not disappoint. Comprised of ten unique tracks, including some collaborative tunes with noteworthy artists such as Beat Fatigue, Mr. Bill, JPOD, and Stereocool, this album is demonstrative of Slynk’s adeptness with both music production, and composition. An uplifting and vivacious coalescence of bubbly synths, grooving melodies, and lively percussion rhythms punctuated by catchy vocal samples, this LP is a real treat for Glitch Hop and Funk enthusiasts.
Front Yard Futon can be streamed above, and you can support it here via Bandcamp. We were also fortunate to have asked Slynk a few questions about this release, as well as his musical background. Check out the interview below!
1. First off, congratulations on the release of your latest album, Front Yard Futon. Did you have a particular vision in mind when creating it? Do you feel that you were able to fully actualize that vision?
“I think it’s really important to have fun while writing music, so my main goal was just to enjoy myself during the writing process by fully exploring every weird idea I had. I didn’t want to just lock myself in the studio to write the whole album. I wanted the album to be social, so I called on some friends to join me in the writing process. The whole thing felt very natural.”
2. How did you come up with the title of this release?
“My housemates and I had a yard sale last summer. We set up the turntables in the front yard, cracked a few beers and just hung out in the sun. As our friends dropped by unannounced to check out what we were selling, it reminded me of the days before cell phones when you’d just drop by to see your friends instead of texting and calling. I wanted to try and capture those nostalgic good vibes with the title and the artwork of the album.”
3. Your music is often categorized as Funk or Glitch Hop. How did you first get into producing within these genres, and what keeps you interested and invested in them?
“I’ve always been into funk music and in my early days of producing I was just doing simple funk remixes for Goodgroove Records. Things got a little more bass and synth heavy for my Ghetto Funk releases and I really enjoyed that aspect of writing and wanted to take it further. I really enjoy writing glitch hop but I wouldn’t say I’m heavily invested in it. I’m more invested in the funk. Funk makes me smile and music should be enjoyed.”
4. What kind of music did you listen to growing up? Has that affected the music you make today?
“My father has a very large music collection. He mostly listened to your typical “dad rock” as I was growing up but he also listened to lots of funk, soul and hip hop. We’d watch Rage (which is like the MTV of Australia) and he was always pointing out the original samples of hiphop tracks and play the original from his CD collection to prove it. This idea of sampling really piqued my interest. I started listening to more funk and hip hop and ended up getting into some sample-based production myself.”
5. You have a number of stunning collaborative tunes on this album with artists such as Mr. Bill, and JPOD among others. Can you tell us a little bit about how those collaborations came about? Was there one collaborative track that you particularly enjoyed working on?
“Everyone I collaborated with on the album I would consider a good friend. I would come up with a bit of an idea in the studio and think, man this track would sound great with a little bit of a JPOD influence. So I rendered out the idea and hit him up on facebook you know? That’s how all the collabs manifested. Just a natural conversation with a mate. My favorite was the title track with AfroQBen. We were going back and forth in the emails. Every time I checked my email it was like Christmas. Unzipping some incredible funky guitar and then arranging it into the track was really exciting.”
6. Finally, can you tell us a little bit about any music you have in the works right now?
I haven’t done a ton of production since the album unfortunately. I’ve been on what feels like a non-stop festival tour all summer right off the back of my recent Europe tour. But I do have a couple of collabs in the works with Father Funk and Cheshire among others. I haven’t committed fully into writing my next album yet but I do have a couple of ideas in mind. As soon as I get a good block of time off from touring, I’ll be looking at exploring those ideas.”
Connect with Slynk:
https://www.facebook.com/evanslynk
https://twitter.com/evanslynk
https://soundcloud.com/slynk
Share On
