Vibe Magazine knew what they were doing when they named Eliot Lipp one of 2013’s Top 10 Fastest Rising DJs. In the more than ten years since Lipp got involved in the scene, he’s had record deals with labels like PLM and the now defunct Eastern Developments and is seemingly always on the road, including a hot ticket time slot at this year’s Basslights festival in VA.
Despite his busy schedule, L4LM was able to grab some time with Lipp to discuss his latest release Watch The Shadows, which dropped on October 14, and learn about his experience on PLM’s “Keepin’ It Crew” tour.
Where did you grow up?
Out here in Tacoma, Washington. It’s where I went to high school and everything.
Do you feel like your hometown influences your sound at all?
Yeah, I played in bands and stuff when I was growing up, and then when I started making beats, there wasn’t like a huge hip-hop scene out here. But I had a lot of friends that were into it. I don’t know what it was specifically about the sound from the Northwest that influenced my style, but I’m sure it’s in there somewhere.
Which artists inspired you to start making beats?
Originally, it was just a lot of west coast rap and Bay Area stuff like E-40 and Too Short, and a lot of that kind of stuff made me want to start making beats. I was inspired by that style of production. But I also got into DJ Shadow and RJD2 and a lot of the others. Eventually, once I started expanding what I was listening to, I listened to a lot more of the instrumental hip-hop guys.
When did your love for making music become more than just a hobby?
It was when I dropped out of school. I was in art school in San Francisco. I was about two and a half years in, and then I was doing music a lot just for fun. I started playing live, pressed up some CDs and realized I wanted to do music instead of art. So, I started getting serious about it probably around….well, I moved from San Francisco to Chicago. I wanted to live somewhere cheaper, and I really liked the music scene in Chicago at the time. That was also a part of it. I was kind of deciding I wanted to try it out. I started doing shows and stuff around then too.
How would you classify your sound? If we walked into one of the few remaining record stores, where would we find one of your records?
Well, I remember when stores used to have just an electronica section where they put all of it. I would say it’s electronic, you know, electro. But I never get too specific, so I never go further than that because I mess with a lot of different styles within just electronic and that whole spectrum. There’s funk, there’s hip-hop. There’s just elements of so many other styles. I try not to be too specific, but I do like when it’s general – just electronic.
Which piece of equipment would you say you use most in your production?
I guess I would say my laptop and my software, but really there’s so many different VSTs and plugins that I use within that. Recently, I bought a Moog synthesizer. I bought the Sub Phatty is what it’s called, and I’ve been using that in every show, and I have implanted it in almost all my tracks.
When we went through Asheville, I got to go to the factory where they make them all. It was so cool. They do everything there from marketing to shipping, and they build everything there and fix everything there. And it’s all in one building. It was so neat. And also, my synth was broken, like one filter was broken, so I brought it in, and I got to sit with the dude while he fixed it. I got to sit and talk to him about it and watch him fix my keyboard. It was so cool.
Your new album, Watch The Shadows, dropped last month. What would you say was the biggest challenge in creating the album?
Oh, wow. There were so many challenges. I think one of the challenges was, in the middle of it, we decided not to have any samples on it. So, I started working with live musicians to replay all the parts: the piano, the guitar the drums and even the vocals are just all done by friends of mine. I brought them into my studio and recorded them. And all the guitar is done by my friend Nick. Now he plays in Cage the Elephant. He used to tour with me playing guitar in my band. He’s a great guitar player. I’ve been playing with him forever. So, when I told him I wanted him to do guitar on the record, he was super down to do it. It worked out.
I really just went around to all my friends. Another buddy of mine has this grand piano that’s all mic’d up in his studio, so I just went over there and recorded a bunch of the piano parts. It was a challenge to replay a lot of the samples, but it also gave me a lot more creative control over the composition. So instead of just being stuck with one Moog, I could change it however and do whatever I wanted to with the chord progressions. So, it kind of opened it up. I definitely learned a lot more about recording, and I think that pushed me to try and grow as a composer a little bit.
Why did you choose “The Western” as the first single?
Cause it had Cherub on it. (Laughs.) When I made that song with them – funny thing – we started making that song a couple years ago before they had their record deal, and they weren’t nearly as big as they are. It’s the pop-iest song on the album, and I wanted to take a song that I knew I could get on college radio, and I could get it on some blogs. I was trying to get it on some indie blogs, not just those in the EDM world. I wanted to try and go for something different because a lot of the time when I’m promoting a new record, I feel like it’s hard to get out of your little bubble. And that song, I thought would be a great way to get out in front of other audiences.
But at the same time, there’s a lot of fans of like Pretty Lights and the Pretty Lights label that really don’t like Cherub, and I realized that when we posted it. I started seeing all these comments and was all “Oh shit.” But, at the same time, I was just tweeting about this the other day how when you start seeing haters commenting on your shit or people talking shit about you online, I feel like it’s a good sign. It means you’re getting out there into circles that don’t normally know your music.
Definitely. There will always be haters.
Yeah, if you’re just getting your music out to your fans, then of course everybody’s going to like it. Like, “Oh yay, new music. This is good. Thank you.” So, I kind of like it when I see critics and people talking shit because I’m like, “Okay, well I came across your neck of the woods.” Even if they don’t like, I’m just glad that they’re aware of it.
And who’s to say that they won’t come back and listen to something else of yours just because they are now are of you?
Oh yeah. That’s definitely happened to me before where I first heard an artist, and I hated him, and then I came around. (Laughs.)
What was the audience response like when you played tracks off the new album on PLM’s ‘Keepin It Crew’ tour?
It was great. It was cool because we started the tour before the record came out. I love seeing the reaction – the difference between when they know the songs and they don’t. It was cool to get to see when I’m starting into a brand new song, and I could feel that there were some people out there who knew it and it was one of their favorites from the record. That was a good feeling.
But the tour – it was a different style. It was me and Michal Menert, Paul Basic and SuperVision all from the PLM label. We were all performing at the same time, so our sets were all kind of together. We weren’t really doing separate sets. We were all up on stage for the whole show.
That sounds awesome.
Yeah, it was so much fun doing it that way. I hope I get to do it again because we had a blast.
How was your show at the Gramercy Theatre when you were here in NYC?
It was awesome. We didn’t play until after one [in the morning]. It was super late, but it was fun. It was a super packed crowd. And, I don’t know, the energy was really good even for such a late night. It was awesome.
Was that your first time playing in New York?
No, I lived in New York for about ten years.
And you played shows here?
Oh yeah. I used to play Glasslands all the time. I played Brooklyn Bowl.
Ohhh – Glasslands is closing.
Oh, I know. I heard about that. I just left Brooklyn in January and came out to the Northwest. I lived in Greenpoint.
Is there anything else you want to add or promote that you’ve got coming up?
Well, one show I’m excited about is I’m playing at Basslights in Virginia with Bassnectar and Pretty Lights. I’m getting really excited about that show.
When’s that?
That’s on December 28. And then, yeah, I’m also going to be doing a solo tour next year, probably not until a little ways into the winter around February maybe. We haven’t set any dates yet. We’re just starting to work on that right now. So, I’m looking forward to getting back on the road.
