Jaymie Silk: an interview about producing Space Cowboy
It didnāt take long for him to say the magic words: Fuck it! And just like that, he derailed his career as a beatmaker-for-someone-else to a become self-produced independent musician. After all, he had the skill and a quite hefty cultural baggage. Not only did he realise that he had to go where he wanted, he also learned about the constant need for experimentation and new territory that an artistic medium demands, as he saw rap music slowly decline, hampered by formulaic stagnation. Electronic music, on the contrary, presented an open path with little in the way of rules: this is how we know him today, an electronic musician with a very definite sound a ton of cool original tracks and remixes under his arm.
Lately, things have taken a turn again, Jaymie partnered himself up with notorious Japanese label TREKKIE TRAX , you can listen to Day2Day a previous track collaboration right before releasing this new EP. We asked him how he came to be palsies with the hip and prolific producer clique.
Jaymie Silk: “I discovered Trekkie Trax after the release of the trackĀ āChangeling Lifeā de Carpainter, about a year ago. This summer I decided to make as many songs as possible for a month, and it turns that they posted something on Twitter saying they were looking for new tracks. I just sent them a few songs and a few weeks laterĀ Seimei reached out to me saying they had a compilation on the way (Branch Vol 01), and they wanted my track Day2day on it. At that time I didnāt know they had already playlisted my Sinjin Hawke remix for aĀ āTop Bunkā Guest mix for Good Enuff, I just knew they were the only Japan based label, to my knowledge, trying to develop this new club music sound.”
“We chatted a lil bit withĀ Seimei, the vibe was good and he told me that among all the tracks they received the whole team liked what I sent so when he asked me If I was down to release an EP on Trekkie Trax, naturally, I said yes.”
Writing a new chapter on Montreal šØš¦
Even if it took some time to getting there, the sum of his driven character and friendship with this young new label could possibly be the next big step for him, allowing him to develop his style even further in an inter-continental context. This diversity of contexts has played a key role in his sound before: when he moved to Canada in 2013, he began to dig deeper into the ballroom/vogue subculture and eventually wound up integrating to the scene as he began working in clubs. Jumping from the hypermasculine tropes of hip-hop to an almost opposite genre (for now, until we see more queer rappers), Jaymie Silk produced āBallRoomā, his first Bandcamp release. In his search of specificity, heās integrated his vision of the dancefloor with the ballroom music aesthetic, something that comes up when we asked him about the genres that shaped his work:
“For me, club music is music you can dance to. No matter what kind of song Iām making, Iām always picturing things. For club music I picture dance, dancers, movement.”
Jaymie Silk: “I think this is the kind of energy from the Ballroom scene that you can feel in some of my dance tracks. The groove, the energy, itās all about being fierce, proud. Thatās why I try to make music in a unique way, not to make a copycat of something else. On Space Cowboy, the way the screams are placed in the song are similar to the āHA!ā you can hear in vogue beats, so thatās like my shout-out to the community.”
Jaymie Silk: “I canāt tell you about a specific genre I like. Iām not more touched by a genre more than the other, just good songs. In every genre you can find something that influences you. It can be the emotion, the energy, the way an instrument is used or mixed. As long as thereās a vibe and a feeling it can influence me. Otherwise, I love to hear the new tracks from artists like Ase Manual, LSDXOXO, all the things who tend to redefine music in a unique way.”
Because thatās the point of being an artist (and, in a way, of being human): distinction, identity, self-actualisation. Listening to music in 2018, the fact that music is repetition becomes all too apparent, as weāre able to listen to so much more than ever before in so little time. Musical production has boomed beyond any previous landmark. In explaining the process of the albumās composition, he touches again on this desire to create uniqueness and specificity out of a seemingly always-saturated marketplace.
The inspiration behind producing Space Cowboy
Jaymie Silk: “At the beginning of the year, I had this desire to combine all my influences. So, with the release of my EP “Watch Me”, I started blending the bass club aspects of my music with percussions, trap, house, and other styles that I love using in remixes and live gigs. From that process was born the track Fuego. Fuego and Syrian Favela are among the tracks I sent toĀ Trekkie Trax when they were looking for new music.”
“Fun fact: The lead instrument you hear on Syrian Favela is made with a straw. I didnāt want this track on the EP at first, maybe because during the past year every DJs and wannabe DJs started to play massively a shitload of baile funk, and I think It started to saturate my brain. Even if for me this track is more oriental music-inspired, I donāt know… I guess after a few months of listening back and forth to your own tracks you canāt be objective anymore.”
Jaymie Silk: “IfĀ Trekkie Trax wasnāt so sure to want this on the EP, I think I would never have released it. The 2 other tracks, Space Cowboy and Mino, were made especially for this EP. I wanted this EP to be pure club music . Mino got this afro club vibe I like with the trap feel at the end with the hi-hat pattern and Space Cowboy is ā¦ I canāt even tell you, I just *feel* this track. I donāt know even what genre it is. Music can get so annoying in general, I prefer to create something new instead of listening to a genre you already heard 1 billion times. Otherwise, whatās the point?”
If you find yourself thinking aboutĀ Spike Spiegel, then youāre not alone. Explaining the concepts and composition of the album.
Jaymie Silk: “For Space Cowboy, I started to play around and quickly reached this Peplum vibe with big brass, quite cinematic, something very heroic, Ā like a musical adventure. It has this hard club vibe and this feeling to be lost in space and time. It reminds me of the Cowboy Bepop manga universe, hence the name āSpace Cowboyā.”
As for Silk, heās coming back to Europe for some weeks to perform at gigs and hang out with new acquaintances in the music production business that could be some sort of triumphant return. Thereās even some hints that heāll go on a new direction:
ā¦ Iāve been exploring some new stuff, far from a strictly āclub musicā genre. Iām looking forward to share that. So yeah, you can expect some new music to get pumped on soon!
Weāre mad enthused for him and weāre totally nabbing Space Cowboy for our secret sauce music collection. Listen to the EP via Trekkie Trax!
