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It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Los Angeles electronic producer Daedelus once went on tour with Madvillain and J Dilla. His idea of a guilty pleasure is music from the 1930s. Every other picture of him shows him hunched over a monome (look it up). He’ll go on a tangent about Persian wedding bands or the Beijing opera. Yeah, Daedelus is one of those producers. The kind of guy whose knowledge of music belongs on a hard drive under lock and key at the Smithsonian. His last album was an EP with his wife Laura Darling based on a 19th century passage in Chinese history. And what’s an underground bohemian beat-head without his quirks? Mutton chops worthy of a Civil War general and a propensity for Victorian fashion and give the experimental musician a suitably odd appearance. Yeah, Daedelus is definitely one of those producers.
Daedelus recently called us from his Los Angeles home to talk about getting sampled by Madlib, the LA beat scene, and articulating his ever-twisting discography. Dates for the Magical Properties Tour below.
ML: You have a pretty daunting discography. For someone who’s unfamiliar with your music, what would be a good starting point?
Daedelus: I always hope that people have an in, some kind of gateway drug into my music. Be it somebody telling them personally what their favorite is and then being walked into things, because to my detriment, I haven’t stayed very solid release to release. It kind of flirts around different styles and ideas. Usually, if I have even the possibility of talking with somebody about what they like, I like to kind of like, ‘Oh, maybe you come from a hip-hop background. You’ll like this record called Exquisite Corpse that features people like MF Doom.’ Maybe that’s an in. If people are coming from more of an instrumental electronic place, I usually recommend Denies The Day’s Demise. Or if they’re more dance-y, I have this record Love To Make Music To which is a little more on the dance tip. There’s no easy answer, sadly. I find it amazing and wonderful that anybody is even willing to listen record to record. I find it incredible that fans are willing to make these jumps. I’m very grateful for that.
ML: Considering how many styles you jump into, maybe you should’ve adopted twenty different monikers like Madlib.
Daedelus: It’s true. My history with this kind of music is looking to these people like Madlib, but also people like Aphex Twin and electronic and hip-hop producers who tend to flirt around with different identities. At the time, I know a lot of these rappers and these people assumed different identities just to get out of contracts and whatnot, but I also think it’s belittling the audience to a degree. Because, it’s telling them that there’s this obscurity you’re not supposed to know about. That you’re assuming that people aren’t going to be into something, maybe. To a small degree. I know a lot of people don’t intend it this way, but it comes across that way to a degree. It comes across as being ego and that’s one thing I try to rally against as much as possible. I think listeners should be respected. Half the people in these audiences are other beatmakers and I was that person six years ago. I was just some kid in the audience with a demo in my pocket. I definitely still feel that to a huge degree. I still am that, it doesn’t change. I’m just trying really hard and I have a few records under my belt. We’re all in the same game. I think assuming that listeners need to be marginalized or segmented — maybe five, ten years ago it was more the case, but nowadays, most of the hip-hop kids I meet that maybe know me through Madvillain or something, they’re listening to dance music, they’re listening to electronic music. It’s all crossed over now. There’s no separation.
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