The retro electronic synthwave music scene struggles with a unique dilemma. Whereas in the days of the past, musical creation was most often created by individuals melding together into a (sometimes) cohesive unit, that is no longer required. In the advent of recording technology, both analog and digital, as well as drum machines, vastly improved sampling software, and the vast sharing of information, solo electronic artists flourish. Herein lies the conundrum of synthwave. How can art that is born in the sterile labs of homemade digital studios make the organic transition to love performance and/or collaborations?
Baldocaster is a UK born, but American raised musician that is excited about his debut album on Lazerdisc Records. Moonrise will be available for purchase in mid-November. While not really a “stocking stuffer” it will, however, stuff your eardrums with massive synthwave/outrun/vaporwave tracks, ample amounts of Cosmos-focused themes, and top notch production values. We caught up with Baldocaster and chatted about his musical upbringing, Carl Sagan, his synthwave collaborations and whole lot more. The results were often funny, insightful and up-lifting.
Slickster Magazine – First of all, thanks for sharing your new music with us at Slickster Magazine. We’ve enjoyed listening to it. I want to give you a blank slate before we jump into the meat of the interview. Is there anything that you’d like to clarify from previous interviews, anything written online that is half true or misinformed, or basically, is there anything you want to talk about in regards to your music and artistic career?
Baldocaster – I’m not aware of any slanderous words out there about me… yet ಠ_ಠ. It’s been a long road through various avenues of music creation and I’m happy to finally be releasing music that I’m proud of and feels like me.
You relocated across the Atlantic to settle into the United States of America. What were your major considerations in making this move? Sick of mushy peas, or British birds driving you up a wall? Or something more sinister?
I moved here in 2000 when I was a wee lad of 10, and Fatboy Slim & yo-yos were all the rage. My parents made the decision for me, but I’d like to believe something VERY sinister was afoot. They did break the news of the move to us at a Burger King, and my brother had a meltdown. So there’s that haha.
Can you describe the arc of your musical career, that brings us to this point; The release of Moonrise in November 2018. Where did you get your start crafting chords and melodies? Did you begin with guitar, like many synthwave musicians did or was it something else. Would like to share a bit of your musical background?
I did start with the guitar. I’ve always been really into the blues and folk stuff like Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Clapton, Nick Drake etc. but also melodic electronic music like Daft Punk, Justice, Tangerine Dream & Jean-Michel Jarre. I played in a couple of progressive rock bands through my college years while I was in music/recording school. I think those years really helped me focus my writing and arranging. Some of the old school Rush/King Crimson-y prog rock weirdness and extravagance is probably still evident in a lot of my stuff.
I like to take one or two musical ideas and present them in lots of different ways that flow together and interpolate. I had been aware of synthwave for years but coming from more traditional production and instruments into the electronic world always seemed like too much of a rabbit hole to dive down. Eventually, after discovering Waveshaper, I saw how this retro synth music could be fused with all of the other stuff I love like French House and Jarre. Then I drove up to NYC to buy an old Roland Juno-60 off of craigslist and it all began. I worked on a few singles while I was figuring out my sound. Then once I had honed in on a direction, I locked myself away for 3 months and wrote this album!
That’s awesome. Knowing all of that now, what advice can you impart to our up and coming musicians who read this? How can young electronic musicians, or any musicians for that matter, improve their skills?
For me the most growth has always come from loving and diving deep into lots of music, and spending unhealthy amounts of time listening & creating. I place heavy importance on enjoyable and memorable melodies and interesting groove changes contributing to songs. I’m continually stepping back and thinking about songwriting and how impactful the overall arc of each song is.
Sometimes it seems like producing is a series of brick walls and plateaus that can only be broken through by making music over and over again no matter what. Time and passion. Also, I think the best artists in any genre don’t exist in a bubble and only draw from that genre – they get influence from all kinds of disparate stuff!
Moonrise; That’s a special time of the 24 hour biological cycle. It conjures images of creepy crawlers and the nocturnal activities. That’s not a negative thing exactly, but it does emote a uniqueness. When the sun goes down, people, animals, and the Earth does undergo physiological and mental changes. Some are emboldened. Many seek the safety and security of their dormitories. However, as the title suggests in context with other track names on the album, you have a different perspective on the term “moon rise”. What does it mean to you and how did you place that into context with overall concept of the LP?
I don’t want to say it’s a concept LP, because I don’t consider it one. However, in the song titles there’s definitely a loose idea of some sort of sun cult that garners the wrath of the moon. I want to leave a lot of that up to interpretation. But at the same time I don’t take it too seriously haha. The artist Aleksey Rico definitely did an awesome job with the idea I gave him for the cover artwork.
Are you fan of Carl Sagan, and have you watched his recently published “lost lecture” on mankind and its place in the universe?
I have not seen that! I’m somewhat familiar with Sagan – people are always telling me I need to check out Cosmos and his books out. So maybe I’ll go do that now…
On your record you have three collaborations with other synthwave artists. Those individuals include Caspro (Station X), Stilz (Blood Moon) and Zayaz (Sputnik). How did these remixes come about and what was it like working with them? Did you sit side-by-side at a digital workstation, or were they given tracks via Dropbox and handed the keys to the kingdom to alter your compositions at will?
Caspro is my absolute best synth buddy, we talk daily, so that collaboration started very naturally. We’re always shooting ideas and snippets that we’re working on to each other. He sent me an outline of some of the chords with the bass and skeleton of a drum part. Then I wrote all of the other parts and melodies, drum fills, etc. around that. After I’d fleshed out the song structure, I left the bridge section with just a new chord progression for him to add his awesome “Top Gun” lead as we called it. He is incredible at writing leads and melodies, and doing everything really. I think he made a lot of the intro swells and noises too.
For the remixes, Stilz & Zayaz are two heroes of mine in the scene (both Canadian.) [Check out Stilz’s full interview with Slickster Magazine.] I had chatted with them a bit and timidly asked if they’d be interested in remixing a song for me. They were both very kind and knocked it out of the park. I basically sent them all the parts of those songs and let them do whatever they wanted. They’re both good buddies of mine now too, and I worked on a remix for Stilz in return. For Caspro’s remix he saw a clip of what I was working on for the song “Here on Earth” and DEMANDED that he remix it hahaha. So glad he did because it’s an awesome version.
Thanks for talking with Slickster Magazine. Is there anything you’d like to discuss or promote to your fans or fans who have yet to discover your music?
I did a remix for my hero Waveshaper on his recent “Lost Shapes Reinvented” album that I’m super proud of. But really everybody needs to check out Caspro, Stilz and Zayaz music if they haven’t already! Also Tonebox who helped me out tons with the mixing, mastering and feedback. His music is fantastic as well.
Last item; What is the most important message that you want to share with the world right now?
Be good to each other 🙂 AND RESPECT THE MOON!