the notorious xx by wait what



What follows are a few questions answered by Producer Wait What

CS: How do you feel about Re appropriating Hip-hop? How did you stumble upon mixing the XX with Biggie?

WW: I originally made the mix out of being a big fan of Biggie, and beyond that, of hip hop. I think tinkering with someone else's art can get ethically complicated quickly, but I tend to think of it as a reinterpretation -- by creating the notorious xx, I was merely reinterpreting the original work of each artist and trying to illuminate aspects of each that weren't as easily accessible in their original forms.

The mix came about by hearing VCR playing and thinking of that kind of nostalgia in music being comparable to Biggie's reflections in Juicy, and then being curious what the two would sound like together. After making that first mix, I thought there was something bigger there, pairing the introverted, often uncertain tone of The xx with Biggie's extroverted braggadocio, and bringing out lesser heard elements of each artist with the mix.

CS: Are these songs only made for internet consumption?

WW:While the overwhelming majority of people hear these tracks online, I think that's a product of the Internet being the most accessible medium to access them. I hope that while the Internet is the way that people obtain the songs, they're also downloading copies and putting them on iPods and burning mix CDs for their friends. While the Internet makes it easy to get a lot of music, I'd hope that people are still taking music from the Internet and spreading it to all kinds of different mediums. Also,for each record I make, I create a physical copy complete with album art for people who enjoy things like album art and the weight of a record in their hands.

CS: Whats the motivation behind making something that can't be sold?

WW: My main motivation in making music is to provide something that people enjoy -- not necessarily the majority of people, but something that me and my friends like, and that adds value to the original work with a new spin. The motivation behind music has never been financial for me, and I've been really lucky to have that luxury -- it's awesome to be able to release a record and donate all its profits to a charity, like I did with my last record, this is real life, where all the profits go to benefit youth writing at Dave Eggers' charity, 826 Valencia. I'm a firm believer that people should support the artists that they like, but personally, the motivation behind making music hasn't been financial for me up to this point, and I'm happy to have people enjoy my music and share it with others

.

this is real life by wait what


CS: Are your albums made to be composed as one long mix, or individual songs?

WW: So I think it's a bit of both, though I'm not one of those artists who insists that people listen to their album front to back and that's the only way it can be understood. I'm a realist: I know that people download one song and send it to their friend and post it to their Facebook, and most of the time, people won't hear your entire record, and that's okay -- it's the nature of our collective short attention spans, and I try to embrace that. That being said, I do care about things like track order and establishing a flow throughout an album, so I do try to make it a richer experience for someone who listens to the full record.

CS: On your website you say, "it’s called ‘this is real life’ because as I was making it, a lot of things in my life seemed to fall into place, and I’d step back every once in awhile and just make sure that it all was real."
If I'm not prying too much, what exactly fell into place?

WW: Not prying at all :) I think while I was making the record, I had a lot of opportunity to step back and be really grateful for a lot of the good fortune I'd had: I was living in San Francisco with 5 of my best friends, was working at my ideal job, and got to do things like climb the highest mountain in the continental US and go on a weeklong baseball road trip with my dad. On top of this, I began a relationship with a girl that re-established to me what a really great relationship can be, and found myself waking up every morning feeling incredibly lucky to have found this. So that's why it's called 'this is real life,' because all these things in my life seemed to collide fortuitously, and I'd have to take that step back to realize that it all was real.

CS: Who do you imagine your listeners to be? Who do you wish they were?

WW: I've been pleasantly surprised to see how diverse listeners have been: their ages, backgrounds, countries, musical preferences -- all over the map. I don't think there's any specific type that I want a listener to be other than someone who comes to music with an open mind and is willing to give things a chance before making a snap judgment. People I've talked to who listen to my music have all been really awesome, and it's cool to see that they seem to be good people.

CS: Assuming that mashups can really only survive on the internet how does the relationship between you and your listener change? It seems like it would be hard to react to the crowd like a DJ in an actual venue does, when your listeners are all over the world?

WW: It's actually a pretty amazing thing having a decentralized listener base. It means that I can release a record, and within 24 hours, it's been downloaded in 150 countries. Places I've never been or maybe even ever heard of, there are people that have somehow found out about some music I made, and that's a pretty incredible feeling. I've gotten the opportunity to talk to some of these people, and I respond to all email I get: waitwhat@waitwhatmusic.com

While it's different than the real-time feedback of playing a live gig, I do take listener feedback to heart, and consider it strongly when I'm considering different track treatments.

CS: What are you future goals in music, where do you want to be in 10 years?

WW: 10 years feels like it's a lifetime away, but my future goals are to tour more extensively and to work directly with an artist to create a record. Other than that, playing shows, continuing to meet people, and hear their stories -- it's been an awesome ride so far, and I'm looking forward to doing it bigger and better.