Controller 7's 2020 Release Wrap-up for Couch, Tommy & Richie Present: "Billy" & exhale01 (The Witzard Interview)
Controller 7 is a Berkeley, California-based producer, who makes self-described "beats, mostly sample-based cut-and-paste type stuff." C7 spent his early years spinning G.I. Joes off of his Sesame Street record player, playing in the mud, and falling face first off his bike. After spending some quality time memorizing the lyrics to Run-D.M.C.'s "You Be Illin,'" air drumming to mid-80's jams on MTV, and becoming obsessed with dubbing tapes, he started playing the drums in 1988. Fast-forward to a number of years later, Controller 7 had honed in his technique and started making rough demo tapes, one of which just so happened to fall into the hands of sole—then, one of the founders of anticon.—and by 1998-99, things were starting to take shape. Controller 7 has since worked with the like sof sole, Sage Francis, Third Sight, Atmosphere, Themselves (doseone & JEL.) Deep Puddle Dynamics, and Sixtoo. He has released a number of solo albums, EP's, and mixes on 6months, Wenod Records, Potions Music, Buenaventura Records, Handmade, Bully Records, 4th & Wellington Records, and Token Recluse, as well as his own Grey Carpet Records/Controller Music.
Following about a 10-year period of inactivity, wherein he staretd a family, was working full-time, and was attending grad. school at night, Controller 7 returned in 2017 with Right Hand Straw. Last year, C7 had an extremely eventful 12 months, releasing Couch with emcee MESTIZO, Tommy & Richie Presnet: "Billy" with mysterious emcee "Richie," now widely known to be Buck 65, and a largely instrumental beat-minded project, exhale01. We've been closely following Controlelr 7's career re-birth since first discoveing his music through Bumps: A Rap Mix, Sonoro: A Psych Mix, and The Sound of... - A Breaks & Samples Mix upon their release on Bandcamp during early 2019. So, it was great to experience Controller 7's slew of 2020 releases as they were released out into the music-loving world. As expected, we jumped at the opportunity to conduct an interview, via email, with the man himself regarding his 2020 collaborative and solo efferts, as well as what's to come through 2021.
I. Your 2017 release, Right Handed Straw (the follow-up to Left Handed Straw) was your first proper release since 2005's Bumps. What made you decide to return to actively making music?
Controller 7: I never completely stopped, but, I think, I lost a little bit of the fire and, also, just didn't have the energy necessary to finish a project. The main reason I took a break was just a series of changes in my personal life: I got married, had kids, and went back to grad. school. Those things all took time and energy and I just didn't have a lot left for anything else. At one point, I had a one-year-old at home, I was working full-time, and I was doing grad. school at night. I never sold any equipment or any records, so I, basically, just put it all on Pause. I would mess around with things from time to time, but just didn't have a lot of incentive to put something out. During that time, I was, basically, picking away at what would become Right Handed Straw and the cut-and-paste sample mix I made called The Sound of... At one point, I just realized it was time to wrap it up and move on. Right Handed Straw was, basically, me taking all of the little bits I'd been holding onto and compiling them as a "farewell." After a decade or so, things were a lot different and I didn't really have much of a music community that I was part of and I didn't think I'd be doing much more at that point.
However, when I put out Right Handed Straw (RHS,) I realized there might still be something there. Meaty Ogre, who runs Potions Music NYC, wanted to put RHS out on tape and that gave me a little confidence boost. That was the real turning point. In the years that followed, I went from using an MPC2000 as my main workstation to using a Maschine Studio. That really changed my workflow and allowed me to make music faster, which was essential because I don't have a lot of free time these days. Besides that, I don't know exactly what happened, but I hit a point where I went from being kinda tired and discouraged to being really energized and excited. I was finding inspiration in all kinds of places and I was doing a lot of studying (watching YouTube videos, reading interviews, etc.) Inspiration can be pretty infectious. I didn't want it to fade and was pretty purposeful about staying in that positive frame of mind. There are a few friends out there that received a flood of texts and DM's of my enthusiasm and encouragement. I wanted others to feel as excited as I was because I was hoping that energy would make its way back to me.
II. How did your first album of 2020, Couch with emcee MESTIZO, initially come to fruition?
C7: MESTIZO & Meaty Ogre put out an EP called BARBEQUE. part 1 in June of 2019. I asked Meaty Ogre about it and he said they, basically, made it in a weekend. That kind of blew my mind and, also, lit a fire under me. I had wasted so much time over-thinking things and holding myself back, in terms of music. So, here I am in a pretty inspired point in my musical life, but I didn't really have an outlet or a project to work on. Hearing a friend say he made a record in a weekend was exactly what I needed. It helped me realize that I just needed to let go and just make music. Since I'd been out of the music scene for over a decade, my musical social scene was, basically, non-existent. Knowing that MESTIZO had done this record with Meaty [Orge] in a weekend, I figured he'd be a great person to test the waters with. I figured I'd ask him if he'd want to do a song.
He'd sent me some complimentary messages about Right Handed Straw, so I figured the odds were good he'd be down to give it a try. I sent him an Instagram DM and asked if he'd want to do a song. When he said "yes," I went to work trying to come up with stuff. I ended up making so much stuff that I got the idea of just making a whole album. I burned a rough idea CD and listened to it in my car and that was when I decided to piece the whole thing together and present him with the idea of doing a whole album. So, after that first DM about one song, I later connected with him and sent a demo of the whole album. It was pretty close to the final version with all the songs in the same order and all the little vocal samples that transition the songs. I, also, pitched the concept behind Couch and the photo I took for the cover.
III. What's the story behind the ratty-looking "curbside" couch on its cover?
C7: While at work, I would take walk breaks and I would listen to music. This was all part of me absorbing lots of stuff and staying inspired. At this point, I'd already asked MESTIZO about doing the one song and I was working on the idea of doing an album. I saw the couch on the sidewalk and there was something about it that just connected a few thoughts for me. It was an abandoned couch in front of an empty lot with a chain link fence and dead grass. Besides feeling musically inspired, I was feeling pretty down about the state of the world. In retrospect, it was a much more tame time compared to the current weight of the world, but I was thinking a lot about this idea of false comfort.
In a nutshell, it was that feeling of reading horrible news on an expensive cell phone and being able to easily disconnect from the world we live in. We are immersed in endless information, much of it terrible and hard to take in, but we, also, have this strange ability to Close an app or Swipe Down to a cat meme and just move on from the atrocities of the world. It's a strange world, where a mass shooting at a school is news for a day or two and is quickly replaced in the news cycle. I was feeling that social media and our phones create this false comfort. How can you be so aware of all of this horrible sh*t and, also, move on so quickly?
So, my mind is swirling in confusion and dissatisfaction and, somehow, it all crystalized in that couch on the street. Couches are generally thought of as comfy, but the abandoned street couch is kind of like the mascot of false comfort. It's usually dirty, has a broken leg, or is missing cushions. Long story short, that couch was kind of how I was feeling. It presents one thing, but has a darker reality. I took the photo and ended up getting really into the concept. That helped me shape the tone of the album, at least musically, and with all the vocal samples I chose to tie it together. Also, I walked by a few days later and the cushions were gone and it all seemed to work out perfect because I used the photo with no cushions for the instrumental release of the album. It all just felt like it clicked.
IV. How did Couch's companion Handsmade limited edition vinyl cover designed by Jason Jägel come together?
C7: In 2016, I bought a piece of art from his website. He emailed me and was really nice, so I asked if I could mail him some music. We didn't really connect at that point, but a few emails went back-and-forth. I think, we ended up talking later on down the line through Instagram. I ended up sending him a link to Couch when it was done, simply to share. I am a big fan of his work and just wanted to share it with someone I respected. The album had been out for a little bit and, I think, he messaged back about really enjoying it. I asked him if I could commission him to do a quick piece using my original photo of the couch. I was hoping he could maybe paint a person sitting on the couch. It was kind of funny because I sent the message and, maybe, a few hours went by and I could see that the message had been Read.
I didn't know, if he wasn't into the idea or not, but, then, I got a message back and it was a photo of the piece he did. He, basically, took my request and did an impromptu piece while listening to the record. It was a pretty big highlight for me. He is a great guy and an amazing artist. He agreed to let us use it for the vinyl release and he, also, ended up doing the full layout. It was a really cool experience for me because he included some phrases from the album and that really bugged me out about the whole life cycle of the art. I found these little bits of dialog and manipulated them to work as part of music and here they were as part of a collage in a painting. Kinda hard to put it all into words, but my little art piece became a different piece of art and those two came together to make another one.
V. So, who are the mysterious "Tommy" & "Richie" heard across your next release of 2020, "Billy?"
C7: When the record came out, the "Tommy" part wasn't as much of a mystery as "Richie" was. I think, people got it that Controller 7 was "Tommy," but "Richie" was just "Richie" and there wasn't any official attachment of a different name to that record. At this point in time, it's known and I've, actually, updated the streaming services to reflect who it is. "Richie" is Buck 65. The idea wasn't really to trick anyone. I thought it would be pretty obvious who it was once people heard it and, for the most part, it was. People figured it out on release day. The only reason we did that was because Buck had somewhat unofficially "retired" and hadn't really planned on doing this. It wasn't anything overly complicated, it just felt like a fun way to put the record out. The entire thing was a mystery until a few hours before it was released.
The album happened fairly fast and it was all a pretty spontaneous process. Some ideas were spit-balled and it ended up being what it is without much prior planning. I did the music ahead of time, similar to how I made Couch, but I didn't have a theme in place, just the music. I threw out the idea of doing an album that takes place in a single day. There's an added layer of mystery for some people as to who "Billy" is or what the story is about, but people figured that out, too. In the end, I think, it's a pretty fun and unique listen. It's meant to be listened to as a whole and, I think, it, actually, builds really well with the second half getting a lot heavier in a good way.
VI. In addition to yourself and the aforementioned emcees, who else contributed to both Couch & Tommy & Richie Present: "Billy?"
C7: Couch & Billy were both, basically, just me as producer and, then, the featured vocalists. The only feature was D-Styles from THE BEAT JUNKIES, who did the scratches on "Promised Land" from Couch. On Billy, Buck 65 did all of the vocals and scratches. I did a few scratches, but the majority of what you hear is him. You can hear the ones I did on the instrumental version of the album. Mine were more parts of the production, as opposed to his being more featured parts.
VII. What would you say is the overarching theme behind your third release of 2020, exhale01?
C7: Initially, it was supposed to be called Ensemble Exhale. I was kind of riding a high from Couch & "Billy," which were released in a three-month span. I wanted to keep going, so I did somewhat of a public challenge for myself. I work better under pressure and a deadline, so I posted the cover and a release date for an album that didn't exist. I was going to make it in reverse, using the public pressure to keep me on track and motivated. This was at the beginning of The Pandemic and things were a bit more focused on the boredom of being trapped inside. I wanted to make a musical exhale. The "Ensemble" part was me thinking that I'd, basically, try to connect with a bunch of friends and musicians and make this collective musical sigh or "exhale." It was meant to be a good creative outlet, kind of like a healing release.
I was making pretty good progress and was about two weeks away from the proposed release date when George Floyd was murdered. The tone of everything seemed to shift. The light-hearted nature of what I was planning, now felt pretty off-the-mark. It was hard to even imagine releasing music at that point. I just wasn't really thinking about music. I was spending far too much time on The Internet and it just wasn't healthy. A few weeks later, the Armand Hammer Shrines album came out and it just really hit me in the right way and cleared my mind a bit. I realized that music was a healthy outlet for me and that I should just try working on some stuff, at least, as an alternative to feeling overwhelmed while scrolling the news.
As I worked on stuff, I wanted to capture how I was feeling and, also, just capture a sense of the world at that moment. I didn't want anything to be super-literal or obvious, so there aren't any famous sound bites or anything like that, but I did subtly layer in sounds from protests, sirens, newscasts, and old clips that I felt captured some of those feelings. When you listen to it, it may not be obvious and that was my intention. I wanted it to be more like a field recording of that time period. In a nutshell, the theme is that there's so much wrong with society and at the root of all of it is money.
VIII. How did you manage to get Hemlock Ernst (AKA Future Islands frontman Samuel T. Herring) on exhale01 stand-out "swallow?"
C7: We connected through Instagram. It blew my mind, but he approached me as a fan of my music. I am a little bit older than him, so we came into music at different times. He knew my Left Handed Straw album prior to a time when he was releasing music. And, then, when I was at a point in life where I wasn't really working on music anymore, I was hearing him on the radio with Future Islands. I never would've imagined we'd connect further down the line. I am a big fan of his, so it was hard to believe he knew of me, but he is such an incredibly nice guy. I threw out the idea of doing a song together and he was into it. The timing all worked out and he was cool with me putting it out as part of [exhale01]. We will, hopefully, be doing some more stuff in the future.
IX. "Billy" was released on limited edition cassette on your own Grey Carpet Records and exhale01 saw a vinyl release on Switzerland-based Buenaventura Records. How did these particular re-releases come to fruition?
C7: When we made "Billy," the original idea was to just release it online and see how people would react. We honestly had no idea what people would think. It did really well as a digital release on Bandcamp. Eventually, it just felt like it should have some sort of actual release, so I put out the tapes myself. We are working on a vinyl release for "Billy," which will come out on Handsmade, the label that put out Couch on vinyl.
The vinyl release of exhale01 came about in a pretty spontaneous way. Rico from Buenaventura Records had reached out to me on Instagram about a different project, so we already knew each other. When I put out [exhale01], he really liked it and proposed putting it out as a low key, [white label-]type release. Before I put the album out, I had asked my friend Greg [Gardner] to do an illustration for me to use as an ad. When Buenaventura proposed the idea of a hand-stamped cover, I mentioned the drawing my friend did. It all came together pretty fast. All of the copies in The US sold out pretty quickly, but you can still get it from Buenaventura Records.
X. Who's responsible for designing the packaging for the 200 Buenaventura Records hand-stamped exhale01 LP's?
C7: The illustration was done by my friend Greg Gardner. Rico from Buenaventura Records had a stamp made of the illustration and he stamped all of the sleeves and records. Since they were hand-stamped, they all are slightly different and some have different layouts.
XI. So, now that our extremely eventful 2020 is finally over... what do you have planned next for 2021?
C7: I'm working on a few things. The reason the exhale record was called exhale01 is because I decided I wanted to make the exhales into a series. That's why it has the "01" at the end. I am approaching them as a way to exhale, like let out an idea or a feeling that might not fit into something else. I'm looking at them as a way to capture a feeling or try something new. So, hopefully, there will be some more exhale records. The first one was an experiment for me because I made it from start to finish in a two-month period. I'd like to keep pushing myself with the series, whether it is a time constraint or, maybe, the way I make the music. I've been working on a few other things. I don't think I can capture that same energy I had when I did the Couch, Billy, [and] exhale01 run, but I'm still staying busy.
XII. Having worked with MESTIZO, Richie/Buck 65, Hemlock Ernst, Jason Jägel, and more throughout 2020, who else would you like to work with in 2021?
C7: After exhale01, I focused most of my efforts on collaborations. I have a few possible things in-the-works, but I can't really say what, at this point. I like doing the one producer/one vocalist-type albums, so I'd like to do some more of those. I am open to almost anything these days, but I, also, have somewhat specific interests in what I want to do. I will likely have a mix of instrumental releases and some work with vocalists.
