Flavorpill: How did Friends of Friends get its start?

Leeor Brown: I work for a company called Terrorbird Media, and have access a lot of awesome artists and deal with a lot of different labels on that level. It’s been something I’ve always wanted to tackle, and eventually, it got a lot easier to release records. I’d have to say I attribute it mostly to Daedelus, though. Once the idea hatched with us, he really kicked me in the butt, and if it wasn’t for him, it wouldn’t have happened. He definitely pushed me along and really loved the idea, and wanted me to make it happen. That was pretty much it. I just wanted to take all this stuff that I’d learned through marketing and whatnot, and with all these artists I had access to, I wanted to get them out into the world and allow people to hear them. The goal was to try and do it in a different way.

FP: How did you come up with the name of the label?

LB: The “friends of friends” notion had been in my mind awhile. I’d originally wanted to do just digital-only singles where I would invite someone to do a song, and then have them invite someone else to do the other half. It expanded into the idea of doing an EP, and I realized we had to have a visual element, so I figured what better way to do it than to have the two people on the release invite a designer — make it even more “friends of friends” and tell an entire story at once?

The whole idea was to think, “How did I come across records before I was doing industry stuff?” and it always had to do with labels I trusted, with artists who I trusted — like if they were making guest appearances on other people’s records and things like that. And also, just the visual element of the release — all those things kind of went into my decision to create the label as I did.

FP: Who are some of those labels that you trusted?

LB: I’d say one that has a lot to do with what I’m doing is Ghostly International. One of the things I heard Sam Valenti say once really intrigued me: the idea that electronic music isn’t a genre, it’s a way of making music. And I feel like my label aesthetic would be similar to that,. We’re really into electronic stuff, but nowadays, everything can be considered “electronic music.” I think another label that I’ve been a huge fan of would be DFA — their incestuous nature, the way they kind of work together. They’re all homies, they’re all a team, but on top of that, they try to find really cool stuff they like from overseas to bring here. It’s kind of the same idea that I’m trying to run with as well.

FP: Describe the process of signing an artist, from start to finish, for those unfamiliar with your label.

LB: In the early stage, we wanted to tell a very precise story as to what a Friends of Friends release was. It would be me having contact with a friend of mine — in this case, the first release was Daedelus, and the second release are my homies Larytta, who are from Switzerland. I go to whoever I want to invite and I say, “I’m putting together a project — Friends of Friends. It’s may not be a huge money-making opportunity, but it’s definitely an opportunity to get your stuff seen, to put out a release in a unique and different way, and to do something really fun and cool and have an awesome artistic outlet where you can do more than just make songs.”

So ultimately, I invite them in. They are then essentially the curator of the release, and invite someone to do the other half. For the first three EPs, we’re doing six songs — three songs from the friend I invite, and then three songs from the friend they invite — and then they get together and invite a designer to do a limited-edition t-shirt design. The shirts come with a seed-paper download card with little seeds in it, so if you plant it, it’s biodegradable and actually grows a little plant.

I wanted to do something that was unique, but also waste-free, because the old music industry was just so wasteful. It just seems so ridiculous now, to look back and think about how many CDs and fliers and posters and all this crap was just being thrown around to promote the releases, where we haven’t actually burned up one CD promo. Every bit of promotion I’ve done has been completely digital. So the whole idea was to try to keep it as waste-free as possible.

FP: So you don’t release anything on vinyl or CD?

LB: No CDs for sure. Vinyl is something that will happen. I’m actually a vinyl nut, I absolutely love vinyl. Initially, when I started the label, I was in a very heavy debate as to whether I wanted to do T-shirts or vinyl — the t-shirts being more expensive. Ultimately I went with the t-shirts because it made a real impact, and I thought it was a unique idea that people hadn’t been doing. It was right on the cusp of what was happening in the industry. So I figured I’d launch with that and see if we can get some people noticing it. I feel like it definitely worked out.

For some of the releases coming up, I have a different scheme. I’m actually putting out a full-length in February, from a producer named Ernest Gonzales from San Antonio. This project is going to be our first proper full-length, and we definitely went above and beyond for this one. We are putting together a whole compilation of cover songs — different artists are covering every song on his record — and we’re also getting artists to do their interpretation of every song on the record. There will actually be a .pdf art booklet that comes with the digital download as well, and a book that’s going to be available for purchase. It’s going to be a limited run of actual books that will come with a download code, so you get the album and the covers album if you buy the art book, and then there is also going to be vinyl this time around, where you get the .pdf art book, the covers album, and the album itself — all if you purchase the vinyl.

FP: You’re more than a music label, offering a way of life through selling apparel, décor, and more. Was this a reaction to the digitization of the music industry, or do you think it’s something you’d have done even if you were physically selling the music primarily on vinyl or CD?

LB: I believe that at the end of the day, I would have started a label of my own, just because I really do love music. I love working with the guys that I work with; I’ve always wanted to help out these artists. It’s kind of why I got into PR to begin was, to try to help the people I really believe in get out and do good things with their music. For me, I do feel like I would have done the label anyways. It just wouldn’t have been able to happen in the same way, just because of the financial nature. There’s no doubt that the innovative side of the label is coming as a direct reaction to the digital movement.

The t-shirt idea was a direct reaction against all the stuff that’s happening with digital, ’cause you can’t download a t-shirt. If you want to go find the music, it’s available everywhere for free. I’m not stupid, I know how it goes — I could name five sites that have it there for free right now. But if you want to support the artist, then you can either buy the album on iTunes for $6, or you can buy the shirt for $30 and get all of the stuff. We’re also trying to give different tiers, too — you can either buy the book, or the vinyl, or just the MP3s, just to give people ways to support the artists, because that’s really what it’s about.

If we’re talking about the general sales conversation, it just seems so dated, because it’s a record-label concept. It’s not about artists and the movement. Like you said, it’s more like a lifestyle. I think of Friends of Friends, hopefully, as something that can build into a lifestyle-type thing, because all we’re doing is throwing shows and releasing music in ways that we would have liked to buy them, so it’s kind of an extension of that.

FP: Who are some of the artists you are most excited about to have on your label?

LB: I have a release coming out September 15, Friends of Friends Volume 2, so it’s our second proper release. [Larytta] is a Swiss duo that I am in love with. I did PR for their album Difficult Fun last year, and it felt like it was the most criminally slept-on album of last year, by far. I just think that people missed out on that record for no real reason. They’ve got a very quirky, hot-shit vibe — just a little less smooth, a little quirkier. There’s just something about them that I’ve just been in love with, so the fact that they agreed to be the second release kind of blew me away.

I’m putting out a release with this kid named Shlomo out of LA. I know, it’s hilarious. I think his first EP is going to be Shlo Motion, which is hilarious, too, because he makes really wonky beat stuff, kind of like Nosaj Thing or something.

And then Ernest Gonzales. Those three are my next big things, and I’m pretty excited about all of them, I have to say. I’m most excited about hopefully becoming an outlet for people to learn about new stuff. Obviously, I’m going to try to work with well-known artists, but for me, so much of it is about trying to discover new stuff, and then having them put their friends on and finding a cool, easy, word-of-mouth thing that’s just a lot more direct than, say, what the blogs are about. It could be a direct outlet for people.

FP: How has your own experience as a DJ affected how you curate music for the label?

LB: That’s a tough question. I’d have to say it doesn’t, really. It’s weird, ’cause originally, I thought it would a lot more, especially when I started. I’d initially envisioned this as more of a dance label, and the first release was that way. I asked Daedelus and Jogger to make dance tracks. The second release, I would say, is pretty dancey as well. But the Shlomo and Ernest Gonzales stuff isn’t so much. I’m a big fan of the music representing your mood, and I like a lot of different shit and go through a lot of different moods. I DJ a lot of upbeat stuff, a lot more disco and electro, but the label won’t take on those forms. I’d say the DJing affects our parties more than the releases.

FP: What does the future hold for Friends of Friends?

LB: I think what’s awesome about the model and the parties, and all this stuff that I’m trying to get done, is that the future is so open-ended. I love that that’s where we’re going with this. When I talk to somebody about a release now, it’s like, “How can we make this an interesting Friends of Friends release?” and it becomes a discussion, it becomes this process where we’re working on something together. That’s how this Shlomo thing just happened. I literally just heard his EP probably three, four weeks ago, for the first time. I hit him up on email, and next thing you know, we’re talking about how we’re going to put out a Friends of Friends release, and how it can be Friends of Friends-themed as well.

FP: It sounds like you’re on the frontier of a new record label model. It has got to be really exciting.

LB: To be completely honest, that’s the best part — that I do feel like we’re kind of doing our thing, and it’s a little scary, yeah, but at the same time, our overhead is so low. That’s my whole goal. When I talk to these artists, they know I’m not putting a lot of money behind the releases, but that’s the point. Let’s find a way to not spend that much money. The whole Friends of Friends notion, if we set up a release properly, is like we’re almost putting together a small podcast or radio show or something. People used to go to radio to hear something that’s different presented in a unique way.

For me, radio is obviously dying; the blogs tend to be either very emotionless or personality-less. Half of them are copying press releases on the site, you know? For me, this is a way to present a story intact, and let people jump in and involve themselves in the story, if they want. That’s why with the first release, we did a big remix contest, too. I want people to get involved. There’s been a few people who have hit up Friends of Friends based on hearing some of the releases, and I have three of them either doing remixes or covers on upcoming releases. There are so many people making cool stuff right now, why not be open to that kind of stuff, and put them on immediately, and make it kind of this expanding network?

Friends of Friends Volume 2 comes out September 15. Fans are invited to download the Lazer Sword remix of Larytta here. On September 10 Friends of Friends, Flavorpill & Filter will host an evening of music by Lazer Sword, Rainbow Arabia, Hecuba & Ghosts on Tape @ Echo.

Photo credit: Maud Constantin

1. If you’re in New York: Tonight’s Repulsion show is the Blackened Music Series’ inaugural event, set to bring seriously heavy music to the Brooklyn metal masses. Pig Destroyer and Brutal Truth will also play.
2. If you’re in Los Angeles: The lavishly illustrated docu-novel from artist Zak Smith expands on certain extant themes in his paintings and drawings — specifically those relating to the alt-culture, or indie wing, of the porn business. He reads tonight at Skylight Books.
3. If you’re in San Francisco: Nosaj Thing is the alias of Jason Chung, a 24 year-old L.A. based glitch-hop artist and producer whose perfectionism inspires the of use nearly any object capable of making noise to create his eerie, elegant tracks. Catch him at Mighty tonight.
4. If you’re in Chicago: In Steven Soderbergh’s The Girlfriend Experience, porn star Sasha Grey portrays Chelsea, a high-class escort who visits clients during the economic crisis before the 2008 presidential election.

If you’d rather have this information delivered straight to your inbox each Tuesday, sign up for our Flavorpill City Guides.

Chung’s eerie and elegant debut album, Drift, derives its sound from a wide range of influences (one of the tracks is tellingly titled “1685/Bach”), resulting in a record that at times willfully strays from its glitch-hop roots.

He clearly labored over every oddball production detail and sample, and when he can’t find the perfect sound, he just makes it himself — the beat for one song is derived from a sample of Chung peeling masking tape and jangling loose change.

When he’s not obsessing over every aspect of his own tracks, Chung is a prolific remixer for fellow laptop maestros like Flying Lotus, Jogger, and Daedelus.

Read our exclusive interview with Nosaj Thing, download a free remix of “Coat of Arms” or grab the original,  watch more videos, see him live in SF or LA, and buy Drift online.

1. The Smith Westerns – “Be My Girl”
The Smith Westerns play a stripped down form of garage-rock with such urgency and earnestness that they’re somehow able to wrestle cliché rock subjects like teenage romance into genuinely affecting songs that you end up listening to 30 times in a row.
[Download Now] via The Fader

2. Fleet Foxes – “Blue Spotted Tail”
The song actually only features singer Robin Pecknold and his guitar, but the stripped down sound and lack of baroque flourishes actually suits nicely, tempering potentially pretentious existential musings like “why is life made only for it to end?”
[Download Now] via Stereogum

3. Fool’s Gold – “Surprise Hotel”
This summer has seen a lot of great African-inspired tracks popping up from the likes of people like The Very Best and BLK JKS. Now we’ve got Fool’s Gold, whose joyous “Surprise Hotel” is a kinetic, near 7-minute dance epic.
[Download Now] via Mixtape Riot

4. Spoon – “Got Nuffin”
This solid new track is no huge departure in sound for Spoon, just a refinement of their classic elements. It’s a tight, propulsive and slightly stark rock song, just the kind of thing you’d expect from them.
[Download Now] via awmusic.ca

5. Pictureplane – “Goth Star”
Pictureplane is Travis Egedy, a Denver-based performance artist with a penchant for wearing ridiculous clothing and writing shimmering electronic songs that are a little too slow to dance to (despite their obvious nods to house and techno) but are too catchy to ignore.
[Download Now] via Pitchfork

6. Nosaj Thing – “Coat Of Arms”
Nosaj Thing is the rather unimaginative alias of Jason Chung, a 24-year-old LA-based glitch-hop artist and producer who crafts eerie and elegant tracks that derive their uncharacteristic sound from a wide range of influences, resulting in a sound that at times willfully strays entirely from the niche genre’s roots.
[Download Now] via Nialler 9

7. Jay Reatard – “Wounded”
Jay Reatard said that his newest album would be “twee-influenced” and he wasn’t kidding. It’s still very recognizably a Retard song complete with faux-English accent, but the intro’s acoustic guitar and backing “da da da” vocals are certainly a far-cry from the bludgeoning, lightning-quick tunes off his first LP.
[Download Now] via The Needle Drop

8. Times New Viking – “No Time, No Hope”
If you couldn’t listen to Times New Viking before then “No Time, No Hope” isn’t going to do anything to change your mind. If you’re already a fan then you’ll be heartened to know they’re just as abrasive, noisy, and melodic as ever.
[Download Now] via Stereogum

9. The Almighty Defenders – “Bow Down And Die”
Featuring members of both the Black Lips and The King Khan & BBQ Show, The Almighty Defenders are a gospel-inspired indie garage-rock super group with a knack for crafting snotty, lo-fi sing-alongs.
[Download Now] via Stereogum

10. Grey Machine – “Vultures Descend”
Grey Machine are signed to release their debut on the forward thinking LA-based metal label Hydra Head Records and consist of members from Isis, Jesu, and Godflesh. So yeah, it’s heavy, but it’s also experimental enough that it might appeal to musically adventurous non metal-heads as well.
[Download Now] via Metal Sucks

Chief among them is Jason Chung, who continues to sling bangers and mash under the name Nosaj Thing. While plenty of folks assume he’s yet another Fly Lo disciple, you’d be better off filing his music alongside Burial, Plaid, Black Dog, or even good ol’ J.S. Bach. On Chung’s Alpha Pup release, Drift, impressionist classical nuances share space with brittle percussion and drum rhythms. The Danny Elfman fan and former music-store employee chatted up our sister publication Earplug, explaining how he was inspired by The Smell, what it’s like to roll with Flying Lotus, and what the chat room beatmaking scene is all about.

Earplug: Where were you raised, and what were your interests growing up?

Nosaj Thing: I was born and raised all over different areas of LA. I started listening to hip-hop when I was in third grade. The bus driver who drove me to elementary school used to always have Power 106 on. The Beat Junkies were filling a lot of slots on the station and doing a lot of beat juggling and tricks. My ears caught that, and it was all I wanted to listen to. In high school, I played the quad [toms] in the drum line, and during that time as well —1998-99 — I got introduced to the rave scene, drum ‘n’ bass, and house music. At the same time, I started messing with Reason and Fruity Loops.

EP: What did your first tracks sound like?

NT: Pretty much like bad four-on-the-floor dance music. I was just trying to figure [the process] out. I really wanted to be a hip-hop producer like Dr. Dre or Timbaland. As I got older, around 2003-04, I was getting more into indie rock and going to shows at The Smell in downtown LA, seeing bands like No Age, Health, Abe Vigoda, and Mika Miko. Seeing DIY acts really inspired me to do my own thing. I started experimenting more and trying to do something more progressive and interesting.

EP: Who were the first electronic artists you liked?

NT: The Books, Prefuse 73, a bunch of the Warp artists. I really like Boards of Canada. I was always an Internet geek, online in the chat rooms asking people, “I like this, what else is similar?” I was downloading music all the time, through dial-up connections.

EP: When did you start playing live as Nosaj Thing?

NT: I played a few shows at the The Smell around 2004. At first I didn’t have my own equipment, so I had to borrow a friend’s laptop and controller. The live set evolved to include an MPC and I would scratch — I was all over the place.

EP: How did you meet Daddy Kev from Alpha Pup?

NT: I used to watch all the Invisibl Skratch Piklz videos, and even though Qbert is probably the best-known member, we used to follow D-Styles. His website had a message board that I would follow, and I found out that he was going to play a one-off show in LA. The lineup was Daddy Kev, Daedelus, edIT, and D-Syles, and the flier said whoever showed up first with records or gear would open up the show. I thought, “That’s frickin crazy!” So I showed up early and was the only one with gear, and they let me open up. A few months later, Low End Theory was announced, and I started emailing Kev and going to those nights. I definitely felt like that was the music I was looking for.

EP: So you found kindred spirits at Low End Theory?

NT: Yeah. Slowly, more people started hearing about it in LA, including all the Project Blowed community, and all the people involved in beat battles. I met all these other amazing producers, like Flying Lotus and Nobody. That was the hub, the meeting place — kind of like The Smell for this movement.

EP: What do you make of all the media interest LA producers are getting?

NT: I just feel very proud. I think it’s amazing that we’re getting attention. I think it happened as a result of Low End Theory and everyone coming together, so it became more of like a movement. I’m excited about it.

EP: How many laptops have you gone through in your career?

NT: Four. I kind of try and buy and sell them as upgrades come out, and minimize my equipment. When I first started out, I had an Apple G5 Tower, but I had to sell that. Now I roll with two laptops. One for the live show, and one for the studio.

EP: Have any new tracks been produced on the road?

NT: Yeah, I’m pretty much always working on new stuff. I actually wrote the skeleton of a lot of tracks on Drift on the airplane. The album is works I’ve compiled together since 2006. I started by moving all the tracks I like to a certain folder, and I noticed that most of those songs were ones with more melodic elements.

EP: There are certain songs on Drift that sound almost neo-classical. Are you influenced by composers like Ravel, Bach, or Philip Glass?

NT: I took a bunch of music classes at community college. In the Theory and Harmony classes, we studied a lot of classical composers. I have a song on Drift called “1685/Bach,” which doesn’t actually have any chords; the bass line is the melody. For some reason, it has a mathematical feel to me, and I know that a lot of Bach’s work is mathematical, as well. At home, I like listening to Chopin, Debussy, and Erik Satie. Certain songs that I write, for me, I think of as therapeutic. I start off by doing some basic sound design and try to sculpt a sound to fit the mood I’m in. Then I add a chord progression or melody; I rarely start with drums.

EP: The vocal elements you use on songs like “Coat of Arms” are more choral than singing actual lyrics or words. Was that intentional?

NT: Yes, it was. I think of this as more of an electronic album, but I didn’t want it to be stale. I wanted there to be a human element to it, so I added vocal sounds. While I was making the album, Edward Scissorhands was on TV, and I really like Danny Elfman’s soundtrack. I like how he uses the vocal choir, the “ahhs.” Even the [vocal sounds] in like movies like Lord of the Rings — my ears are just drawn to that, and I wanted to incorporate that in my music.