Shygone
Shygone at the controls
More I Am A DJ
Eric Gollwitzer is Denver's answer to DJ Shadow. As Shygone, the DJ-producer makes introspective hip-hop reminiscent of the classic, head-nodding sounds of the '90s. His soul-sampled beats can conjure some deep headphone moments—think sunsets, train rides, and midnight snowstorms—but the Houston native's live sets are of a dirtier, darker breed. Shygone's bass calisthenics will be on display at the Meadowlark tonight and every Monday through April; Decider spoke with him about remixing Star Wars, waking up the neighbors, and the trouble with DJing at Bushwhacker's Saloon.
Decider: Your flyers say you're going to be playing experimental bass music during your Meadowlark residency. What do you mean by that exactly?
Shygone: There's not really a genre of music called bass, unless you're talking Miami bass. But over the past couple of years, I've been really influenced by DJs and groups like Bassnectar and The Glitch Mob that are doing the glitch style with big, heavy bass lines. But I'll also throw in some DJ Krush, DJ Shadow, and music with a jazzier edge. Either way, it's all made by beat machines.
D: So no AC/DC?
S: Only at house parties.
D: What's the strangest place you've played in Denver?
S: Bushwhacker's Saloon. That one was interesting. [Laughs.] I'm in there, doing my very non-Top 40 routine, and it was full of thugs. Like, they all had gold teeth. And then on the other side of the room there were some real country folk, all nestled at the bar. It was an odd mixture of a crowd.
D: Your skill at scratching really sets you apart from a lot of today's laptop DJs. Is that something you set out to focus on?
S: I came from the hip-hop vinyl culture. I was influenced by DJ Q Bert and Kid Koala when I first picked up turntables because I was such a fiend for that scratch sound.
D: Do you ever come across people who feel that sampling other artists' work is stealing or cheating? How do you explain your aesthetic to them?
S: I've specifically remixed things to show people how cool it can be. I recently chopped up some Star Wars stuff on my beat machine, and it was accessible to all sorts of people because it was familiar but reinterpreted. If you take a classic Motown song and flip it a little bit, people might not like it, but they'll respect the hard work put into it. As far as trying to explain the validity of sampling, people already tend to have their mind made up, unfortunately. People assume you just take two bars from a hit song and then loop it. And that's not really being creative.
D: Do you think you should owe royalties on your productions?
S: No. I've taken one tabla tone off an Indian record and broken it into a bunch of different pitches, and then I created my own melody from it. I don't have the money or resources to get a tabla, much less learn to play one. So, I can put it in my sampler and do my own thing with it, [which is] almost the same as if I had it in my hands. I don't feel like I'm stealing anything with that approach.
D: How do your neighbors feel about living next to a hip-hop producer?
S: Luckily, in this apartment complex, I haven't had any problems. I think I'm the sanest guy in my complex, though. If it's before noon, I'll use my headphones. But I'll often hear other people blasting their music.
D: That's your green light.
S: Exactly. And I even hear domestic disputes. So they have to be cool with me doing my music.
