DJ STEPDAD Figures Things Out
DJ STEPDAD HAS A LOT GOING FOR HIM. New York-based producer and DJ STEPDAD started playing drums when he was six years old as a Revolutionary War reenactor in Virginia.
"Through a weird hobby, my mom met my stepdad, Mike, who eventually took on the name DJ STEPDAD," says the artist, born Ted Davis. “I joined an experimental rock band in high school and played a lot of shows in the DIY DC area. When I was 17, I was heavily involved in the beat scene in 2010 in Los Angeles. I bought a Native Instruments Maschine because I was obsessed with flying type artists Lotus/Shlohmo/D33J and I wrote soft music. Electronica with that score a few months ago before going to college in the Los Angeles area. It's still up on SoundCloud, but I'm not going to tell you where to find it (laughs).
"In college, I started playing in a crappy indie rock band again," he continues. “But in 2018, my friend Alex Konradt , who is doing the artwork for my upcoming EP, It's Time to Find Out , introduced me to house music. He began to organize these delirious rooms, which I will describe as Sebasyan. threw away Lofi's cutting edge stuff like Baltra, Ross From Friends and Mall Grab, but mixed in great tech house like Claude VonStroke and FISHER. The set was… not great. But it was fun and late. At night, I definitely got interested in the world of DJing. Growing up, I thought artists like Burrell And Laurel Halo were great, so it was fun to play with people like that in a cloudy Orange County living room.
It took a while to decide on a name.
"A few months after I started calling myself #selector, my childhood best friend, we got drunk one night talking about virtual DJ names," he said. “He suggested the name DJ STEPDAD as a tribute to my stepfather, Mike. It was funnier and cleaner than Sebastian, so I took it and it stuck. It's a little silly, but I also like the way he spells his name . In 2019, I produced My Stepchildren Volume 1 EP in a rented bedroom created on a sleepless weekend using Logic's built-in instruments and a Maschine drum kit. When I released it a few days later. , my friends liked it better than the indie rock I made, so I decided to stick with the dance feel. Over the next few years I released a few more low-key releases and continued touring in SoCal . the highlight was a place in the very cool and now defunct Koreatown, Chewing Foil. When the coronavirus hit, everything came to a halt and I moved away from rock and electronic music to focus on my career in journalism. I know DJ STEPDAD is coming back but I keep waiting for the spark I can't find in Southern California. I felt like none of my friends were listening to the same music I was listening to, which made my interest in experimental music and experimental music somewhat irrelevant."
Things started to look good when he moved to Brooklyn in the summer of 2022.
"After moving to Brooklyn in the summer of 2022, I started connecting with formative influences and DJs at the radio stations I love and at bars around town," he says. “I've been working hard to improve this project and this year I've been working hard to learn how to use CDJs well and expand the range of sounds on my USB. There's more of a DJ culture in New York, and I find that a lot. inspiring."
DJ STEPDAD's sound has changed over the years.
In My Stepdaughter Volume 1, I was actively looking for a lo-fi house sound. “I think I succeeded and really enjoyed reviewing this EP. It's my most melodic music. On my next EP, Beige Paradise, I was really inspired by that stuff and Anthony Napoli and Jenny Slattery's label Incienso. The music was really different. than anything the label has ever produced, but I tried to distill the vibe of the early DJs into Python and Huerco S. It was actually good enough to miss the mark, but I still feel proud of my work. Of course, it's not the most unique. music ever, but it definitely feels like its own, closer to the modern tunes genre I'm happy with. "Time to Think About Things" touches on more styles and I think each song sounds unique. The opener was a cover of BBC's Heaven's On Fire, which I heard for the first time this year. I continued to listen to him on repeat for days and finally decided the only way to get the obsession out of my system. should record my own version. I like the result, and I think the beat sounds like Galcher Lustwerk, while the vocals sound more like Philadelphia indie band Draag Me. The second song, "Parents Can't Walk", is my attempt at a techno dub. Again, this doesn't sound like mainstream, but that's why I like it. I feel like it's pushing my original sound into new territory. The third song, "She Took The Children," was my least favorite song on the EP, so it definitely got the best reaction from me. It has that 80s Balearic sound and I really looked to artists like Ela Minus and early Kilo Kish for inspiration when I was writing it. The last track, "bad vibes," is a tribute to a lot of the electronic stuff I was into in high school. Most of this EP was recorded using better Native Instruments VSTs, but on this EP I just used Logic's built-in capabilities, so it's also a bit reminiscent of my previous work in that regard. I think it's a bit of a nostalgic song."
"Overall, I've had time to think of things as 'vibey ambient house and techno' and I think that works well as a rough idea of where I'll be in 2023 stylistically." “ When I play, my sound tends to be different these days. On the radio, I mostly go for ambient music. But in bars and clubs I get really excited. Davis Galvin, Prior and Bison are my three favorite candidates. If I had to give someone a typical DJ mix... for STEPDAD, I'd go with the last mix I recorded at The Lot Radio about a month ago. I felt really bad, but I pulled myself together."
DJ STEPDAD's latest EP is called "Time to Figure Things Out" .
"It took on a life of its own in my bedroom, at my kitchen table and on a dying computer," he said. “When I ran out of hard drive memory so I couldn't add any more synths to the song, I decided it was done. By Master Zach Emerson who runs the Doom Trip label and has mastered music for artists including Panda Bear And Maral. My colleague Alex Conrad did the art and my former collaborator Tim Gagnon wrote the notes. All these guys still live in Los Angeles, so as an artist who gets a lot of inspiration from New York, I'm staying true. DJ STEPDAD's SoCal roots. Since it's electronic music, I don't think there's a clear theme. But this has been a very limited and unpredictable year for me, so I think the music seems to be tinged with uncertainty. It's time to figure it out,” as the 70s phrase was used to describe the couple's divorce. However, over the past year and into 2024, I've spent a lot of time exploring new creative and professional avenues and figuring things out. These songs have been on repeat and kept me company as I weathered the storm, and I think this EP will always remind me of the strange mix of disappointment, reckoning, and hope I've felt almost every day of the past year. "
DJ STEPDAD assesses that the current state of electronic music is "sick".
"I just wanted to dig deeper into the subject, but as someone who writes a lot about electronic music, I feel a real drive to make music when I look at the stuff that's coming out now," he says. he “Over the last five years there have been a lot of ambient, house and club brands that have really shaped my taste in real time. More importantly, I disliked capitalist club culture and theatrical imagination. Described the nightlife of New York. However, I think these are the things you come across when making any kind of music in a large urban area.
Looking to the future, DJ STEPDAD has many plans for 2024.
"I think 2024 will be a big year," he added. "On January 26, I started taking time to think about things . The execution went much better than I could have imagined. There is much to be grateful for, even before you have something like this in the world. I appreciate so many people waiting (including you) to listen and I think it's worth their time. A release party will be held at Baby's All Right in Brooklyn on January 23rd, featuring a strong mix of live artists and tasteful DJs. I also have some great mixes on the EP and I'm very excited to see it around the world. Following the release of the EP, a single will be released on the Mechanical label. I don't have a specific date yet, but I hope it will be released. be in March. It features a special guest on slide guitar and creates a cool, melancholic vibe that I think will be perfect for the coming of spring. There was a CFCF song called "Marigold Mix" that really inspired me to try and put it down. some writing on the synth board and the 909? I thought it would be a great way to impress people while I was trying to get by. I'm interested when I find things that have been abandoned for a while."
He continued. "Now I'm working on my first feature film, which is almost finished." “This is definitely my favorite work I've produced as DJ STEPDAD, as it touches on so many styles and textures, from downtempo to Berlin-style techno. , before starting. This was bad for my bank account, but this new tool has increased my workflow and greatly improved the quality of my work. I don't have any specific tour plans, but I'm hoping to change that when my LP comes out, hopefully mid-spring. I definitely want to get back to LA to play gigs as soon as possible because that's where a lot of my close friends live. This is also an ambitious goal, but if I could get a week off to do some work in Europe, I would be giving up one important thing on my bucket list. But right now I'm working on the last songs for my album and at the same time I'm very busy with promotions. EP. I have two part-time jobs and a writing career that take up my time, but I've put a lot of energy into this music and it's great to see it finally starting to pay off.
DJ STEPDAD FINDS SOMETHING. DJ STEPDAD's Time to Find Something EP was released on January 26th.
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