Coming off his latest release Delusions Of Grandeur release we wanted to take a minute to sync up with Berlin-based producer, Westcoast Goddess. Here we got an inside take on his production process, and got to know a little more about this talented artist.

Interview With Westcoast Goddess

1.) Thanks for talking to us today. You are soon to release your ‘The Soul’s return EP’ on Delusions of Grandeur. Can you tell how you hooked up with the label?

Hey thanks for the invitation! I’ve been an admirer of Jamie’s for a good while and had spoken to him a couple of times before cus he really liked Life Review. I had a feeling he might like these two tunes I had just finished that day and he did cus he signed them immediately. Then I stayed up all that night and made what then became the final track, so a pretty fortuitous 48 hours.

2.) Westcoast Goddess – any California connections? What inspired you to choose this moniker?

No. The name just felt right intuitively for the project and what I wanted to express thematically and matched the feeling and energy of the music. I was reading a lot of West Coast Californian new age books at a certain time and the theme of the project is the return to joy, wholeness and the inner imp after the pain of fragmentation, alienation and fear.  If I want to communicate anything to anyone it is that deep psychological suffering does not last forever although it may seem endless and that your true self is loving, joyful forgiving and real (and I’m pretty sure eternal).

3.) What can you tell us about this release? what was your production process for the tracks?

I made all these tracks in 2 days using Cubase and some soft synths. For the A1 I wanted to make something as simple and direct as a classic 80s R&B joint that had a tight groove, so I just messed around a bit on the Cubase piano over a beat and came up with the chord loop then added the synth bass line off the Tal Uno then the strings and finally the vocal. From there the tune just seemed to write itself. It was the same for the other two tunes everything just fell into place.

4.) I hear that when you first started making beats you used your trusty Roland DR550 and a Kawai K1. Do you still use these?

My dad bought me both of these pieces of kit a long time ago so they mean/meant a lot to me. The K1 I still have and use, it’s got the best Seinfeld slap bass sound in the game (you can hear it on Strung Out Ditty along with the strings).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P76Bt7jmehU

The DR550 got lost somewhere along the line but I used to use it all the time for it’s kicks and snares in tandem with the drum sounds on the Roland Mt32, which had these not too sweet crashy hi hats that I stuck on all my songs back then for some reason! You can hear them on Untitled Soul ’98

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sma12VRLAyA

5.) Can you tell us 3 pieces of tech that you use now?

Oberheim Matrix 6r. Sounds like a George Romero movie

Kawai Mp6 stage Keyboard. Got this to practice piano on but then started using it on everything. It has lots of showroom pianos, new age synths and not quite ‘real’ instruments.

Korg N364 workstation. My sisters BF loaned me this (yo Lex!) and I realised it was a 90’s Sci-fi / TV show / misty dream-board of delights.

6.) Who would you love to hear playing this release?

Anyone who likes it, I’m not fussy! I love my fans. The music comes from my heart and I think they can feel this.

7.) Can you tell us the most recent piece of music you bought and why?

I bought 3 records from one seller I had been after for ages.

  1. Dee Dee Brave – Can’t Get Over It – 4 Kerri Chandler versions of the same track with Dee Dee singing. The Kaoz 6.23 mix that samples Kraftwerk Numbers is my favourite.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xm6uz5cJds

  1. Jump Cutz volume 2- Pumpin UK house music from ’94

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTMAnywuf4c

  1. Claude Young- One Complete Revolution

‘Mind Dance Themo’ is beauty itself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfBEc0Zf3HM

8.) Who do you admire in the scene at this moment?

I don’t really feel too much affinity with the scene of today but in terms of artists that I really like, Renato P is the most gifted producer I have heard making music in a long time. Stefan Ringer is also extremely talented and original, Cygnus, Sansibar, Morris Mobley, Saine and Teflon Dons are all excellent. Deterministic Finite Automata is the definitive overlooked genius of house/techno music and you could say the same about Gerald Mitchell.

9.) What’s up next for Westcoast Goddess?

An EP of bedroom funk on Infinite Pleasure due in October, then another EP of acapella tracks on Yung and Dumb in Canada, a debut album for the kindest man in house ,Tooli, on Omena plus a couple more Eps.  And then just keep making music. Even though it doesn’t earn you much money I think it’s why I’m here.

-Westcoast Goddess

PURCHASE

Turn it up & enjoy!

DuBeats


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