When there are things I see on tape that I think I can get better at, it frustrates me.
My voice went recently, never happened before, off like a tap. I had to sit in silence for nine days, chalkboard around my neck. Like an old-school mime. Like a kid in the naughty corner. Like a Victorian mute.
My mom was working through my childhood, so I would be running around Mumbai from one dance class to another with my mom carrying the tape recorder with me. I would sit on the sidelines and watch her teach dance.
I never grew up on a staple diet of Hindi cinema. In fact, when I was a VJ, I was averse to it. Purely because I could never imagine myself being an actor.
I really love New York, but I have to say, the humidity during the summer is a nightmare for a cartoonist. Not only am I sweating in my studio, my bristol board is curling up, the drafting tape is peeling off the board, my Rapidograph pens bleed the minute I put them to paper... it's a disaster.
People don't realize how much it means to your music to record on tape, whether it be for new music or old music. People don't realize how much or how imperative it is to use actual hardware when making drums because those are actual percussion samplers. They're hardware instruments that are made to have the drum hit.
I like golden-era hip-hop because they were recording on a 2-inch tape. There was dirty, raw sampling. It's nasty. It has a vibe to it.
To me, recording with live instruments and tape takes things back to an older sound that I like but that's still fresh.
I remember those moments in my life when the tape came out on that Tuesday, and I went to Sam Goody to cop it. And sitting and listening to it. In awe of the music I was listening to, but also imagining this music at the hip-hop clubs and with the homies in the car.
When you're recording live, really good vintage instruments onto two-inch tape, it's the best fidelity you can get.
