After leaving an indelible impression on us with his fantastic 'WELL'-beat tape earlier this year, Canadian beatmaker KevinMxDermott returns to the spotlight with his latest project, 'bruit blanc' - an impressive collection of layered, thoughtful, and stimulating hip-hop instrumentals. We got in touch with the Montreal maestro to find out what makes him tick...
sfftk: While the term 'beat tape' might apply to 'bruit blanc', it almost feels insulting to call it that: this is a well thought out concept album, no loose collection of beats. Could you tell us what triggered the need to make this album and what it means to you to share this rather personal project with the rest of the world?
KevinMxDermott: In any of my creative endeavours, I’ve always put process over product. Doing the work is therapeutic for me and it is the most rewarding and fulfilling part. Why put it out, then? This is the question.
I believe art is about shared experiences and collective growth. We all live unique lives, when you look at the details, but the magic of the shared human experience exists in the parts that overlap.
A person I’ve never met can sit in their room and write a song or poem, for example, that was very personal and important to them. Now, through an unpredictable series of events, the piece can reach someone like me, connect with me deeply and alter my perspective by helping me process something completely different, but equally important.
I don’t put out music with hopes of changing lives. It would be irresponsible for me to claim that I have that kind of power. But I do believe in the power of the art itself. Once the process of creating has served its purpose for me, I feel compelled to, at the very least, make the music available in case it finds someone somewhere, and connects with them in a way I can’t predict, and alter their path, however slightly, like other people’s art has done for me.
The idea that something I made alone in my basement, while my children slept, is reaching someone on the other side of the world, is not something I can take for granted. It’s an honour.
sfftk: 'bruit blanc' arrives only a couple of months after the release of your previous project, the excellent 'WELL'. You don't seem like the type of producer that churns out twenty-seven semi-finished beats per day, so how did you manage to come up with a fully fleshed-out follow-up so quickly?
What came first: the sounds of the concept? Did this process differ from the way you made 'WELL' or other previous projects?
KevinMxDermott: I don’t believe the process for bruit blanc was all that different than for 'WELL'. After I finished 'WELL', I continued to make new music immediately. You know, strike while the iron is hot and such. When I started, though, I wasn’t making 'bruit blanc', per se. I try to make music that evokes moods and feelings and eventually, when inspiration hits, I try to let it guide me and see where it goes.
Once I have a handful of songs I feel strongly about, I listen to them in different orders to hear the story they are trying to tell. Once I get a feel for that, and the overall concept starts to emerge (in this case, the idea of finding comfort in familiar sounds), then I start 'building' the story. The last step is creating all the transitions between songs and adding elements in each song to connect them to each other. This takes what would have been beat tape and turns it into more of a fully fleshed out instrumental album that tells a story.
sfftk: You're from Montreal, the largest French-speaking city that side of the Atlantic. What's it like growing up 'different' from most North-American kids? Do you feel you have a 'broader' musical palette because of the French influence growing up? How do these influences find their way into your own music?
KevinMxDermott: I grew up in Lévis, a small town on the south shore of Quebec City. I moved to Montreal in my early 20s for school, fell in love with the city, and never left. Having the opportunity to be raised bilingual, and to be exposed to music, arts, and popular culture from franco and anglo worlds my whole life influenced me for sure.
Québec has a fully formed, distinct, bilingual hip hop scene, and we also benefit from exposure to the hip hop scene from France, which is just as interesting, but looks and sounds nothing like the one here. It’s a bit odd, to be honest, because this is the only reality I know. I kind of take it for granted that any home-made mixtape could include De La Soul and Tribe songs intermixed with IAM (France) and Sans Pression (Québec) or Alaclair Ensemble (Québec) songs.
Beyond that, the language, particularly in Montreal, is quite unique and beautiful. It is understood that most people speak and understand French and English and so when people speak to each other, the language jumps from one to the other, often in the same sentence, and no one ever hesitates or misses a beat.
If you look at 'bruit blanc', you may notice that the album title is in French and the song titles vary from French to English. I’ve included a bit of French in past projects as a kind of nod to my French-Canadian roots, but my past albums, though instrumental, have been made mostly through an English lens. This time, with 'bruit blanc', it’s the first time I purposefully included more French into the project, not only as a nod, but rather as a full representation of who I am and where I am from.
sfftk: For the gear heads: what kind of instruments / tools / techniques do you employ? How did they help you to create your own style of production?
I like to keep things simple. I use an MPC One to make all the music, and then I use Adobe Audition to sequence the album and create transitions and such. I have always been a fan of doing the most with the least.
sfftk: For the diggers: are there any musical projects you absolutely adore but feel have received way too little attention or critical acclaim? Which albums, artists, labels are criminally underappreciated in your opinion?
KevinMxDermott: The first album that popped into my head is 'The Joe Beats Experiment presents: Indie Rock Blues (IRB)'. Joe Beats made the beats for the duo Non-Prophets with rapper Sage Francis, but of all his work, IRB is my favourite because it makes hip hop leaning music with samples from uncommon sources.
Next, outside the hip hop world, I would recommend the album 'Monument' by Keaton Henson. This one is a hard left turn, I will admit. It’s hard to explain why, but I have always found very sad music to be extremely empowering. At a talk I attended, Saul Williams said that true strength is shown through vulnerability, not through a strong facade. I agree. On this album, in particular, it feels like Keaton is dissecting his own heart in front of us all. Rarely have I experienced something so earth shatteringly sad
and simultaneously empowering.
Finally, this one is top of mind because I just received the vinyl a few weeks ago. The album is 'XXL' by Eman (MC) and Vlooper (producer). This album is a strong representation of what the Rap Queb movement has to offer. The album won the Félix (highest music award in Québec) for best hip hop album the year it came out (2014) so it’s definitely not a secret, but I’d like to take the opportunity to talk about it to your audience in case they never heard of it.
sfftk: Last question: since it took you only a couple months to create this wonderful album, when can we expect your next creative output? Do you already have a concept in mind?
KevinMxDermott: That is a question I don’t have the answer to, unfortunately! But when I have something, you’ll be the first to know!
follow KevinMxDermott via instagram and head on over to youtube, spotify, apple music or bandcamp to give 'bruit blanc' a listen...
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