Back in November, we covered a funky remix of SZA’s “Broken Clocks” by Mir and NĂĄttĂșra. But on Feb 5th, we got an announcement that Mir would be doing a rebrand to Sasha Rome.
He was kind enough to explain why the rebrand, his influences, and what direction heâll go next.
The NYC producer has an id3.fm live stream coming out live on Sunday, February 15 at 6 pm ET.
Stream it here on Sunday.
Arielle Lana, Electric Hawk: Thanks for taking the time to talk! Youâre from New York City, right? I am too, I live in Brooklyn!
Sasha Rome: Yeah, I live in Midtown, but I spend most of my weekends in Brooklyn.
Arielle: I know youâre a part of Bonsai Collective… which did a lot of shows in Sunnyvale in Brooklyn, which is now closed.
SR: Weâve been hoping to find some new venues this year, but Iâm really trying to focus on getting more bookings for myself. It was a lot of fun throwing shows last year, for sure. And it was awesome getting the Bonsai community started here in New York, but Iâm excited to get more bookings coming my way from other groups so I can focus less on the event and more the set.
Arielle: Iâve actually been to 1 or 2 of your Bonsai Collective shows. Whatâs your relationship with them, and will anything change due to your sound change and rebrand to Sasha Rome?
SR: I actually co-run it with Capshun and Afrosamuraiist. There are a few other guys who are involved, too. We all split up different tasks, but Iâd say weâre the main 3 that run it. But, no I donât think [that anything will change].
We all kind of started with the more melodic trap kind of sound, but weâre all moving in different directions. Like for me, Iâm moving towards house⊠But thereâs something that holds us together and makes us cohesive. Weâre all melodic and we also have similar influences, even if we have different sounds.
Arielle: Yeah, I always assumed that since you’ve partnered with my friends at Future Gardens, that you were all more trappy. But since I do follow NĂĄttĂșra and you pretty closely, I noticed your sounds were changing a lot. That’s why I was interested in where Bonsai was headed stylistically.
SR: Thatâs fair!
Arielle: So what was your turning point in making you rebrand from Mir to Sasha Rome and how would you describe the differences between the two sounds? You said youâre doing more of house, but I noticed a lot of inspiration from funk. How would you describe it yourself?
SR: So I would say with Mir, I got influenced a lot by trap ay the time so my influences at the time were Ekali, josh pan, sam gellaitry, and Oshi. But I always liked the melodic stuff because I started a band in high school and one in college. We never took it super seriously, but I think because of that band background, I always strove more towards that melodic side of electronic music.
But I’ve always liked indie-dance and funk music. It was once I started playing showsâmy first show was in late 2018âand doing a lot of shows with Bonsai in 2019, I liked dropping stuff that was more dance-y than trap… Because I like trap still, but the main thing you can do is headbang, really. But with house music and funk music, I think thereâs more freedom to dance.
Arielle: You can also twerk to trap!
SR: True, true. *Laughs* I still love trap! It hits hard, you know. But I started noticing like half my set was house, so I thought I should start making it. And then I started experimenting with it more last year, and I had a lot more fun making it and I couldnât stop making it. I stopped making trap pretty much, even though I still like to dabble in it.
Oh! Another difference between Mir and Sasha Rome is when I was Mir, I was listening to a lot sadder music, but then with Sasha Rome, I want it to be a more upbeat project. Iâll still have some mellow tracks, but Iâve just been listening to a lot more funky house stuff like Kaytranadaâheâs a huge influence for me right now, for sure. So the main differences right now are the mood and the genre.
I also want to integrate guitar because thatâs something Iâve been playing since I was 15 and always something I wanted to integrate [into my live sets]. Itâs been easier integrating it with the house than the trap. Another thing is, with Mir, it was really hard to find me on Spotify because of the way the search works, I was the 42nd search. On Spotify, they would show all the Mirandas firstâ
Arielle: Miranda Cosgrove. Number one!
SR: Yeah! *Laughs* But with Sasha Rome, Iâm the only one. The final straw was in one weekâactuallyâwhen there were 3 people right in front of me who couldnât find me. So I was like, âYeah, thatâs definitely a problem.â If itâs happening in front of me, I know itâs happening a lot more when I canât see it, so [the rebrand] was definitely worth it. It also just worked out timing-wise with the new sound change.
Arielle: So would you describe your sound as all kinds of house or funky house⊠Or are you still experimenting?
SR: Iâm definitely still experimenting. I have about 12 tracks Iâm working on right now with different vocalistsâwhich was also a big push since I wanted to work with more vocalists. So yeah, I would say right now most of my songs are more funky-house, like Kaytranada-esque, a little disco influence as well. But I also get a lot of R&B influence and I love R&B vocals over a house track. Iâm also starting to get into more tech house and ambient chill house. Itâll be interesting to see how it all blends.
Arielle: I actually noticed that while going through your Soundcloud, even while you were Mir and probably also during your transition⊠You remix a wide variety of people from pop stars like SZA and Ariana Grande to Graves and most recently, 92elm. Whoâs your dream âI know Iâve made itâ collaboration?
SR: Like dream dream? Like super far out there.
Arielle: Yes, like by saying it now, weâre manifesting it!
SR: Well, Kevin Parker from Tame Impala is my number 1 artist. Heâs been my favorite artist since 2012. Iâve been following his whole path and I get a lot of influence from him, even if itâs not always apparent. Because I donât just listen to house, I love psychedelic rock and indie rock, too. So Iâd say him and Kaytranada, since theyâre my biggest influences right now.
Arielle: Thatâs a great segue to my next question because I read your interview with Traxx24â
SR: Oh, yeah, that was a while ago!
Arielle: Yeah, I couldnât even find the date! Well, you named your taste in music, and one of them was funk, which I could definitely see, especially when you dropped that SZA remix. You also named Ekali and Flume as your biggest EDM inspirations. Now you’re saying Kevin Parker and Kaytranada. Is there anyone else who inspires you? It doesnât even have to be electronic.
SR: SG Lewis⊠He became my top artist of 2019. That kind of snuck up on me, but I just really like his style. Daju, whoâs really cool, and has a bunch of really cool remixes on Soundcloud. Reaperâheâs like psychedelic indie stoner rock or something, but it sounds very modern and he has a really interesting blend.
When I started Sasha Rome, I really wanted to blend Kaytra-style funky house with more of that psychedelic music and I would say there are a few tracks coming out like that, but thatâs what I was going for in this rebrand.
Arielle: Well, I know you moved to America from Russia when you were 4⊠So why the name Sasha Rome?
SR: So, Alex is actually middle name and the Russian nickname for that is Sasha. I always want to call back to my heritage because even though I moved at a really young age, I still grew up with Russian parents and all my extended family is still there. I still speak Russian with my parents so [my heritage] has had a really big impact in my life. Itâs something I definitely want to call back to as much as I can and make part of the project. Iâm actually doing a mix for Russian podcast in one of these coming week! So thatâs the Sasha part.
Rome⊠It took me a little bit longer to find the last name. I wanted something that went well with [Sasha], but one of my favorite producers is Danger Mouse. He’s produced for Gorillaz, The Black Keys, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, and was a part of Gnarls Barkley. So heâs been a part of a lot of really cool projects. Well, he has an album that he was working on for 10 years called Rome and I really like that album. I also love the aesthetic of Ancient Rome and wanted to integrate that into the project.
AL: Makes sense! Really cool you make your projects so meaningful. So aside from making groovy tunesâI know you use that word a lot in your bios on social mediaâIs there anything youâre excited about for 2020?
SR: Iâm trying to release a track every single month. Iâm excited to do more shows! Theyâre not confirmed yet, but Iâm working on it. Iâm doing an interview and mix with Degenerates Club, which is exciting because he stopped for a while and heâs starting it back up my mix. and heâs been a huge influence in my life. He does a lot with underground artists.
Iâm also going to be starting up a big project called âGrooves and Potionsâ which will start on Twitch and Iâll upload it to YouTube and Soundcloud. Basically, Iâm going to have mostly local [NYC] producers come into my studio and do a mix with a 15-30 minute interview.
The potions part is Iâll have them bring their favorite drink, and it canât be one thatâs been repeated before. It doesnât even have to be alcoholicâjust a drink that speaks to them. After the interview, Iâm going to have them do a 15-minute beat challenge! I want it to be a big project and Iâm just excited to be working with and meet a lot more local producers because thereâs so much talent here. I just want to create a platform to showcase all my talented friends out here, so hopefully will get that up within the next month.
Arielle: That sounds really cool and unique!
SR: Yeah, thatâs what Iâm hoping! Thatâs probably the biggest thing Iâm most excited about.
Arielle: We’re excited about it too! We’ll keep an eye out for it!
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