“We’ve lost so much in the last ten years… I think the next artform to practice is learning again how to be humans, together.”
– skxllflower
As of last month, skxllflower has finally embraced his artform. It’s about time, too – while ‘skxllflower’ is his newest artist persona, this NYC-based music producer has been devoted to his craft for quite literally half of his life. This includes his work behind the scenes as beatmaker and mix engineer for others, as well as his years of composing original tunes under a few monikers. All of this experience has culminated into his most recent release, a phenomenal dubstep album aptly titled ARTFORM.
Much like the CAROUSEL EP he released with Torcha last year, skxllflower’s latest album oozes with convincing UK sound and influence. ARTFORM is also deliciously cohesive, making for an excellent looped listening experience. With a 24-minute runtime, you’ll want to lock in for at least three spins to feel the full effect. If you enjoyed hearing Rakjay’s vocals on CAROUSEL (“Element 5’s“), then you’re in luck – the MC makes another appearance on ARTFORM (“deadwait“).
To celebrate ARTFORM‘s release, we connected with skxllflower to talk about the album. We learned a lot about his journey, as well as the other ‘artforms’ that he practices. Much like in his Producer Therapy series on YouTube, skxllflower also offers words of comfort for those facing certain mental challenges with regards to their craft. Explore all this and more by reading our Q&A below.
Take some time to listen to ARTFORM by skxllflower while you read:
Exploring ARTFORM with skxllflower
Ambur Masen, The Electric Hawk: To get us started, tell us… How would you define the concept of ‘(an) artform’?
skxllflower: I like to think of it as something that you dedicate yourself to, physically, mentally and spiritually. Something that holds some sort of value greater than yourself, but that you can be the conduit for–
Think of authors, telling stories that come from their consciousness but need to be vocalized through their writing to reach others and impart a feeling on the audience.
Or a carpenter, as well. Carpentry is a skill that must be practiced, honed, sharpened… You can’t just pick up a hammer and a nail and build a home. Resources have to be spent to hone that craft – time and energy, physical effort – but you also have to have some sort of internal push.
You can’t just become an artist, you have to just be one and then sharpen that skill to use it effectively. It’s not like going out for a night where you can just decide to have that experience and then move on. It has to be something more intrinsic. I think, at least.
AM: So why name your album that?
skxllflower: I’ve been at this for far too long, with nothing truly to show for it under my own name. I’ve mentioned before about my career spent doing production work and mix engineering for others. I loved that work when it was my time to do it, but as I’ve gotten older, my relationship with it has changed.
It’s a weird feeling when you wake up one day and realize you’ve spent all your time grinding away and sharpening that skill on tons of records where nobody knows you really played a role. Not to say I wanted attention for it – but what could I possibly add to the greater musical conversation if I never say something for myself?
I think I wanted to wrap up all of my contributions in a cohesive project all at once to show off my own artform, in a way. Much like the Shaolin monks dedicate themselves to their artform, they also periodically do “shows”, in a sense, to show the world what they’ve mastered and what they’ve accomplished through their journey.
“I believe that sharing your place in your artistic journey can give someone else a reason to take their own walk, give themselves a reason to keep waking up day after day.”
I called the album ARTFORM because this is my artform – just as a chef makes a meal, a carpenter builds a home, and a doctor saves a life.
AM: Did your definition of ‘an artform’ inform how you went about the album? Or did the creation of the album inform your definition of the concept?
skxllflower: I think the concept informed the album. I made ARTFORM with the intent to leave no stone unturned. I wanted every beat, every measure, every phrase of the album to be fully thought out and polished. I’ve always struggled with rushing through things, wanting a finished product at the end of a session. If the tune didn’t sound final within the first few hours, I’d get discouraged and move on to the next one, or just let the project rot and forget about it.
I’ve got probably hundreds of tunes on my drives sitting in various states of rushed, unfinished-ness. It’s a shame really, and incredibly frustrating when you’re aware you have the skill and ability to polish things in isolation – i.e., you know you can make a great drum groove, or lock in and perfect a transition – but doing that to every moment of a tune, feeling like there’s nothing more you could have added to it, pushing yourself to reach the point where you’ve actually implemented everything you know you have the skills to do is intimidating. It’s a challenge.
For some, it’s easy to let go of that notion and just be happy with it. I’ve been getting better at this, allowing my music to just be what it is – but for once in my life, I wanted to truly finish something.
“I felt that I could never really feel proud of myself until I finally was able to push through and actually give my all on something. So, that’s what I set out to make ARTFORM for. To see if I could.”
skxllflower: I’ve always capped out at 85% effort with most things when I was younger. It’s so easy to let the little things slip by. Even when I was in school, I never studied quite as much as I could, never started an assignment earlier than a day before the due date, never maximized my health, never was able to force myself to sit and focus on a damn tune until it was actually right. I felt that I could never really feel proud of myself until I finally was able to push through and actually give my all on something. So, that’s what I set out to make ARTFORM for. To see if I could.
AM: Does the end result line up with what you envisioned for this project when you started working on it a year ago? Or how did it evolve?
skxllflower: For the most part, I’d say so. I wanted to finish something, and share it with the world, that was the concept at its most bare.
And I think I did that – musically and visually, I’m happy with how the project came out. But, just like always, I forgot a few little things in the rollout, here and there – so I guess I’ll just have to try again and get a bit closer next time.
I’m often left wondering – do others feel this way? You see these big releases come out and everything looks perfect from the outside. I wonder what the artist really feels in their heart – could they have done better? Does it eat them up?
Maybe it’s just how life works – maybe nothing can ever truly be 100%, but we flock toward that goal like moths to a fire anyway, and try to avoid getting burned on the way there. Maybe that journey toward refinement is always doomed to be unfinished – but worth the trip anyway.
I don’t think the project itself evolved much over its production time, but I think I may have. I’ve certainly thought deeper about these things, about why I do this in the first place. I wish I could share some conclusions I’ve come to, but I’ve just come to more questions instead.
AM: What other artforms do you practice?
skxllflower: I’ve taken on a bunch of side quests, especially in the last few years. I’ve gotten heavily involved in camerawork and graphics, photography and the like. But I’ve really dedicated myself to cooking at home a lot more. It started as a money saving measure, but I find myself in the same situation in the kitchen as I do in the studio – taking on challenges, ever-increasing in difficulty, trying to learn more about the food I’m making and how the dishes are derived from the cultures that spawned them, although I try not to let myself get too philosophical about it!
check out some of skxllflower’s graphics:
skxllflower: Other than this, I think my other major artform is my attempts to understand people – to really be able to put myself in another’s shoes, understand what their experiences are, and how those experiences inform their actions.
We live in a decidedly difficult time – tons of division, tons of conflict and anguish. What we’ve lost as a society is the artform of community. Having your peers help filter your wildest ideas out and refine your beliefs. Having to challenge your own ideas, making sure you understand why you believe what you believe. Even just spending time with people down the street, sharing a meal with the neighbors and hearing their story.
When you pivot toward isolationism, you lose a great deal of perspective, and I fear that with the current societal landscape, it’s more appealing than ever to dive deeper into isolation. I’m not sure this is the solution for most – and it’s more important than ever to build those bridges on the local scale. I find it harder and harder to get lost in intellectually gratifying artistic refinement now when every fiber of my being is begging for community and socialization again.
We’ve lost so much in the last ten years… I think the next artform to practice is learning again how to be humans, together.
Want to hear more skxllflower?
If you want more skxllflower, you can check out the ID-filled mix he did for FUXWITHIT last year below.
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