“Berdmajik - Circles

 / Trippin’ out on this one. My friend Donnie Felton tells me it “was produced by LA-based videographer/animator Andrew Knives. You should def check out his stuff. It is all super dope. We connected on Instagram. He tagged me in one of his Instagram stories and we started messaging from there, which led to collaborating on the video. 2 months later we have this video. Gotta love the internet. 

// Letters to YVYNYL //

premiere: Berdmajik - The First Time

 / I’ve been pretty stoked to be close to this project. My good friend Donny Felton has been working for a time on his solo stuff, and I’ve been listening to his new work with anticipation. He’s so on-point with the mix of homemade-digital beats and tripped-out sounds, and he jumped out of his regular gig with Grubby Little Hands to slowly craft this new record. He gave me the pick of the litter to premiere, and this one just popped out at me with effervescent charm. 

Hey brother,

I always describe Berdmajik as my “new project” but when I think about it, it’s actually my oldest project. My earliest musical impulses were fueled by a mixture of golden-era hip-hop, like ATCQ, De La Soul, Geto Boys, etc., with the jazz and classic rock that filtered down from my parents’ and grandparents’ collections. 

I was always attracted to the hypnotic quality of boom-bap rhythms, as well as the enchanting musical gestures of jazz and the more harmonically rich end of the rock/pop spectrum. I think you can even hear the intersection of these influences in some of my Grubby Little Hands compositions like “Feel in my Back” or “Dial Tone,” but they are tempered by the collaborative identity of the band. For better or worse, Berdmajik is an unadulterated manifestation of a particular set of my artistic proclivities.

I consider these songs to be fictional and like most works of fiction, they are made of autobiographical components, but they are deconstructed, rearranged and re-contextualized into fictional narratives, which coincidentally mirrors my compositional process for much of the music. I record segments, then chop up and rearrange the pieces into mutated versions of the original ideas. 

I have always had a tendency to do things to create artificial distance between myself and my work. When I can create enough distance that it starts to feel unfamiliar, I can start to feel comfortable enough with it to unleash my best ideas. I once jokingly told a friend that managing my own self-doubt defined my entire creative process. 

It’s funny how truth has a way of revealing itself through humor. This project has, to an extent, been a study in acknowledging this neurotic compulsion and even embracing it right down to the bones of my art. At the same time, it’s also just a hedonistic scratching of the itch to make shit that feels good. In any case, it was a purifying and cathartic experience and I’m excited to finally be sharing it. 

I really appreciate you taking the time to listen so thoughtfully to this record and for helping us introduce it to the world! 

Donnie

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