LAMP Weekly Mix #66 feat. Sage Caswell

LAMP Weekly Mix #66 feat. Sage Caswell

Sage Caswell presents his latest mix in true eclectic fashion, selecting sounds that weave seamlessly into one another much as a painter chooses the colors that he will apply to his canvas. An unwavering artist, this young producer has already begun to establish himself among the pioneers in sound design and elevating the quality of local and international producers with every release and collaboration.MR PUZL got the chance to discuss the mix and learn a bit more about this budding producer.MR PUZL: Can you give us a brief description of the mix. What about the songs on the tracklist influenced you to choose them specifically?Sage Caswell: Some new stuff that I'm into, a couple unreleased tracks of my own as well. Pretty much just think these are cool songs.MP: You've mentioned in the past about starting as an "outsider" to LA's scene. Do you have advice for others that migrate to this city pursuing their careers?SC: I think it's safe to say that there's something for everyone here, and there's obviously room to grow. With regards to pursuing a career, there's no defining differences that make LA any more of a gateway than anywhere else. Location is an important factor in whatever it is you do and if LA is a place that creatively benefits your day to day then it might be worth investigating. The realest thing I can say, and I cannot stress this enough, you DO NOT need a car to live here. Save your money, buy a Metro pass. Public Transit in the city is actually pretty decent and is on it's way to getting better. Living without a car in Los Angeles really isn't as bad as the "Top 26 Things to Know if You're Visiting LA from New York" lists make it sound.MP: You come from a creative background, specifically film making. How has that translated to your music output? Does the ability to understand production interfaces help with your workflow? What do you tend to use when creating your work?SC: The answer is probably yes. My family got our first Mac desktop when I was like 5 or 6, so I always kind of knew how to figure computers. Interestingly enough, I strictly grew up using Apple computers and Apple products, but I work on music on an old PC my Dad used to use. A lot of the Apple products have been developed with similar workflows between each program, It's not hard too difficult to figure a program like Logic if you've used Final Cut Pro for any length of time. Windows computers are sort of different, so the switch up was interesting.MP: Your collaboration last year with Cromie on '' Vines" b/w "Pyrex," garnered a lot of attention and rightly so. What is it about the process of collaboration that motivates and influences you? Do you prefer working alone or with others?SC: Collaboration is cool, it's healthy to allow yourself to go outside your comfort zone, and working with someone else will allow for that. I sometimes prefer working alone, but everyone is that way. I often enjoy what's called, "body doubling", which is when you work on your own with someone else present. I guess it's really common for people with ADHD to practice, it's kind of wild how significant of a difference it can make if your stuck on something.MP: There's a very hypnotic sense to your Nite Lite mix, especially 'Worry Lines'. When you're creating these soundscapes do you sometimes get lost in them? How do you tell yourself that a track is done? SC: I've fallen asleep while working on stuff before, for sure. Whether or not I'm entirely coherent doesn't seem to affect my decision on when something's finished; I often wake up the next morning and find exported tracks, there's a few I legitimately don't remember making. MP: You're RA bio has a link to a pretty funny YTMND.com site, and from what we've observed on your profiles you tend to keep them very brief. Is this a commentary on the traditional presentation of and artists via press kits and lengthy bios?SC: Not really a commentary, although it's debatably funny styles when people have 4 paragraphs going on about their career as a Producer/DJ. It sounds cliche but it is what it is, "less is more" and "keep it simple" are general life guides that can be applied when and where appropriate. There's information around about whatever it is that anyone is looking for about anything in the world, it's 2015. With that, I don't need think it's necessary for me to act like I need some wikipedia type bio on my RA page. No disrespect to any of my peers who run it in such a fashion, just not for me.The YTMND thing was something I started doing because I figured that you could compress songs down to meet the site's upload size restrictions, which would allow me to put entire tracks up. I've made more than one, there's like 10 out there. YTMND pages I made in high school still exist, so I think it's cool that that may hopefully be there years from now. As a fan of music, it is supremely gratifying to have the internet at my disposal to further educate myself in the space on a day to day. I find new stuff archived about my favorite bands all the time and that kind of stuff keeps everything real. I hope that things like YTMND can potentially serve as a platform for artists to preserve things they've done on what is a continually growing network.MP: Expressing oneself comes in so many forms. In the case of 'Parasol' you created a minimalist, abstract video to accompany your music. What compels you, or rather what illuminates you to explore different creative mediums?SC: Video work has always been something I'm passionate about, although I only recently started working in an a/v capacity for my own stuff. For Parasol (and the rest of the Tribute 2 CC Archer EP), Mat from Decabaret mentioned that he'd like to have the songs on the label's YouTube channel. I think they were going to put the artwork and just have the track play, so I told him I'd rather just make a few videos so that there'd be some sort of cohesive narrative. For other stuff, i guess it just happens naturally.MP: Past, Present and Future.You mentioned in your XLR8R interview that Daft Punk really inspired you. What other moments earlier on in your life pushed you towards music production? SC: In retrospect, My Mom had the most significant effect on my music tastes. I still find CDs in her collection that I bug out on, I borrowed a St. Germain CD from her last time we met. I'd attribute everything to family and friends, I'm in the capacity because of them.MP: What can you tell us about your current projects? SC: I'm getting ready to put out Nite Lite, a collection of unmixed tracks from my White Light Mix. I'm doing that with Far Away, through their tape series. Aside from that, I've got an EP coming out soon on Spring Theory that real I'm excited about.MP: Releasing on W & O Street Tracks must have been pretty satisfying. What other famous/prominent labels would you like to see your music released on?SC: It was really cool of them to reach out to a boy, a pleasure to be involved for sure. There's obviously labels I'm super into, but I'd not like to become too concerned with where my music comes out, just that it makes sense and feels right.If you're vibing on this mix please check out more by Sage Caswell below:Enjoy,LAMP