Yazzi worked part-time at Notion from October 2023 - June 2024. She continues to contribute as a freelance writer to Notion’s print issues.
More articles by Yazzi Gokcemen can be found at notion.online
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04/24
Myles Smith on his journey from Luton to LA
Dropping a debut EP full of promise, Myles Smith is the singing sensation breaking through with folk-pop and poignant stories that speak to millions.
Dropping a debut EP full of promise, Myles Smith is the singing sensation breaking through with folk-pop and poignant stories that speak to millions.
05/24
Miami Club Music According to SoFTT
Gearing up to take the world by storm, dynamic duo SoFTT give us a rundown of all things Miami, from the best clubs to which DJs aren't to be missed.
04/24
Cinema For Gaza Auction: A Bid to Encounter Stars and Raise FundsLaunching today, the Cinema for Gaza Auction sees pioneering film and TV stars support MAP by placing one-of-a-kind experiences up for bid.
12/23
Nell Mescal Wants You to Hear the Irish in her Indie Singing
Musician of the Mescal family, 20-year-old Nell is on the road and carving her own lane where friends are in love and Irish folk can be indie pop.
Nell Mescal Wants You to Hear the Irish in her Indie Singing
Musician of the Mescal family, 20-year-old Nell is on the road and carving her own lane where friends are in love and Irish folk can be indie pop.
01/24
Why the Ban of FKA Twigs’ Calvin Klein Ad is CounterproductiveThis week, the UK Advertising Standards Authority deemed a Calvin Klein advert starring FKA twigs 'inappropriate' - the subsequent ban reveals age-old double standards.
02/24
Porij are on the Up but Starying True to their Oat Gang
From the DIY underground to Coldplay’s stadium, Porij are turning it up. Ahead of their debut album drop, we speak to the band about festival circuits, song lyrics and the ‘Oat Gang’.
From the DIY underground to Coldplay’s stadium, Porij are turning it up. Ahead of their debut album drop, we speak to the band about festival circuits, song lyrics and the ‘Oat Gang’.
May 12, 2025
horsegiirL
Half-horse, half-human DJ and producer horsegiirL is galloping through the electronic music world with a heady mix of hyperpop, hardstyle, and Eurodance. With her euphoric EP V.I.P (Very Important Pony), horsegiirL is proving that the future of dance belongs to the bold, the bizarre, and the barn-embracing.
“It’s actually still quite fun, seeing people shocked by a horse going to the Brits,” quips horsegiirL, the half-horse, half-human producer, DJ and all-round creative disruptor whose appearance at this year’s Brit Awards caused a stir in the Tabloids. Effortlessly in character on the day of her Notion cover shoot, the Berlin-based artist has a knowing smile when I bring up the reactions to her Brit appeareance, “they will get used to it, I will go again,” she says. horsegiirL, who also goes by Stella Stallion, has been going at it for over three years now, reshaping the face of Berlin’s techno scene with happy hardcore, ghettotech and Eurodance, all the while clad in a hyperreal horse mask.Daily Mail hysteria aside, horsegiirL’s offbeat persona is by now not the most alluring aspect of her artistry. This January saw the arrival of the songwriter’s first solo EP V.I.P (Very Important Pony), an eclectic 6-track project that is equal parts sassy, silly, smart, and rambunctious. Careering between hyperpop synths and hardstyle kicks whilst tongue in cheek lyrics offer something of a commentary on digital capitalism, the EP confirms that horsegiirL’s TikTok-breakout hit My Barn, My Rules - labelled the song of summer 2023 - only scratched the surface of her creative prowess.
Following a viral HOR Berlin set (her second ever performance), collaborative EP with ‘ghettotech king’ MCR-T, and slew of genre-bending singles, the past two years have seen horsegiirL hard launch into the human world. The DJ has become one of the most in-demand acts on the festival circuit hence why, she tells me, V.I.P was primarily hammered out on the road and speaks to the lifestyle shift that happens when an artist is catapulted into the spotlight; “I already had a huge fanbase in the animal kingdom,” Stella says, “but touring in the human context has taken some adjusting to, I’m still figuring out the right balance.”
As any groundbreaking art should be, horsegiirL’s music has received its share of divisive reactions. In 2023, a BBC Radio 1 host announced she ‘hated’ My Barn, My Rules live on air. But if presenting as a horse says anything about someone, it’s that they are not afraid of dividing opinion. Rejecting rules, industry expectations and the snobbery of certain underground music spaces, has seen horsegiirL go from strength to strength.
Alongside the likes of MCR-T, DJ Gigola, and Brutalismus 3000, horsegiirL’s avant-garde creativity has found a nurturing home at the collective-cum- independent label Live From Earth. “It has shown me that you can really achieve a lot of cool things by finding the right people that are equally as motivated by great ideas and not so much just commercial success,” Stella says earnestly, adding, “and with little money.”
Based in Berlin, the label has political origins; it began in 2014 as a YouTube channel to document Germany’s anti-fascist protests. After the creators were tapped to produce music videos, the DIY operation organically evolved into an artist collective. Underpinned by friendship and a shared ethos that puts innovation above profit, Live From Earth’s lineup is at the cutting edge of techno, breathing new life into a musical sphere that at times feels straightjacketed by genre categorisation. Stella insists, “it’s about how far you go with an idea, that’s what makes it successful.”
horsegiirL has certainly taken her concept far, she performs the character of Stella Stallion - born on Sunshine Farms to a human father and horse mother, talent scouted by Whitney Horston - so effortlessly that one forgets it’s a character at all. Rather than being just a façade, the horse mask and equine narratives are a medium of communication - as aesthetics increasingly are in the new media age. Far from a concept designed to succeed on the algorithm, horsegiirL derives from a curiosity about humanity. It makes complete sense when I learn of Stella’s interest in the surrealist movement, she explains, “all those painters and writers of the 1910s and 20s who were reshaping and rethinking what reality means, that inspires me.”
If the surrealist movement were to have happened today, it doesn’t stretch the imagination to envisage horsegiirL being a part of it. Afterall, her artistic identity is the embodiment of surrealist painter Salvador Dali’s famous line: ‘It is not necessary for the public to know whether I am joking or whether I am serious, just as it is not necessary for me to know it myself.’
During our conversation, horsegiirL’s sporadic references to farms and the animal kingdom convey genuine insights. She’s completely sincere in saying that animals inspire her: “like whales, how they communicate through song and alter their melodies. Birds as well, how differently they sing when they are alone compared to when they are in a group.” She goes on to discuss a scientific study that revealed that certain bird species in Berlin are louder than they are in the wild, “because they have to be heard over the city’s traffic,” a seeming metaphor for why one needs to be bold in order to cut through the chaos of the metropolis.
Originally a multi-instrumentalist, trained in classical and jazz, horsegiirL’s eclectic back catalogue reflects her diverse influences outside of electronic music. Rap, R&B, soul, hard rock and heavy metal, as well as World music, notably West African, have all influenced horesgiirL’s sonic palette. Aged four was the first time she heard dance music. Sat in the back of a truck being driven by her friends’ older brothers, “the radio was on and I asked, what's your favourite song? They replied with ‘the song that's on right now’ - it was ‘I'm blue’,” she recalls gleefully, breaking into a sing-song until I catch on that it’s the Eiffel 65 track ‘I’m Blue (Da Ba Dee)’. Stella nods, “That was definitely a moment where I was like, okay, yeah this music is lit.”
“Okay, I’ll tell you but don’t judge me - Rihanna, Only Girl (in the world),” replies horsegiirL, when I ask what her favourite tune is right now. She remembers discovering the song on the radio before its official release, “I recorded it on my Sony Ericsson Walkman, I was so obsessed I would listen back to it on repeat on my way to school,” she tells me. Overlooking the fact her mother is meant to be a horse, Stella explains that she wasn’t one of those kids “with niche-y parents who show you everything,” which in the pre-streaming era meant exposure to music happened through whatever was being played on the radio.
As horsegiirL carves out her lane in the dance music universe, she doesn’t shut the door on any genres: “I don't think my taste has really changed. I still just love listening to any kind of good music.” On ‘V.I.P’ there are references to mainstream hip-hop, via braggadocious lines like “diamonds and big cheques….Private islands, rich sex” (material hor$e), to noughties pop girl-groups, within the synthetic melodies and vocals of ‘take it offff’, and to drum’n’bass, heard on the EP’s euphoric closing track - a soaring finale which sets off mind-body confetti cannons as it reaches sky-high bpm.
Tapping into the internet-driven aesthetics of her youth (exemplified by the My Little White Pony music video - a collision of Disney sitcoms, My Little Pony and The Simple Life) and TikTok discourse (see ‘giirL math’ on horsegiirL’s latest EP), horsegiirL beckons a younger generation to explore the confronting, hedonistic spirit of gabber and hardstyle. This is perhaps horsegiirL’s greatest superpower: her ability to bridge the divides between generations and music tribes on the dancefloor.
Trotting from America to Europe giving V.I.P. its festival debut this summer, horsegiirL will be spreading Eurodance euphoria and unleashing everyone’s party animal. As the surrealist great André Breton once said, ‘The man who cannot visualise a horse galloping on a tomato is an idiot.’ By that logic, anyone who can’t picture a half-horse girl taking the reins of dance music in 2025 should look, listen and think again.
Article printed in Notion The Artists Vol.2
December 20, 2024
Barry Can’t Swim
From Glastonbury live shows to DJ-sets in Ibiza, Barry Can’t Swim’s jazzy take on dance music has captivated the world in 2024. Meeting him at the end of his final tour of the year, the free-spirited artist is fired up and is showing no sign of slowing down.
Illustrious British music awards aren’t known for celebrating electronic acts, but in 2024 one such name broke through onto almost every shortlist. Nominated for the Brit Award’s Best Dance Act, Scotland’s Album of the Year, the highly coveted Mercury Prize and the AIM award for Independent Breakthrough Artist - which he won - Barry Can’t Swim has been on everyone’s lips since the release of his inaugural album ‘When Will We Land’ last autumn.
Behind the interest-piquing moniker is Edinburgh-born Joshua Mainnie, a multi-instrumentalist, producer and DJ. We meet the day after he wraps up the European leg of his second tour of the year, hot off the heels of a jam-packed festival season. Calling in from his London residence, Mainnie is incredibly sprightly for a post-travel-day 10am Zoom interview. Indeed, the artist has a lot to be fired up about; his new live show has been selling out venues across Europe and is soon-to-be hitting New Zealand, Australia, South America and the US, and then there’s Barry Can’t Swim’s latest venture ‘Earth’s Own Paradise’ – the record label which he launched this October.
“It’s an amazing opportunity,” Mainnie says of being able to showcase the music he’s into and provide a platform for up-and-coming artists. “It’s an extension of my music curation, that’s what DJing is right? This way you can feel even more connected and get more involved.” For the label’s inaugural release, Mainnie tapped a fellow Ninja Tune affiliate, the producer-DJ O’Flynn. Titled Swiss Sensation, O’Flynn’s track is funky and feel-good, rich with instrumental layers, catchy vocals and weird synths, it could seamlessly slide into a Barry Can’t Swim set. As with any of Mainnie’s musical endeavours, the choice feels authentic: “he's mad talented, and he’s a good friend of mine, we’re always sending each other tunes and giving each other feedback on our music. It was just a really, nice natural way to launch [the label], with someone I’ve got so much respect for.”
It’s been less than five years since Barry Can’t Swim entered the electronic music sphere. Going with the first stage name that stuck, Joshua Mainnie embarked on the solo project after moving from Edinburgh to East London and a 2-year hiatus from music. With zero expectations, he fulfilled a creative urge to combine his love of music production, jazz and playing piano. The instrumentally trained musician came at it with a wealth of experience; back in Edinburgh he’d completed a music degree, played in various indie bands and immersed himself in the jazz-bar scene.
It was interning at the record label SOMA Records in Glasgow that solidified Mainnie’s passion for electronic music and it was not long before he began producing his own music, initially as part of a duo. Taking a break from his craft after this venture ended, Mainnie’s comeback arrived just before the Covid-19 pandemic shut down live entertainment. But, hungry for an uplifting musical escape and a dance at home, that didn’t stop an audience from finding Barry Can’t Swim; he was picked up by BBC Radio 1 after dropping his first two tracks on Spotify.
A Ninja Tune record deal, Boiler Room set and award-winning debut album later, ‘Barry’ is now all fans need to say to identify Joshua Mannie. Traversing deep house, funky jazz, afrobeat, club classics and, every now and again, hardcore (see ‘Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore’ from his 2022 EP), Barry Can’t Swim’s sound is a euphoric amalgamation of genres. Speaking on his diverse influences - Fela Kuti and Ravi Shankar among them – Mainnie tells me, “I just try to be open… if I like something, I don't overthink it really.” This applies to his most recent release ‘Still Riding’, a high-energy, pop-infused bop which samples a song by Colombian-American pop superstar Kali Uchis. A longtime Uchis fan, Mainnie made the song two years ago and persevered in getting the go-ahead for its official release.
Grounded by live instrumentation Barry Can’t Swim’s free-spirited back catalogue - enjoyed by 3.4 million Spotify listeners - is the product of creativity guided by gut instinct and “happy accidents”. Mainnie elaborates, “I’m much more concerned with feeling and emotion than getting something perfect.” Expansive, soul-stirring and deliciously unpredictable, ‘When Will We Land’ epitomises this ethos. Being the artist’s first album, there was a lot to consider: “it’s like the entire history of you up to that point,” Mainnie says, continuing, “I wanted it to be a total musical journey and to embody all the things that I love, because you only get to do it once.”
The Scottish producer stands by the fact that the best work emerges from going with the flow, “I like to not have too much of a preconceived idea of what I'm going to make,” he says. Arriving second on the 2023 album, ‘Deadbeat Gospel’ is one of his most spontaneous musical undertakings. It was recorded in the early hours of a night out and captures the moment Mainnie bumps into an old friend - the artist and poet somedeadbeat - in the streets of Dublin. On the finished track snippets of their conversation and an impromptu poetry recital meet soaring synths and tender piano riffs, perforated by the gritty noises of the city streets which were purposefully kept in.
When it comes to collaborating, Mainnie generally prefers to work with people he knows. Surprising as it is, the artist admits that he’s quite introverted, “especially, when it comes to making music,” he says. “I need to feel very comfortable in my environment, I personally find it quite hard to do what I want musically around people I don’t know, even if they are incredibly talented. It’s more about the connection.”
Nevertheless, Barry Can’t Swim isn’t one to shut doors on opportunities. Another enticing feature on ‘When Will We Land’ is the Guinean singer and percussionist (now Margate-based) Falle Nioke. Singing in his mother tongue, Nioke’s beguiling vocals bring soul to the stirring percussive epic titled ‘I Won’t Let You Down’ - a sure standout of the album. How did this unlikely collaboration come about? For the simple reason that Mainnie felt inspired: “he’s such a ridiculously talented artist… I just reached out to him and was like do you want to do something super DIY?”
The Scotsman still hasn’t quite fathomed his success. A lot has happened this year, as well as the shower of award nominations for his debut LP, Barry Can’t Swim has proven to be one of the most in-demand DJs of 2024. This summer he hit an incredible 27 festivals, from Serbia’s Exit Festival to Barcelona’s Primavera Sound, and one on the M4 motorway called Junction 2. He also made his Coachella debut this spring and returned to Glastonbury where it’s been said his set drew the biggest crowd the Park Stage had ever seen. The maestro admits that he isn’t immune to pre-show nerves, “my crew slag me off because beforehand I’m always like ‘I hope people come, I hope it’s gonna be busy’,” he says, “but you don't ever wanna start taking that shit for granted.”
Warm, open and enthusiastic, Mainnie’s character is synonymous with the feel-good energy Barry Can’t Swim brings to the dancefloor. Does pressure ever get in the way of this authenticity? So far, not really; revealing his mindset, Mainnie brings up the curious etymology of the word ‘genius’, “…I'm gonna get this exact thing wrong, but a while ago I read about how the Romans used the term genius in a different way. People weren't geniuses, genius was like an external thing which artists could tap into.” Non-scientifically speaking the artist finds wisdom in this ancient definition of brilliance, “it’s a nice way of thinking about it… whenever you’re being creative you're channelling something else, and you're more just the vessel. Writing in that way alleviates pressure and removes ego - which I think is really not a good thing, you’re too caught up in your own head.”
Incredibly, in between all the globe-trotting, Barry Can’t Swim has found time this year to work on a second album. He’s astonished himself at how rapidly a second project is coming together: “it’s been so busy this past year, with amazing stuff… but when I get back I’m so excited and ready to make music.” For Mainnie, making music is still very much a hobby, it’s his escape. The limited time not on the road has, he believes, been conducive to his creativity, “…the time that I do get has been so precious that I've just really enjoyed it, and when I'm enjoying myself I think I tend to make better stuff.”
On his current tour, the producer has been testing out some of the material on his next album, which he hopes will drop in 2025. Without giving too much away, Mainnie reveals, “one of the tunes seems to be consistently the biggest moment in the set, which is bizarre considering that no one even knows it. So that's a good sign.”
For all the soloists’ accolades, the greatest reward comes from audiences and the wider music community embracing his music with a dance. To round off 2024, Barry Can’t Swim will be gathering the community together for Eat Your Own Ears, a night he’s curated at Manchester’s legendary multi-room venue The Warehouse Project on November 29th. The production of the event is guaranteed to be spectacular; lucky attendees of Barry Can’t Swim’s recent tour concerts will confirm that the visuals and lighting are out-of-this-world, and paired with the right songs deliver a sensory rush of pure ecstasy.
Explaining the process of curating an event, Mainnie reveals that it’s not dissimilar to producing lyric-less music, “you’re trying to build a vibe…different sounds and styles for each room.” In tune with a Barry Can’t Swim set, the Eat Your Own Ears lineup strikes a blissful balance between the wholesome and hedonistic ends of the dance music spectrum. Whilst the venue’s main space is being dedicated to live electronic sets (Barry Can’t Swim will be performing here, on the keyboard and the decks), one room will explore the darker side of the music selector’s sonic palette, staging prestigious underground acts such as Joy Orbison and Chaos in The CBD. In the most intimate of the three rooms Barry Can’t Swim’s newfound label ‘Earths Own Paradise’ is taking over, to showcase the groovy, globe-trotting sounds of a new roster of burgeoning electronic music talents. “It’s such a privilege,” Mainnie emphasises, “putting together a lineup of all these artists who I just love and have so much respect for…and for them to be up for it – yeah, it was really amazing.”
Article printed in Notion The Artists Vol.1
July 19, 2024
AJ Mitchell
At just 22, AJ Mitchell is already an entertainment industry veteran. Now stepping into a bold new world with his second album, an electro-pop-soul odyssey through grief of every kind, join us as we head on the journey with him.
“I’ve honestly never been more excited,” AJ Mitchell smiles, remarkably upbeat as he sets the tone of our early LA morning Zoom conversation. It may not be the first time the 22-year-old pop star has uttered this statement, yet he always means it sincerely. For each project over a near-decade-long career, AJ outdoes himself, reinvigorated by creative possibilities in the process. When we meet, it’s just three weeks before the American artist drops his sophomore album As Far As The Eye Can See, and subsequently launches into a 21-date US tour. The LP, it turns out, holds the key to its creator’s inexhaustible zeal: a “no limitations” approach.
“For me, that’s as far as the eye could see,” AJ says, explaining his new approach, “it’s also what it means to be human. That’s taking a bite out of the forbidden fruit and exploring new things and new relationships, going through my downfalls, but coming out of them – the human experience.”
Alike to many a great album, at the heart of As Far As The Eye Can See is a relationship. Yet, as a pop sensation whose career was launched – Bieber-esque – at just 13 years old, other experiences of love, loss and change naturally weave into and enrich the record’s boy-meets-girl narrative. “This album really just shows my artistry, my musical journey,” he says, noting how entering the studio with producer Kid Culture and no “set ideas” gave way to interesting, unexpected outcomes.
This freewheeling, ‘sky is the limit’ attitude has been the linchpin of AJ’s whirlwind road to stardom. It may come as a surprise to those outside of America and Spotify’s R&B-pop algorithm, that he has been touching hundreds-of-thousands of listeners for over seven years, beginning on YouTube. His first post – a cover of Martin Garrix & Bebe Rexha’s ‘In The Name of Love’ – amassed an astonishing 1.6 million views. Press play on one of these early videos and you’ll realise why: he sings with a raw, honest emotion seldom expressed by adolescent boys, let alone channelled into piano chords and vocals of such impressive range.
Career or otherwise, the artist made a lifelong commitment to music the day he wrote his first song aged four. By the time elementary school hit, songwriting had become part of his daily routine. AJ recalls waking up extra early to squeeze in a session before heading to his lessons: “Every single day I’d be writing. Even at school, I’d skip lunch just to go to the music hall and play the piano and write music.”
To be so young and this committed to his craft, is revealing. One little leap of faith, setting up that YouTube account, is all it took for the smalltown singer’s future to really kick off. Almost overnight, he had an audience; “from that point forward I was like, okay, I’m going to take this seriously”.
Over the past few years AJ’s fanbase has surged internationally: 2020 saw him perform for the first time on British soil, and whilst the pandemic brought follow-up tours to a standstill, his inaugural album Skyview landed in the meantime. Produced by the legendary Mike Dean (Beyoncé, Travis Scott and Frank Ocean are just a handful of his mega-famous collaborators), it is a soul-stirring 12-track record with warm glows of R&B and lines paying tribute to AJ’s Illinois roots.
With Skyview’s strong introduction establishing him as a mainstay on the pop scene, the hitmaker has been eager to experiment. A year and a half in the making, As Far As The Eye Can See is evidence that AJ Mitchell isn’t one to stay in his creative comfort zone. Comparing it to his first, he muses, “This has a little more grunge to it. It’s more eclectic, you have your upbeat pop records, songs on guitar, one song which is a little folky, indie kind of vibes.”
As indie rock courts electro-pop and soul, AJ processes a foregone rollercoaster romance, properly for the first time. “It was pretty difficult,” he admits, reflecting on what it was like to be vulnerable and relive the experience. “Some of the songs, like ‘Foolish’ I actually wrote while I was in the relationship.” As hinted at in the name, this particular track explores an irrational, but all-too-familiar situation: “Being with someone who you know isn’t good for you, but you keep pursuing anyway.”
Over the twelve tracks are unpredictable mood shifts, as sonics seek to emulate a relationship which hurtles from wild infatuation to internal conflict and an eventual, painful dissolve. Coming out the other side, it’s clear that AJ feels lighter: “It was hard to dig down deep and get vulnerable with people… I’m the kind of person that will hold it in sometimes, just want to move on, but it was therapeutic to talk through it and get those emotions out into music.”
AJ might have fallen victim to the spellbinding power of an intense romance (who hasn’t?) but when it comes to his career, wise and fearless choices suggest he knows what’s good for him. Releasing his first solo track at thirteen, ‘Used To Be’, which went viral on YouTube, he earned himself a ticket out of Illinois via an invitation to join the infamous Team 10 group in LA. Even bolder than his decision to go was in fact his decision to leave, realising – not long into being there – that the toxic content creator hotbed wasn’t conducive to his music ambitions.
Though relatively minor in the scope of AJ’s career trajectory, the artist still applies lessons learnt from the Team 10 days to maintain a healthy relationship with social media – no small feat for a Gen Z-er with one million Instagram followers. AJ admits that being online used to take a toll, “especially on my mental health, I felt like I was living in a false reality”, he confides.
“Half the job is to keep up with fans online, but you’ve got to consider, how much do I share of my life? How much do I let in? I’ve had to find a balance with social media.” AJ is an open book with an open heart, the type who would respond to all fan mail if it were possible. Rather more sustainable and meaningful, the artist is hyped to meet fans face-to-face when he hits the road on 31st May. “Being on tour is the best way to engage with fans… I finally [get to] hear their stories and why my music resonates with them, then I can share stories about why I wrote the songs.”
Whilst this tour remains in North America, there’s no doubt AJ will seize the first opportunity to perform abroad. He is, after all, an explorer, “I like to try new things, create new sounds. Even with life in general, trying new foods, exploring new territories around the world. I’ve always been an explorer at heart and a creative in my mind, the two come together in music”. From Illinois to a four-year stint in LA, AJ is currently based in NYC, enjoying all the city’s fruits. The move was creatively motivated, “I think writing there [in LA], the energy was off. I wanted a new experience with this new album, new scenery, a fresh start – for me, that was New York.”
Within the intricacies and nuances of As Far As The Eye Can See, whispers of this energy shift are audible: “New York has seasons. That definitely influenced the music, California doesn’t really have seasons, but here I wrote a ballad in the snow, I wrote a slow song when it was cold outside, you know, there was more moving through moods.” It would seem that the city’s rock’n’roll legacy also inspired a love affair with The Beatles to resurface. They were the first musicians AJ recalls obsessing over, “I was truly invested as a kid. I got this piano book of all their songs and I would practise them every week. What they did was so unique. For me when I create music, I have that in mind…anytime I sit down at the piano or with my guitar, I want to create something that’s never been heard before.”
Sonically speaking, As Far As They Eye Can See started as a blank slate, “I went into it with no expectations…I would kind of just jam and see what came out.” This freewheeling approach appears on the record as live instrumentation samples; zestful guitar riffs and drum claps cut through classic synthy-pop melodies, adding a hint of grit behind AJ’s caramel-smooth vocals.
“Half the job is to keep up with fans online, but you’ve got to consider, how much do I share of my life? How much do I let in? I’ve had to find a balance with social media.” AJ is an open book with an open heart, the type who would respond to all fan mail if it were possible. Rather more sustainable and meaningful, the artist is hyped to meet fans face-to-face when he hits the road on 31st May. “Being on tour is the best way to engage with fans… I finally [get to] hear their stories and why my music resonates with them, then I can share stories about why I wrote the songs.”
Within the intricacies and nuances of As Far As The Eye Can See, whispers of this energy shift are audible: “New York has seasons. That definitely influenced the music, California doesn’t really have seasons, but here I wrote a ballad in the snow, I wrote a slow song when it was cold outside, you know, there was more moving through moods.” It would seem that the city’s rock’n’roll legacy also inspired a love affair with The Beatles to resurface. They were the first musicians AJ recalls obsessing over, “I was truly invested as a kid. I got this piano book of all their songs and I would practise them every week. What they did was so unique. For me when I create music, I have that in mind…anytime I sit down at the piano or with my guitar, I want to create something that’s never been heard before.”
Sonically speaking, As Far As They Eye Can See started as a blank slate, “I went into it with no expectations…I would kind of just jam and see what came out.” This freewheeling approach appears on the record as live instrumentation samples; zestful guitar riffs and drum claps cut through classic synthy-pop melodies, adding a hint of grit behind AJ’s caramel-smooth vocals.
Bringing this fresh playfulness into all areas of his career, AJ’s music videos are no exception. ‘Flowers on the Moon’s’ visual teaser of a sword slicing through and drawing crimson from a pristine white wedding cake particularly sparks curiosity. “That song is already so dramatic, but I didn’t want the music video to follow the lyrics’ storyline, I wanted it to be a little bit more polarising.” And so came the idea of Paris and a disastrous wedding on a boat, “At this wedding, everything goes wrong. For me, it’s a metaphor – things going wrong around you is a sign from the universe that you guys aren’t right for each other.”
Whilst such visuals provide a sugar-rush, their sonic accompaniments offer more slow-burning stimulation, engaging thoughts and feelings as listeners digest them. AJ doesn’t think too much about the outside world when song writing, his desired impact is modest, “I just want my music to be something people can listen to and feel at peace, feel relaxed, feel good. That’s what music has always done for me, so I just want that same feeling for them.”
For all the experimenting and exploring, AJ Mitchell does have one unshakeable rule for his musical escapades: intrinsic motivation. He staunchly believes that is where the best music truly comes from, when I ask what his ambitions are, it’s unsurprising that he comes back with oddball answers. First, he wants to turn a catalogue of releases and semi-written songs into a piano album (watch this space) and then, “I really want to do Lollapalooza festival because it would be cool to do a show in Illinois.” Of course, a world tour is on the bucket list, “I have dreamt of doing a show in Egypt, with the pyramids behind me as I perform.”
Article printed in Notion 95
28 May 2024
Ashbeck
Gearing up for the release Ashlondo 3, Ashbeck reflects on how far he and his bars have come. From voice memo raps to freestyling SoundCloud with El Londo, the north west Londoner is collaboratively pioneering the new sounds of UK rap.
‘Freestyling’, according to the originators of hip-hop, used to have a slightly different meaning to what we know it as today. It was quite simply a rap ‘free of style’: unbound by rules, expectations or specific subject matters: from there, it evolved into the spontaneity we now know and love.
Ashbeck is a freestyler as per both definitions and in nature. Over the past six years, the 23-year-old artist has risen through the ranks of London’s rap scene by living in the moment and making music for himself. Sound cliché? Not once you hear his intuitive rhymes and consider that he is an independent artist, whose career traces back to the DIY democracies of skateparks and SoundCloud.
This month sees Ashbeck drop Ashlondo 3: the third in a collaborative mixtape series with fellow north west Londoner and long-time friend, El Londo. Arriving four years after its predecessor, this is their most freewheeling and fast-paced duo-venture to date. Over 12 tracks, unscripted bars meet adventurous samples, merging flow twists and kick-drum turns into a smooth drill-inspired rap record.
With the addition of 2024’s follow-up, Ashlondo is becoming an entity of its own. Played back-to-back, every part documents the journey of this rapper-producer power duo, from secondary school kids pursuing a shared hobby to London legends with global fanbases. Still, the portmanteau-titled records are only a fragment of Ashbeck’s extensive discography. Counting seven EPs and mixtapes plus numerous singles dropped when the creative urge arises, his work is instantly recognisable though not in the least bit homogenous. Without forcing anything, his sound is constantly evolving, as signposted by Ashlondo 3’s hard-hitting standout, ‘SONICS’.
Upon browsing his back catalogue, what will strike you is the calibre of artists who feature. Pioneers of the UK rap wave, Ashbeck’s collaborators include Essex-native Joe James, Leicester-born Sainté as well as London wordsmith Rushy with whom he’s created the futuristic EP, RUSH HOUR.
Speaking to me before his Notion 95 shoot, the rap talisman’s collective mindset is clear. Besides his excitement for the features on Ashlondo 3, with Bawo, A2 and ayrtn – when reflecting on his career, Ashbeck consistently refers to the ‘we’ behind personal achievements.
It’s this recognition of the power in collective creativity that has allowed Ashbeck, and his ever-growing pool of talented friends, to shatter the music industry’s glass ceilings. The London lyricist is attentive, quick-witted and uninhibited, he just as easily hooks a listener in conversation as in his music…
I love the latest track you’ve dropped from Ashlondo 3, ‘ITSLIKE’. I sense a theme in the tracks you’ve released so far – the struggle of balancing work & personal life, and romantic relationships – can you tell me more about what inspired the narratives of your upcoming album?
They come with my style of lyrics, I’ve always been someone to say how I feel in that moment of time, based off the beat. My music is almost like a diary, a report of what’s happening in my life, that’s why you hear those themes coming up. The majority of the album was made when I’d just stopped seeing someone, so it’s a snapshot of where I was then.
Do you have a favourite track?
It always changes. Right now, I’m loving ‘NYC’, that’s me rapping, rapping. Me and El made that beat when we were in New York and I came up with the bars on the plane back.
This is the third album you’ve made with El Londo. Was a follow-up to Ashlondo 2 always the plan?
We’ve been unintentionally working on this project for three years. We were talking about how it’s mad that we dropped the first Ashlondo in 2019 and the second a year after. We didn’t want to force a third one. After finishing the last we basically said, ‘Let’s just keep going to the studio to make music until we have a folder and we’re happy with how it sounds.’ Doing it that way took off any pressure.
Ashlondo 3 feels faster and punchier than the other two. Why did you decide on that tone and energy?
Me and El just started enjoying faster stuff, and I started to freestyle on a lot of songs. Pretty much 80 percent of this album I didn’t even write down the lyrics, I was just freestyling them.
I’m in awe of people who can freestyle, to be able to think and articulate yourself that quickly and rhythmically, on the spot…
We actually used this technique, called ‘punching in’ where you freestyle one or two lines at a time, then you hear it back, do the next bar and keep it going until you have a full song. The technique gives it that punchy sound and makes it really rapid. We were listening to a lot of Cash Cobain as well, he was inspiring us and is definitely an influence on this album, he makes that kind of fast, smooth drill.
So you and El Londo go way back, can you tell me about the first time you connected?
We were in the same friendship group at secondary school. Then when I was 17, I started rapping and writing lyrics for fun, and he’d started making beats, I went to his, we made some shit and that became the first stuff we put on SoundCloud. The rest is history.
Do you remember what you were rapping about, the first time you tried it?
My first ever raps were recorded on my iPhone 4 voice memos. I actually uploaded some of them onto SoundCloud. One of the earliest ones I can remember is called ‘42p Freestyle’, which was about having 42p in my pocket and buying some snacks, or something like that.
What were you listening to around that time and growing up?
My dad had a huge CD collection and we used to listen to a lot of OutKast, Black Eyed Peas and Gorillaz. As I got older, it was artists like MF DOOM and Freddie Gibbs. Then I discovered SoundCloud rap, when Rich the Kid, Jay Critch and Famous Dex came along, they were big influences on my music. Playboi Carti in his Cash Carti era; the production really spoke to me.
You and El Londo started out on SoundCloud too. How important would you say that creative relationship was to your decision to make music a career?
Really important. I didn’t know how you could make money; I didn’t even think of a career in music as a possibility. It started off purely just us having fun and fucking around. I was in sixth form when we released ‘Cooli’ on SoundCloud. It got like 30,000 streams, which at the time was all I needed to think ‘I’m not going to go to uni yet, I’m gonna try and make music. It’s kind of crazy to think that now, because 30,000 isn’t a lot, but it made me take a year out and explore where things could go. In that year we made the first Ashlondo, and after getting millions of streams on that, I was like, ‘Cool, this is actually going somewhere.’ People started to message me, saying, ‘I love your project’, which gave me this fuel to think maybe I can make a career out of this.
Each of your albums has new names on it, you’ve got three on this next one, how did these collaborations come about?
All it comes down to is if I’m a fan of their music, then I’d love to work with you. That goes for A2, ayrtn, and Bawo, who are on this tape, I felt like we’d make good music together. Me and ayrtn have known each other for ages. We got some buzz on Soundcloud around the same time, but somehow have only just got around to making a track together. I’m glad it’s happened.
As a north west Londoner, what’s the best thing about that part of the city?
Compared to east London, it’s quite a chilled-out area. I think that has influenced my sound, some people say my music’s quite relaxing or chill and I feel like maybe if I grew up in bustling east London the sound might have been a bit heavier.
Outside of rap, what music genre would you like to explore collaborations in?
Probably an R&B artist. She’s huge but to work with someone like Erykah Badu would be amazing. André 3000, I know he’s a rapper but he sings too. I wanna work with more singers.
After you put out BEEZY, you said in an interview that you felt like you were still at the start of your journey, despite having four albums out. I wondered how you feel now?
I’ve been doing music seriously for like four or five years now. But every time I release a project, it feels like I’m starting over again, because it’s new. I always feel like I’m giving a different sound, because I’m in a different place mentally each time.
Is it pressurising, to feel like you’re back at square one with every project?
No, I think that almost takes the pressure off because if you constantly feel like you’re giving them something fresh, it helps you to keep going, if you know what I mean? At the minute, I don’t feel a whole lot of pressure from the outside. Most of it is internal. I’m my biggest critic, I try to only do things if they’re a higher standard than before. Music is a personal thing, almost selfish, I make music that I like not because someone else is telling me to. If I like it, I’ll drop it. And because I’m independent, I don’t have a label saying, ‘You shouldn’t drop that. It doesn’t sound right.’ It’s pretty much all up to me.
You’ve made so much music, but how do you catch a break in your downtime?
I’ve got really into exercise this year, it properly grounds me, during that hour or two I’m not thinking about anything, it’s like a form of meditation. I’ve never been a big party guy. , some people’s idea of a fun night is getting bare drunk. I do here and there but my idea of a fun night is making a cold track in the studio. I feel like I’ve gained more.
What are some things on your career bucket list?
To sell out a show abroad would be amazing, I don’t really mind where. I’d love to perform somewhere in the States, Paris even. Australia too, we’ve got quite a big following there. I don’t like setting myself too many goals; they can work in your favour sometimes, but if you don’t hit them, it’s disheartening
I’m always curious where artist’s get their monikers – can you share how yours came about?
Back in the day, when I used to skate, some guy at the skate park started calling me Ashbeck, and it kind of stuck, everyone would call me that, and I took it on.
What drew you to the skate scene, do you still skate?
No, but I’ve been wanting to get back on it recently, I was seriously into skating. It’s just fun. I like the freedom of it, there’s no coach telling you what to do, it’s just you and your mates moving about and having a good time. I think it made me grow up quicker, I started young and would be out all day with a bunch of older mates. That’s what got me into smoking weed…and probably into making music as well. The first time I ever went studio was through my boy from the skate park, he was a producer and told me to pull up.
What’s next for you musically, any live shows coming up…?
We’re going to have to let people hear Ashlondo 3, that’s all I would say. After this project’s out, I’ll probably focus on singles. I feel like I’m always working on a project and it can be quite consuming. With singles, you could make a song next week and just release it, and I think people are enjoying them at the moment.
Article printed in Notion 95