Russ Liquid is killing it right now. He’s been touring like a madman this past year, rocking stages as infamous as Coachella and tearing up Australia & New Zealand with live beat wizard OPIUO. He’s about to drop a brand new album as the most recent addition to the 1320 Records roster while prepping for a big tour with live EDM/jamtronica favorites STS9.

And despite being so busy, Russ still had time to hook us up with “Lady Tron,” an exclusive download that you wont find anywhere else:

Click here to download this exclusive track

Russ isn’t your average EDM artist. He’s a classically trained shredder on the trumpet, sax, piano, and flute, and he’s not afraid to play over his beats. He describes himself as a “live musician at heart,” and you can hear it in every ounce of his music. Don’t get it twisted though, Russ can chop up hip-hop and drop bass with the best of them. Case in point:

Russ, however, has a wide range. Depending on the track, he regularly incorporates elements like jazz, world music, and a whole lotta horns. Check out his track “Mumakata,” for example.

Russ attributes his musical influences to the jazz music of the 60s and 70s, though he’s also strongly influenced by more contemporary artists. He lists J Dilla and Flying Lotus as influences, two artists who, though their careers are separated by a decade, share many characteristics. When asked in a recent interview what he had learned from the deceased Dilla’s music, FlyLo responded,

“It’s ok to have [spiritual experiences in the process of making music] and you can still be funky and you can still be searching within yourself and you can still be sounding big.”

Russ strives for a similar balance in his own music and sees his art as a vehicle to search within himself. These characteristics are evident in his music, which can be deep and heady, big and funky, inter-galactic and down-to-earth, often all at the same time.

Russ attributes his metamorphosis, from a classically trained instrumental musician into the alien super-producer he is today, to his environment.

“I’m from Portland, Oregon… as far as making electronic music goes, it was my Portland friends that encouraged me to pursue producing. I owe a lot to the love and support I got from my Portland community!”

Russ’ roots, however, really extend throughout the West Coast scene, with his first big break having come through LA’s Do Lab.

“Their Lightning in a Bottle festival in 2011 really helped put me on the West Coast underground map. I love the Do Lab!”

He attributes “a huge part” of his current success to his representation and fellow artists at the LA-based Headtron music collective.

Keep your eyes peeled for Russ Liquid’s new album, dropping later this month, and check him out on Facebook, SoundCloud, Twitter and Bandcamp. His schedule is jam packed, so be sure not to miss him when he passes through your hood or pops up at your favorite summer festie.

Tags

• Flying Lotus
• fresh blood
• interviews
• Russ Liquid
• west coast

Comments