A Gentlemanly Conversation with Basement Skylight

           When you find a band that is both as interesting and as mysterious as Basement Skylight, you got to find out more about them.  I asked them about the band themselves, their lives shows, and new material.  After getting my answers back I was not disappointed. 

I'm still not exactly sure of who you guys are and how you got together.  Do you mind clueing us in?

Basement Skylights is a group of producers/musicians all originally from NJ (Anitek recently moved to Switzerland). The group consists of Anitek, Tab, A.U.R.C & Hernan Faraci.  We all have a history of working together for years now. Tab and Anitek have done four albums together so far (The most recent being Project Monarch).  A.U.R.C produced Grayscale Ballads in 2011, which also featured Tab on lyrics & vocals.  Hernan Faraci is also the lead guitar player in the band Traveling in Stereo.

Have each of you been playing music very long?

We have all been doing music for 10+ years now.  The great thing about this group is the different backgrounds and influences we all have. Anitek is classically trained n has a smooth trip-hop style.  Tab & A.U.R.C came up doing boom-bap hip-hop and Hernan has been in numerous bands growing up, so its a melting pot of everything.

Where'd you guys get the idea to make music like this?

Cheap vodka and other "magical" substances

What does it mean that "you jammed together, sampled yourselves and then each added your own personal touch to the songs?"

We get up once a week and do an improv jam as long as possible.  Every time we use different instruments and equipment, its like a Chinese fire drill as far as who plays what.  Once the jams are mixed and bounced, Tab & A.U.R.C chop them up like they would a regular sample. Once they are sequenced and the foundation is there they e-mail those tracks out to the rest of the group.  Everyone adds whatever they feel fits and send it back for the final mix.

Where do you guys find your stuff to sample?

Life, Cartoons, and Nature

What do you hope to do by giving your music out for free?

To reach a bigger audience, play bigger shows, and to never have to fit any specific format or genre

Do you guys have an overall feeling you think the album portrays?

Unicorn rape

What made you guys write trip-hop? Are you guys big trip-hop fans?

Everything we make seems to have a trip-hop feel to it by default.  We are all huge fans of Portishead, DJ Krush, Amon Tobin, DJ Shadow, Skalpel ,Dimlite, Fink, Radiohead...etc.

Two minute trip-hop songs?  You must realize that's a bit shorter then most trip-hop.  What makes you guys choose such short songs?

A.D.D

Where do these songs come from?  Is the sample the initial idea or a

beat, or a riff?

All of the above.  Each jam and song starts differently. Ducktape for example started off with us actually using a roll of ductape for the snare.

Do you guys do live shows?  If so how does that work with all of the

effects and samples?

Yes, we have done a few shows.  So far we are experimenting with different setups and ways to approach the live aspect. Right now we improv all our shows and plan on sampling those in the future.  Here's a clip of our last show. (A.U.R.C on samples, Hernan on bass, Tab on drums and featuring Mark Bucci on guitar). 

Our live set will hit full stride once Anitek returns to the states and we can start doing the album live..hopefully by next year.

Are you guys thinking about coming out with some new stuff?

Yes, definitely.  We have about 3 albums worth of material we are fishing thru at the moment.  We plan on doing some concept albums and bringing an even more live element to the next one.  We have added Mark Bucci {from the video above} to our latest jams and he adds a really nice twist to the sound. We are really excited to release some new stuff.

I wanted to thank these guys for taking the time to answer our questions.  Also the 3 links in the first answer are links to other projects these guys are up to.  Best of all you can download them all for free!  Download, listen and support some really cool artist!

Hey! Hungry for some more interviews?  Try Steppin’ Razor and Onboard Balloons.  Also follow the blog on the facebook, or risk missing some other great artists!