this is a great interview.  more and more i’ve been gravitating toward artists like little dragon that are clearly influenced by several genres across the board, and that wear the aspects to the point that you can’t really tell how to categorize it.  in the beginning i really did think that i was trying to be eccentric and loopy, almost like i was subconsciously resisting music and art that falls too easily into one box.  maybe there’s still some truth in that.  but more so, i feel that it responds to an incredible change that has been occurring regarding how people consume art.

generics:

definitely, the extent of ill-lit’s success this year has ridden very much on the fact that the internet’s influence has widened the limited scope that the masses had when mtv and radio were their only major sources for music.  without those changes that began around the time that ill-lit was born, we definitely wouldn’t have been able to inspire a critical mass of spoken word fans from throughout the world.  now we’re working with music, and although i have a clear vision of the type of art that we are working toward, i come to a halt when i try to associate us with a genre or compare us to other artists.  this becomes most apparent before our shows, when the host asks us how to introduce us.  i don’t even know what to say!  a couple of years ago it would be something along the lines of “ill-literacy is a spoken word group, blah blah lbah, slam champion blah blah blahs, has performed with blah blah blahs.” but now i feel that although i still claim spoken word as the core of our work, the popular idea of what spoken word is definitely doesn’t encompass what we do.  that was demonstrated at the blu show a couple of nights ago when we were introduced as “poets” and the energy in the audience automatically went down, only to be met with confusion (and THANKFULLY excitement and energy eventually) when i ran on stage with willy wonka goggles and tossing CD’s at people.  how do you describe the work of ill-literacy in one term?  or of little dragon, or even kanye nowadays?  and does it even matter…isn’t it enough that we chose a name to contain the name of our band in the first place?

internets:

i was talking to pops yesterday about how i’ve gotten bored with myspace, and as a result haven’t really been keeping up with ill-lit’s page, and nowadays we log in once or twice a week.  really, it took being on the road for a month straight, doing real shows, dealing with people face to face, and handing out physical artifacts of music to unplug me from that myspace matrix.  it was only a year ago that i would sit at home during my days between tours, scheming and strategizing and trying to figure out how to get more hits and friends and comments.  but with myspace and personal sites and blogs and twitters and all these other forums that are meant to tap into different pools that you hope would all fit your music, how to deal with all that while also finding some time and energy to actually create the art that you’re trying to promote?  i like yukimi’s explanation that physical forms of music like cd’s will never be obsolete, but that it’ll go back to the personal value of these artifacts–that in an age where you can buy (or otherwise) music at the click of a keyboard, it’ll be the personal, the homemade that retains its value.

with that said, real actual ill-lit music you can hold in your hands, pop into a player, and jam out to will be available very very soon.  you heard it here first.  yee!

and i repeat, i need to get to sweden.

PREVIOUSLY: live.

via blind i