Across the span of the last three decades, Trip-Hop has gone from being the niche, extant musical trials of underground and bedroom producers to dominating a demonstrable slice of the global listening bandwidth. In its myriad forms, flavors, and spinoffs, it is a genre that inhabits the space of stages large and small, popular radio stations and burgeoning YouTube channels, Spotify-sponsored playlists and nebulous, often anonymous mixtapes on SoundCloud, and every crevice in-between. The list of artists that carry the Trip-Hop mantle ever forward grows on a near daily basis, but a few particular characters have been solidified as mainstay, immovable elements of that landscape; Blockhead is, by most measures, one of the most accessed, successful, and consistent names in the genre, placing him squarely in the center of Trip-hop's past, present, and future.
With over a dozen albums and a veritable starting point of 2001, Tony Simon's Blockhead project is both the personal effects of one man's musical journey and a chronicling of Trip-hop's timeless impact. It would be a disservice to say that his discography is indicative of the genre's evolution, as his sonic palette and compositional direction are distinctly unique; it's not enough to just bang out a traditional sample collage and call it a day, as that would simply be a pale imitation of the real goal. It's not enough to fold a few choice melodies together over top of a looped, broken beat.
Space Werewolves Will Be The End Of Us All, the latest Blockhead LP, showcases just how particular his compositional gait can be. Where other collections of beats music often feel like just that - a collection, each arrangement on the album in question begets prudent songwriting and production chops that create the narrative arc that Blockhead albums are so known for. It's an intentional web of highs and lows, of melancholy and jubilee, and an abundance rhythmic swagger. As soon as the record begins to spin, you're trapped in a meandering sunshower of themes, bridging the gaps between hip-hop, jazz, blues, and soul music.
In order to get a better fundamental understanding of the Blockhead creative ethos and the process behind Space Werewolves, the Rust took advantage of a generous opportunity to pose some poignant questions to Tony Simon, getting us a few steps closer to the root of his musicality.
The Rust: What was your first moment of inspiration for Space Werewolves Will Be The End Of Us? Was it a desire to craft another LP, or a smaller, snowballed moment?
Tony Simon: With new albums I kinda reach a point where I'm like "Whelp, it feels like i should probably make a new album" which is a real undertaking that i have to really prepare my mind for it. In this case, I had been locked down during the quarantine and honestly, very bored, so I figured, fuck it, let's ge to work. and, for me, once the ball starts rolling, I'm hyper productive and mildly obsessive so I tend to get shit done in a timely manner.
The Rust: Your long form releases have typically included a variety of flavors and staples; do you consciously set out to cover that much territory, or do you suddenly find yourself there?
Tony: It's definitely not something I do consciously. I've always been drawn to trying to find off kilter sounds and things other people might not immediately see the value in, sample wise. But the variety is really just a testament to me sampling from a huge spectrum of music and blending those genres together with very little regard for their original settings.
The Rust: What kind of mindset do you pull from when you begin to envision your musical process? Is it something you deliberately tap into, or an unconscious reaction?
Tony: I'm all instinct. i've never sat down to make a beat thinking "I wanna make this type of beat right now". I'm guided by the samples. It just so happens , I'm drawn to melodic and often melancholy sounds. I'm not a big over thinker and generally just reacting when I make music. Kinda of impulsively just pushing through ideas that pop in my head and either executing them or abandoning them very quickly.
The Rust: Let's talk sampling: with so many years under your belt, how do you keep your productions fresh? How do you keep your sample palette fresh?
Tony: I always worry about sounding samey cause my formula is very specific. and it's been that way for a while now. But i'm also, as far as i know, the only guy who makes songs like i do using mostly samples so i feel less guilty about sometimes feeling formulaic. As far as the samples go, I'm just always looking for something that jumps out and I think my ear has evolved with time. Certain things i woulda sampled years ago, i'd pass over cause i feel like I've been there and done that. Sometimes i go through old folders of samples i never used and find great stuff i just overlooked the first time. The ear is always shifting with the years.
The Rust: How do you strike a balance between the polish of production with the rawness of instrumentation? How do you zero in on "the pocket" as you compose each track?
Tony: It goes back to instinct and trusting your ear. I can't even explain it but i know what i want it to sound like and i know what i don't want it to sound like. It's nuanced. I'm also not always in the pocket. Sometimes i struggle making anything work and others the sounds just seamlessly pile on top of each other without even trying. I've found that if i keep pushing forward, something usually happens.
The Rust: What was the creation process for this LP like? How did you fare during your time in locked-down NYC?
Tony: It was just me putting my head down, taking a deep breath and going in. My process for making albums the last few has been the same. I don't start from scratch. I make a ton of beats , pick out about 25-30 of those then see what beats can work with others. I'll match 2 or 3 at a time and meld them all together into a song. The concepts for songs kinda come after the initial framing of the song. And i just fine tune it from there.as for the lock down, I could lie and say it was awful but,truth be told, I was built for that shit. I'mma social guy but I'm also very comfortable being alone and a homebody so it wasn't that different that being home from tour.
The Rust: What's next on your list of projects? Any downtime, or is it right back to the studio?
Tony: I have a secret project with a special rapper that will be dropping in november I have finished collabo album with my dude Eliot Lipp under the name "Lipphead" that will be out next year. As well as a three song EP of stuff that didn't make this album that I'mma drop before the end of the year. But really, touring is starting again so that's gonna be taking up the glut of my time for the upcoming months.
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