♬ Spooky Season Coverage Series ♬
☀ EDM Weather Reporter: Brandon Rafferty ☀
▼Dubstep | Riddim | Tearout | Metalstep▼
This Guest Mix Has It All
● With Spooky Season in full bloom and the weather changing around us, we over at Monsoon Season had the pleasure of hosting the most recent guest mix by the one and only – BLAQOUT.
BLAQOUT has been a personal favorite of mine for many years, and I had the honor of asking him a few questions alongside his new massive mix just released with us on our SoundCloud.
Interview w/ BLAQOUT
Q1: Let’s start in chronological order. If I’m not mistaken, around 2 years ago you went on an indefinite hiatus. Lately, you have come out of the shadows with Insanely heavy tracks, and plenty of them. I’m curious to hear what happened in this two-year break that allowed you to come back with a vengeance.
BLAQOUT: “It’s honestly hard to know where to begin here! Things were going pretty well after lockdowns ended in 2021, I had done a pretty sick run of shows in the US and it felt like it was time to do something else for a little bit. I worked on some business projects, mentored a ton of aspiring producers (still doing that!), and spent time just stockpiling tons of new music. Now here we are!”
Q2: How does it feel to basically be fully in charge of the Blaqout brand? The solo releases you have been doing are working insanely well and are all on brand. It’s great to see someone who hasn’t been cornered into industry wants and standards.
BLAQOUT: “Thank you for that! Having total control over the trajectory of your music and brand is an unmatchable feeling. I tried to do the label release thing coming back into it but all the labels seem to be looking for something different from what I’m producing. No hard feelings, I know that proper curation is important for labels, but I’d rather just make the music and put it out and not worry about having to conform to a certain sound or style.“
Q3: How would you explain your current and modern sound? It appears you focus on the heavier side of riddim and dubstep tracks but always toss metal sections into the mix. Tell us more about this workflow!
BLAQOUT: “Growing up, metal was my shit. I always wanted to be in a metal band but I can’t sing, I can’t play guitar and I can’t maintain a steady rhythm to save my life so no drums either. There was always a disconnect for that reason, I love dubstep but have always wanted to throw in that metal touch. Riddim is fun but slightly too repetitive for me, tearout has that edge to it that invokes high energy so right now I’m just trying to find the perfect balance of it all. I’m loving the metalstep movement with what people like PhaseOne and Sullivan King are doing, that’s been inspiring as well as Svdden Death with his metal vocals during live sets!”
Q4: How do you go about who you work with vocally? You’ve managed to pull off some big collaborations with acts such as Messinian and Krizz Kaliko, so do you have any words of advice for the up-and-comers who are afraid they won’t ever land guest features of this caliber?
BLAQOUT: “I know this isn’t the most exciting answer, but it’s completely random. It starts with me sending an instrumental to the vocalist 90% of the time but in cases like my track with RA The Rugged Man, that song was literally built around his verses. My philosophy is if it works, it works! I’ll send tracks around to vocalists I know and sometimes, something cool happens. Again, completely random.
Q5: Without giving away too much, tell us how you approach a modern blaqout track when you open a project file and it is literally silent.
BLAQOUT: “Personally, I like to start by filling out an 8-bar section. Once that sounds good, duplicate and make variations. Now you’re at 16 bars, do that again and then you have 32 bars that all have variations every 8. Do that for an intro, a drop, and an outer, and then it’s all about piecing the bits together! I’ll make the sections, then start piecing the actual arrangement together off to the right. Not sure if anyone else does this, but it works really well if you’re anything like me and have writer’s block issues.”
Q6: What is the greatest pre-drop vocal of all time and why?
BLAQOUT: “AFK & Carbin – Boss Ft. Cody Ray, hands down. You can play the “Imma die a boss, and…” followed by cutting the volume and the crowd shouts it every time. It’s one of those earworms that truly withstood the test of time.”
right: Aura Nightclub, KCMO
Q7: Since it’s Spooky Season, it would be a sin for me to not ask, what’s your favorite scary movie?
BLAQOUT: “This isn’t really a scary movie, but Scooby-Doo: The Movie. You know, the one where they go to Spooky Island! Classic! Fun fact, that movie is officially old enough to drink in the US. Yep, 21 years old. If that doesn’t make you feel old, not sure what will!”
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BLAQOUT is not an act to sleep on. He is constantly releasing massive bangers and often gives tunes away for free via his email listing. The dude is straight-killing it and you need to go check out this spooky guest mix he just released with us at the links below.
30 Minutes | 33 Tracks | 18 Originals | 14 IDs
One Guest Mix
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⋅Listen on SoundCloud⋅
Tracklist:
1. [Custom Intro]
2. BLAQOUT – ID
3. Marauda – Husk
4. Kendrick Lamar – M.a.a.d City
5. Subtronics – Tuba Demon (HOL! Remix)
6. BLAQOUT – ID
7. BLAQOUT – Death Transmission (VIP)
8. Skrillex & Habstrakt – Chicken Soup (BLAQOUT Flip)
9. BLAQOUT – ID
10. Blaqout – Rude Awakening
11. Subtronics – Clockwork (BLAQOUT Re-Mosh)
12. Kayzo – Night Terror (YDG Remix)
13. Sorry X Feel Something X Power (Karmaxis Mashup)
14. Definitive & Akvma – Tengatu (VIP)
15. BLAQOUT – ID
16. AFK & Carbin – Boss Ft. Cody Ray
17. BLAQOUT – Scorched Earth Symphony
18. Deucez – Underground
19. BLAQOUT – ID
20. BLAQOUT – ID
21. Bommer & Crowell – Yasuo (BLAQOUT Re-Mosh)
22. Riot Ten & Sullivan King – Pit Boss (Feat. DJ Paul)
23. Knife Party – Fire Hive
24. Svdden Death – ID
25. Baerli – Miracle
26. Phiso – Jotaro
27. BLAQOUT – ID Feat. Krizz Kaliko, Nicky Nevermind
28. Skrillex, PEEKABOO, Flowdan, & G-Rex – Badders
29. BLAQOUT & SubSerum – ID
30. BLAQOUT – ID
31. BLAQOUT & Kami Khaos – ID
32. Skrillex, Flowdan, BEAM, & PEEKABOO – Hydrate
33. BLAQOUT – ID
➦ Follow BLAQOUT:
blaqout.us
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