Double Artist Interview pt. 1: elektor
Reporting by Nathan Hausspiegel
Welcome to part 1 of this two-part double artist interview! The other day, I got to sit down with Max Murgio ‘23 to talk about his electronic music group elektor (comprised of himself and two Wes alums) fresh off of their performance at Duke Day and the release of their debut album, kolegium elektorów.
(If you’d like to see the second part of the interview, where Audrey Mills ‘23 joins Max to talk about their band Noisebaby, click here.)
So, what do you do musically on campus?
Basically, I just started with Sound Co-op and stuff, and I knew I wanted to be around the people that were doing music stuff, and the easiest way to do that as a freshman is Sound Co-op… get in those places, then you start talking to people. And I’ve always made beats, then sophomore year I started a band with my friend - started two bands, one called Noisebaby, one called elektor. [Noisebaby] started during COVID, because living in Music House, I met Audrey. She was the only other person I knew who was taking music seriously, so, obviously we gotta be a band. And also songwriting, that’s the thing, it’s not just like being in a band for the fun of it… the only other songwriter I knew was Audrey. Yeah, met her freshman year, because she was roommates with my friend Leah, who’s also from Brooklyn, near where I grew up, so we became friends and then through that, [I met] Audrey. And then elektor is a different band. It’s me and my friend from high school, Benji, who’s the reason I came to Wesleyan. I took a gap year, so he was only one year above me, and then he was two years above me at Wesleyan, and then we became friends - and then his roommate was Eric, who’s this kid who went to France for study abroad and then got all obsessed with French stuff… and that’s how elektor got created.
You answered a lot of questions I wanted to ask.
*laughs*
I was gonna ask, “Who is elektor?”, but I also wanna ask, what is your relationship with them like right now and what are they like to be friends with and work with?
So Benji I met in high school, we were very good friends in high school… then he went to Wesleyan and then, that was basically why I wanted to go to Wesleyan, ‘cause I was just like, “Oh, he’s chill… chill people make chill decisions, imma make a chill decision and also go to Wesleyan”. He’s the most musical out of all three of us. He’s the most, like, [able to] do the music stuff and, like, music theory. He’s a music major… comp sci kid too, really into video game music, that’s his whole thing - he really wants to be a video game music person. Eric has no musical experience at all, he’s just kind of a very rowdy person, but not even, he’s super smart, he’s getting his masters in medieval French literature in France right now - University of Strasbourg - and he just wanted to make… he went to France and then he came back and just wanted to make techno music, wanted to make rave music. Before then, I didn’t know him as well, I’d met him a couple times - he’s from California, he’s into like beach rock. That was what he used to be into, and, like, very different vibes… then he comes back from France and he just wants to make gabber. Gabber’s like a type of-
I love gabber.
Yeah, Rotterdam shit, Rotterdam rave music. I had a friend in high school who introduced me to dance music named Joachim, but [back] then I always just made beats, ‘cause I was trying to make beats for friends who were, like, rappers and shit… um, so wait, what was the question?
I mean you pretty much answered it.
*laughs*
But moving on more from what you guys are like as people… You described a little bit about what you each do, but when you three make music together, what’s the process look like?
So, it’s a lot of online stuff, because it was during COVID. But, when we’re all in the same room together… So, elektor was created on election night, right? Of Joe Biden. And we just made a beat called “elektor”. And then we were like, “Bro, we should be a band, fuck it.” And also we were also just, like, [having] shitty times, it was dark out, and it was right before, if you remember- wait, what grade are you in?
I’m a junior, so I was there. I remember that night.
Yeah, but then we went to Thanksgiving break, and then we didn’t come back until the spring, right?
Uh, yeah… yeah, they sent us home early. I think we came back and then they sent us home earlier, like a couple weeks before we were supposed to go.
Yeah. So basically, like, right after elektor was started, [it] had to be winter break - and also it’s like COVID and in my family at least, you’re not really chilling with people during COVID because it’s, like, dangerous and whatnot, and Benji does live in Brooklyn, but because it’s COVID we couldn’t really hang out. I was also living with two friends in an apartment during that time, and they were not down with other people being in the, like, “COVID bubble” or whatever the fuck. So, we had to do a lot of Zoom music, and basically what we would do is, my computer is screen sharing a Logic project, and then they’re just telling me what to do.
So you’re the mastermind.
No, no.
No?
We’re all three equal masterminds! But I was the one who had to do the shit with my hands.
You’re the controller.
Yeah. So that’s how we made a lot of the songs on the elektor album, but then we came back for the spring, and then we were just, like, in person again. That was awesome.
Yeah. Very interesting to co-produce electronic music like that - I’ve always seen it as a very introverted, deep dive-y solo endeavor. That’s really interesting.
Yeah.
In terms of electronic music, it’s really cool to have an electronic group on campus, because I feel like on-campus music seems very much like live, indie-type music… for each of you, what were your electronic inspirations for the music you ended up making?
So, I’ll try to speak for Benji and Eric. I’ll say, Eric, he came back from France and he was obsessed with The Field, you know The Field?... Autechre, um, Boards of Canada. So I’m gonna say Eric’s are those three. And also this guy shamana, who’s just like a producer-
I know him!
You know shamana?
From SoundCloud.
Yeah, from SoundCloud!
Cool motherfucker.
Yeah, cool-ass shit! That’s awesome. And then, Benji’s into like - bro, most ver-ta-sile [sic] music taste I’ve ever met. He’s into literally everything, and knows it well. He’s into, like, singer-songwriter… he’s also into something that I was never into, not like math rock but, like, I dunno how to explain it… it’s like, do you know The Mollusk by Ween?
The album?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah. He’s really into that, and he’s into different types of guitar band music stuff, and also, like, folk music - and then when it comes to electronic music, honestly, I don’t know exactly what his [biggest interest] in electronic music is. I know he fucks with Weyes Blood, which can have some electronic stuff… I mean he’s into video game music, that’s his main thing. And then me, I’d say, I’m into… my original stuff that I fucked with electronic music-wise is just Atlanta, like, fuckin’ producers - they’re all electronic musicians and they’re all fire. Southside, Sonny Digital, Metro Boomin, Zaytoven, all that shit… that’s, like, so good. So good to the end. I mean there’s probably more, and there’s so many that are so good.
You as a producer, did you originally start out trying to make music like them?
Um… yes. *laughs* Honestly, yeah, that’s fair to say. I was just like, “I wanna make trap beats!” I dunno, there’s just like- the 808s are too hard. *laughs* And, just, having an 808 on your computer is so nice. So them, and then just generally, I love the Flatbush Zombies, The Underachievers, Joey Bada$$, all that stuff… like the Beast Coast rap stuff, Pro Era… then [for] electronic music - house music, like, y’know, Frankie Knuckles, that type of shit… I love J Dilla, I’m basically doing my thesis partially on J Dilla.
Wow.
And then, I mean, Kraftwerk, Yellow Magic Orchestra… I do fuck with Autechre and Boards of Canada too.
Tight, tight.
Portishead, love Portishead. Which is not really electronic music… kinda though, include that. Um… I’m tryna think of more. There’s so much, but… I dunno.
You don’t have to push yourself.
Yeah, I was gonna say.
You probably already listed them, but any of those that you really specifically modeled this album after?
Nah.
Nah? All OG?
*laughs* Yeah, yeah. It was all just, like, what we fuck with, and we were all just like, “Is it hard or is it not?” That’s the only metric. *laughs*
You had your show last night, how’d that go?
Good. Little sad to do it without them.
I was wondering what it was like… Having performed with them here before, it’s interesting to be solo now.
Eric’s the showman, that’s the thing. He’s the one who runs the showmanship of it all. He was also in a, what’s it called, like a punk band, or not even punk band, it was just like rage metal shit, but also… at every show we had when he was there, he did this thing where he tried to get the audience to beat him up, but not really, ‘cause it’s Wesleyan, but, like, just punch him - and he would get punched. Like solidly. The idea is just to be as bizarre as possible. We had another show last semester, or last year, so last fall probably, where Eric Zoomed in, and we projected him on the wall, and then he just brushed his teeth for the whole show.
That’s so sick. I love that.
*laughs* And me and Benji, whenever we were doing shows, we would just DJ, but not really do anything, just kinda, like, dance with everyone.
Gotcha. I mean you did your fair share of quirky stuff last night. You threw a beach ball in the crowd, you gave out gloves, you invited people to spit over the beats.
*laughs* I’m trying to get to, like- I wanna get the crowd involved, because that’s just fun, ‘cause I’m not really doing much. It’s, like, playing recordings at the end of the day… would be nice to one day get to a point where it’s more live. But it takes a lot of coordination, and programming, really.
Do you feel like the music you made was intended for a live setting?
I dunno. Not really, honestly.
More cerebral? Headphone music?
It was intended… there’s hard parts of a couple songs like “galahad”, “see four”, “hydroplane” that I definitely intended to be used by DJs. Just [to] give some spots for there to be DJ club music so that can be an option. But most of it, the bread and butter of it all, is sad, slow music. That’s the meat of it.
I feel you, I feel you. It’s interesting that you guys started at Wes, and now two of you have graduated, and you’re still going, and you’re still active - I mean, the [album] you’ve done has been after they left. It’s interesting because I know at Wes, people get to be able to jam and just make random shit, but now, continuing after some people aren’t in college, it definitely feels like you’re being more intentional with it. So, what are your goals as a group, if any?
Uh, just keep making music, keep releasing music. I was thinking of putting stuff more on datpiff.com or something, like, free mixtape type things - the intention is for it to all be free and shit. The intention is not to make money, the intention’s just to have more of it out. And also, I dunno, I’ve been thinking a lot about the Lil B and RXKNephew type version of doing things where you just make a fuck ton of shit, and then some of it will stick. I dunno. But also, we’re going too slow for that. *laughs* That’s next level. Also, a big strategy we do when we make music is, we do a seven or five-minute timer on the computer, and then you just switch, switch. And the person who’s on the computer doesn’t get a chair. That’s our strategy.
That’s intense. Gotta be on your toes, literally.
Mhm.
That’s pretty much everything I had. If there’s anything else you wanna say…
Uh, go stream elektor. It’s pretty sad. It’s COVID music - I don’t know if we wanna [call it] breakup music, but - that’s the truth of it, it is COVID and breakup music… like it was just, it was a sad time, honestly, when we made it. And we made it two years ago, most of it. Yeah, we just mixed and mastered it in the last year. Maybe made one or two more.
Listen to elektor's debut album, kolegium elektorów, below.
