Interview: Exile

Interview: Exile

Some people say all you hear on the radio is crappy music and noisy airwaves. Producer Exile isn’t on the same page with them. He sampled sounds, bits and music off the radio to create his solo debut ‘Radio’. This month he released ‘AM/FM’: remixes and remakes of songs that appeared on his previous album. That’s why we hooked up with Exile to talk about the radio and remixes.

Some people say all you hear on the radio is crappy music and noisy airwaves. Producer Exile isn’t on the same page with them. He used the radio as main ingredient for his album Radio. Exile sampled sounds, bits and music from the radio and turned it into one hell of a debut.

This month he released AM/FM: remixes and remakes of songs that appeared on ‘Radio’. That’s why we hooked up with Exile to talk about the radio and remixes.   

Exile Radio

When you get in your car, do you listen to the radio or listen to CDs? 

I like to listen to both. Mainly my shit. Gotta check mixes and songs a lot, so it’s not a vanity thing…haha.

What is your greatest memory involving a radio? 

Asking God to help me communicate  truth with just a radio and an MPC and feeling like I came close. That and listening to KDAY and the militant mastermix back in the days. 

What is the strangest thing you’ve heard on the radio? 

The strangest thing would have to be hearing a evangelical Spanish voice screaming, but transmitted through my MPC. My MPC would get these radio waves flowing through it all the time.

Have you ever heard yourself on the radio and what was that moment like? 

Man, yeah when I first heard myself on college radio it was dope. But the mother of ’em was hearing C-Minus spin my shit on friday night flavors Power 106 LA.

Can you give us a little insight on the art of radio beatmaking? 

Well, it can take you to weird places if you let it. Just don’t listen to the music, but listen to what people are saying, ‘NOW!! LIVE..’  It’s what people are feeling, the media trying to capitalize on it and your own fear or boredom.

If you are riding around and you hear anything worth sampling, do you park the car and get busy? Or do you wait until you get home? 

Wait ’til I get home, but then remember to listen to that radio show again the week after.

How do you currently feel about the radio and what they play? 

Well, it’s a love-hate thing. Of course I hate the bullshit, (but it’s good for sampling 808s). It’s junk food corporate music. Im trying to make raw food. Ha. But there is a lot of knowledge on the radio from politics, environment, and spirituality.  It’s yin and yang.

In your perspective, how has the radio changed this generation, in comparison to what you were listening to when you were a kid? 

Ya man, that and TV. People live what they hear to some degree. I know Dre and Cypress Hill made me wanna get real high. Ya as today, man, some of this sexual shit is making some sexual women for sure, but it’s not building too many queens, that’s for sure.

Do you have any hopes for the radio in this decade? 

Me finding radio waves in other galaxies.

Exile Remixes

Why did you decide to work on remixes for ‘Radio’, instead of doing a brand new album with those guest appearances? 

Well, cats started to ryhme on the album and I had mad remixes, so I just put them together.

What do you think is the greatest remix this past decade? 

J Dilla – Eve (Spacek Remix) (ft. Frank and Dank)

Don’t you think ‘Radio’ should stay as it is now? I mean, a conceptual album like DJ Shadow’s ‘Endtroducing’ remixed with vocals would also be a weird touch… 

Nah, I don’t agree with that. Just hear the album and see. 

What do you think of rappers who rap over known producers’ instrumentals and release it on their own project to promote themselves? (example) 

Well, sometimes it’s cool but it’s wack at the same time. Get on your own beats first.

Do you think ‘I can do it better’ sometimes when you hear music – and eventually try it?

Nah, I just try to flip it and show we can do this hip hop live too.

Check out Exile’s AM/FM, out now! Also don’t forget to check this download with tracks that did not make the album.

Words by: Futura & Danny
More info: Exile / AM/FM

Just an ordinary guy always on the hunt for extraordinary music. Not just as the founder of The Find Magazine & Rucksack Records, but also as a freelance music journalist (bylines at Tracklib, Bandcamp, Wax Poetics, DIG Mag, among others) and—above all—out of love for all kinds of good music.