Altered Zones

AZ: So, have you been to Japan before?

AZ: Why do you think you're so drawn to Japanese culture?

Stephen: I think the aesthetic part of the country is amazing. It's an awesome place to visit, and it would be an awesome place to stay, too, but they are very weird about who they let in and out of their country. A lot of times when you go somewhere, the young people are way cooler than the older people, naturally. A lot of the old people in Japan are really cool, too. There's an art to everything in Japan: the food, and the art, and their imagination. Its like, "At eleven o’clock at night, I'm going to put on this Neon Evangelion outfit and I'm going to go have dinner with some of my friends." You don’t find that out here.

Stephen: I mean, yeah. It is very parallel. Friends of mine tell me that I’ve always done what I want to do; I can't really knock it. I've been playing bass my whole life, and wearing crazy things like that my whole life. It feels very congruent to how they portray creativity in Japan.

AZ: You've been playing bass since you were four. When did you decide to make a go of it in the career sense?

Stephen: It kind of took me seriously as opposed to me taking it seriously. As far as I can remember, it's always been the same thing. People don’t believe me, and then I'll pull a baby picture out and I'll have some sort of helmet on, and a sword tucked into my shirt, and I'll have this toy guitar.

AZ: Do you play any other instruments, or just the bass?

Stephen: I play bass in many different forms. People get weirded out because they don't realize you can do so many things [with] it. They feel like they need to do a million things to keep up-- like the drums, piano, bass, guitar. You can do all of them, but you can suck at all of them. There are guys that can play all that stuff, but it doesn’t matter.

AZ: When you were a teenager, what kind of music did you listen to?

Stephen: Same type of stuff I listen to now, which is jazz-fusion, rock, hip-hop, classical, composed, arranged, [and] video game music. Lots of anime cartoon music. Wherever the music is beautiful: Korn. Slipknot. The Halo soundtrack. The Final Fantasy soundtrack. Street Fighter. Sonic the Hedgehog's original soundtrack. Ninja Turtles soundtrack. John Barry, who produced all the 007 stuff. John Williams. Bill Lee. All that stuff was all intertwined in me growing up.

AZ: Would you ever want to make music for video games?

Stephen: A lot of the times I listen to these video games now, and they'll have some superstar singing on it. But I'd like to revert back to simpler times, when you have a theme that will stick in your brain, as opposed to some number one hit in the video game. They sell a million video games because they have someone like Usher singing the hook. I'd rather have the right music.

AZ: What do you think is special about the contemporary music scene in LA?

Stephen: You come to LA to get your chain dipped in gold. There is something bubbling right now, and it feels good. You’ve got guys like Tyler [the Creator] running around. He's amazing as an artist. It's not the fact that he says stuff that's so crazy-- although, that’s the translation of it. It's more about the creative energy.

AZ: Are there others in LA you would put in that group?

Stephen: Oh, Flying Lotus. It is like someone put a light on him and he's like, "I'm here too." I met Flying Lotus at SXSW awhile ago. He said he'd heard of me, and I said I'd heard of him, too. We decided that we should hang out some time. From there, we started recording Cosmogramma [Flying Lotus' 2010 LP, on Warp]. I'm proud of that record. It was kind of like having a baby with him.

AZ: Would you say Cosmogramma and The Golden Age of the Apocalypse are spiritually related?

Stephen: Actually, The Golden Age of the Apocalypse for me was sort of formed by me and Lotus. It had been floating around for awhile, and I hadn’t put a name on it, or tried to promote it. When Lotus and I were working together, he saw the vision of it. He's like, "Let's do your album," and I said, "Okay." From then it was just kind of magic. The two albums-- they go together. You hear that music and it makes so much sense with mine.

Stephen: As a younger version of me, I was just writing songs, creating things. I didn't have a specific thing in mind. I knew at some point I would like to do my own album, but where that early stuff came from was [me] just trying to create.

AZ: So had you thought about releasing the album before you and Flying Lotus talked about it?

Stephen: Somewhat. I have so many thoughts flying through my head sometimes that they just pass quickly. It's like, "Should I put out a record… what time does Thundercats come on?" It really weaves in and out of my thought process.

AZ: Are you working on another album right now?

Stephen: Yes, actually. Working on a couple of different things actually. Me and Lotus are working on another album, and I actually started working with the pop artist Miguel. Erykah [Badu's] got a new album coming out soon, and I'm playing on it.

Stephen: One thing I've learned from Lotus is if you watch his work ethic, he's amazing. He is a work machine. He doesn't stop. I enjoy watching him do his thing. He knows how to complete what he wants in his mind.

AZ: So does it help you to work with someone who is more of a workaholic than yourself?

Stephen: I wouldn't say that I don't have that in myself, too. I'd say I'm down to work with anybody, regardless of how lazy or how fast they move. That's just how they work. You pick and choose your battles with people. At the same time, I'm kind of a little hippy-ish; I don’t want to make anything seem like it's gotta go a certain way. Not like, "No, this is mine! We've gotta do this and this!" There’s a time for that, but that’s not usually how I function. I like to be in a very cool emotional place to create.