No.1 How would you describe this week in a sentence?
Eiffel Tower.
Would you like to elaborate?
Imagine you're already dealing with one problem, and then another just comes behind you and wrecks everything up. That's how it feels like, you know? Because, I'm sure you're probably going to filter this for the actual article, but basically, to summarize how my week's been, dealing with both a falling out from a former friend and then suddenly having some major life issues, it's been…
Okay, to answer that question, it's been a crazy week.
Thank you, and I'm sorry.
That's fine.
And you're powering through it.
Yeah, but I'd say, I mean, that's part of it, you know? In the line of work that I got myself into, running a studio, trying to be a producer, and trying to build a future in a country where I wasn't born [in]. It really is a lot to take in all at once. That's why I'd say the perfect way to describe my entire week, my entire life, is an Eiffel Tower.
No.2 An artwork that inspired you this week. It can be anything.
In all seriousness, Turnstile’s new [album]. They are my favorite band at this moment. They are [a] hardcore punk group and it's interesting, 'cause they're this hardcore band, but they also have this very soft, pillowy kind of aesthetic. Imagine hardcore, but with pastel colors. So recently [that’s] the one thing that did inspire me a lot. They're coming up with a new album this June, and I'm going to be watching their album release show. And Turnstile has a thing where for every album of theirs, at least from GLOW ON, their last project, it's color-based. GLOW ON, their past project [from] a few years ago, had a very pink theme. The album cover was literally just the color pink. And this year it's blue, kind of [a] pastel-light blue. And I feel like the reason why that inspired me a lot lately was ‘cause [of] how New York looks like towards the night, around 7, 8 PM onwards, especially when it was raining. It just had this color of blue that matched the music. And it felt like an experience, because not only am I seeing this color from my favorite band's upcoming album, but I'm actually experiencing their music as I'm going [about] my day. Even my literal surroundings [are] the actual color of the album.
Wow, that's beautiful.
No.4 A motto you swear by, or an advice you received and would love to share.
We're here for a good time, not a long time.
No. 5 What would you like to share about Antvgonist Studios or any upcoming projects?
I'd say, for Antvgonist Studios, when Katrell and I set this up, we want[ed it] to be different from all the other recording studios that exist in our area. I feel like the actual amount of studios that are around Brooklyn, I wouldn't say it's extremely saturated, but there [are] definitely a lot. But what makes us different is the fact that both Katrell and I, being strong creatives, thinking big in terms of how we approach our music, we want to do the same for others. Rather than just making the same generic YouTube beat type of music that every other studio is doing for other clients, for us, we want to be the place where artists actually discover who they really are and hone in on that. So when we work with artists, it's not just about recording your song or making some generic ass beat or whatever. If you come into this place, you're here to actually discover yourself and stay true to your art, stay true to who you actually are as an artist. And I guess that ties into the fact that our space is villain themed, it's 'cause we're trying to go against the norms. We're trying to go against what everybody considers is the standard in terms of making music or in terms of what their sound is like. We're trying to create a space where that's kind of like The Villain's Lair, like the League of Shadows. I would consider Antvgonist Studios to be a sanctuary for creatives to really stop giving a fuck about what people expect of them and just do what the fuck they want.
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