Magic in Small Things: An Interview with Flapjaques
Hey Flapjaques! For those who don’t know you, please introduce yourself.
Hi! :):) I'm Flapjaques, a Chicago based lofi producer, DJ, beatmaker, etc-
I'm not so particular about those sorts of labels these days, and they each sorta apply in some ways and sorta don't in others.
Call me the Chicago Lofi Authority <3
What’s your biggest influence for starting flapjaques?
This is such a difficult question to answer…
Right now, I think that I have a pretty bright and uplifted perspective of the world, and I see a lot of magic in small things / my day to day. I'm often a bit bummed out when others don't have that same lens, so my biggest influence right now is a drive to share that way of seeing things with others.
My influences creatively have always been from EDM more or less, a lot of my synth selection is inspired by Flume, xxyyxx, & Louis the Child, and from sampling by YehMe2 & Keys N Krates. I listened to Flume, YehMe2 (when he was still part of Flosstradamus), and xxyyxx in high school, and these three have always ended up being part of pretty much any sort of mood board or thing like that I've put together since.
Discovering and becoming a fan of Louis the Child later on I think is what I'd say fully motivated me to start actually making music and thinking about pursuing it in a serious way. By that time I had picked up guitar and some very basic DJing - their being a similar age and from a similar background to myself had made that lane feel a bit more realistic. Back then, I was mostly DJing and aimed to make synth-y electronic music similar to them.
My Hip Hop taste leading up to (and during) that period had been pretty basic I guess! Very Mac Miller & Chance the Rapper focused, and I'd say my interests in the genre branched from those two.
I have fond memories of scraping Datpiff for mixtapes to burn to CD for my car rides, however; and as I revisit mixtapes like Acidrap or Macadelic, albums like Faces, or some random Earl Sweatshirt tracks, I think a lot of those sounds stuck with and influence me in a subconscious way… at least in terms of my sound/sample selection and things like that.
Your music is very organic… What does your creative process look like?
It's funny you say this! My process is almost entirely sample-based these days, although I have gotten a bit better at writing and progressing more lush layers and simple top-lines over the years. I have frequent opportunities to work with talented composers & performers, spanning a variety of instruments and genres, so their skills are often the centre pieces of my collaborative work. I see my strongest ‘areas of expertise’ being on the drums, laying down background chords, layering textures/sfx shots I've gathered on a special harddrive for almost five years now… and more recently chopping up pretty much any kind of sample- more of a mood thing there.
With any project though, I almost always find something I like to start with, even if just a quick 2 second sample, and build everything else around it.
Your choice of performance hardware is the Roland SP-404 and SP-555… How have these two pieces of equipment affected how you make music?
Not really at all to be honest! Both are more performance mediums for me than anything else. I always intend to take some time to sit and cook with either, but I find it to be a bit tedious and ultimately less productive than other workflows I'm more comfortable in.
My thoughts here apply not only to the 404s & 555 but really to a lot of analog/more classic gear in general. I think it's a somewhat fun, albeit difficult decision of the modern producer to decide which of the more 'old school' workflows are beneficial and worth the payoff, and which aren't worth the effort.
It's sometimes a bit ‘trippy’ to be sitting in a studio setting, Youtube playlist in hand, with the LED display on the MPC screen looking up at me from my lap, wondering if the magic of the sampling workflow is a bit lost in this more modern flow… but more recently I like to think there's an awful lot of nuance & empowerment in it.
The 404's ability to run off batteries is something that offers a great deal of freedom. I hadn't made use of it for a regrettably long time, but it's become a great motivator for getting myself out of the house and into new & interesting locations for filming content. This has a somewhat subtle way of influencing my workflow, meaning if I'm looking forward to going somewhere in particular, I'll probably put together a small collection of tracks ahead of time to then perform there. Although sometimes, I change my mind about what I'd like to record last minute anyways.
You’ve kept up a steady stream of releases… Do you ever get ‘beat block’?
And how do you overcome that?
I can't say I really do anymore, or at least not recently enough that I remember. I'm fortunate to have both the time and energy to split up my overall workflow into different, smaller workflows, and I would say this is the driving practice that keeps me making music on an [almost] daily basis. I find chopping samples on the MPC to be really fun, and if nothing else, will often spend at least a whole evening cutting up a few samples to finish in a DAW later in the week.
There's always a bit of luck and magic to this particular workflow, so some weeks I may prep more than 10 of these little "sketches" before finally making it to DAW, others I may only get one or two. When this workflow gets tiring, or I run out of sketches to make into full beats, I'll then move into more traditional DAW-based workflows, often with files from collaborators or with loops I've written and set aside from my 3rd, far less frequent and least favourite variety of flow (melody writing day lol).
Apart from this, I guess being organized is both fun and practical!
Lately, I've had a lot of fun stepping back from my overall hustle every few months and putting together a new kit to guide my drum soundscape for upcoming projects. I'll usually base this on one-shots I hear in reference tracks that I've noted and plan to use later, and I suppose with each iteration of doing this I end up with sounds I put into different 'Flapjaques Kits'. This usually becomes the main folder I use for my drum selection. I remember a time where I'd do the opposite - make a point to always use a different snare in every beat for example - and I've found this newer approach to be more productive and also lead to a more cohesive sound for myself.
The ‘Flap’ kit is always on my MPC and makes my workflow much easier, which may be a big part of why it's so fun; things are almost ‘plug in and play’ in a sense. Those 'sketches' also allow me to do a bit of arranging in my head, to envision how the sections will loop & progress, so by the time I hit DAW, I already have a pretty solid sense of how the beat will go… and I just need to add some additional layers and textures. I mention this because even when not using my little sketch workflow, I've found it useful to engage in a similar practice of looping and listening back to melodies that collaborators have sent me the day before I start working on the track. The overall approach for me I guess is a lot of thought & planning… so that when it's time to execute, the energy is where I'd like it to be, and I already have a clearer sense of what I'd like to do [with the track].
You’ve created a strong and supportive group of listeners… Was this a conscious process?
Do you have any tips for cultivating a strong creative community?
Aw thank you!
I don't think it was much of a conscious process in the early stages or even last few years of my "career", which feels a bit weird to say still, but definitely has become more of a conscious process in this past year and moving forward.
From the start, I've always tried to be very responsive and available to both opportunities and conversations with other artists in the scene, both of which I think have been the driving factors in building the audience I have now. Like most Lo-Fi producers, I think the majority of my listeners are other producers or artists who, apart from enjoying what I do, may be seeking advice, as well as inspiration, friendship, or any variety of things really. I often think there's an interest in me beyond just what I'm publishing week-to-week on DSP's, or daily on Reels & TikTok. This is something I have always really embraced.
Ultimately, I think that what I'm doing right now is pretty achievable. Most people can emulate what i’ve done through consistency, as well as a willingness to be flexible with their idea of what their creative career will look like. Mine looks much different than I dreamed it would when I started (I think) 5 years ago now, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I think that with the tools, platforms and resources available, there really are enough ‘pieces of the pie’ to go around!
Who are 3 artists from your community that you think readers should check out?
Elan Brio was an artist I was listening to before I had started making music myself, and has remained one of my favorites to this day. Always has a solid knock & groove; Elan is a go to summer vibe for me.
Half Blue is an artist definitely keeping that rawer, sampled Jinsang & Nujabes era of production alive, love to see it out of the Midwest as well!
Milocero has been hitting my summer rotations a lot as well this year, bro goes crazy on the subs :)
What’s the most challenging thing you’ve had to overcome as an artist?
I think not overthinking things too much… kind of like how I've overthought my answer to this question and rewritten it a few times now lol!
I find myself in a sort of weird in-between these days, where I definitely want to be taken ‘seriously’ as an artist, but I don't always think my output is all so 'serious'. I hope to not come off the wrong way though - I think there's a great deal of freedom I've found in allowing myself to revisit samples & loops, play around with less productive workflows, and sometimes just see what happens.
For a long time, I had thought every end result needed to be a masterpiece, or at least I wanted to feel I had flipped a sample or built around a loop in the best way I ever possibly could. This often lead to a lot of meticulous worrying over small details, that now I look back, ultimately took away from the fun moments and vibes I capture now. It depends on the day, but most of my work as of late are just quick little bumps.
I haven't revisited too much of my own work (outside of the slowed reverb collection I've been slowly trickling out through the year) although I'd like to think I will one day; maybe when I feel like I truly have the freedom to take my time on a larger, more cohesive project. Something like a debut album? For now though, things stay quick and every day is new. It's a workflow I've grown pretty accustomed to over the past year and I wake up excited every day to do it.
What’s next for you in 2024?
Chicago Lofi Authority is my latest vision and the project I'm most excited about, for 2024 and years to come…
For now, it kind of just exists as branding for my releases & mixes with a more distinct Chicago style to them. I plan to have a 24/7 study station up by the school year on the Flapjaques Youtube Channel with a soundscape similar to the other mixes I've put out this year. This will probably be the point at which I start to include some other carefully handpicked artists in the CLA ecosystem.
For those who haven't visited the city, they can think of the style of beats featured as the more upbeat, productive, and uplifting sound; in contrast to the overwhelmingly relaxed and downtempo instrumental mixes currently available.
My latest mix, "lo-fi summer soul-fi chicago street race type beat mix", is my most exciting collection to date and reflec I plan to showcase. The mixes on my channel feature seamless transitions, similar to a DJ set, which is an aspect of them I've always taken a lot of pride in! The 24/7 station however will probably feel more akin to a traditional Lo-Fi radio. At this stage, I almost feel like I'm starting over and just spreading the word, but over time I plan for CLA to grow as an organization of midwestern artists that hosts lo-fi focused, hip-hop adjacent events throughout the city.
Apart from this, I plan to keep up my weekly release schedule of at least one new single each week, often a handful, and have a few larger bodies of work in the pipeline for later in the year, maybe 2025 ;)
Find Flapjaques on
Spotify | Youtube | Apple Music | Instagram | X | TikTok | Bandcamp | Soundcloud
