Sydney producer Chasm has returned with his third longplayer, ‘This Is How We Never Die’.
Featuring a cavalcade of guests, both local and international (including AG, Guilty Simpson, Vast Aire, The Tongue, Hau, Dazastah, Lazy Grey and Dialectrix), it cements his position atop the Aussie hip hop food chain.
“I’m really proud of this [album]. I feel like it’s a good representation of the hip hop I want to be making,” Chasm says. “The overall sound of it is the closest to what I want to be doing at the moment. Overall I’m really happy with it, and it has been quite a quick turnaround for this (release). I only finished it not long ago and Obese have done a pretty quick turnaround with it.”
This is Chasm’s third solo release, and his first album since he teamed with Vida Sunshyne on ‘More’ in 2010. With greater industry recognition, was the added pressure of dealing with other people’s expectations a factor for Chasm? “It was probably in the back of my mind in a way. Like I felt, for sure, that I had to step up my game a bit because you know, you always want to be progressing with your art or whatever. Whatever you’re doing, you want to keep getting better at it. I definitely felt like I wanted to put a bit more time into it.
“I didn’t really feel pressure that much, but just myself... with this one, I really wanted to do what I do. I didn’t want to think about radio play too much. I was making stuff that I was feeling and that was the main priority.”
When it comes to sourcing samples, Chasm hunts for an emotional response. “For me, picking the right samples is the key. Having the ear for the right... what can be chopped up well or simply feeling music; having that emotional response to music is really important when you pick the samples. Because people feel stuff if there is a strong emotion behind the music that you decide to use that carries over to your production when you decide to flip it. That’s the key thing I reckon.”
‘This Is How We Never Die’ is out now via Obese Records. Chasm will be touring nationally in July; stay tuned for dates.
