Shlohmo

Shlohmo’s lo-fiapproach lays the foundation for his unique brand of apocalyptic hip-hop. Danny Turner delves into his recording process

- Danny Turner

LA-based Henry Laufer began making homemade remixes in the late 2000s, his production career igniting when Abel Tesfaye requested his remix of Drake & The Weeknd’s Crew Love become an official release. Sourcing influences from ’90s trip-hop, shoegaze and skateboarding culture, Laufer’s debut Shlohmo album Bad Vibes (2011) attracted further acclaim for its groggy, lo-fi sound.

Further albums, Dark Red and The End upped the intensity of Laufer’s distortion-driven style, the former scoring Top 10 success on Billboard’s a dance/ electronic chart. Later, Laufer co-founded the visual arts collective/label WEDIDIT and has increasingly moved into vocal production work, including the Banks single Brain. Shlohmo’s latest EP Heaven Inc. takes a more melodic approach, although still defined by Laufer’s angst-driven dystopian vision.

We read that you often use your dad’s Roland Jupiter-6. Is he responsible for your interest in music technology?

“My dad is a professional singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, so he always had stuff lying around. The Jupiter-6 was one of his last ’80s synth investments and he passed that down to me when I was about 21. Before that I’d started learning how to DJ and scratch when I was 14 or 15 – that’s how I got interested in production. At first, I was just making mediocre beats and learning how to sample, but when GarageBand came out I started bringing in samples and chopping stuff up that I’d made as a kid. By the time I got the Jupiter I was definitely well into production.”

Abel Tesfaye (aka The Weeknd) requested your remix of Crew Love be made official. Was the objective of remixing to get spotted?