Sidharth Ezhilan is the multi-disciplinary artist behind the undefinable EZZYLAND project out of Chennai, India. Having played alongside the likes of Om Unit, Kutmah and Compa, ezzyℒand is a name you will want to keep in mind.
We are excited to announce the release of ‘SPEEDRUN’ and share with you the hypnotic official video courtesy of Ezhilan’s good friend shhajans, visual artist Tanner Hawkins from the United States.
Watch the video below, read our interview with EZZYLAND and be sure to follow the links at the bottom to discover more from EZZYLAND and shhajans.
Tell us about your journey in music, how long have you been producing? What inspired you to start?
It’s been a while. I’m completing the better half of a decade. It all started with one rap song I heard on a CD my dad got me. That led me to discover hip-hop music and as I researched more into it, I found out about producers and beatmakers. Next step was pirating a production software and watching Youtube tutorials. I wanted to be a rapper originally. But my heavy accent wouldn’t allow it. I grew up listening to American hip-hop and that’s the only way it sounded natural to me. So I thought I’d focus on experimenting with production in the meanwhile as I worked on enunciation. I got addicted to producing quick. I then joined the Soundcloud community. It was my goto place – to escape from the surroundings I couldn’t relate to. On the internet, you could be whoever you wanted to and I felt like I belonged there. I created my own reality. Fast forward a couple of years – I’ve produced most contemporary genres and some not so well known ones. Eventually, I went back to adding raps to my beats. I sometimes do it as a way to market my beats. Recently I’ve started crooning too. Thankfully today we’ve come far from coherence and use our voice more like an instrument.
Take us through your collection of gear, tech or software that accompanies you.
I work with the bare minimum for the most part. My laptop and my headphones are all I need to lay down the basic elements of any song. I have two midi controllers, the Korg nanoKEY2 and the Blue Snowball Mic on standby to speed up my creative process. I’ve clocked in almost a decade of messing about in FL Studio. I recently picked up Ableton. It’s growing on me. Sometimes I DJ on my Numark Mixtrack Pro II. I also spend a lot of time using Cinema 4D and Adobe software.
Roughly what percentage of what you create gets saved, how much will be completed and how much gets released?
I have over 500+ FLPs on my computer that will probably never see the light of day. Some of them die as loops. Some are just exported and sampled later. I’d say about a good 40% of the projects end up as full tracks. I do this on the daily. I have to get out every single idea and impulse inside of me. I need to get out the shitty ideas so that the good ones can flow out uninterrupted. That’s when the music comes.
Give us an idea of the culture around electronic music where you are based.
Since we are heavy in population, that coupled with the exposure and access to software via the internet, the scene as we know it has quickly become saturated. And the few people who have monopolised the industry in the earlier stages are the gatekeepers who promote outdated commercial music partnered with alcohol. As for indie music, there isn’t much of a culture to nurture offline.
Who are the emerging artists on your radar?
I’m going to be dead honest with this one – me.
Who would be your dream collaborator?
Flying Lotus, Kanye West (Yeezus era), Jai Paul, Oneohtrix Point Never, Arca, Metro Boomin, Shlohmo ~ weird list off the top of my head. Dead or alive? Mac Miller and XXXTENTACION.
Your artistic expression is not limited to the sonic, you are also involved in the visual arts. How do these two worlds overlap?
I’ve always made my own album/track artworks as well as brand design. Lately, I’ve been trying to create computer-generated visuals for my music. Short music videos are certainly something I’ve always wanted to make. I feel like in this day and age of fleeting attention, the visual element captures attention for a few seconds longer. With that said, I don’t think of one media of expression any lesser than the other. I like for them to compliment each other so as to give the audience a more rounded experience.
What gets your creative juices flowing?
I have this constant undying urge to create and share with the world. That’s where my drive comes from. I feel very anxious and that the day has been wasted if I don’t create something of intrinsic value every day, whether it is music or visually digestible art or a line of clever writing even. And while I’m working on one medium, I’m inspired to add another dimension to compliment it. If I feel like I’m hitting a block, I like to draw inspiration from watching documentaries/interviews or performances of my favourite artists or from looking at pictures on the internet even. I like to make dedications and aural shoutouts. It’s like shouting out your favourite brand of cereal on a rap song. But with sounds and not words.
What have you got in the pipeline for the coming months?
I’m thinking of sticking to single releases for the rest of the year. There are a couple more genres I want to try out. A short EP perhaps. I’m also trying to cram some motion graphics so that maybe next year I’ll be making audio-visual releases only. It would be even more difficult to ignore me then.
Famous last words?
The universe owes me serotonin.
Follow ezzyℒand:
Soundcloud – Facebook – Instagram – Spotify – Twitter
Follow shhajans:
Facebook – Instagram – Youtube – Twitter
