Late last month, I sat down with Bellingham-based producer Ryan Demers, who goes by the pseudonym Breve (Not like the coffee, like the musical note). We talked about a lot of things, but we focused on the music. Demers is a 20 year old producer and hip hop head who cites his influences as ranging from 70’s funk to Fall Out Boy. His second effort, Arbitrarium, released February 22nd.
Demers, currently in his second year at Western Washington University, has been producing since his sophomore year of high school, but only producing seriously for about a year. He said that he has really only been listening to rap since late middle school, but once he got into it, he got into it hard. He credits his friends Ian and Peter Edlund for first turning him on to rap, by giving him a CD containing tracks by artists like The Notorious B.I.G. and Blue Scholars. After that, he became hooked on hip hop, and began producing beats for his friends’ group, Lyrical Mind Control. I asked him if any of these CD’s still existed, and he simply laughed and declined to comment. After this school year is over, Ryan plans to move to Seattle and pursue a degree in audio engineering. Seattle’s music scene is in a state of constant change, and the sound that is coming out of that area right now is very different than any other part of the country.
To me, Arbitrarium is an interesting concept for an album. It contains 20 tracks, all produced by Demers, yet he raps on none of them. Each track showcases an emcee who may or may not have ever even met Demers in person. In the case of Thiago, who collaborated with Ryan on his first tape, Bravo, the two have live on opposite sides of the country. The production is fantastic throughout the whole tape, and each rapper spits very effectively over the different instrumentals. When I asked him about his production process, Ryan said that he takes a fairly basic approach. He spends a great deal of time digging in crates in record stores, usually seeking out funk records from the 60’s and 70’s, then sets to work sampling and building the tracks. He told me that he also is trying to build up his understanding of music theory beyond that of most producers, and is an avid trumpet player. Ryan is currently a DJ at KUGS, a radio station out of WesternWashington University. He also DJ’s shows around campus, as well as seeking out other musically minded individuals.
This is one of my favorite tracks on the tape, both in production and lyricism aspects. The beat is fairly basic, but I really enjoy the sample and simplicity of it.
Another track that jumped out at me, “Never Stressin’” is a much chiller, kind of spooky beat. Nick Tapper, the MC who spits over it, rides it well.
Stream and download the whole album here:
