Gigamesh

Since the early years of warehouse techno on down to today's mashup dance parties, the Twin Cities has always been a nurturing hotbed for DJ talent. Perhaps it's because the colder of its two seasons makes shut-ins of music junkies looking to perfect their mad scratching and super-dope blending techniques. We really don't know. But whatever the reason, the trend manifests itself in clearly skilled DJs like Gigamesh, who hooked up with our little ol' blog to release his new song, "Calling Out" -- a super-sparkly talkbox dancefloor gem ala Chromeo/Discovery-era Daft Punk that came out of a remix experiment -- and offer an exclusive, early autumn treat to our readers with his "Hey! What's Wrong With You" DJ mix (a line in an old Phats & Small house track he features near the end). Before you enjoy, check out what Gigamesh (a.k.a. Minneapolis' Matt Masurka) had to say.
Gimme Noise: What's the story behind this song?

Gigamesh: It originally started as a remix of Hey Ladies by the Beastie Boys but over umpteen revisions, and after I got more familiar with my talk box, their vocal sample took on a minimal/muse role.



GN: Where does the name Gigamesh come from? We quite like it.

Gigamesh: It's the name of a chapter in one of my favorite books: "A Perfect Vacuum" by Stanislaw Lem.



GN: Tell us about when you started DJing and what your favorite music was at the time.

Gigamesh: I started around the middle of high school and at the time I was getting over my grunge phase and into my electronic music phase. I was really into all the bigger acts of the time like Fatboy Slim, the Chemical Brothers, Cassius, and Daft Punk. I also had a crazy obsession with DJ Shadow's stuff. I mainly just did high school dances (and uh, marching band house parties).



GN: Tell us a story from when you saw your first concert/rave/DJ gig.

Gigamesh: My first concert was Vanilla Ice at the State Fair, right after To The Extreme dropped! The crowd bum rushed the stage at the end and my parents got us the hell out of there.



GN: That is amazing. When is your next gig and who would you just die to have show up (typical teen magazine question)?

Gigamesh: I think the next confirmed gig is October 27th in Seattle. I rarely get star struck, but I think if Obama walked in I would get pretty excited. Thomas Bangalter or the Neptunes would be pretty awesome, too. - Citypages.com

So, time to highlight and interview some great local talent. Gigamesh (Twin Cities!) has been putting out his own stuff for about a year now. Gigamesh has been releasing some very taste remixes this year. He’s overhauled the likes of lykke li, estate, daniel merriweather, radiohead, animal collective, jackson 5, lookbook, and TLC. His jackson 5 remix, is one of the few mj remixes I can really handle. A few even getting plays by the likes of Busy P (ed banger founder), Feadz and A-Trak (Fools Gold founder). His remixes are perfect synthy disco with enough energy to def pack the dance floor. His TLC remix of creep (creepy fingers) is a crazy builder with some crunchy tones that push through to very glamorous synths (kinda treasure fingers-ish). My other fav is the remix he did of local group, estate. It’s got a very sexy funky bass (similar to say fred falke) and the whole package feels slightly like hail social/weird tapes. That said, Gigamesh tunes are def original, and stand amazingly on their own (the comparisons are just to give you a feel). Additionally Gigamesh is a member of the highly regarded dj/producer collective DiscoTech (along with danny daze, and joe maz), and has been releasing material under that guise for two years. They play all across the country and have had the top spot on quite a few bills (and hypemachine) as well as opening for the likes of kid cudi, them jeans, mr. oizo, scottie b and many others. We’ve posted their crazy mash/remix of Bill O’Reilly, do it liive. Quite frankly, we should’ve been quicker to catch on. Lastly Gigamesh has just finished a nice mix, Les nuits d’été (Summer Nights), and it’s up on his site (do it!). There’s plenty of opportunites to catch Gigamesh live, this saturday at the Kitty Cat Klub w/ alpha centauri nyteowl & tailchaser, on the 24th for Bomp!, and the 25th at Envy. Have at it!




My Girls – Animal Collective (Gigamesh Remix)


creepy finger – gigamesh


write to make – estate (gigamesh remix)


Love, Sex, Magic – Justin Timberlake & Ciara (DiscoTech Remix)
1. Aside from music, any hobbies or interests? best food in the twin cities? top three favorite artists/albums?
I’m pretty into movies and certain TV series but I’ll spare you a list. As for TC food, there are too many to mention so I’ll just say Blackbird, where Adam To is the chef (he’s a solid musician who performs as Tentacle Boy). My current top 3 would have to be Lindstrom, Sirusmo, and Deradoorian, with honorable mentions from Joanna Newsom, Holy Fuck, Breakbot, and Pilotpriest. I’m also really getting into instrumental hip-hop producers like Dabrye, Mux Mool and Flying Lotus.
2. Any favorite music experiences? What pushed you pursue this as career?
The first time I ever used a MIDI sequencing program is probably one of my most memorable experiences. I think I decided to pursue it as a career when I produced a few hip hop songs in college.

3. Your also a member of the popular group DiscoTech, how did that get started? (Do it liive is odd yet amazing!)
It was founded by my brother Joe Maz (resident at Aqua in Minneapolis), and our partner Danny Daze, who is a big DJ in Miami. They met online and started trading edits and mash-ups back and forth. Eventually they decided to form a group and sell stuff on websites that market to DJs. Around the same time, Joe told me what they were up to and I joined in and things took off pretty fast.

4. What kind of setup do use (live or at home)? Do you have a favorite program or piece of equipment?
My set up is modest but growing steadily. I have a couple guitars, amps, several mics, 2 computers, 2 hardware synths and a ton of software. My current favorite piece of equipment is the DSI Polyevolver I recently acquired.

5. How would you describe the gigamesh sound?
Evolving….I haven’t really nailed down my sound yet. I’m not sure if I ever will though, which could be ok.

6. You play quite often around the twin cities, what influence have the twin cities had on your music?
I don’t know if the location has neccesarily had an influence, but many local bands have. Dosh, Lookbook, Mystery Palace, Happy Apple, the Bad Plus, Zoo Animal, Estate (and probably more I’m forgetting) have all had an influence on how I make music.

7. I really enjoy your remixes, the creepy fingers completely remakes the TLC song into a dance floor burner. What is the process like?
Remixes usually start with just listening to the vocal a few times and trying to decide where I want to go with it. With Creepy Fingers I knew it would be a little cheesy no matter what so I decided to make it way different from the original. The process usually goes vocal, drums, bass synth, song structure and from there it’s just a lot of tweaking and seeing what works on top.

8. Any artists or songs your excited about? Favorites of 2009? Dream gigs?
One song that has blown my mind recently is The Centre by a little-known producer in the UK called Brassica. I was tipped to it on twitter by Josh Clancy (Tooth Juice) of the Moon Goons. It’s only about 100 bpm but packs a huge amount of energy. I actually put it in a promo mix I just finished (Les nuits d’été). I’m also VERY excited to hear the new AIR album. I’ve heard one song on it and it ruuules.

9. What’s next for Gigamesh? What can we expect in the future?
Hopefully you can expect original songs. I have a double neck bass/guitar I’ve been itching to make some loop-based “experimental” dance music with. It’ll likely be pretty loud and noisy and a far departure from the stuff I do with DiscoTech. Other things you can hopefully expect: live talk box, autotuner, vocoder, synth tweaking, and head banging.

10. Well that’s it, is there anything you’d like to add?
Happy Purple Rain 25th! - The Stay Spun

sorry for the abundance of radiohead lately, but this is a gigamesh remix so it doesnt really count, right? plus i thought we unofficially declared fridays dance party fridays, so i kinda had to throw a remix in there anyway. i was a little cautious of this because everything in its right place is one of my favorite radiohead songs, and as ive mentioned before, i tend to be a little weary of dance remixes to begin with.
my biggest concern with this song was how they were going to handle the “yesterday i woke up sucking a lemon” part of the song, with its uneven time signature. well, i will say that part does sound pretty weird still and sounds a tiny bit not right to me, but its totally worth it to get to the 2:07 mark, when you realize that this could have really been a dance song if it wanted to be from the start. its also worth listening to this whole song to hear the funky little bass line that comes in just after the 3:00 mark and everything that comes after it. pretty nice touch in the first 15 seconds where you can hear a little sample of “packd like sardines in a crushd tin box”, the opening track to kid a’s brother album amnesiac. im usually not a big fan of anyone touching radiohead songs for any reason, but this remix was definitely not a letdown, and that is a good thing. and whats not to like about a danceable version of a song i love that is anything but danceable in its original state? what do you think? danceable or desecration? - dailybeatz.com

Gigamesh has been producing music with the remix/DJ trio DiscoTech for two years, and under his own name for about a year. Many of his tracks labeled as DiscoTech have made it to the #1 position on HypeMachine, and he has produced official remixes for Def Jam, Sony, Jive and Interscope Records. He and the other DiscoTech members have recently completed an album of a original songs they will be releasing under the moniker Señor Stereo, which will feature remixes by Kill the Noise, XXXchange, and Don Diablo.

Gigamesh will be helping ATF reign in its first year at the 7th Street Entry on Saturday night. Don’t miss out on your chance to see one of Minneapolis’ biggest up and coming DJs/remix artists. - Above the Fold