Collaborators
Nelson Fitch
Philip Jacobson
Ben Millstein
Taylor Soppe

// INTERVIEW

Justin Lehman (as told by Philip Jacobson): It’s funny to me how people think DJing is such an easy thing to do. It’s like anything else. The people who are really really good at it make it look really really easy and that’s why they’re so good.

I got into DJing when I started writing for Hot Biscuits. All the other writers on staff were DJs, so it was a natural thing. You collect music and eventually you want to do something with it. Since everyone else DJed, I figured I’d try as well.

I didn’t want to cheap out from the get-go, so I saved up and spent a huge amount of money on the equipment I would need to start out. Since it was second semester senior year, I was able to devote a consistent two-and-a-half hours a day to DJing for about nine months. Practicing, practicing, practicing. Just keep on getting it wrong. I would make one mix every month. That way I could chart my progress, see where my mistakes were, what I was doing better and worse. Practicing transitions, getting the timing right, aligning tracks. Mike was my mentor through and through, the one to tell me, no you’re not good enough to be DJing right now, you have to wait up a little bit, it’s way too soon. He would teach me what songs you play when, what you don’t play, who you play to, the politics of it all. The unwritten rules, he was the one to really articulate them to me.

The other day I listened to the first mix I made, and it was so bad. But the only way to be a good DJ is to keep doing it and doing it. Only when you’re much farther down the line can you get to a point where you don’t have to do it every day anymore, you can do it once every two weeks or something like that. But even then you’ll notice that you’re off. At one point I stopped doing it for three weeks because I was out of town, and then I came back and I was significantly worse. A lot worse.

My first real gig was opening for Fly By Night. This was about 10 months after I started DJing. Mike sent along one of my mixes to Willy Joy, who had played the charity show and who I’d been communicating with on and off. He said Mike had given me some good praise and asked me if I wanted to open for the next Fly By Night. Now I’m a resident for Fly By Night. It means I play it every month. Only now am I just starting to get stuff outside of that.

In the summer there are so many gigs because there’s constantly stuff going on. It’s not as much money because it’s mostly house parties, but it’s larger crowds that are more intense. Chicago is known for having house parties, and loft parties where someone will rent an apartment for the weekend. Friday night there will be a big party, sometimes Saturday night as well, and they clean up all day Sunday. Then they’re gone, and the place is spotless.

That’s how a lot of people got launched. I remember one time I saw Flosstradamus and Kid Sister in the attic of a dentist’s office. On a Thursday night, for two bucks. The Cool Kids would play those for nothing at all. That’s where everyone starts, because you have to get that street cred and respect from the young kids to actually be able to do something.

Right now the scene doesn’t really know what it is, where it’s at. 05 to 07 era, that was the peak. You had Flosstradamus named Rolling Stone DJ of the Year in 2008. You had Kid Sister, she was big, and Kanye was on “Pro Nails” in the video with her. Lupe had really blown up, which was cool for everyone, because even though he wasn’t part of that scene, he was still a Chicago kid. And the Cool Kids were the buzz hip-hop group. Everyone wanted to be with the Cool Kids. Lil’ Wayne did a track with them. All of a sudden everyone’s here, everyone wants to be here, and the mainstream is finally somewhat recognizing what we’ve had for so long.

That happened for about two or three years. Then all of a sudden, it was like Kid Sister’s album came out but was way too delayed and just an OK reception. Flosstradamus still hasn’t hit its pitch, they do OK shows but they still haven’t come out with an album. The Cool Kids, every single song is the same. Even though I love it, it’s extremely formulaic. All of a sudden it was like who’s next, and there wasn’t anything next.

That’s I think where it is right now. It’s pretty unbelievable to me how difficult it is to assemble a crowd in the city nowadays when it used to be so easy. Nowadays, even if you have a great DJ, you can’t assume you’ll have a great crowd. Other than Rehab, which is Mondays at Debonair, there’s no show that consistently brings out a lot of people anymore.

I have absolutely no idea where it’s going. It’s cool to know that I’ll be here within the scene for at least the next three or four years and be able to watch it grow, if that happens. At the same time, if it goes to shit and I have to watch it slowly close in on itself, that would suck. We’ll see. Because I’m young and in college, I can afford to DJ for three or four more years without worries other than academics, whereas other people have to DJ to live. The difficulty is getting gigs. If you don’t produce, or if you haven’t been in the scene for four or five years, it’s tough to get gigs consistently. I’m hoping it happens for me this summer.

Collaborators
John Meguerian
Nelson Fitch
Ben Millstein
Philip Jacobson
Anthony Del Gigante
Matthew Alfonso
Katie Zhu

// INTERVIEW

Massive.tv: What was your first concert?
Kelsey Wild: I think it was Cheap Trick. I’m from Rockford, they’re from Rockford – they usually play a show once a year.

M.tv: You’ve released two EPs, what’s the status of the third?
KW:I’ve finished third one, I just haven’t put it online yet. It’s almost an afterthought now, it’s just a way I can generate income allows me to record more. I use TuneCore, which acts as distributor for online vendors. You keep eight cents out of every 10, as opposed to the two you’d get from a record label.

M.tv: How was your experience at SXSW in Austin this spring?
KW: It’s the biggest festival I’ve ever played… Totally overwhelming, tons and tons of great music. It was great learning experience and I would love to go back.

M.tv: What are some differences you noticed between Chicago and Austin’s music scenes?
KW: It’s very different. [Austin] has a ton of college students there and they brought in… like three to four big blocks of bars with bands playing music all the time. It reminds me of Nashville. It’s a really cool music scene and it feels more supportive and cohesive than Chicago’s, [which is] more scattered and varied. In Texas, the music scene is younger and people are just a little more aware of each other. In Chicago, you’ve got some jazz, some blues – there’s no animosity but it is less friendly [and] colder.

Collaborators
Nelson Fitch
Caleb Melby
Ben Millstein
Matthew Alfonso
Nathaniel Harley
Music – “Cheap Beer” by Jake Harms and the Nelsonvillains

// INTERVIEW

Massive.tv: Both “Pulse Electric” and your previous project, “Digital Decay,” were shot exclusively on black and white film. What is it about this medium that appeals to you?
Kate Kennard: It’s simple. My first film was in color—it was really in color—lots of primary colors. Very Wes Anderson-ish. When I reverted back to black and white, it’s not that I wasn’t ready to do color, but I wanted to return to the basics with black and white, where you don’t have to deal with color. The bonus with film is that it is more dreamlike. I don’t think movies should replicate reality perfectly. Black and white automatically puts you in a cinematic world. I’m also drawn to it on a graphic level. Black and white film simplifies the images, makes them easy to read. It breaks them down farther. It is easier to control.

M.tv: This is not your first sci-fi film. Why sci-fi?
KK: I never thought of my self as a huge sci-fi fan. But recently, I’ve been drawn to how limitless the drama is. It is more fun as a writer—and really for all aspects of filmmaking. My crew members get more of a chance to explore the creative limits of their field.

M.tv: Do you have any favorite sci-fi movies?
KK: “2001: A Space Odyssey” is my favorite film, although I think it fails to give us a real sense of character. I think it ends up being a little bit cold. You don’t relate well to the characters, which happens a lot in sci-fi films. Like “Blade Runner,” you get caught up in the story and you tend to lose a bit of the character, I don’t really find myself feeling for Harrison Ford in that movie. In “2001,” we get more of a sense of who Hal is than the main astronaut, whose name I can’t remember. I personally find that to be a problem because caring a lot about a character is what really makes us care about the story itself. One of my long-term goals for my filmmaking is to make movies that people want to watch over and over again, and I think the only way to achieve that is to create characters that are relatable or likable or both.

M.tv: How much do you think about those limitations, those trends, in making your own sci-fi pieces?
KK: This is a short film, so I don’t really have much of an opportunity to redefine the genre. I don’t have any real problems with the genre itself. I do think it sometimes doesn’t get taken as seriously as it should because of some of the B-list material out there. I think sci-fi is a wonderful genre for a writer. It has limitless possibilities, and allows you to make changes to the world around your characters that fits better with the thematic goals of the story. I’m definitely trying to insert a tad more humor and character development into the genre. I’m also not as concerned with using the genre to warn people of what may be coming in the future. I think we all have enough concerns about the present day. Even though all of humanity is dead in my film, which the film vaguely links to the fact that the sun is no longer shining—I have my reason for what happened, but people can make up their own explanations—the film never makes a judgment call on this information. It’s just the setting and circumstances that I use to tell the story.

M.tv: Any major influences?
KK: I would say “Metropolis” is definitely a primary influence. I don’t think you’ll ever be able to talk about sci-fi and cinema without talking about “Metropolis.” The production design is incredible—I don’t think I’ve ever seen another film that tops its aesthetic.

M.tv: How do you like to work?
KK: This is my senior thesis film. The crew is mostly made up of all people that I’ve worked with at least once before. I don’t really deviate from the people I work with. I’m collaborative to a point, but people in my crew understand that it’s not so much about them and their position as it is about how their position operates in relation to others and works with the rest of the film. I try to make sure people understand how all the parts work together. Everyone has worked together before so everyone understands one anothers’ quirks and everyone is comfortable with one another. I think there is a lot to be gained from working with people multiple times.

M.tv: It took you a while to get a green light on this movie.
KK: I pitched it four different times, three times to Studio 22 and once to NUWFA. After not getting the grant the fourth time, I got into the senior directing sequence. I decided I didn’t want to pitch the project anymore because I didn’t want to have to make any adjustments to my treatment or script.

M.tv: So, after that, what was it about making this movie that proved to be difficult?
KK: I think the real trial is staying committed to your project and believing that you have a story worth telling. The only time that was difficult for me was while I was trying to get funding. Not that I ever thought it was a bad story, I just questioned whether or not it was the story I wanted to tell as an undergraduate, which I think is certainly still a valid concern.

M.tv: Whether you wanted it or not, you had a lot of time to think about this film.
KK: I am incredibly grateful for all the “no’s” I got. I think the film has benefited greatly from the additional experience that my crew heads and I had. It definitely wouldn’t be the same film. I think having that year and a half or so of thinking — whether subconsciously or consciously — about the project really allowed me to fine-tune my vision. And there are so many elements of the film that just wouldn’t be there if I hadn’t had that time. For example, my Director of Photography, Sarah Klein, and I thought up this one great shot almost two years ago, but on the other hand there’s two shots that we added a couple of weeks before we shot that aren’t even in the script. But besides refining my vision or thinking up great shots, we wouldn’t have had the people that we did to make this movie. I really couldn’t have had a better crew or cast. All of my crew heads played an invaluable role. I can’t imagine anyone else filling any of those positions. And even if the treatment or script for “Pulse Electric” hadn’t changed a bit since I wrote it, it was well worth waiting two years just to have our lead Alex Brown play RX-9.

Collaborators
Philip Jacobson
Ben Millstein
Music – “Love Your Shotgun” by Be Your Own Pet

Collaborators
Nelson Fitch
Ben Millstein
Matthew Alfonso
Chris Amos
Jake Hallac

// INTERVIEW

Massive.tv: What would you say your musical influences are?
Gaspard Le Dem: Definitely rock music. I played the electric guitar and keyboard in a progressive rock/metal band throughout high school. Writing original songs as a group was what I enjoyed most about being in a band and it definitely was the first step I took towards composing.

M.tv: How do you feel about technology in music? Does it play a large role in your composing?
GLD: I’m a big fan of sampling and enjoy processing sounds to obtain the sound I truly want. I don’t look down in any way on the use of technology in music. In fact some of my favorite artists use an excessive amount of electronics, like Amon Tobin or Trentemoller. However, I do think that electronics can get in the way of a composer’s ears. It’s just so easy to click a couple things and turn the sound of a clarinet into a super bass-heavy thing, then loop it a million times. It gets very tempting to write a very self-indulgent, cliché piece of music.

M.tv: Who are your favorite composers?
GLD: Well, one of the things that I would like to hear a lot more in music nowadays is humor. I find it extremely difficult to subtly express humor in music, but well done humor can bring out a number of more concealed aspects of a piece and elevate its overall dramatic content. For this reason I particularly enjoy the music of Leos Janacek, Bela Bartok, and Dmitri Shostakovitch. I can honestly say that when I hear their music, I am always incredibly moved, shocked, infuriated, saddened, livened, etc. No matter how many times I have heard it before.

M.tv: What do you say to someone who feels that music composition lacks any real creative innovation anymore?
GLD: I really dislike it when I’m told that the possibilities for innovation in music are coming to an end. To those who believe this, I can only say that they are either unwilling to imagine a different future for music, or simply do not have the necessary artistic freedom of mind to envision it.

M.tv: Do you think you conceive of music any differently because of your composing ability?
GLD: Whether I’m composing electronic music, chamber music, orchestra music, music for a play or a movie, I try to conceive of it in the same way. Ideally, people should listen to all music the same way and look for the same basic musical elements in all types of music. There’s no reason why a piece for string quartet should groove any less than a Funkadelic song or a fat electronic track.

Collaborators
Alanna Autler
Ben Millstein
Matthew Alfonso
Nelson Fitch
Sam Brounstein

// INTERVIEW

Massive.tv: Why is producing so close to your heart?
Ben Zoll: I love producing music because of the incredible freedoms offered…. I can work to create pretty much any kind of sound or take samples from any song I hear. It’s pretty liberating to be involved in every single aspect of a tune from start to finish. It’s also pretty interesting to learn about different styles of music production and how that affects different songs.

M.tv: Do you ever find producing a burden on top of your other commitments?
BZ: For the most part, I only consider production a burden if I start hating whatever I’m working on. Since I usually do all of my production independently, I have the advantage of taking only projects I want. I rarely consider music production “work” so it can also be a nice break from whatever other commitments I might have at the time.

M.tv: How does your Jazz Studies major influence your producing abilities/style?
BZ: I think my work with jazz has contributed more to my producing abilities/style than anything else. Jazz is a very groove-oriented music in terms of the degree to which all the players have to be on the same page musically, whether improvising or accompanying. It is definitely important in music production to be aware of the interaction between all the parts of a beat and how that will affect the overall mood of the song. Also…I try to introduce at least some jazz harmonies into all of my work.

M.tv: For those un-cultured philistines who don’t understand what goes into “producing hip hop.” Please break it down for me!
BZ: To a third grader I’d say I make all the “music” of a song, which is pretty much true…in most of my songs, everything but the vocals is original.

M.tv: What’s Jordan Looney like? Why such a rapport?
BZ: Jordan Looney is great to work with and pretty open to new ideas which would probably scare away other college MCs. He’s serious about what he does, he loves what he does, and it definitely comes out in his lyrics.

M.tv: Did the friendship emerge before or after your partnership?
BZ: Our friendship did emerge following our musical interactions…back in the days of the old Hustle Group a few years ago we got together, I remixed a few old songs, and we’ve been working together ever since.

M.tv: Who are some of your favorite MCs?
BZ: Biggie, Aesop Rock, Q-Tip, Ghostface, Method Man, Lexicon, Talib, Copywrite, and sometimes MF Doom .

M.tv: What do you want to give the Northwestern community?
BZ: I would like to instill… an undying worship of my music so that I will never run out of fans.

Collaborators
Kate Adams
Jack Davis
Sean Kane
Anthony M. Del Gigante
Ben Millstein
Matthew Alfonso
Music – “24 Hour Karate School” by Mos Def and the Dojo

// INTERVIEW

Massive.tv: Do you consider skateboarding a sport?
Andrew Lo: It’s definitely an art form, because there are different facets of skateboarding. There’s the X-games, where it’s a competition and everything has to be done perfectly the first try and there’s this whole jock mentality to it, and there’s also the artsy side to skateboarding where it’s about style. It’s about how you maneuver terrain. It’s how your body looks when doing tricks. It’s a very physical art form.

M.tv: Tell me about your skateboard crew.
AL: Sophomore year, my friend Henry picked up [long boarding] after he saw me skating freshman year, because we were neighbors. Then we decided to start this crew called Shred, just to call out to all skaters around the area. And people actually came out. We put flyers around. During the homecoming parade, the streets were blocked off, so we decided to go skate in the street, to cause a scene, sort of. The first year it worked out. The second year we got hated on really badly…by the cops. They were patrolling. So I mean, we got a decent amount of people that would come out every week, [with] more long boarders at first. Eventually, a few of the skater kids started coming out.

M.tv: Do you feel like an outsider skating in Chicago?
AL: I’d say I definitely feel like an outsider skating at Northwestern and in Evanston. Freshman year, I was literally the only skateboarder here, and I’d basically skate by myself, and you know, frat dudes would yell “skate or die, bro!”or tell me to do a “kick flip off these stairs or something.”

M.tv: And now they’re picking up the long boards…
AL: Yeah, exactly. See that’s the weird thing. The next year, I met a few kids, a few of my friends now, that skate, so then there were maybe three or four of us, and one of my friends long boarded, and then all of a sudden, everyone started picking up long boards. I still feel different from the long boards, because it’s just not the same thing.

M.tv: Have you found trouble here from skateboarding?
AL: Freshman year, not really, because I was mostly by myself, but the more people you have…I’d say sophomore and junior year, every time I would skate on campus, or even in Evanston, I would be stopped by a cop. I’ve had to talk my way out of a bunch of tickets. I’m a lot more apologetic to the cops, whereas my other friends might be a little brash, but yeah, I’ve definitely had a lot of trouble. I’m always on the lookout for cops. They’ve told us to just get out. They’ve told us we can’t even be in a parking lot. Sometimes when you tell them you’re with the school, they’re not as objected to you, but I’ve been kicked out a lot. Cops have been following me on my skateboard, and have yelled from their megaphones to “get off the street. Stop skating. Pick up your board right now.”

M.tv: Is developing a sense of community with other skaters an important part of skateboarding?
AL: It’s an incredibly motivating factor in skating, because when you’re skating, you’re by yourself…I don’t know how to describe it…it’s like, you don’t have someone to push you. Everything in skateboarding is repetition. You need to keep trying and trying, over and over again. If someone’s encouraging you, or if you see them doing a trick that, you know, you’re stoked on – sorry I’m using all this LA jargon – it just sort of pushes you, and you get really excited when you do tricks. It’s just more fun. You don’t tire yourself out as much because you’re able to watch people, and they can watch you. You just feed off each other’s energy. But my best friends here, all the people I live with all hate skateboarding. They like me as a person, they just hate that I skateboard, and they always talk shit on it. When I’m with my skate friends, it’s totally skate mode, all the time.

M.tv: What’s it like to skateboard at Northwestern? How do people react to it?
AL: They’re kind of put off by it. There will be some times when I’ll be skating a spot, and people will stop and watch us and they’ll be like “wow, this is really cool,” but most of the time… it’s not even that the kids are put off by us, but the teachers and the faculty that will just sort of scoff at us when we’re skating by. Like even down Sheridan, every time I’ve skated, people have been turning around and looking at me, whereas with a long board, you don’t look twice. I’m not flying by them. I’m not jumping around. I think there’s less of a backlash lately, just because there are more of us now, but it’s still pretty weird.

How does fashion and style contribute to your skating?
AL: Everything I skate is super minimal. Less is more. Just the Van’s Authentics are good enough for me. Style’s involved with it too. Back in the day, it was baggy clothes and now skaters are associated with tights clothes and stuff like that.

Collaborators
Anthony M. Del Gigante
Ben Millstein
Alexandra Sifferlin
Matthew Alfonso
Music – “A Million And One Questions” by Jay-Z and DJ Premier

// INTERVIEW

Massive.tv: What is your piece about?
Monica Thomas: It’s trying to call into question any medium of communication and how imperfect they all are. We live in a world where text is definitely considered the “king” as far as communication goes and I am trying to question that. But, I don’t think dance is a perfect medium either. I think it serves a different purpose.

M.tv: What has this project meant to you?
MT: It means a lot of things to me. The nature of dance is people get what they want out of it. It’s the natural tendency for people to construct a narrative. This doesn’t have a linear narrative, but if that’s what you want to make of it, you can. Otherwise, it means a lot of things to me about transience and communication, human interaction and performance. It means a lot to me personally too. It means a lot about memory and people in your life. Many of the elements that have gone into it have been chosen because of dear personal ties. But I don’t think it is so personal to the point of being autobiographical. I want every person watching to have their own experience and their own take on what it expresses.

M.tv: You incorporated literature into your piece. What is your favorite piece of literature?
MT: This question is hard. Shel Silverstein? I’ve been reading a lot of Murakami lately—when I’m not trying to pass classes. I’ve read all of Salinger, though that isn’t much of a feat.

M.tv: Why do you love dance?
MT: There’s nothing else that I want to do. It has just kind of happened this way. I haven’t been able to stop and I’m going to try and keep going.

M.tv: What is your favorite dance style?
MT: Probably modern/contemporary. But that in itself is a varied genre. I’m still trying to figure out which mode of performance fits me best, and I don’t really want to nail myself down just yet.

M.tv: What style do you find most challenging?
MT: I never had super strict ballet training growing up, so ballet is always a struggle. Outside of dance styles, anything quick is usually harder for me. But then, if you aren’t struggling, what’s the point? If something isn’t a struggle anymore, it is because I’m letting myself, my brain or my body, be lazy. As soon as I feel like dance isn’t a struggle, it is probably time for me to quit. It’s just a matter of keeping it HTTP/1.1 200 OK
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