[Interview] Loop Sessions DMV
* Pour lire la version française de cette entrevue cliquez ICI!
We saw the name Loop Sessions a bunch of times on posters, social medias and in our friends circle, but we never really took the time to learn what this fantastic project truly is. We were thrilled when the opportunity to do an interview with two longtime members like Mahdi and Mark came up. Established in Montreal, but exported all around the world, the concept recently founded a new chapter in the Washington metropolitan area, where Loop Sessions DMV was born. Driven by Mags (Lux Magna, Strange Froots) and many others like Nancy from Grimalkin Records, this chapter quickly came alive even in these pandemic times. To discover, or simply learn a bit more, about an incredible project, we’re happy to present you this generous interview with Mags, Mahdi, Mark and Nancy!
For the next Loop Sessions DMV event, it’s HERE!
Loop Sessions was founded in 2016 by The Loop Pilots and Artbeat Montreal and has been organizing unifying events ever since. Where did the idea behind this dynamic and original project come from and why did you choose this unconventional way to work?
Mahdi: Loop Sessions is an initiative of Lou Piensa (from Nomadic Massive) and me who together form the duo The Loop Pilots. We released our album And then… The Sea in November 2015. In January 2016, I accompanied Lou to Brazil for a series of concerts with other members of Nomadic Massive. I made all kinds of musical discoveries for a month and one of them was this São Paulo cafe/record shop called Casa Brasilis, where we presented the new Loop Pilots project live. The two founders, Rafa Jazz & Bruno Borges organize an evening called Beat Brasilis every Wednesday. This is basically the concept of Loop Sessions. We participated in two sessions and before returning to Montreal, we asked them if we could export the concept of the project at home. We knew that our community of beat makers was very dope and we knew that this kind of gathering would appeal to a few.
It was natural for Lou and I to partner with Artbeat Montreal since they had already been very involved in the beat making scene for several years. We just needed to find a place to do it. I tried my luck with Le 180g which had recently opened in town and which, like Casa Brasilis, was both a café and a record store. It couldn’t have been better for us. I wasn’t sure if Christophe and Charles-Etienne, the owners of the place, would agree to collaborate with us. The day I explained the project to Christophe he immediately accepted and it was one of the happiest days of my life.
Mark: As the co-founder of Artbeat Montreal (Sevdee, Markings aka shmings and myself), I had been organizing events and shows focused on beats since 2011, which helped build and solidify the Montreal beat community. When The Loop Pilots approached us to put together this event it made total sense and fulfilled our mandate as well as provided a space for people to gather, create and share their beats in a more casual and social setting.
Your events are offering interesting and creative music and are pushing the boundaries of music production, is this the primary goal of Loop Sessions?
Mahdi: The primary goal is to have a good musical time in good company. But beyond that, there are several reasons that made this project work well in Montreal and around the world. The idea was to bring together a scene that has always existed but that was not necessarily united. Beat making is a rather solitary activity whose essence is animated by the legendary «bedroom producer». So we worked to provide a space and a time in the middle of the week where these people would be able to come out of their rooms to meet other beat makers like them and share their creations and knowledge. It’s ironic that we’ve all been assigned to go back to our rooms… anyway.
Another goal of our meetings is to forge an artistic community where many have come together. Our events are not a competition but a moment of sharing that fostered the meeting between established artists and beginners, without a superiority complex or a hostile atmosphere. Everyone is able to find their comfort and their audience.
Mark: The mission for Loop Sessions is to build and establish a platform where the creative community and music creators can learn, share, improve and develop their music production skills by exploring the art of sampling as well as create links and bridges among artists, cities and chapters worldwide.
Loop Sessions now has 19 chapters around the world. I wondered how did the project grow so fast since its creation and did you expect such an expansion?
Mahdi: It’s a surprise to see this! We thought we were going to stick with a few editions and eventually move on. In the summer of 2017, John Parm, a Belgian artist living in Montreal, told me that he was returning to Brussels and that he would like to export the concept to his country. At the same time, Mikey J. Blige, an artist from Vancouver, was also returning to Western Canada and expressed the same will to us. I believe Mikey and John opened the portal which made curious other towns who also wanted to join the fun. The movement quickly spread like wildfire.
Mark: Personally I did not expect such a growth. We are used to doing our thing from a very grassroots approach and sometimes, when you start a new project, you’re so focused on making sure things are proper and running smoothly that you don’t really see the expansion unfold until a while later. It all happened very organically, mainly from participants who were present in Montreal and went back to their hometowns and felt the need to share this with their communities. After more chapters started, this effect multiplied and eventually we were getting requests from people from across the world who had either been to an event in person or attended online.
For over a year now, the events have been holded online due to the pandemic. How did this adaptation go and what kind of future do you expect for Loop Sessions?
Mahdi: It hurt us to see that the meeting had to be canceled at the last minute. We quickly wondered if we could adapt the session virtually, even only once. Mark has great attention to detail when it comes to sound quality. So he made sure that, if there was a virtual format, the quality would be there. Since he’s the one of us with the most audio gadgets, he soon found himself hosting the first edition online from home and it was a success. Over the months we have opted for a meeting on Zoom to achieve a greater level of comfort. We were inspired by our friends from Loop Sessions Toronto, and that shows the strength of the movement: each chapter has its own reality and we all use it to inspire each other.
Besides, our friends from Loop Sessions Milan have joined our international community in the midst of a pandemic. I find that beautiful because at that time, the media kept portraying Milan as a hotbed of the pandemic. This didn’t prevent their artistic community from working towards an effort of solidarity. This is very important when we know that several artists, in Montreal and around the world, have testified how much the Loop Sessions helped them maintain a certain emotional stability during these difficult times. I am particularly grateful and deeply touched.
Mark: The adaptation to online events definitely exceeded my expectations. At first, we did the switch because we did not want to skip an edition or stop altogether. The response was overwhelming, and many people had the opportunity to participate despite otherwise not being able to show up in person. It also opened the doors to participants from outside of Montreal and other chapters, which has been amazing to see. The online editions started off in survival mode and ended up generating a unique and growing momentum of their own. The future of Loop Sessions will definitely see the rise of more chapters, more unifying of our worldwide community and the development of platforms, tools and programs to empower music creators and the younger generations on their way.
The most recent chapter of the project has just been created in the US capital with Loop Sessions DMV. I would like to know who is behind the foundation of this new crew and what led to its creation?
Mags: I’m the driving force behind Loop Sessions DMV. In the beginning I’d enlisted the help of my friend Sweet, another producer and the bassist in the DC-based band Black Folks Don’t Swim?. Sweet had attended the online Montreal sessions once in October and again in November; their positive interactions with Mark and how much they loved the concept is what inspired us to start our own chapter in the DMV. They had pointed me in the direction of a few potential participants and DJs, namely Bliberation, whose account caught my attention when I noticed they had a single Montreal mutual. Sweet at the time was very busy with band duties, so I remained in charge of the rest while B. was our designated DJ and host.
Loop Sessions DMV brings together beatmakers from the Washington area, but also from all over the world, including Montrealers like Joni Void and Sabrina Sabotage, among others. How did you manage to find so many participants after only three editions?
Mags: I think because Nancy and I are both part of close-knit scenes respectively, we were able to influence our friends to participate. It’s funny that you mention Joni Void, who I had worked with previously through Lux Magna, because despite both of us being based in Montreal, LSDMV was their first time submitting to any Loop Sessions. I would also attribute my regular attendance at the MTL Loop Sessions where I was able to create bonds with folks between sessions, and it has forged a truly genuine sense of community support and friendship. Because I wanted so much to honor all that LS has done for me, I made sure to include the guys in our early stages (by way of our Q&A session), which lit the beacon for other global participants to check us out.
Nancy: That is all to Mags’ efforts. I invited everyone associated with Grimalkin and also our followers on Twitter and Instagram. Several people have gotten involved that way and I was excited to see Joni Void participate. I know them from Twitter and we met once on a Google Meet to discuss music. We plan to release an album of theirs in the future and they were part of Grimalkin’s winter showcase. Wren Dove Lark got involved with it as well via Twitter and Woven In is a personal good friend of mine and released a couple of albums on Grimalkin. She provided the crate for our second session by the way. I was stoked to see Mosaic the Animated join us as well. We follow each other on Instagram. Hopefully more folks from Grimalkin will attend in the future. I know of several people in and out of Grimalkin who plan to join us in the future. It has just been difficult for them to find the time yet.
Mags, you’re based in Montreal, but you’re involved with Loop Sessions DMV. Can you tell us about your journey and what motivated you to join this project?
Mags: I’m originally from the DMV. I was born and raised in Silver Spring, MD, then moved to Montreal in 2010 for university. I had to return to the US in 2018 when my work visa expired, but I was still able to visit Canada occasionally for Lux Magna and major Strange Froots gigs. Then when quarantine began and Loop Sessions went online, I immediately jumped on the occasion to reconnect with that part of the Montreal music scene, and as time went on and it became clear that general confinement wouldn’t end any time soon, I finally decided to take matters into my own hands and bring a bit of my chosen home, to my hometown (as it happens, this would be just a mere 2 months before I became a Canadian permanent resident and moved back to the city.)
Nancy, you will be the crate provider for the next edition of Loop Sessions DMV. I was wondering what motivated you the most about this project and how is the preparation going for the event?
Nancy: Mags reached out to me via Backxwash. If I remember correctly, I think she recommended Grimalkin to Mags since Gr is based in Virginia and part of the DMV area. We have collective members in Richmond and Baltimore. I was excited to hear about Loop Sessions and love how it’s about building a community of musicians and beatmakers. Mags said she wanted to bring more diversity to the DMV chapter and basically all of us at Gr are trans and queer and many are also BIPOC and she expressed wanting all people to feel welcome and involved, which I appreciated.
She also made a point to say that participants did not have to be a producer or beatmaker nor make hip-hop, which I also very much appreciated. Many do at Grimalkin, but many of us do not, like myself. I do produce but I am definitely not a beatmaker. I’ve been using samples and minimal looping in my personal music (Spartan Jet-Plex) for several years now but it has been exciting and inspiring to challenge myself to explore that more and push myself out of my comfort zone. I also like how Loop Sessions’ format challenges all of us to create something within a limited time-frame using one album. I love that it has been giving me the opportunity to schedule in some fun and play in creating music and several ideas for my Spartan Jet-Plex project are coming out of it which is exciting.
Life and work gets so busy and hectic and I’ve found that I’ve had to schedule in time for myself in general to create music, and these loop sessions are a set monthly thing that I know I need to make time for, which I appreciate. It is easy for me to put myself and my creativity off when I have other pressing things on my plate, but since Loop Sessions is part of a community effort that also provides an opportunity for me to share what Grimalkin is about, it just becomes something all the more important for me to participate in. I also really love getting the opportunity to meet other musicians around the world and the United States. That part of Loop Sessions is very much in line with what Grimalkin is about so I think there is a connection there that makes Gr fit in with what they are doing. Also, it has been nice to get the word out to more folks about Grimalkin, which is what the live meet-up sessions allow us to do. I very much appreciate having another platform to promote the artists we release and the work that we do that goes beyond music. Lastly, it has been really cool learning about new music and hearing the inspiration and history behind the crates that people choose. Loop Sessions just really hits all those awesome checkboxes in general that would draw me into a project.
As far as the crate for May 7th. You’ll have to wait and hear. It is one of my favorites. I’ve been wanting to sample it for quite a while. I already know the record super well but I plan to just wait until the time we always drop the crate and see what song or songs I am feeling at that moment to create my track and to keep myself in line with the challenge and spirit of participating in these sessions.
As participants in Loop Sessions, Mags and Nancy, I wondered how you approach such events, what is different from the “usual” music production?
Mags: I think at Loop Sessions I have to approach things pretty differently than how I personally would produce. In general I’m not somebody that produces music for mass public consumption unless I’m making something specifically for my band, I really mostly just make music I like, for me; uploading online is almost more for archival purposes. But at Loop Sessions I want to be more clever about the stories I tell in the 90 or so seconds I’m allotted, with the sample I’m given. I stress a bit less about the logistics and mixing aspect and more about what narrative elements are coming together and how (although many will argue that perfecting the engineering will boost the latter, but in the context of Loop Sessions at least, I don’t have time or energy to worry about that when I only have maybe half a day to do something that at least makes ME happy, haha). And especially at Loop Sessions DMV, the host and participants are more interested in discovering other people’s styles and their takes on the sample, and stepping out of a comfort zone with new online friends by your side, and in times like the pandemic, that can never be taken for granted.
Nancy: It’s a slight bit stressful, but in a good way (haha). Initially I was extremely nervous that whatever I’d create would fall short compared to everyone else, but it isn’t a competition and everyone has been kind about my tracks, and B (our DMV host) is really personable and easy to talk to. He has a very kind and open vibe about him and has a knack for making people feel at ease and at home. I do a lot of improvisation and play in my music, which often helps generate ideas or sparks a new song or how I want a song I already wrote to sound when I record it, and so participating in the sessions falls in line with how I often approach creating music.
What’s different is the time constraint and being provided a framework via the crate, and although I do use a lot of play and just messing around in my music, my typical songs are much more planned out and I obviously have as much time as I need to create them. With Loop Sessions, you really need to just lean in and go with it. Something I really love about participating is how it has really brought out the instinctual part of music making front and center for me. The whole process for me has been listening through the crate, letting my instincts pick what song or songs jump at me and then just going for it. It’s been a really organic process for me. There is no time to re-listen and labor or think too much about any one decision. I appreciate that because it is a challenge. And of course, I am making all sample and looped based tracks for these sessions which has been a new thing for me. Most of the songs I create start out on guitar and keys so this has been a really great way for me to stretch myself and build new skills you will most definitely hear in my SJP project going forward.
Thank you for your time!