Asheville's Isaac LeFever talks about Bookworm and what's in store for 2010.

MuseAmp: What are you currently working on right now?

Bookworm: Right now I'm working on two releases and a couple remixes. The first of the two is a full length LP of all original material mainly revolving around electronic flavored hip hop and downtempo. I'm hoping to have that finished end of the year.

In tandem with that I'm also contributing multiple tracks to a free beat tape coming out soon which will feature cuts by Two Fresh and Jables and Mindelixir among a few other artists. We plan to drop that just a little before Christmas.

MuseAmp: What are you spinning/performing? Favorite artists?

Bookworm: The majority of my live set is composed of original tracks. I produce and play out a strange mix of hip hop and debstep and somehow I make that work. When I'm picking out those non original songs to play out, a lot of the time I'm pooling from such artists as Hudson Mohawke, Peripheral, DM Stair, Sluggabed, Rustie, SamIYam, etc. I try to pick out some things that people may not have heard but will be able to connect with in their own way.

MuseAmp: Any more live shows planned in the near future?

Bookworm: I'm taking December off from gigging out but am using this time to line up a number of gigs for January and February mainly in the Southeast. Middle of January is gonna be packed with a number of sweet sets in new cities.

MuseAmp: Current favorite VST plugin? Do you use it live?

Bookworm: I'm a hug fan of the Native Instruments suite and have been beating up FM8 hard lately. Some performances call for its use live but it varies and depends on what kind of set I'm dropping that night. On top of that I really dig a lot of the hobbyist style home made VST synths and effects coming out. There's some dope 8 bit sounds to be found out there.

MuseAmp: What is your home studio setup like?

Bookworm: At home I'm typically using an M-Audio Axiom keyboard and a little Korg for keys and An Akai MPD 32 to fill it all in. I have 2 sets of studio monitors, a couple Hardware Synths and I use a Presonus Firebox for my ins and outs. The new spot I just moved into now has a whole room dedicated to the studio and it has been awesome having that separate space to work. Unlike just about all my other homies making beats right now, I do all my tracks on on a PC.

MuseAmp: Do you see Indie electronic releases using more unconventional and online methods to release new material? Is it working for you?

Bookworm: The electronic music scene is so fast paced and ever evolving that it is pretty much dependent on the internet and the new culture of electronic communication and networking to stay going. Word of mouth on a whole other level. This dynamic flies in the face of decades of well established marketing principles and distribution chains and I think that's a good thing. The huge label dinosaur cannot keep up with, let alone understand it and it certainly keeps things a little realer on the ground floor of this kind of music.

It's working out great for me. Without a traditional management team or agency working for me, I am still able to line up a steady pace of gigs and projects and it looks like 2010 is going to be very busy. All of this is thanks to networking through the web.

BIO:

Booking inquiries handled through Low Frequency Ops

Hailing from the eclectic city of Asheville, NC – Bookworm is the stage alias of multi-genre music producer Isaac LeFever.

While hard to classify, Bookworm ceates a coalescence of influences across the broad spectrum of his different musical interests. A blend of traditional instrumentation and both classic and new school electronic sound design can be heard in Bookworm's compositions which combine aspects of hip hop, downtempo, jazz, dubstep, trip hop, glitch and 8 bit into a singular experience. Duct tape a Super Nintendo, an MPC and a MicroKorg to to a jazz bass, plug it into a laptop, add some loudspeakers and a pinch of swagger and you're in the right neighborhood. With a mind for minimalist approach, Bookworm presents the listener with a strong, syncopated beat driven array of melodic textures and deep bass lines.

2009 for Bookworm saw a very well received sample release entitled “Audio Poppies”, radio play, inclusion in a handful of producer mixes and co-billings with artists such as Signal Path, Two Fresh and Joker. And to top it off – upcoming official remixes for California artists Mochipet (on Daly City Records) and The Shift on (Blunted Funk Recordings). 2010 brings in a number of tour dates across the Southeast along with multiple solo and collaborative releases and remix projects.

In the upcoming generation of electronic musicians, Bookworm is definitely one to watch.

Bookworm MySpace Page: http://www.myspace.com/bookwormbeats

Team MuseAmp ( Fan )

MuseAmp.com Web Team 

 

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