This episode's interview:
I like strxwberrymilk :3
As y'all know, i like interviewing and getting to know the artists i like. This week i reached out across the pond to strxwberrymilk. A 19 year old artist from Germany, Strxwberry got into music as a DnB artist around 2021, releasing a slew of singles and albums, like music for awkward dates and My Head Hurts.
when asked, they mentioned machinegirl as a major inspiration for their work, specifically the albums gemini and wlfgrl, but they're more the kind of person who finds their inspiration from their daily life. their music is a combination of breaks and soft sounds that really encapsulate the feeling of his environment" I live in an area that I would call inspiring", continuing to describe their home: a house on a hill surrounded by forests, and translates the feelings of their everyday life there to sound.>
They're also inspired a lot by fiction, namely the worlds they come up with while daydreaming, mentioning they would create entire video games in their head when tehy were younger. "I have interesting hobbies and experiences that not a lot of people have and I feel like I sort of want to bring people into my headspace with the stuff that I write." when asked if they believe consciousness is simply the product of your neurons firing in a particular, or is it something special, inconsistent from material reality; they said "I don't care just live and go with the wave"
Eloise cover art
i followed up the questions about their inspirations and consciousness with an inquiry into his favorite project. Every artist has a defining work to them, a pinnacle of story telling, or sound design, and a story why, and i was dying to know what strxwberries was. Turns out, it's Gaia, a half hour of great DnB with a story about worlds, destruction and lessons learned embedded into the soul of the album. "it's a story about an alien from outer space creating a cult and destroying earth because of how wasteful we treat it". they told me while explaining the lore of the album, which i felt summarized it well. It's a delightful listen, with excellent sound design, good choice in sampling, and a dynamic mix of sounds and style throughout. It's definitely a drum and bass album, so no hyper-chopped breaks, but the atmospheric vibe of the album makes up for it in spades. they finished out their description witha fun fact: "What most people don't know is that it is heavily inspired by Kero Kero Bonitos 'Civilization'"
The other project they talked about was Eloise. it's an album about the story of "eloise" , who lives in a post-apocalyptic world. It's a glitchy and bleepy album 10 tracks deep with varying styles and speeds. this album is cited as strxwberry's future planned direction. I love the direction of this album. It's hopeful yet depressing, and spans a range of raw exerpts of what i imagine eloise would have been through. i really recommend giving this album a listen, it's my favorite of strxwberry's albums as well. one thing they wanted to mention was that you should listen to Gaia before listening to Eloise, as the storys are connected. Another thing they had mentioned that this was the style they were planning to go for in the future: "Every album before that doesn't really represent my vision anymore but I'm still proud about them because they show my progression"
As for advice for new artists they had said " Use your energy -> Tell me about your life with your music! ", mentioning the importance of showing what makes you unique. "Also be creative and fuck doing shit only for money. I had a small phase recently where I thought like that and I can say with certainty that life is better if you stop caring about followers and just try to enjoy shit to the fullest!" they also mentioned to never care if a track is perfect. and really emphasized being yourself.
They finished their answers with an epilogue:" Life is beautiful. I use that energy. I have changed a lot since last year and I feel like im in an awesome place and my next full length album might reflect that.", which leads well into the next question. When asked what they have planned to do next, they said "I have something scheduled for release in the beginning of August". mentioning they took a break from music but plan to get back to music after a much needed vacation.
