Nxisee (pronounced ‘Noisey’) is the moniker of Henry Bird, a 16-year-old producer based in Victoria’s Dandenong Ranges. His style calls back the the early kings and queens of chopped sampling, think Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) or MPC-wielding beasts like J Dilla.
Recently Nxisee unveiled Beetroot Tapes, an eight track EP brimming with syncopated beats and delicious samples ripped from op-shop records. To find out all about it, we asked Bird to run us through each track.
Chopped samples, freeform beats and creative interludes: 16-year-old producer Nxisee runs us through his lush new EP Beetroot Tapes.
wassup.
This song is the first on the EP and was actually the longest song to make as I heard the sample (Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight – Ace Spectrum) on the way to the airport on my holiday in LA and Hawaii.
I had to Shazam it as soon as I could, and when I got it, while we were waiting in the airport lounge, that’s when the magic happened. I pretty much just worked on it most of the plane ride and just had this weird burst of creative energy, it was pretty cool.
fuego.
The second song I had actually made like three or four versions of, and just found that there was too much going on and the sample and drums and everything just felt way too cluttered. I just wanted to make it feel effortless in a way that, I could have done something really crazy with it, but it just felt right to keep it relaxed and sort of re-create the vibe that came when I was making this song.
Nearly all of these songs were made on my holiday in LA and Hawaii, and I just thought they all had a certain vibe to them and kept it through all the tracks, especially this one in particular.
dOpe.
This particular song came about really weird because when we were walking around LA, I had this idea in my head for the particular beat and didn’t have anywhere to write it down. So, I fell behind where everyone was walking and quickly just beatboxed it into voice memos on my phone.
When we got back to the apartment I tapped it out on my Maschine Mikro and then pulled a chopped sample I made earlier and it just fit perfectly. It was a completely different process of how I usually made beats, but it just worked.
jazzy.
This one was something different as well, as I pretty much just sort of freestyled the beat in a way. I found this sample and just looped it and just clicked record and tapped out a beat for a minute or so. And then I just pulled the parts that sounded like an actual song.
This is the only song that I made at home in the EP, and you can sort of tell that in a funny way because it’s completely different to everything else.
kontact.
This song came to me pretty quick as I was just in a very inspirational mood and was just playing around with drum sounds and samples and just made this short, quirky beat that didn’t need to go for any longer than a minute or so and acts as a sort of ‘creative’ interlude type track.
rushin.
This track started off with just me going through different records I picked up before we left for the holiday, as I just get second hand records from op-shops and then record them into my computer to use when I don’t have internet.
I stumbled upon this sample I recorded, and then just straight up chopped it to a different beat and added drums to it and felt like it was finished. It was a pretty smooth process.
dn’t stp.
This track is pretty much a beat that has been meaning to happen for ages, but I never got around to doing it. I heard the sample “Don’t stop smiling by Jus’ Us”, in a Nxworries track( a duo I’m a huge fan of and hugely inspired by), and always felt like I could put a different feel to it.
So, I just sat with my Maschine and made like four different versions of the chopped sample and just picked the one that felt right and laid some drums down and called it a day.
seeya.
The last song on the EP is my favourite by far and was actually the last one I made for the EP, and also the last song I made on my trip to America. This just happened so naturally as I just sat on the balcony of the hotel in Hawaii with my laptop and Maschine, and just pulled out another record I pre-recorded to work on, and just smashed out the beat and then tweaked it later on and just didn’t force anything out.
I just put down whatever vibes I was getting and just let the music do the rest. It was an awesome way to approach a record.
Nxisees’ Beetroot Tape is out now on Soundcloud and Bandcamp.
