Allmos Marks Solo Debut w/ 'Sound Affects, Vol. 1' [Premiere]

Source: Nic Supa & Allan Cole

Best known as one half of the Brooklyn-based production duo, The Stuyvesants, Allan Cole has worked alongside partner Darien Birks and a handful of other collaborators to amass an impressive catalog of releases. He has earned a cult following as one of the minds behind a trove of lush instrumentals and is respected as a producer’s producer. The Stuyvesants’ sound, while nostalgic, is also evergreen. It would seem strange, then, that Cole has taken the occasion of his solo debut to deviate completely. Sound Affects, Vol. 1 is an outing that feels overdue.

True to the chameleonic nature of hip-hop culture, Cole switched his style up with a complete overhaul of the creative process that included supplementing samples with live instruments. The calculated risk he took in crafting this release has produced what might be his most adventurous work to date. Moreover, the freedom Allan Cole found in becoming Allmos may have created an entirely new monster behind the boards. Allmos drops the science behind Sound Affects, Vol. 1 and hints at what's to come.

Source: Nic Supa & Allan Cole

Okayplayer: You’ve been putting out projects as one half of The Stuyvesants alongside Darien Birks for the past several years. Sound Affects, Vol. 1 is your solo debut as Allmos. Why now?

Allan Cole: For me, it was kind of time. Especially when it comes to The Stuyvesants stuff, there’s certain sounds when we put together those albums we go through a lot of stuff. A lot of it, we usually come to a consensus on the things that work for the record, but there’s always a batch of stuff that doesn’t necessarily fit for The Stuyvesants but I still like the sound. So, its usually coming from that perspective for me where its just like, “Aw man, I still have a ton of stuff that can be used. Even though it doesn’t fit into The Stuyvesants context, what can I do with it?” I just took some time to work on some separate stuff that didn’t use much sampling and took those beats that were in rough stages that didn’t fit in one place and adapted them to this new thing.

OKP: The album feels a lot different than The Stuyvesants projects and your collaborative 2015 project with Substantial. When you started production on this project, what were your goals for the sound of it?

AC: The goals definitely changed over time and that is something that is still evolving for me, largely because I’m not sampling. When you’re sampling you’re a little limited with respect to publishing and what you can really do with your music. I’ve always just kind of had an appreciation for live music and instrumentation as it is. This was just a chance for me to pick up that skill set. I had taken a few classes here and there as a kid, but never really stuck with it long enough to feel confident in it. So that, in and of itself, was just a challenge for me on this project. I wanted to see if I could take away my crutches when it comes to samples and programming drums and all of that type of stuff and do more live stuff.

I wanted to bring out the stuff I hear in my head and make it a reality. A lot of the concept for this approach just came from that. Over the years, you kind of just hear certain things. Sometimes I’ll have random moments of inspiration where I want to make something but when it comes to sampling, unless I can find something that sounds like that already, I can’t really make it. Flipping the script for this project was a big deal for me. Opening things up where I could figure out how to make the sounds I needed with synths and keyboards and that kind of thing. A lot of the work for me was in accepting that challenge and seeing where that would lead me. This is where it has gone for this first generation. There will be a few other ones that will come later down the line.

OKP: What changed, if anything, this go-round with the creative process and your approach to the production of the release?

AC: I have a pretty small setup. I like to keep things pretty minimal in general. It usually allows me to get good at the things that I do have. I have a couple of samplers that I use. I use Reason as my main production software. I used that to come up with the initial sounds. So, I’ll play chords and different melodies through the software and then record them into a sampler that I have.

That way I’m able to play the sounds that I’m hearing, then bring them into a format that I’m more accustomed to working with. In doing that way, I’m playing the music on one hand but also adapting it to a form that I’m a little more comfortable with in terms of chopping and flipping things around that way. I use an OP-1, which looks like a toy but it is really, really fun to use. I have an SP-404, which I run a lot of the synth sounds and drums through. Then Reason, again, which is where the sounds originate before I manipulate them in the smaller machines to get the sound just right.

OKP: This is Volume 1 of what I’m guessing is a series of releases. The first volume is full of music that feels cinematic — like the score to a film. Is there a narrative driving the series? If so, where does this project figure into that story?

AC: It really speaks to the title of the project and where the name Allmos comes from. It is a play on the regular word ‘almost.’ It speaks to my decision to take on this challenge of creating music without using samples, or at least not using traditional samples. In doing that, I could never get the music to sound exactly like what I was hearing in my head, but during the experience of going there I stumbled on new things and get new ideas that take me in directions that make those original ideas into something totally new. It speaks to the amount of learning and inspiration you get when you’re approaching a particular goal.

That plays out in the production of the music, but then also the overall sound of the project where I’m not deciding what things will be beforehand. I’m relying on the creative process of translating my ideas into music to dictate the direction and sound of what I produce. Creatively, it is a total departure from the way in which The Stuyvesants stuff is done and even other things I’ve done. In that space, we come up with the idea first and then make stuff to fit into that. Doing it this way, is liberating. I feel so much more free because I don’t have to have a fully fleshed out idea to sit down and make music. I can play around with stuff until something sounds cool, then build on that.

So, the title comes from that — from my efforts to move in a direction dictated by the spontaneous way in which I’m coming up with the music. Even before I had come up with the name, I had started working on the music. I have a couple of folks I always bounce ideas off of to make sure I’m not doing something that’s totally off base. As I progressed through the stages of working on the project, I sent it to those folks and everyone was really excited about. They usually keep me accountable for most of the projects that I do.

As I was working on the project, every time someone would check in about the completion of the release, my answer was always “almost.” That whole process in and of itself, kind of lead me to the name. Every time someone asked me about the project I kept saying the same word. So I thought, “How can I flip that and use it to my advantage?” That’s even something else that was not planned for but it ended up working out for the project.

Source: David Evan McDowell

OKP: There are certain themes you return to at points in the release (“Allmos” x “Outro” and “So Remarkable” x “Interlude”). What is the significance of that for you, thematically?

AC: This was another purely conceptual thing. For me, it’s about how cyclical the process is. Even though I’m introducing different sounds and allowing them to take me in a direction that isn’t predetermined, there is a cyclical process that is involved in that. Coming up with something that isn’t planned, I might latch onto a particular sound. It’s mostly just repeating a similar process to create new things from it. Those moments where you see chords repeating or certain sounds that are similar is a window into that cyclical experience that I’m having as I create everything. The outro of the album and track 2 use a similar chord arrangement.

The outro is more or less derivative of a piece of something that I discovered randomly and reintroduced later on. A lot of it is me making an effort to avoid forgetting how I’m getting to where I’m going. It all goes back to not forgetting where you came from and using that to propel yourself forward — like Sankofa. That’s what I’m trying to do with those parts of the project that repeat. That’s something that you’ll see as the project continues to develop and new volumes are introduced. There are definitely moments where inspiration will spring up in different places. I may borrow something from a thing that I hear and like — kind of borrowing from the past to lead in a new direction.

OKP: What are you looking forward to most ahead of the release of Sound Affects, Vol. 1?

AC: I just really want people to get it and feel it. For me, it’s a little nerve wracking to be trying this new approach to making music. I know that I like it, but I never know how people are going to respond. That’s always the most anxious and exciting part of it for me. Even if there are just two or three people that get what I was trying to go for with this, that means the world to me. The feedback is what I’m really looking forward to. Even with some of the singles, people are starting to catch on and see where things are going. That is what I look forward to the most.

OKP: When you talk about being anxious about people’s reactions to the release, what do you hope they take from it?

AC: I hope it puts them in a particular zone. After listening to it so many times, I have a certain vibe that is attached to it. I have a chilled, mellow response to the music when I listen to it now that it’s done and out of my hands. I want people to feel what I feel when I listen to it. The listener is a part of the art itself, so I anticipate folks bringing their own ear to the project. I’m hoping that blending that with what already exists will align them with the vibe that I have created.

OKP: How does the evolution of your sound and your plans for future releases make you feel? Are you excited, etc?

AC: It’s largely exciting. That’s one of the things that makes The Stuyvesants project so successful. I have this really good connection with Darien (Birks), so it just makes the music that we put together very unique and very specific to our partnership. With this project, opening that up so that there are multiple folks to work with who can also catch the same type of vibe is something that makes it more exciting. At worst, it might be a little awkward if the partnerships don’t work. But even with that, I don’t really anticipate working with folks that I’m not already a fan of and that aren’t already fans of my music. I anticipate working on really cool collaborations and building the project that way.

The artwork for Volume 1 was done by an artist named Nic Supa. He does these really intricate and heavily textured collages. I collaborated with him on the artwork for the album and the single. He has this really nice approach to color and texture that just spoke to me. We figured out the imagery and colors for the album cover together. That is something that also speaks to the collaborative aspect of the project. I’ve had a chance to flex that muscle and spread out more in terms of working with a variety of artists, which is exciting.

When it comes to designing stuff for myself, I usually keep hacking away at it until I don’t like it anymore. So, for stuff like this, it helps to have the collaborative element so that I have someone to bounce ideas off of and a better idea of when to stop — to let the other person take the lead to get it closer to what will work.

OKP: Is it too early to ask what you’ve got up your sleeve for Volume 2?

AC: Not too early! That one is very close to being done. I have definitely figured out where I want this one to go and how it feels overall, its just a matter of getting it tight and making sure that everything is done as conventionally as I wanted to do it. The other thing is bringing in extra artists for this one. I do anticipate this project going forward, being primarily instrumental, but I’m not limited to that. I definitely want to bring in musicians, singers, rappers occasionally — just to add an extra layer to it that I can’t add on my own. So you’ll start to see some collaboration with this next one for sure.

Stream Sound Affects, Vol. 1 below. Purchase the project via Bandcamp or Spotify. Get more on Allmos' solo debut via Fresh Selects. Follow Allmos via Twitter at @_Allmos.