Author: Richie DeMaria
An hour before midnight on Saturday, Nov. 7, the energy in The Loft on York had reached a tipping point. Los Angeles hip-hop group Warm Brew had worked the crowd up with a spirited half-hour set, the audience had swelled to near sardine conditions and the room was abuzz with excitement. Then, on cue, the lights dropped, a strobe pulsed to life and DJ Sam Wilkes (sophomore) and guitarist Avery Henderson (sophomore) took to the stage to make their debut.
Flanked by rapper Julian Mitchell (senior), the two played to a near-capacity room. Wilkes and company had managed to attract a sizable and diverse crowd to the newly opened venue. Oxy students mixed with bearded rock execs and scene teens, all grinding and nodding together as stragglers pecked at the periphery. Not everyone there knew him, but by the end of the 45- minute set, everyone was chanting his name: “Sam! Wilkes! Sam! Wilkes!”
That same day, Wilkes had released his first solo outing, the Wilkish Mixtape, online, and all were gathered to celebrate its release. The bill included performances from other Oxy musicians: DJ Sweet FA, also known as Freddie Allen (exchange student), spun for an hour afterward, and DJ Avedon, also known as Miles Sherman (junior), closed the night out with a two-hour set.
“In my eyes, the night went perfectly,” Wilkes said. “The vibe was really supportive and fun. All the performers killed it. Everyone was the perfect amount of drunk.””The energy was so positive and people showed a lot of love,” Mitchell said.”People stayed until the early hours of the morning, dancing and having a great time.”
It was a party three months in the making – a party celebrating the end result of three intense months of music-making. To make his project, Wilkes set aside all other commitments and set out to create the work he’d been eager to make.
“I had to just buckle down and do it. I put it above everything else, even school work,” he said. “This is where my passion is, I’m just gonna go for it.”
He converted his Rangeview room into a makeshift studio, stuffing it with so much equipment that he left only enough space to make music and sleep.
“Almost all of it was done out of my dorm room, which was interesting in itself because my dorm room is teeny – it’s a single,” he said. “My dorm room is a complete mess right now. It’s just been a different atmosphere, one that always inspires creativity.”
How did a young laptop musician come to fill a room full of raving teenagers? It all started several years ago when Wilkes, still in high school, attracted the attention of a Bay Area music manager, Antar Mahasin, who took a liking to his beats. There he worked with artists Radikal, Yung Lott and Lil’ Lidah.
“It was a lucky stream of events,” he said. “It helped me get a steady flow of money in high school so I didn’t have to work a job.”
When he moved south to Occidental, Wilkes met Mitchell. The two worked as a team, selling songs to artists looking for a readymade tune. Wilkes made the beats, Mitchell penned the lyrics. The two met at a time when Wilkes felt himself both geographically and musically distanced from his Bay Area collaborators.
“I was moving in a different direction than they were,” he said. “I was over the gangster rap thing, making beats for gangster rappers. I was bored with people taking the music I’d made and turning it into something I didn’t quite like that much.”
He started looking for something different. As his sound evolved, he sought artists who were interested in pushing boundaries. Wilkes enlisted the help of Henderson to realize his ideas. In addition to playing bass and singing in a band during his high school years, Avery employs a mastery of several musical production computer programs.
“It was really fun. We have different musical backgrounds so we both bring our own flavor to each song,” Henderson said.The end result? An entirely original mix, made without the input of others and catered to no other artist’s needs – a work on Wilkes’ own terms. Henderson lends guitar on half of the songs, Mitchell guests on two, Warm Brew contribute on “Paved With Gold,” and rapper BRO T adds his rhymes to “Brody Time.” The rest is all Wilkes. This meant Wilkes had to motivate himself to follow the project through, something that proved occasionally difficult. Nonetheless, he saw it to the end.
“I came to the realization I wanted to do a solo project where I could do what I wanted,” he said. “I was sick of making music for other people. I just wanted to make something that was an expression of what I was going through and what I felt.”
For three months, Wilkes kept his material under close guard until the finalized project was ready for unveiling. Up until Saturday, no one but Wilkes, Avery, Mitchell and a few others close to the project had heard it.
“I’ve been super strict. Every time I gave [Avery] something, I’d say, ‘Don’t you dare show anybody this because I don’t want anyone to hear it,'” Wilkes said.
In keeping the project under wraps, Wilkes guaranteed that the release party would live up to its name. Torrents and peer-to-peer programs have made release dates, in general, a formality – more often than not, the public has heard an album long before it hits the streets. The Saturday release party was something of an uncommon event, a rare chance for an artist to play for fresh ears. In handling its release the way he did – limiting its audience to only the musicians involved, protecting it from leaks and building an event around its release – Wilkes also joined a growing number of independent artists who choose to cut out the middleman and handle the album’s release from beginning to end.
The party was also a chance for Oxy students to get off campus en masse, a chance they do not often get. It allowed, Mitchell said, for a community without enforcement.
“It showed me that Oxy has such a good mix of people, and everyone is out to enjoy themselves – there just needs to be an environment that promotes that,” Mitchell said. “We didn’t have the fear of Campus Safety storming in at 11:30, or facing a conduct violation for being a group or having suspicious water bottles.”
Wilkes foresees more live performances in the future with Henderson. The two may record as a duo under a different name.”Everyone dreams of making it big, so that thought is always in my mind, but on a more realistic note, I would just love to play shows for my friends, while also trying to play some shows at other schools,” Henderson said.
The future’s a little vague, but music is certainly on the horizon.
“I’m trying to find my niche,” Wilkes said. “I’m just trying to explore and try new things musically, just doing some original good music.”
“I’m extremely happy for Sam and excited for him to release his mixtape. He’s truly following his dreams and doing what he loves and is willing to share that with the world,” Mitchell said. If Saturday and the mixtape are any indication, he’s doing a good job so far.
Mixed (Tape) Reviews
So how is the mixtape? It’s compact, maybe too compact – eight songs long, each of them between two and three minutes. It’s bold, with a big, confident sound; and above all, it’s good. It’s a short but strong introduction for the up-and-coming producer that demonstrates his versatility and talent.Its sound resists easy classification, a thick mix of guitars, keyboards and big beats that straddles bedroom rock, electro and instrumental hip-hop. Wilkes’ intense focus shows in the details – the circuity sizzles and Gameboy jingles that open the album, the little flickers of guitar in “Mr. Big Shot,” the ambient washes in “Newly Appointed,” the piano touches on “Brody Time.”
If nothing else, Wilkes is an inventive guy. On two tracks, “Paved For Gold” and “Marsha Burns,” he takes a stately sound and makes it funky. In the former, he peps up a solemn organ with a cowbell beat; the latter starts with a string sample but builds into something spacey. Wilkes has a good
ear for atmosphere and texture – the Wilkish mixtape has a deep and sometimes surprising sound.The record bears Wilkes’ name but Henderson’s guitarwork is indispensable. His contributions are sometimes subtle, sometimes upfront, but always invaluable. On “Tratorium,” he helps close out the album in a moving fashion with some emotive guitar.In all, it’s a solid album worth your hard drive space. Here’s hoping there’s more to come soon.
Download it at http://wilkish.blogspot.com/2009/11/download-wilkish-mixtape.html
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