You just wanna feel good, dontcha?
Whether you’ve been listening to Funk and Soul as of late or you just need a break from all the rappity rap or you’re open to listening to something just as dope as anything else out there, The Internet is here for you. The Internet, led by singer/song writer Syd and producer extraordinaire Matt Martians, recently released their second album, Feel Good. And it plays like a comforting hug followed by a relaxing car ride into the sunset with a long time friend. As part of their larger Odd Future family, Syd and Matt channel their unique, individual energies into melodies, beats, and lyrics that can speak directly to you like they were in the room with you. But don’t worry, you want to invite this music into your room, from good times through the bad.
We were blessed with an interview from the two artists across the country as they talked about their lesser known influences, the differences in sound between their first and second albums, and the perks of free swag.
I was scrolling through your guys’ Twitter and I saw on Matt’s feed, a very trippy track by the Jaspects.
Syd: Aah, Jaspects.
I’ve never heard of them but I asked about them because I know that Syd, you talk about Erykah Badu a lot as an influence and someone you look up to. But I feel that there must be other artists who are obscure to some of your fans that have influenced both of you. Can you list some of them?
Syd: Man, Chin Chin. Georg Levin.
Matt: Clara Hill. Moonracker. Of course we like Jamiroquai, Outkast, N.E.R.D., but as far as obscure, you know, like Silki. They might not influence the song but just inspire us to make certain sounds.
Not just the themes covered in the lyrics but sonically, your first and second albums are quite different. How would you guys classify those albums?
Syd: Right now, the 1st and 2nd album could be considered as two different genres.
Matt: The first album… at first I didn’t understand it but as Ii looked back on it it could be low key very Trip Hop. I could see how people could compare it to Sneaker Pimps or something like that. It was very trippy-made to have like a Hip-Hop base. The second album is more Psychedelic Soul.
Syd: Which is different so… for regular people I guess we could say Neo-Soul.
And as for the vibes from them, I feel like the second one is more upbeat and a different outlook on things as opposed to the first one. Is that disparity reflective of the things that were going on in your lives? Or was it an intentional change of pace?
Matt: It’s really both, you kinda have to go somewhere different with your music. With this album it was a different album-different names with different bands.
Syd: I feel like the first album was more of what we were going through at the time. We were writing directly what was happening to us at the time. With this album, it was more of us trying to escape our reality and just feel good, you know? I knew I wanted to make something that would help me feel better. This album was more of an escape. The lyrics were very real for us like what were going through. But for the most part, I don’t like to dwell on negativity so this is definitely a feel good project.
So do you guys find it more natural when you’re writing music or producing music for something like Purple Naked Ladies vs. a project such as Feel Good?
Syd: I think for one, we had a lot more help on Feel Good. We have a whole band now. The instrumentals came along pretty quickly. It was the songwriting that took a while.
For you, Syd, was it just as difficult this time around as the first project to come up with the lyrics?
Syd: It was definitely harder.
Why do you think that was?
Syd: As an artist you always wanna make the next project bigger and better in some way. And so I basically tried to learn from the mistakes I felt like I made on the first project. It made it kind of hard and prolonged the process because I had to set a standard I was living up to. I’m really glad I didn’t lower my standards, because I really like this album. I like it a lot.
