Proximal Records is an LA-based label focusing on local, emerging electronic artists, and it’s run by Carl Madison Burgin, better known as Sahy Uhns, and the composer/producer Jeff Elmassian. This week the label brings us Wake‘s Old Sh?*?t (Picked, Mixed & Made New by Sahy Uhns) Because Sh?*?t That Is Old And Is Also The Sh?*?t, Never Gets Old. As these fellas are never short of words, we’ll let them do most of the talking, but, in general, you should know that Wake and Sahy Uhns met at Cal Arts studying electronic music. Wake is the artist Matthew Michael Ahern Hettich, and raised in Miami he claims an affinity for “suntans, booty shorts, and a lifetime of obsessing over I.D.M., hip-hop, and 1980s electro music.” The duo’s collaboration seems to be rooted in a deep musical friendship that began years back. As Sahy Uhns explains:
“When I first got to Calarts I quickly realized that I was really into Wake’s music…Lucky for me, we were friends long enough for me to convince him to give me all of the music he’s ever made. That collection of music became much of the soundtrack to my time at Calarts. Because of Matt’s compulsive music making there was a lot to listen to/learn from. The more I listened to the music the more and more I became attached to it. I started becoming very fixated on the idea of doing a mix of some of my favorite tunes of his and putting it out. He wouldn’t let me but that’s never stopped me from much. So, after many “conversations” about it he finally gave me the go ahead to make it, and that is how “Old Sh*t” got started…The mix kinda works like a dream. It’s a new story made of an amalgamation of memories (or in this case old tracks) and, like with a dream, the ideas can be wildly different and strange when put together…”
To this account Wake adds:
“Years ago, probably in 2008 (I can’t remember), Sahy Uhns convinced me to give him every piece of music I had ever written and recorded. I mean everything– some of it from the late 90s (I think I started writing music on my computer in ‘99 during my freshman year of high school). When Proximal started I got involved and Sahy Uhns just kept bugging me to release a whole bunch of that old shit I had written. I honestly did not like the idea and planted a pretty firm “no.”…anyone who knows the dude will tell you that Sahy Uhns can be pretty convincing when he wants to be. He just kept asking and asking and asking. Like, all of the time. Non-stop. I started to consider it– he had worn down my resolve. I started to get a little excited by the idea. Thus “Old Sh*t” was born; a record of my old shit. Some of these tunes I haven’t thought about in at least ten years like “Idemnity,” which I made in 2000 on a bootleg copy of Cubase, and “Hello Darling” which I think I made in 1999 on Fast Tracker in Dos).It’s nice to hear these tunes again, mastered and pro, mixed by one of my homies. It’s nice to hear my own history digested and presented by someone I respect with all of my heart. I hope everyone enjoys listening to them as much as I have enjoyed making them.”
