For some musicians, getting signed to a label is only a dream.
For Ryan Decker, however, it's a goal already reached. And he's only a sophomore.
Decker, aka DJ Lucky Strike, was recently signed to Environmental Aesthetics, an up-and-coming independent label based in the Baltimore-Washington area.
He is also a student at Hopkins, and many readers may already be familiar with him; he has played shows around campus and at the Ottobar on several occasions.
Recently he talked to the News-Letter about his new album and his story so far.
N-L: How long have you been DJing?
Decker: I've been DJing and doing sound collage for about two years.
N-L: What got you into the field?
Decker: I started after going to a Girl Talk concert. I used to play a lot of drums in high school, so this seemed like a cool way to continue doing music.
N-L: Getting on anys record label is an amazing accomplishment for a sophomore. How did your signing come about?
Decker: Environmental Aesthetics is a pretty new indie label. I knew a few people who started it, and after they saw me open for Dan Deacon when he played on campus last year, they let me get involved with their operation. It's been really fun so far, I'm excited.
N-L: What are some of your musical influences? Favorite musical genre? Group/artist?
Decker: My influences include Girl Talk. [They've been] a catalyst for the music I'm making now. I'm trying to move away from novelty and predictability with my sound collage work so I can cite more interesting influences. I've lately been trying to express emotion, conventional instrumental songwriting and transient humor, as well as exploring the intersections between composition and sampling, all within the very loose confines of dance-focused music.
The exciting thing about sample-based work, for me, is that influences can be incredibly diverse; I think that diversity is pretty apparent in the new album. I definitely listen to too much music to have a favorite genre, but I'm a fan of Brazilian, Psych-Folk, Baltimore Club, New Wave, Backpack Rap, Indie Electronic, Nu Disco, French Touch and a lot of others. My favorite band is Animal Collective.
N-L: So what's the origin of "Lucky Strike?"
Decker: The name Lucky Strike comes from artist Ray Johnson, founder of the Mail Art movement. He did a lot of collage work, and the parallels between visual and sound collage are important to me. Creating meaning and associations out of pre-existing elements is obviously something I'm into. Ray's a really interesting artist.
N-L: You must be really excited about your album that dropped last week. What are your future plans?
Decker: Yeah I'm pretty excited about it, I spent nearly a year on it: about four months planning the concepts and the rest executing it. It took a while to get everything in and tweak the flow to my taste.
It's much better than the stuff I used to do. I think it works on more levels, means more, interplays pretty well and sounds more professional. At least I hope. You can dance to it, too.
For the time being I'm just going to be promoting that album, working on my live DJ and sound collage sets and doing some other music projects. I'm also in a band with Diego Ardilla; he's a really talented songwriter.
Also, the radio station is going to break the world record for "world's longest jam session" in the spring, so I'll be helping with that because I'm the event director for WJHU. The current record is five days, we are going for six.
Upon hearing DJ Strike's new album, one can safely affirm that it is certainly what the artist himself described: an eclectic, electric compilation of music, new and old, collected from any genre imaginable. "DRAAWWWWPP," a particular collage that's on the new album, captures the catchy piano of Sara Bareilles, the rhymes of Rich Boy and the trademark chant from "The Electric Slide."
Another track, "Grassy Knoll," blends music from Kanye West's "Jesus Walks" with beats drawn from sounds generated by a Nintendo game system.
Decker has something for everyone - and from everyone. From Daft Punk to Lil' Wayne to Green Day, the list of artists from which the DJ has sampled work is as extensive as one could hope for.
His music is definitely reminiscent of Girl Talk, a major influence for Decker. Through the blending of an even greater amount of music, however, the Hopkins student achieves an even greater connection with his audience.
Decker's album dropped last week, and the artist is currently busy promoting it and working on his aforementioned projects.
