Goyaconnect
Vidor
2020 | Pop, Experimental
— track 1: "Diogenes”
Goyaconnect: I lived in Texas until my sophomore year of high school and then I moved here [to Sioux Falls]. Beaumont is the city in Texas where I was born. Vidor isn’t a town that I lived in, but it’s actually a sundown town that’s, like, not too far out from Beaumont that, like, literally every black person knows not to go. Because, the thing is, like, it had, and still does have, a really heavy KKK presence. So after I named [Goyaconnect’s first album] Beaumont I eventually was going to name a project Vidor, but I didn’t really have a project yet that I felt as though, like, deserved that name. Until eventually I made the entire album and then I named it Vidor. Like, that was one of the last things I did for it.
I just wanted something loud. I wanted it to sound the way that Vidor made me feel. Up until that point in my discography I hadn’t made anything that was, like, just loud. And the thing is, is like, at that point in time I knew I wanted something that was as bombastic, as almost cacophonous as possible. I think, like, most of those tracks except for, like, two of them were made entirely in the same three days. Yeah, I sat there and just made tracks, like, over and over and over again. I wanted to be gross. Like, I didn’t want to completely fully address, sort of like, the actual complex situation of the race issues in Vidor and shit like that, but I still did want to, like, boil down the very essence of it as a whole, to where you’re listening to it and it doesn’t even matter what I’m saying, it’s just that it just sounds loud, and that’s really what mattered at that point. It’s loud because everything feels so intense, like, the way people look at you when you go there, who you’re talking to, how you’re talking to them. Like, the town is small enough still to where, like, if you talk to someone that person is going to talk to another person. You’re concerned the whole time. I’ve only had to go there, like, once and I hated it because, like, the thing is, is like, they are very open about the history of the town. So, like, you go there and you know everything, and it’s just one of those places where the only way to describe it in sound would be something that, like, makes you feel nervous like that, like, makes you feel uncomfortable like that. Because there’s no other way to describe it. If I tried to make a quiet song, like on Beaumont trying to describe Vidor it just wouldn’t work. You just need those sounds that feel like an assault on the senses, essentially.
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I never got huge into games, like actual games. You know how people play League of Legends or, like, they play, like, Magic or anything like that? I never got into that. But what I did get into was literally just sitting in my room and making music. Like, so for me, making music is sort of the same as, like, when you get home and you just play video games. It’s just sort of a mindless thing that you do. Which is why I have so many tracks because I just, literally, I just come home and I open Ableton and I just make beats or songs or whatever, and sometimes it becomes full-fledged songs eventually. [I use] literally just my phone and my computer and I just play around. It’s so funny because every single time I try and buy actual musical instruments — like, I have a volca, like, a small, little drum machine, I have small, little synthesizers, I tried to even buy a midi controller once — but the thing is, is like, for some reason literally sitting at the computer without any instruments except for my phone and Ableton open is, like, way better for me. Because, like, there’s just, there’s no possible way for me to get distracted because I’m just focusing on a screen. Because, like, what you’re playing on the keys, you’re not going to be recording. If you come up with a melody and then you forget it before you get a chance to record it then you’re just going to be sitting there stuck with an idea that you lost. I think that’s actually what I was really talking about on “Diogenes” because the lyrics to that is, “Yell at a screen. Yell at a wall.” And, like, that was just, like, really how I felt, like, in terms of, not only just when I was talking about Vidor, but just how I make music as a whole. A lot of times it’s just me trying to eliminate as much obstacles in the way of, like, what I’m trying to say and how it will sound in the song. Personally, I feel like once I try and play an instrument or something, then it feels like a middleman in the way. Meanwhile I’m just literally playing with the DAW on a computer, like, there’s nothing else but literally me and that program open. I don’t use Garage Band as much anymore, because, like, I properly downloaded Ableton, um, I won’t say if I paid for it or not but I downloaded it. And then I use autotune on my phone, like, it’s a really good app called Voloco which I use all the time. I don’t know if it’s as popular anymore, but it was popular in a lot of artist circles that I’m in.
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I consume content really quickly. If someone sends me an album or, like, a song or something, I’m going to listen to that album or song, like, within five minutes tops. Like, I’m going to scrub through the songs, I’m going to look at the songs, I’m going to look at the people who are, like, on the credits and stuff like that. Like, I think the only two collaborators on Vidor is BEG! and Ephor. BEG!, I ended up finding through this, like, weird, dark, ambient track I found on SoundCloud that I really, really liked. And I was like, “I need you to just do really weird singing and then I’ll make it into a whole track.” That song itself is literally made out of entirely BEG!’s voice because he, the thing is, is like, BEG! was off-key to the point to where he didn’t match the key of the song I was originally going to have him on, so I literally just chopped up his voice and made it into an entire song. [When] I only collaborate with people one or two times, it’s not really because of the fact that I don’t want to again, but it’s just because the specific thing that I want for them in that track is something that they actually, it’s a thing they don’t do it that often.
[Ephor and I] put two EPs together, but we’ve been wanting to do a proper album for a while, and the thing is, it’s just more-so, like, basically trying not to be impatient and let the tracks go. Because like, I will guarantee you, whatever you like about Vidor you’ll fucking love about this [next] album [Soundtrack to Forgetting How to Speak] because the thing is, it’s basically like what I did on Vidor, but, like, three times better. Ephor is like a best friend at this point. Like, we’ve known each other for a couple of years, and we, like, talk often. And, like, the thing is, I originally met them because I was talking to them about doing a lyric video for a song off of Beaumont but then that fell through and we just kept talking and we eventually started making music together. So, like, that’s one reason why Ephor is, like, the one collaborator you see all the time. They’re one of the most talented visual and musical artists that I know for sure. I’m hoping we get to do a DJ set at, like, a furry convention, out of all things. It’s happening in, like, 2022 I believe, like, once Covid stops killing people. That’d be great. But we’ll do a back-to-back set.
Immediately once I started putting the [next] project together with Ephor I was like, “Yeah we’re dropping it on [the label Norm Corps].” They’re really cool. They immediately said yes. We’re just going to do CDs for now just because I know every single person who would buy that CD has an old-ass car with a CD player in it. I know that for a fact. Because we’re all poor. We can’t afford a new car. That’s not something we’re doing.
I’m pro-album, it’s just that you have to have a concept, or not really concept, just know what you’re doing. Don’t just put stuff together and make a compilation and release it, because then what’s the point of not just releasing them as singles? Because the thing is, if you have just a bunch of songs that don’t work cohesively, but they’re still, like, good songs, you can release them as singles for, like, a year. Like, why waste it by slapping together an album and then no one wants to listen to them because they don’t even seem good together, you know? I don’t think album releases are more-so phasing out as much as artists feel like they need to release stuff more, so they’re not focusing on cohesive projects right now. It’s a much more structural problem than an individual problem. I can name three artists off the bat who if I were to allow them to be stable for a year and, like, not have to worry about making money off their music at all, they would come out with a concept album for sure. Because the thing is, every single artist I talk to, they fucking love concept albums. No artist I ever talk to was like, “Ew. Concept album.” No, they love that shit.
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I’ve never actually performed live. Whatever performance I do will be the first live performance. When I started, when Beaumont was released it was in the middle of the pandemic and so, like, I expected by the time I made Vidor I would be able to perform live. Obviously that’s not true. But yeah, I think probably my first set would probably be a DJ set, because I’ve done URL fests and stuff like that, but that definitely doesn’t count as live performance, you know? I know plenty of people who do house parties, it’s just that all of them are, like, not doing it because of Covid, but once things start opening up, and, like, it’s safe to do so, I really want to do house parties. I think that would be the most fun anyways because at a professional venue, like, if I do the Icon Lounge I know I’ll just be a nervous wreck. Which, I know probably I’ll have to do venues like that, but I do at least want to enjoy house shows while I can. It’ll just be my laptop and CDJs. That would be it, nothing special. I’m 100% certain I’ll probably jump around wherever it is and, like, I don’t want to knock over an expensive instrument. Like, I don’t want to have to pay for a synthesizer.
It’s weird. For some reason when I think about it, all I’m obsessing over is, “Fuck, what am I going to wear? What am I going to wear in front of all these people who have never seen me live perform?” But really, in all honesty, it’ll be just me trying to have as much fun as possible. Like, that’s it. Like, however that culminates, because, like, the spaces in which an artist has to perform their songs vary widely. But whatever it is, I hope I’ll just be able to have as much fun as possible. Even if it’s bad, even if it’s good, I don’t care, like, I just, I want the audience to still see that I’m having fun doing this.
SOURCES
Goyaconnect. Interview. By Jon Bakken. 8 Apr. 2021.
