Atmospheric Pressure Julie De La Torre I guess you could say Slug, the wordsmith behind hip hop duo

Atmosphere, is what Buddha would look like if he rocked a microphone and a fresh pair of kicks. With a newly revitalized outlook on life and their latest album To All My Friends, Blood Makes the Blade Holy skyrocketing to #2 on the iTunes top album download charts the week of its release, its pretty easy to see why Slugs not sweating the small stuff. After years of underground success and several critically acclaimed albums, he and Ant (DJ and the other half of Atmosphere) decided it was time to give back to the people who have supported them the most their fans. So, whats the purpose or meaning behind the To All My Friends album and tour? We have a record coming out on September 7th. Nobody knows about it, its a secret. Were not promoting it, were not making a big deal out of it. Were kinda making it just for the audience that we have, as opposed to putting it into the industry machine to try and gain new fans or any of that kind of stuff. What we did was make two records and turned them into two different EPs. And then at the last minute, I decided to put both EPs onto one CD. Its called To All My Friends, Blood Makes the Blade Holy: The Atmosphere EPs. It was kind of an ode to some of my inspirations in the past and To All My Friends comes from Bukowski. And I hate to say that he was an influence on me when I was younger, but he was. So, [the albums title] was kind of a way to admit that influence, I guess? And that was kind of the idea for the record. It was more for the friends I already have as opposed to trying to find new friends. Who else would you consider to be your biggest influences besides Bukowski? I wouldnt even say Bukowski is one of my biggest. I just think that he happened to be a big influence on me when I was, you know, 25 or so. The vibe on this album seems a lot more content and much less cynical compared to your Lucy Ford days. What do you think contributed to that? I got out of the scene. I totally pulled myself out of the scene here in my city. I stopped going to bars. I stopped hanging around cynical people and just really tightened it up, you know? I got my fuckin six friends and my family. I just decided that its time for me to get to that part of my life where I could start building as opposed to destroying. Ive spent a lot of time in these bars here in Minneapolis and I became a regular that you would see in any of these bars getting drunk and arguing with an ex-girlfriend. And so Id say

probably about six years ago I finally made a decision to stop and get out of all that, to see what would happen and just grow, I guess. Im sure that the music is just a reflection of that. So, you feel more positive now than you did five or six years ago? I would say definitely. You know, theres plenty of things to be mad about in the world. Its just that I used to waste a lot of energy being mad at things that didnt matter. Its really just about getting a handle of what pride is supposed to be. I think a lot of us go through a phase where were proud, but we dont know how to deal with it so we project our pride issues in the wrong direction and at the wrong things as opposed to trying to find the stuff inside of us to be proud of. We end up allowing our outsides and our surroundings to dictate our pride and our emotions. You mentioned your dislike of the bar scene; what do you think about the scene in hip hop right now? Do you think it will ever ditch the hypebeast mentality and get back to keeping it about the music instead of superficial things like money and fashion? I mean its hard to say because I dont think its hip hop thats doing that, I think its people. I think the things you mentioned are present and relevant inside of all of the genres of music, not just hip hop. Theyre inside of cultures. And I think that hip hop like other music, just reflects that culture back at us. Its always been there in hip hop, there was never a time where fashion wasnt a big deal. For example, there was a time where the fashion was camouflage. This was in like 1993 during the Wu-Tang and Boot Camp Clik era, and that camouflage fashion was a big part of it. But, I think what hip hop is going through right now is what I would consider more of an insecure phase. I generally think that the person who needs to show off is usually a pretty insecure person. And right now, theres a lot of showing off going on in popular culture, so I think that means theres a lot of insecurity going on in popular culture. I would have to agree with you there, but it seems like there are some artists that maybe tend to keep it more real than others. Well sure, yeah. I mean, you know we keep it real but Ive got some fucking trendy tennis shoes on right now [laughs]. And its not because I dont keep it real, the shoes have nothing to do with it. I just think they look cool. And like I said, fashion has always been a part of hip hop. If you go back to the 80s, people were wearing those fat gold chains and Adidas. Its always been a part of it, but its just that back then there was a lot more balance to it, whereas now theres not as much balance. So, are you saying they dont have their priorities straight? I cant say that Americans have ever had their priorities straight, personally. I

think that whats lacking is the balance, but I dont think thats the artists problem per se. I think that a lot of these artists make what they think people want. These artists arent trendsetters, theyre trend exploiters. And if the people start wanting more vegetables with their Twinkies, the artists are gonna keep feeding them Twinkies. Lets switch gears and talk about the tour. You perform with a live band, how does that differ from using primarily drum machines and DJs within the studio? Well, we still have the drum machines and the DJs in the band; I dont have a live drummer. All of our beats still come from the DJ; I just have different musicians that play alongside with him. Do you like that personally? I do! When I was playing with just a DJ, it was all about energy but it was linear. There wasnt a lot of ups and downs, it was a straight line of energy for 75 minutes. Whereas with the instruments, theres more room to add texture some parts would be quiet, and then some parts would get really loud. Its not just a knob on a mixer thats determining everything. Its more dynamic then? Yeah, Im into that and I also like that theres more room for mistakes now. Usually when you get yourself into a problem, you have to think your way out of it. And I think that having four or five people on a stage trying to think their way out of problems, whether technical or artistic, creates a more personal show for me and it also creates a more personal show for the viewers. This isnt a farewell tour by any means, but how many albums do you think you still have left in you? Are you just planning to keep going until it stops being fun? I doubt it will ever stop being fun, but Ill go until you guys fire me, basically. Ive always been that kind of employee. I dont quit jobs; I stay there and do my job until I get fired. The difference with this job is that theres a lot of art involved. Its like having a job where I get more leeway about how I go about doing my job, but at the end of the day its still up to you guys to decide whether or not Im doing an acceptable job. Speaking of jobs, youre also a label rep for Rhymesayers. Does that ever conflict with you as an artist? Not too much, but you know, years and years ago I learned which hat to wear. I mean, Im a co-owner of the label, but I know better than to get involved with say, a meeting about the marketing budget. I stay out of that because there is a conflict of interest. If theyre meeting about how much

money theyre going to spend promoting the new Atmosphere record and my voice is in there going, Hey, I think we should do this, theres a conflict of interest there. Its like I have an agenda outside of even what they might have. So, I tend to stay a little bit more on the creative level. Ill bring them ideas about how to market stuff for me or some of these other artists. Im also one of the guys that deal with the artists that are on our label just because its easier for them sometimes to explain to me what theyre trying to do since Im a flaky pothead artist, just like them. Ill understand it as opposed to talking to a guy that thinks who thinks about nothing but phones or numbers all day. We all learned which hat to wear. And Im not really that good when it comes to the math. You know, Im great at math, but the problem is that its just too logical and Im not, so Im not the right guy to be making those kinds of decisions. What do you think sets the Minneapolis scene apart from or has to offer that the East or West coasts dont? Thats a good question. I dont really believe in coasts and territories and whatnot anymore because now with this age of communication were in, you could make music from Bogata and put it out and people can hear it. Whereas, I think regions were important at a time when people only accepted music from certain regions, but now that weve broken down those things, I dont know that it matters anymore where you come from. But, to address the first part of your question, Minneapolis will probably always continue to be a very self-sufficient scene. Like, the artists and people who live here have already become accustomed to winter and the fact that were surrounded by snow six months out of the year. And with that comes a lot of people who stay inside. They get that shit called cabin fever, but the thing here in Minneapolis, most of us that stay inside all winter turn towards art or sex or alcohol or drugs to deal with it. And the amount of people that turn toward art is phenomenal. A lot of people here use art as their escape during the winter season. So, then in the summer, they put all of their art out there for you to see it and it turns into a cycle; a thing that just constantly pushes itself and is waiting to see what the local artists are going to do next. And its a beautiful thing because you can establish yourself. I mean, were a good example of a group that could establish itself from here. We got a great local foundation and then after that, we started to go national. And so, its the kind of city where you can get an amazing local following because the locals here are very, very proud of local art and theyre very ready to embrace it. The flipside of that is there are a lot of artists here who achieve the validation theyre looking for locally and never push themselves to go nationally. And thats fine, it depends on what you want and what youre trying to do. You know, maybe you dont want to communicate to a lot of people and maybe you really are content with just communicating to the locals. You know, its a gift and a curse all at once because I could go down a list of a million bands that were amazing that are from here that never even

tried to get out of here because they were content playing around here, getting their performances guaranteed, paying their rent, and having local validation. What are your plans for the future besides this upcoming album? Are you working with anyone right now or would you like to work with anyone specifically in the future? Well, were working on an album right now that will be out in the spring. And thats one that well actually put into the machine and push down everyones throats like that last Lemons one. Other than that, I dont really aspire to work with anybody. I never really did. I like the guys that I work with; Ive been working with them for years and Im very content with that. But, in the same breath, Im not going to say that theres nobody I would work with. I just dont aspire for it. I just take everything day by day and I think thats what works best for me. I think that if I were out there trying to do collaborations with people, theres a certain type of purity that gets lost in the actual song that you make. Whereas, when I just accidentally bump into a friend and go, Hey, dont you know how to play a harmonica? Maybe you should come over and play for me you know, that kind of stuff is more pure and more real. I got to do a song with Tom Waits and it was on that Lemons record. And, the way it transpired was just so natural. It wasnt me tracking him down through labels and management and having lawyers talk to one another. You just kind of ran into Tom Waits? Well, we have a mutual acquaintance that we both care about and so that was kind of the connection. So, he connected me to him and we talked on the phone for a while, had a real conversation that wasnt even about me or about him, but just about other stuff. Then, we were like Hey, let me send you a song and well see what you wanna do and he beatboxed on it! Thats really cool. What song was that? Its called The Waitress. Yeah, hes the guy beatboxing in the background of that song. And the thing about it was I never felt the need to put a sticker on the cover of my record that said, featuring blah blah blah, you know what I mean? It was so organic that it felt right. And thats kind of how Id like to keep my career forever. The problem is that in the past Ive made music with people I dont know and nine times out of ten, you end up going, uhh, I dont know. Next year Im not even going to like that song anymore So, I take it that its a lot less personal to you then? Definitely, yeah. And Im sure my age has something to do with it, too. Im at a place where I take this music very personally. This isnt just something that I do because its my birthright or because I feel entitled to it. It isnt

something I just do because I want a check or because I can. Its something I do because I have to now. If I dont, then I get depressed and sad. This is part of what fuels my life and so with that, I dont ever want to find myself making music that I dont believe in.