1/ So First Off - Tell Us your Name, City and Country and what you currently do for a living?
AK Rockefeller - Music to Curator
Jed, currently in Lillooet, BC (Canada). Doing graphic design, websites & video production.
2/ Is This Something You Always Wanted To Do? What Do You Enjoy About It?
No, but I enjoy graphic design and making videos. I generally like creative work -- unless the assignment is particularly mundane. I like trying to create balanced and pleasing compositions, I like color, and I enjoy creating rhythm and meaning in video editing. I'm sick of building websites.
3/ Tell Us About Your First Musical Memory - Why Do You Think You Remember It?
Hard to say, but I think it might be when my dad played me The Planets by Gustav Holst. I saw Star Wars at a very young age and must have said that I liked the music. He felt that the soundtrack was highly derivative and wanted me to hear the original "real" music that John Williams borrowed from.
4/ Who Did You Make Your First Mixtape / Playlist For - What Was The Result - Did They Dig It?
I had a friend I met in 7th or 8th grade who was into punk/new wave when I was mostly into hardcore/death metal. We exchanged dozens of tapes over a few years. The result was that our tastes converged more and more into the same new discoveries. It also got us going to many concerts in and around NYC. We went to a ton of shows at The Anthrax (hardcore venue) in Norwalk. We got thrown out of an Iggy Pop concert in a theatre for slamdancing and got to meet Iggy & Janes Addiction after the show (perhaps my greatest moment in high school).
5/ What Made You Go Online And Search About Music Curation?
Interested in promoting my own music as AK Rockefeller.
(Note from Andrew - I knew Jed from back in the day and thought he'd be a great fit for the project so I reached out to him directly!)
6/ Tell us about the name of your Playlist - where did that come from?
I like the Steampunk octopus fascination and aesthetic, but didn't necessarily want to be associated with Steampunk. I looked into jellyfish, and they turn out to be very interesting creatures -- not to mention incredibly beautiful and diverse. They're the world's most efficient swimmers. They are thriving in face of climate change. One species can even be essentially immortal in captivity.
7/ What does a track have to have to make it onto your list, is there something special that you look for?
In the first place, it's just stuff that I really like and remember at the moment. Maybe also things that I've heard relatively recently. If I like a submission, I will post it. I've gotten mostly pretty good submissions so far. I don't care about genre as such, although I have some preferences. I've been listening to a lot of jazz and trap recently, so there's a lot of that.
8/ What can an artist do in their track submission to your list to ensure that you'll listen to their track?
I listen to everything, though it may take a week or two. I wait until I can give each track serious consideration. Obviously it helps if the track is on Spotify, and it makes things easier if they provide all their social media links in the submission.
9/ We know - these change all the time - but as of this week - what are your all time top 5 favorite tracks.
Impossible to pick, but here are 5 of the best right now:
- Abdullah Ibrahim - Mindif
- Horace Parlan - Low Down
- Keys N Krates - Dum Dee Dum
- Beef Wellington - Better 2 Groove
- Bro Safari & UFO! - Bird Brain
10/ And finally - which Music to Curator should we interview next?
Vranko from Music to a Strange Night
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