Yung Raj
by Mister Mime
2nd July 2021
Indian beatmaker and bonafide wunderkid Yung Raj explores existentialism and the monotonous side-effects of the pandemic with his usual animated flair in his new EP ‘Unalive’, which just released on esteemed Bristol label Gutterfunk Records.
An artist who continually lives and thrives outside the proverbial box right from the start, the beatboxer turned producer makes an enthralling contribution to the well-renowned record label started by D&B/breakbeat veteran DJ Die, who along with the likes of Machinedrum, Om Unit, Devonwho, Knxwledge and Kiefer, inspired Raj to blaze his own trail towards being one of the finest producers and electronic musicians in the country. With recent releases on heavyweight labels like 4NC¥ as well as minting his first NFT, Yung Raj is proving to be a force to reckon with on the world stage.
MM: How did you come up with your artist name?
YR: The name Yung Raj was given to me by Pavan from Foreign Beggars, post a performance where I shared the stage with them (as a beatboxer) 6 years ago. I wasn’t using any alias back then and the Foreign Beggars Instagram post from that show said shouts to Yung Raj on the beatbox and me and Pavan had a few chats and decided that the name is dope!
MM: Why is the Ep called "Unalive"? What is the theme/concept of the EP?
YR: The EP is called Unalive cause it's a reflection of what I was feeling like last year, even though I'm used to staying in the studio and making beats for a long period of time the pandemic really took a toll on my mental state and how I was feeling, in general, every day. These tracks essentially helped me break the cycle of that monotonous day-to-day existentialism that was hovering over me.
MM: Can you tell us about the track titles? Are there any stories or interesting incidents behind the track names or the making of the EP that you would like to share?
YR: ‘Stormy Mondays’ began on a stormy Monday evening hence the name, Oofie was just my initial reaction to recording the synths into Ableton and feeling that vibe, they've been named the same from the first project draft to the final export.
MM: Can you tell us about your musical background, and how you first got into music?
YR: I was always interested in the keyboard as a kid and kept messing around even though I didn't know what I was doing, thanks to some teachers with half-baked knowledge I lost interest in learning music theory. It wasn't until I started beatboxing in 2009 when I got hooked to practising every day and listening to a lot of music and beatbox routines on the regular. By then I'd also started listening to some dubstep, drum and bass and other electronic genres due to them being widely used in the beatbox world. Ever since I first touched a keyboard I always wanted to put a band together but then getting introduced to FL Studio that same year I started spending more time on my own messing around with sounds and listening to a ton of music.
MM: You have a lot of influences, as well as many parts to your musical journey: from beatboxing to learning jazz & Indian music, to performing acapella, to being a producer; with a lot more in between! In this EP, I can hear a lot of these influences and sounds coming together very well. How did all these parts of your journey influence and augment your musical taste, direction and the kind of music that you are making?
YR: Beatbox always holds a special place in my heart because of it being the first step in my journey so to say, my time in music school learning music theory somewhat slowed down my creative process but learning how to incorporate it and knowing what I'm doing really turned it around for me, saves me a lot of time not having to figure out what chords and scales I could use over a certain piece, the acapella years made me understand how powerful a group of voices can be if arranged right and I'm pretty sure that affects the way I make my beats.
MM: What are some of the tools, techniques, plugins, instruments, workflows, etc., that you use to get your signature sound? Anything that you would care to share, that you believe is unique to your production process.
YR: My way of doing things is pretty simple, I like not having too many tracks open in my project so I can really nail it down to having 5-6 tracks like bass, drums, fx, percs, leads, etc. for the most bit, although there are a bunch of tracks in my catalogue where I just went ham with the layers, but usually I just focus on the above-mentioned aspects, it probably comes from my beatbox + synth looping days where I only had 5 tracks to work with. I use a lot of stock plugins apart from a few third-party VSTs, love using hardware synths and dig beats that have deep pockets or a dope swing. Not really unique to my production process but I'd say the combo of all of the above kinda shapes my signature sound so to speak
MM: Can you tell us about how your association with DJ Die and the Gutterfunk label came about?
YR: I initially met DJ Die in Goa through Pavan (from Foreign Beggars) at the Supersonic Festival but that was only as a beatboxer, last year he came across my Instagram page and really liked what he was seeing in regard to the beats I often post on there, he then got in touch with me and we had a few chats which eventually led to this EP. I'm a massive fan of Die's works and the whole Gutterfunk crew so it's a dream come true to be able to put out music on there, big up!
MM: Who are your main musical influences for this EP?
YR: I was listening to a lot of Devonwho, Machinedrum, Knxwledge, Kiefer, Om Unit around the time but honestly my playlist shuffles a lot so when I sat down to make these beats they were all varied moments and days that fit together.
MM: Who are the artists from other disciplines, people from other walks of life, places, things, etc. that inspire you?
YR: Beeple (the visual artist) and his work ethic is something I really look up to, Eric Andre and the way he comes up with the craziest ideas to execute while still kicking it a notch up every time has always been inspiring to me. Anthony Bourdain, RIP, one of my favourite inspirations, just watching his shows and seeing how he tried to understand different cultures with an open mind through food and his whole life in general are really inspiring to me!
MM: Can you tell us about the artwork, how you think it relates to/complements the music? Also, can you give a shoutout to the artist who made it?
YR: Massive shoutout to Osheen Siva for the artwork, I'd been a fan of her work for a long time so it was really great to get her on board for this EP's cover art. There are many different ways you can look at it I suppose but for me, it was actually quite a simple one, as soon as I saw first saw it in my mail, I was already in love with it and just thought that it instantly fits with what I've done with the EP sonically.
MM: What do you like to do outside of music?
YR: I really love to play video games, I just got a steering wheel setup for my pc recently so I've been enjoying a lot of simulator games, it's mad peaceful! Apart from that and music I really don't do much tbh haha.
MM: What's in store for us from Yung Raj in the near future?
YR: More music on the way, plus a few remixes that I've done for other people are in the pipeline ready to go, and I'm also minting my first NFT real soon, so keep an eye/ear out for that!
You Can Follow Yung Raj on:
https://gutterfunkuk.bandcamp.com/album/yung-raj-the-unalive-ep
All Images courtesy of Yung Raj
