Today we’d like to introduce you to Myles Veltenhill.
Myles, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
I was blessed to be born into a family that appreciates music. My father plays keys and is a part of a lineage of piano teachers, and my mother is a fan of music. Ironically, I never had any express desire to make music as a kid. I somehow denied that I had any ability to do so, and I thought that my place in music was exclusively consumption. As a youth with internet access in the midwest, I quickly became enamored with finding new sounds and niche artists.
Before I knew it, I was curating and DJing for my friends, and eventually started to make sounds on my laptop. It was only four years ago that I started to seriously call anything I was making “music.”
In this process, I feel like I exist in a space between fan and creator. Being in the right place at the right time with the right intention resulted in meeting a lot of my musical heroes. Run The Jewels, Nick Hook, and BOOTS are some of these artists who inspire me the most, and it’s amazing to me that they can recognize my face in a crowd.
This journey has physically taken me to places I never expected; Chicago, Savannah, NYC, San Diego, and Los Angeles. It’s been incredible. The people I’ve met along the way have taught me so much, shoutout to LowerLipDrip, Cunabear, Nick Hook, and Gutterflies LA. I struggle with staying in one place for too long, so it’s a very interesting mix of folks in my life, and I’m thankful for all of them.
Can you give our readers some background on your music?
Recently, I’ve been trying to make beats for other artists, and occasionally a few songs for myself. I constantly feel like in the middle of growing, so it’s difficult to hone in on one idea or song without it feeling obsolete or irrelevant. As such, a lot of what I create never really gets out to the public. Even my last release is material well over a year old that needed to exist outside of my hard drive.
As far as the process goes, I work primarily in Ableton Live to create beats, using both hardware and software instruments, as well as sampling and digital manipulation. Synthesis is a major component of my style, along with sequenced drums.
Lately, I look less to a core message or thesis but focus instead on the beauty and purity of expression at the moment. I’m trying not to overthink, and I’ve noticed that this results in beats and songs with a wider appeal. I’m trying to take the exact feeling of a moment and push it into a soundscape. As simple as it is, referring back to the natural elements as a model has helped me. Water, fire, and smoke all have their own ways of moving, and I try to emulate that movement in the process of creation.
A lot of my music tends to be dark, but I’m trying to push into a space where the listener can take away something hopeful or comforting. If there’s anything to take away from it, it’s to be what you want to be, whatever that is, but be genuine.
In the future, I want to explore the process of advancing live music past the conventional stage show into something more immersive and personable. The days of the isolated on-stage idol-worship are numbered.
In your view, what is the biggest issue artists have to deal with?
In my experience, the biggest challenge is getting my work viewed, and separating the numbers/business aspect from validation.
I feel like there’s an inherent pressure on artists to be able to support themselves with their art, as it’s difficult to hold down a conventional job (or three) and still have the energy to create something. As such, we have to figure out how to monetize our work in as many ways as possible. This makes us prone to taking views, likes, clicks, etc as a metric for our validity. I would like to see the day where we can create without the pressure of alchemizing art into gold.
Until that day, trying to grab the attention of the public is a struggle within itself. Clout is the economy we work in, and public attention usually comes in the form of a co-sign from a bigger artist or publication.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
My work is available on all major streaming platforms under the name “Veltenhill”, and every once in a while you’ll find exclusive bits or abandoned demos floating around Soundcloud, BandCamp, and YouTube.
Financial support is cool (buying music/merch on BandCamp, seeing a show), but honestly sharing my work with others is far more valuable to me at this point.
Contact Info:
- Phone: 6308628986
- Email: veltenhill@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/veltenhillmusic/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/veltenhill
- Other: https://veltenhill.bandcamp.com/
Image Credit:
Gloria Lee, Connor Chu, Bec Hac, Serena Isioma
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