Today we’d like to introduce you to XL Middleton.
Hi XL, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I started in my living room in the 90s using a home studio setup that my dad put together for making his own music. It was simple: a keyboard, drum machine, & a four-track cassette recorder. In the early 2000s, I caught on to using the internet to promote my music & was a little bit ahead of the curve. Before there was even MySpace, we were using message boards & a few underground websites/blogs that were open to what we were doing. From there, I was able to build a small following domestically & internationally in Europe & even Japan, where I first toured in 2006. From making West Coast rap records to making what we know now as “modern funk” music, that was a progression that happened for me in the early 2010s. I had spent so much time studying the music that my favorite hip hop producers were sampling that I became more obsessed with the source music than what they were making out of it. My record collection began to grow, and I learned to DJ in addition to producing & making music, which is the opposite of how it usually happens. I discovered a weekly club called Funkmosphere, founded by Dam Funk, where I was able to tap in with like-minded folks who loved the sounds of 80’s funk, boogie, disco, and other adjacent sounds, which changed my life because I wasn’t just in a vacuum, by myself with these sounds anymore.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Being an underground musician is a struggle in itself, as you’re typically wearing all, or most, of the ‘hats,’ so to speak. But the rewards are huge because you’re doing things on your own terms. My label, MoFunk Records, puts a huge emphasis on physical media – records, tapes, even CDs still – and it’s great because we’ve learned to cater to the small following we have as opposed to trying to appeal to everyone in the world. The following we’ve built up are also passionate about physical media. Streaming music is fine and very convenient, but it lends itself to the ever-growing attitude of art being treated as disposable and without value. Focusing on physical media can be difficult because, for example, during the pandemic a lot of manufacturers were running on skeleton crews, and because of that plus other factors it started taking crazy amounts of time to press records. It went from one month to six, seven, eight, nine months. You always have to be ready to adapt because you’re beholden to tangible factors that are often out of your control.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m best known for creating “modern funk” music. It’s a new take on a few different sounds meshed together. 80s “boogie funk” & disco (anywhere from Zapp to Luther Vandross), 90’s g-funk, house, and even new jack swing & new wave/80’s synth-pop to an extent. Most of the artists working in this style either started out producing hip hop or dance music, so modern funk has become a great middle space for both backgrounds to meet.
I think what sets me apart is that I always listen to the music I create with a listener’s ear. If I wasn’t me, and I had just dropped the needle on my record or pressed play on Spotify, what would I want to hear? Because my music is so rooted in what people might refer to as ‘retro’ vibes, I think that I’m always touching that nostalgic nerve that most people have to some degree. How can I touch that nerve and still sound progressive musically and not just like pastiche? That’s always the question I’m trying to answer when I create.
Aside from making music, I’m also a DJ & a record collector. I collect a lot of different types of music, but one of my favorites is Japanese city pop. This is a little reductive, but just to summarize, it’s basically the Japanese take on funk, soul, disco, synth-pop, & rock from the ’70s & ’80s. Me & my partner Kaistar throw a monthly party called Tokyo Love Song, where we play nothing but city pop records. It’s every first Friday at Hello Stranger in Little Tokyo, and it’s one of the things I’ve been most excited about getting off the ground in the last year.
How do you think about luck?
I’ve certainly experienced my share of lucky breaks & misfortunes. But I have a particular story I like to share. You remember how I said that discovering the club Funkmosphere changed my life? Well, me & a partner by the name of Otto were throwing events around Pasadena around 2010-11. We were putting some flyers in our local record store, Poo Bah, & Otto pulled a CD out of the store’s “free box.” It was a mix CD by a DJ named Eddy Funkster & it was the exact sound I had been looking for – the 80’s funk that I was looking to learn more about – it was a style I was familiar with, but all the songs were by artists I had never heard of. So I sought Eddy out on Facebook, we met, & it was because of him that I ended up going to Funkmosphere for the first time. We ended up starting MoFunk Records together, & it was all because Otto went through the free box at Poo Bah on the right day & time.
Contact Info:
- Website: mofunkrecords.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/xlmiddleton
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063610119176
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/xlmiddleton
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/xlmiddletonmusic
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/xlmiddleton
Image Credits
Kai Sutton Jean Fabian
