Today we’d like to introduce you to Prismess Beam.
Prismess, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
My interest in djing started at WSJU Radio while attending St. John’s University circa 2016. It wasn’t until a close friend asked me to play for her birthday party when I realized I love sharing dope music to live audiences. Soon after, my future roommate would ask me to dj happy hour at my favorite cafe in Bushwick called Flowers for All Occasions Bar & Gallery. A few months later and I was spinning vinyl, cassettes, CDs and digital formats almost every Friday night there and would host musician friends to perform alongside my sets. The Bushwick noise and experimental scene seeped into my mixing methods and I began to mash my favorite tunes together in what I now call mix composing. During this casual residency, I grew comfortable with playing music across genres that created a various palette of vibes, including tones of trip-hop, electronica, experimental jazz, folk, rock, or whatever I was influenced by that week. Now back in my hometown Los Angeles, I post my recent compositions online and appreciate all the new material from browsing at Amoeba Music and meeting underground musicians.
The other half of Beam Pro. is event producing. Around the same time, I earned my radio show, I was also secretly holding movie screenings in empty classrooms to stimulate conversations about classic films with a modern lens. Eventually, I partnered with Tarot Society Brooklyn to host screenings questioning topics of sexuality, feminity, religion, amongst many. Before moving to Los Angeles and with the help of a many good friends, I produced my first film festival in Brooklyn called XOL: Interactive Film Festival. This achievement was birthed from desiring to see more meaningful experimental films, more minority representation on& behind the screen, and to challenge films by incorporating a transient and live experience. The momentum after lead to curating and producing Fruitful Matter: A Female Filmmakers Showcase and XOL II in Los Angeles.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Every day it takes work to reaffirm the destiny I have set with myself and with this benevolent universe. Somedays it can be easy to let doubts, opposing opinions, or others’ success to blindside me. The world can get very loud if you let it, but exerting laser focus and pouring pure effort into work is the diligence and persistence needed to get through to the other side. My uncle told me do at least one thing towards your goal every day; where will you be in 30 days? One year?
Over-criticizing myself can distract and debilitate my productivity, especially when coming to the realization that sometimes the only thing stopping me is me, and not all of the people or external reasons I like to give blame for. Through all of this, I’ve learned that on a daily basis it is imperative to listen to my intuition and to find rituals, meditations, and exercises that rebuild my strength and recenter my prismatic light.
Making mistakes will happen to learn lessons, but sometimes I have let myself dwell on them for too long. I have learned the power to forgive myself and to forgive others to release past tension. Grateful for every step along the way.
Please tell us about Beam Productions.
Beam Productions houses my name as a professional DJ/mix composer and my film- screening events. For filmmakers, we offer a platform to screen powerful work; artists ranging from underground to festival- nominees and highlighting films from marginalized groups. We specialize in and are known for incorporating live and interactive elements to already transformative films (a lot of moving parts can be challenging, but with planning, communication and a bit of serendipity, it’s truly powerful!) One thing that sets us apart is that we like to screen local filmmakers to give a portrait of the experimental filmmakers in a given city, and as the festivals travel around to different cities, we learn characteristics of each. Another difference is the food; to expand an already multi-sensory experience, our events include curated plant-based cuisines and treats for guests to be further immersed with another sense: taste. As a company, I’m most proud of the fact that Beam Productions was started on the same day that my mother started her consultant company.
As for mix composing, I specialize in mixing trip hop, dream pop, experimental, noise, drum&bass, and electronica genres to name a few. I like to curate sounds for experimental crowds, for those who like to dance and who like to be awed; to listen while on a walk, hearing something odd. I’m known for mixing multiple tracks and formats at once to create new ways of listening to perhaps familiar music. Mix composing suggests that my sets have different parts to them; for example an ambient prelude to dream pop to drum& bass, finished with experimental jazz which may set me apart from full throttle, four on the floor sets (which I enjoy and also make for the right party!) For a second example, finding new music for me usually involves sifting through discounted CDs at Amoeba in hopes of finding new (to me) and perhaps forgotten artists. I also owe a huge amount of respect, admiration and thanks for the NY and LA experimental music scenes, of which I sample for compositions.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
Good or bad, things happen! With good luck, I find a space of comfort and relief; a time to live out the success that all my work and strong connections have earned me. Bad luck is where brutal lessons are learned, and times that can make myself my worst enemy, if perceived that way. If I am balanced and open- minded to shed dated ways of thinking and to disregard ego, bad luck only strengthens the self and our business because we are now wiser. Bad luck also makes me try harder, reach out to more people, make a few more phone calls, reach a little higher because at these moments it may feel like there’s nothing to lose.
Contact Info:
- Website: prismessbeam.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @prismessbeam
- Facebook: https://vimeo.com/user89871208
- Other: soundcloud.com/jemappellelumiere
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
