words by ellie fallon photo by jay sprogell artwork by brandon elijah johnson
"TODAY I SAW A VERY WRINKLY MAN OUTSIDE CHEWING ON SOMETHING AND IT LOOKED EXHAUSTING BUT HE WAS REALLY INTO IT. THAT WAS VERY INSPIRING," said Nick Koenig, perhaps better known as Hot Sugar, a Manhattan-based musician, producer and Associative Music expert. Having been honing his craft since the age of thirteen, Koenig gives sampling a whole new meaning. "I like to record non-instrumental sounds and manipulate them until they sound like familiar instruments," he elaborates. The movement is referred to as Associative music, which is "a style of music that evokes those developed emotional and physical reactions to sound in tandem with the power of melody and rhythm," reads the Comic Sans-laden website written by Koenig himself. Basically, instead of taking from other artists, he records everyday noises and sounds that we wouldn’t normally view as means to make music, then distorts and manipulates them into more comprehensible compositions. Koenig spoke of his background with music as fairly meaningless until he started recording. He took piano lessons as a child, but didn’t really enjoy them or learn much outside of the repetitive and monotonous songs he’d play for months at a time. And in middle school, there was the hobby of guitar, complete with tabs aplenty, but "My life changed the first time I recorded something. It was like sound didn’t mean anything until it was captured and preserved," Koenig said. Ever since, he’s sampled a very eclectic mix of things ranging from a human skull cracking to a white rat (named Sarah Michelle Gellar, RIP) chewing on a Budweiser can
or scrambling across piano keys. Part of what is truly remarkable about Koenig’s music is its ability to introduce a process that’s unconventional and experimental, and transform it into sounds that are likeable and not so "avant-garde" as to mark them as unrelatable. Something about his instrumental tracks, particularly his demo "And the walls came tumbling down" is reminiscent of the passing of time with its bittersweet and haunting piano tone—and so it was asked: If you could be born in any century, when would it be? "Definitely the future. The past sucked. If we lived even less than a lifespan ago, half my friends wouldn’t be legally allowed to drink from the same water fountain as me (or way worse than that). Even now, half my friends aren’t allowed to get married to each other. All of my heroes throughout history have been persecuted by idiots in their society for reasons that sound absurd centuries later. Galileo was exiled and forbidden to leave his house (until death) just because he said the Earth revolved around the Sun. We keep learning new things and even though humanity will always include cowardly haters, the future is giving us more ammo to shut haters down. Also, the future will definitely include space travel and that will be exciting." This was followed by questioning his beliefs on astrology, as its semi-related to the early 2000s gif and galaxyridden state of his Tumblr and website, where he is steadfastly becoming a wellknown Internet persona:
"I feel like I can relate to the horoscope readings of every single sign, so that means either it’s all wrong or it’s all right (or it means I’m every person, always, all the time?). I like stars and moons though. I hope that when I die my body dust floats up into the sky and travels to different stars." Koenig’s latest EP, Midi Murder, which also serves as part three of his "MM" pentalogy, is the seven-song sneak preview of his debut LP. With it, he brings in an impressive lineup of rappers including Big Baby Gandhi, Heems, YC the Cynic, and Aaron Livingston. He shows his true associative nature on "Rat City" which features the, appropriately toned down and disguised heartbeat of the aforementioned pet rat (Sarah Michelle Gellar) as the drum beat. The song "Leverage", referred to as "brooding and cavernous" by MTV Hive, features the illustrious rosterof Kool A.D. of Das Racist, Children of the Night’s Nasty Nigel, Houston’s Fat Tony, and Lakutis of Greedhead. The LP should drop soon, but until then, give his other EPs a listen on Bandcamp. Also take in Hot Sugar’s parting words of wisdom on the magic formula to success: "Stop caring about success (either that or set hilariously attainable goals)".
ISSU E 6
21