Rentboy

photos by Pamela Ayala words by Jaycee Rockhold

Rentboy - project of Bobby Brown - makes colorful, queer noise-pop. Named after a now-shutdown male escort site, Brown gained attention from the local scene in upstate New York, prompting him to move to Philly to join the budding music community. I’ve been enamored by his music ever since seeing him at a Chicago house show. Brown is a real treat - someone who is sweet and excited about music. He responded by email to a few questions we had about what’s upcoming in his music.

What are your earliest memories of music, and what was the catalyst for you making your own music?

I remember being a huge Jimmy Buffett fan when I was four because his songs were about food and the ocean. I started making music on GarageBand when I was 11 because I liked building things.

How would you describe the DIY scene and your involvement in Philadelphia?

The DIY scene is pretty diverse, it’s a lot of small groups with different aesthetics spread across the city. It’s very generative and there’s pretty much always something happening. I hadn’t been going to as many shows this year because of focusing so much on learning how to arrange and produce electronic music while holding down an exhausting service job. I also went to an arts residency in Nebraska for June and July, so I wasn’t in touch with what was happening in the city. I’ve gone to a few shows and raves since i’ve gotten back and am really excited about all the possibilities I see.

Are there people / places in Philadelphia that you think specifically encouraged your music career / helped it along (DIY spaces, venues, etc)?

I went to a round robin show at First Unitarian Church in 2016. Every act had its own space in this giant hall and a little light would come on overhead when it was their turn to play. Actual Pearls and Tiffany’s House, which are both performance art acts in addition to musical ones, really made an impression on me that night. It was absurd and campy and I had a feeling that I could fit in somehow.

What other Philly-area bands are you listening to?

Empath is one of my favorite bands from Philly. I think their new record is fantastic and I love the synthesizer work on it. The amount of energy they put out on stage is fantastic and their shows are very intense.

Do you think moving to Philly has benefitted your music? If so, in what way?

The most important benefit has been material. I don’t think I could afford to spend as much time working on music if I lived in any other city on the east coast. While the same issues are present here as every other city, there’s a lot of freedom to experiment and a pretty open atmosphere in the music scene. There isn’t the same level of ambient financial pressure and dread that affects the people I know in New York right now.

You just spent several weeks at an artist residency in Nebraska. Describe how you learned about the residency and your experience there.

My friend Joe Rupprecht is a poet and had gone to Art Farm last year and I was really taken by the idea of isolating myself from everything and having an excuse to quit my job. I had just finished an album in May so it seemed like a good time to experience something outside of being a DIY kid on the east coast. A 73 year old machinist named Ed who grew up on the farm runs the place and it mostly consists of giant cobbled-together barns where artists live. Everyone works together doing repairs around the farm and I actually helped pour a concrete foundation which was exciting. I had my own little studio and had to cover my synths in plastic whenever I left because there was a hole in the ceiling and the rain got in. The isolation was really beneficial and i ended up writing about two hours of music.

The last Rentboy EP, “L,” was more of a group effort. Since you’re moving into more of a solo project, what do you think future releases will look like?

Writing on my own without the structure of a rock band has let me dive into making house and electronic music which are generally more solitary. Like everyone else on twitter I have no attention span, so next year I’d just like to release a million singles and hopefully get some producers I admire to make remixes so people can DJ with them. I’d also like to put out a dance tape of stuff I made in Nebraska which is all very lo-fi acid and deep house oriented.

What have you been inspired by recently?

Mostly by going out with my friends! In terms of music, I’ve been a Björk Stan since I was a temperamental gay teenager and I’m continually inspired by her ability to meld digital and acoustic instruments. Louisa Gagliardi is a digital artist doing the same thing but with figurative painting and it’s really cool. I’ve also been reading Dennis Cooper’s novels and watching a lot of Wong Kar Wai films; Both of them make explicitly queer work that has a really cool sense of internal logic and intuitive expression, which I really admire.

What are your goals for the remainder of the year?