Lazerbeak
Biography
Lazerbeak
Super Producer
Lazerbeak is a thug. Do not be deceived by the nice-guy introductions backstage. Beak is responsible for some of the hardest lavabangers in hip hop, period. Catchy, rib-crushing, filthy.
In his basement workshop, Beak works mostly with a MPC2000XL. He layers propulsive, hard-hitting drums with driving guitar and keyboard melodies. He paces after the addition of each element, ducking to avoid the overhead pipes, playing air drums, and calculating his next layer.
Beak’s sequencing is a large part of his sound. “After you’ve got the main structure, to make it a real song, you have to take it all part again. It’s like a battle with the beat, every time.” And Beak always wins. When it’s over, the effect is some helicopter-at-the-omnitheater shit. He’ll take a beat down to its most essential elements before letting it off the leash to explode into anthemic proportions.
Lazerbeak got involved with the Doomtree crew through his high school friendship with Stef (P.O.S). But by then he’d already been playing music for years. Since 8th grade he played with The Plastic Constellations, the indie rock group that would go on to tour the country, signed to French Kiss Records. Stef, having heard Lazerbeak’s music with TPC, encouraged him to start making beats. Beak got a loan from his folks to buy his first MPC from Guitar Center. Stef came over in the afternoon to show him the ropes. No looking back.
To date, Lazerbeak has produced over 400 beats. His production appears on almost every Doomtree release, including all three of P.O.S’ solo albums. He's now completing the production for the upcoming Sims solo release and working on a solo endeavor of his own.
Most recently, Doomtree released Lazerbeak’s collaboration with Mike Mictlan. The two schemed for years to write and record the disc. For much of that time Mike was living in L.A. Lazerbeak sent Mike beat CDs in the mail. Mike rapped his verses to Lazerbeak over the phone. Big dreams, big phone bills. Now the fruit of their labor is available in all its glory as Hand Over Fist. Legend Recognize Legend.
Solo Projects
Hand Over Fist (with Mike Mictlan)
The Word
June 22, 2010
The Doomtree art show is this Saturday! I don’t know a whole lot about art shows, but based off what I’ve seen contributed to this event so far, I am willing to bet this may be up there with the greatest art shows of all time. Seeing as my predictions about the NBA Finals and Drake’s first week sales were both right on the money, I’m feeling pretty good about my odds. Here are the details:
The Art of Doomtree – Saturday June 26th – 7:00 to 10:00
CO Exhibitions (formerly1st Amendment) – 1101 Stinson Blvd NE Suite #2
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June 15, 2010
Last week marked the completion of the audio portion of my upcoming record, Legend Recognize Legend. Bruce Templeton cooked up the final mastered version on Tuesday, and I am so thrilled and relieved to not have to agonize over every little detail of this thing anymore. Very excited to let go of some of the extreme attachment I had been harboring for this one (might have gotten a little too close to it actually). The end result sounds awesome, and I am pumped …
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June 08, 2010
Real quick before I get into this week’s post I just want to direct your attention to this Twin Cities Best Band contest going on that Doomtree is involved in. I know these online voting contests are super annoying but it’s down to just a few bands now, and I guess it’s kinda like a big deal if we win. Go HERE to vote for us if you have the time. Thanks a ton. End of plug.
So the big outdoor Grand Old Day show this past weekend ended up completely ruling. I …
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June 01, 2010
Before I get into any of this week’s post I just wanted to reiterate the fact that Paper Tiger’s first ever full length album is available RIGHT NOW for pre-order at our webstore. I know you already saw the splash page and everything, but I can’t stress enough how awesome this record is. I was extremely fortunate to work closely with Paper on this one from an “executive producer” standpoint, and you have no idea how hard the man has worked to create this beautiful album …
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May 25, 2010
Tuesdays With Lazerbeak will resume next Tuesday. I’m up at this top secret cabin location all week recording a new project, and there are no internetz in sight. Have a great Memorial Day weekend. See you at Soundset!
- Beak
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May 18, 2010
Man last weekend was the best. The Gayngs show at First Ave on Friday will live on forever in infamy. I wish I had remembered to take some actual pictures, but below are some sweet ones that The FADER posted up. I’m pretty much a jeans and white tee type of guy, so it was sweet to dust off the wedding suit for once and take the wifepiece out to a real deal adult prom. Everyone looked like a million bucks and the …
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May 11, 2010
Time flies. Been super busy lately getting all the details in order for the Paper Tiger full length coming out quite soon, as well as shooting a bunch more videos for my record coming out a bit after that, and putting the finishing touches on this Sims album as well. It’s definitely been a good busy though. Below is a picture from the last video shoot that featured a seven armed mythical Beak beast playing a bunch of made up instruments. It’s gonna look …
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May 04, 2010
Last weekend the crew made the short trek down to Northfield to play a college show at St. Olaf. Over the years it has been proven that college shows can generally be pretty hit or miss, so it’s always kind of a toss up going into it. Thankfully this one ended up being unanimously off the chain and we all had a blast. A huge thanks to all the kids who showed up and got down. And a special shout out to …
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April 27, 2010
So last Friday I embarked on a solo voyage to Chicago to shoot my first ever music video for this upcoming solo album. I’ve been quite fortunate to have traveled the majority of this fine country over the years, but this trip ended up being the first long trek I’ve taken by myself. I thought I’d be super bored, but it ended up kind of ruling. I got to catch up on a bunch of new records (Usher, Caribou, B.O.B, Hold Steady) that all sound pretty sweet upon first listen. Made it into Chicago and met …
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April 20, 2010
Hello and welcome back to another Tuesdays With Lazerbeak. We’ve been hard at work wrapping up the new Paper Tiger full length this week, and I gotta say that record is sounding phenomenal. Really excited for people to hear it. Also, I’m gonna be taking off for Chicago again at the end of the week to shoot the first of many videos for my album in a super crazy enormous green screen studio. Man I am pumped (and slightly terrified), more details on …
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