The Digital Outhouse

Joewhistle: Well, I could throw together a gnarly introduction for the man behind Balam Acab, Alec Koone (and admittedly, it be great), but I think I’ll just let him handle that.

Alec Koone: Well, I’m 19, I was born in Mechanicsburg, PA (suburb of Harrisburg) and now go to school in Ithaca, NY at Ithaca College. I’m a music education major.  I learned about ‘Balam Acab’ in Spanish class in high school.  Its Spanish folklore or something, and Balam Acab was a demigod who saved his people by from eternal drought by shooting open clouds with his bow and arrow to make it rain.  I chose the name because it sounds cool to say and it wasn’t in use as a band name already.

JW: Well, Balam Acab (BA) has been making quite the stir these past few months, evidenced by the fact that everyone and their mother is throwing around millions of adjectives to describe your sound. Let’s settle this once and for all; what genre do you think best describes your sound, if one such genre even exists?

AK: Hahaha, I don’t really think the music I make fits under one specific genre. I guess if I had to label it with one, I’d simply call it ‘electronic’.  I think the music I make is more of a blend of genres though, like its a combination of hip-hop and ambient and pop and dance and even a little bit of folk too.

JW: You’re often associated with the burgeoning “Witch House” movement, how do you feel about that?

 AK: I guess not so good about it, just because ‘witch house’ seems to really be turning into a trend in music, and trends are never good for artists.  Once the hype around a trend dies, which it inevitably does with all trends, the artists associated with it kinda fade away too.  I’m not really against the name ‘witch house’, its kinda clever and fitting, and I really like a lot of the other artists associated with the “movement”, I just don’t want my music to be considered a trend.

JW: I understand you’re a student at Ithaca University, how has the whole foray into becoming an increasingly popular musician changed your daily routine, not only as a student, but in life in general?

AK: Nothing significant in my life or daily routine has changed really, and I like that.  I don’t care much for popularity or fame, I just wanna connect with people through my music.

JW: Can you share you first “woah, I’m a f*@!ing legitimate musician” moment?

AK: I’m not really sure when it was.  I’ve been playing and creating music for about six years now, so I’ve considered myself a “legitimate” musician for longer than Balam has been around.

JW: Everyone loves influences, so with that being said, what are some of your musical influences?

AK: Hmm, for Balam some of my main influences are Burial, Grouper, Black Dice, Flying Lotus, Madlib, Josephine Foster, Nico, Four Tet, Robedoor, Pocahaunted, Joanna Newsom, Pavement, J Dilla and Animal Collective.

JW: Have you implemented any of these artists sounds into your approach for making music?

 AK: Well, in regards to the hip-hop influences (Madlib, Dilla, FlyLo, Burial), I guess those guys kinda got me into beat-making and producing and creating electronic music.  I try to keep my music kind of droney even if it is driven by a beat, which is where the drone influences (Robedoor, Pocahaunted, Grouper) come into play.  I really like rich, deep, elaborate textures in music and try to incorporate that kind of thing into my own, hence Black Dice and Animal Collective are influences.  As for the folk(ish) artists (Nico, Josephine Foster, Joanna Newsom), its more of a feeling that they all pull off that I also try to put into my music, along with creating great melodies.  And Pavement is just a great band, one of my all time favorites.

JW: Along with your assumed plans for world domination, what can fans expect from you in 2010 (and maybe beyond)?

AK: My EP with Tri Angle Reocrds is going to come out on vinyl sometime this July (editors note: it’s out today!).  I guess other than that, my plans are to continue making music for a full-length release and also develop a live set.  I’ll probably do some remixes too.

JW: Let’s finish it off with a little message to your fans. If you could telepathically communicate with all of them at one time, what would you say?

AK: Love everything.

JW: Thanks again Alec, we here at The Digital Outhouse wish you the best of luck, and hopefully we can chat again soon.