Madeaux's dark and brazen bass-house is making an Impact

Impact profiles raw talent that's about to turn dance music on its head. Next up: Madeaux

Music was never the obvious choice for Andrew Berman, who, despite growing up in the nightlife hub of Miami, was not infatuated with electronic music early on. "My classmates would murmur about Ultra," he mentions, reflecting on his high school years, but mostly recalls spending his time out of the classroom busied with sports, specifically, the swim team.

Now, at only age 24 and residing across the country in Los Angeles, he's come a long way since his self-described "shy kid" years spent in the pool. To force himself out of his own shell, he recalls teaching himself how to play guitar simply because "it looked fucking cool" with only YouTube tutorials and sheer determination.

And apparently, his innate musical talent needed only that slightest bit of encouragement to shine. He created the Madeaux project and before he knew it, was thrown straight into the bull pen: a two day-long studio session with possibly the most daunting of mentors: Deadmau5.

After surviving that test (more on that, below), it wasn't long before Madeaux's work caught the attention of A-Trak, head of Fool's Gold Records and talented producer and DJ whose genuine confidence in the young producer is impossible to ignore.

Though Madeaux's sound still evades any one genre-specification – a little bit of hip-hop, a little bit of house and a whole lot of vocals – Fool's Gold has proven to be a perfect fit for the budding producer.

As he prepares for the release of his new album 'Burn' which is out this summer via Fool's Gold, Madeaux joined us for a chat about early inspirations, avoiding EDM trends, what it takes to "do dope shit" and much more. Exclusive Q+A and mix below.

What was growing up in Miami like?

It was fun – hot as hell – but I didn’t really know anything about nightlife when I was living there. It was pretty wholesome growing up there. I was active, did a lot of wakeboarding and I swam competitively for a long time, 15 years. I traveled around a lot for swim meets. I was innocent and quiet, didn’t really do much outside of what I was supposed to be doing outside of school.

Who were your biggest inspirations in the beginning?

The guitarist of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, John Frusciante, started a project that was half electronic, half rock and that was the only road map I knew of early on. That song ‘Murder’ especially, it showed me that someone was doing it. It’s hard to go into something with completely no concept of how it should sound, the right music, how it could work. His music helped me segue into electronic music.

In the beginning, I also listened to a lot of Deadmau5. He had so many albums, and they were all so different. Some were more techno, more electro, some trance, breaks… he was really inspiring. I randomly got a chance to work with him, as a 19 year old. It was during the same time when he got into some beef with Ultra Music Festival, and decided he wouldn’t play there anymore. He decided to hold a seminar instead of play the festival, and let people submit music to work together in Miami.

I have no idea how, but somehow I was selected to be part of the session. I was in the studio with Steve Duda, Kill The Noise, Feed Me and all these guys. I got to see hands-on how they made music.

We had two days, six or eight hours a day. But it was very cool, to be able to understand step-by-step. There were terms that they used that don’t mean anything to you when you first start, but as you watch, you see how people work. I learned super fast.

It must've been really daunting to be in the studio with someone like Deadmau5 so early on in your career.

Yeah, I had only been producing for two years at that point. I had just started the Madeaux project and was doing ambient r'n'b, so it wasn’t even their vibe at all. I remember I showed Deadmau5 something from Lapalux on Brainfeeder, and he was like “Yeah, that’s too weird for me.” and I was just like… "Oh, sorry!"

It's funny though, because in the beginning, you care so much about what other producers think. Now I don’t care at all. I’d rather ask someone at a party, “Can you dance to this?” Maybe it’s meant for an afterparty at 4 in the morning, or on the beach. When EDM blew up, the vibe element was lost. People started trying to make the hardest beat. Sure, you go to other producers for like, sound design advice. But it’s hard to go to people that aren’t going to appreciate it. I like talking to non-musicians more, because that’s how music is supposed to be heard.

Tell me about your relationship with Fool’s Gold and how that started.

A-Trak followed me on SoundCloud, I thought it was crazy, took a screenshot, put it on Twitter and he found me from there. He messaged me and said we should work on a track together. We ended up getting together in the studio and while we were working, I showed him a bunch of other music I was working on. Eventually, I released an EP on Fool's Gold.

On a technical level, he’s super focused on layering. Everything has a proper place and it sounds right. You probably just grow to hear things in a certain way. When we worked together, I was sort of like a technician at the keyboard and he was calling the shots. It was a little stressful, because he would be like “make a beat that sounds like this,” and I just had to do it. But I learned a lot that way.

Did moving to LA affect the way you create music?

So much so. I was brought in at first by commercial EDM, you know, I was listening to Afrojack's ‘Take Over Control’ or whatever was on the radio in Miami all the time. But, as I said, that genre became obsessed with going harder and harder.

Here in LA, I got to experience different listening environments. There’s a different energy here, it’s inspiring and interesting. There’s a more rootsy approach to music. It became a challenge use restraint and build an energy and a vibe, to create a soundtrack for people rather than use pyrotechnics.

You came up in an interesting time for electronic music in the US, during the post-EDM boom where, as a producer, you could really take it any direction you wanted to. How do you see your sound fitting into the wider dance music landscape?

It’s kind of a blessing and a cruse, but I’m always changing, trying to find more interesting things. I love tech-house for the conga loops, or Atlanta trap for the two beat bass. Little things scattered around. It’s cool to bring everything together, like a Katamari (a Japanese video game centered around a ball called a "katamari" which was used to roll up objects). It's the perfect creative analogy.

It’s easier for me to describe a project, like an EP or an album. Sometimes with producers there’s an urge to pigeonhole yourself, which makes sense in the short term; you can pick up a lot of fans versus jumping around and not spending a lot of time in a particular place. But I’d rather be on the lookout for new things and not feel limited to a certain sound or area. Look at Diplo, who can do a huge pop record like 'Cold Water' with Bieber then turn around and do some weird avant garde shit with Sophie. That’s how I want to be. I want to be able to work and flow in multiple currents and not just have to say, “I make future house”. It just seems boring.

Tell us about what you've been working on lately.

I’ve been working with a bunch of dudes from Atlanta. I love rap, but hip hop is so different from dance music. Everything is a hassle. People are crazy, you’ll have a studio session on Saturday at 6PM and they’ll say “I’m on the way... Oh shit, I got held up at the strip club,” then the next day they’re still saying they’re on the way and they finally show up on Monday afternoon. Their timelines are ridiculous.

There’s people from literally everywhere on my new album. I really went in on A&R-ing it, finding vocalists from almost every continent besides Africa (and Antarctica). I’m bringing people together from all over. I have a track with Viktoria Modesta, who is the Latvian Lady Gaga, based in London and now Mexico City. She’s an intersection of art, fashion, music and I got her on a techno record with Cakes Da Killa.

Where do you hope to see the Madeaux project in five years?

If I can sell Dior shoes with this, I’m set. My friend Poter Elvinger, one of his tracks was used in a 2015 Versace campaign and it was such a moment. It happening during a time when I was feeling a lot of pressure from my management and from EDM trends… but then Poter, on the other hand, he just came out so strong, believing he had the best cover art, the best tracks. Nothing was dated, nothing was boring, formulaic. Then Versace signed him on for a campaign. I realized that if you just are dope and just do dope shit all the time, then it can happen for you.

If you honestly, sincerely do all you can without compromising, bending to trends or certain sounds - just be the best you can fucking be, and stay true to that, it will get in the hands in the right people.

Tell us about your Impact mix.

I made it into an anthology of all the stuff I’m listening to lately. It sits mid-tempo, somewhere between Maya Jane Coles and Gesaffelstein. It's a pretty far range; I liked the darkness of Gesaf, but tempered it with a loungey, funky vibe. There's a good rotation of house music and tech house. I always think that if you keep the energy consistent, the genre and tempo doesn’t really matter. I want to coin the term "apocalypse wild", dark but really funky... but dark. Fabulously dark.

'Burn' will be release in the summer of 2017 via Fool's Gold

Valerie Lee is Mixmag's US Digital Editor. Follow her on Twitter here

Track List:

Louisahhh!!! 'Ego'

Phantoms 'Throw It In The Fire'

SHADED 'I Bump U Bump'

Bjarki vs. Descender vs. Autoerotique 'iwannaFREAK' (Madeaux Edit)

Depeche Mode 'Personal Jesus' (Madeaux Cover)

Madeaux (feat. Tommy Lee Sparta) 'Demons'

Dillon Nathaniel 'Sly'

Mark Radford, Marcellus Wallace 'Who Can Hang'

ANGELZ 'Devils' (Gerry Gonza Remix)

Madeaux vs. Madame 'KillVOLTAGE' (Madeaux Edit)

Madeaux (feat. Tommy Lee Sparta) 'ID'

Misogi (feat. Manman Savage & Madeaux) 'SWERVIN''

AGLORY 'Dobermann'

Maceo Plex vs. Kanye West 'sexALLDAY' (Madeaux Edit)

Madeaux 'Never Say Never'

Maddjazz 'Throw Your Hands Up'

La Materialista 'Chapa Que Vibran'

Jace Mek 'Laughing Matter'

Dustycloud 'Last Chance'

Black Atlass & Madeaux vs. Cuz Lightyear 'AtlantaLOVE' (Madeaux VIP)

Giraffage (feat. Thea) 'Bring Me Your Love' (Madeaux Remix)

LO'99 & Sinden '2NITE'

Dombresky 'Technikal'

Dombresky 'Utopia' (Madeaux Remix)

Strange Club 'Disco'

Reid Stefan 'SHIA' (Madeaux Remix)

ojivolta (feat. Jon Bellion) 'Game Plan' (Madeaux Remix)

Beach Season 'Tribes' (Madeaux Remix)

Taiki Nulight 'Double Agent'

Madeaux (feat. Kaleena Zanders) 'New Wav' (Wuki Remix)

Madeaux 'ID'