Our 50th single entitled ‘Thoughtful’ is a calm piano driven instrumental lo-fi beat written by Josiah Soren aka nowimalamp aka Soren The Robot that keeps the listener’s mind focused with patient drums and a beautiful lead piano melody. This beat is the title track of Josiah’s forthcoming double LP on the LFC imprint dropping over the course of the next 6 months.

Stream / Download #CLOUDS050 
→ cygnusmusic.link/yrnxb0b

We sit down with Josiah and asked him 4 musical questions to get some more insights on him as an artist:

1. Where does your artist alias come from?
   
   The name “nowimalamp” is actually from an old old meme that floated around the early internet in maybe 2012-ish? The meme said “people change, now I’m a lamp” and it ad a picture of a streetlight. I just remember absolutely getting a riot out of that as a teenager and I adopted that moniker “nowimalamp” as my gamer tag for many years. When I started releasing these lo-fi beats in 2020 it was a perfect fit.
   
2. How is the current state of your local Atlanta, GA music scene?
   
   The local scene in Atlanta is thriving! Mostly centered around the black american music/cultural experience. ATL is home to some of the greatest rappers and with that come some of the greatest hip hop producers. There is a large community of experimental hip hop, alternative hip hp, boom bap, and instrumental hip hop producers here that feels very organic and home grown. There is not much of an emphasis on lo-fi or chill beats here which is kinda cool because it means I get to draw influence from all of these other unique Atlanta flavors and production styles. We have series like “Controllerise” which is a weekly producer meetup/performance event hosted by STLNDRMS as well as a few other smaller hangs in and around atl. There is a huge community of people and producers that inspire me and it is definitely one of the best cities for producing i think around the world.
   
3. What’s something you have recently learned that positively influences your music?
   
   I come from a background of touring as a freelance musician and session bass player; I would be hired for weeks at a time, sometime months, to go on the road with different artists and learn all their music and perform with them or record with them in the studio. It wasn’t until the COVID-19 pandemic that I really started focusing on creating and releasing my own music from start to finish which has pushed my skills in all kinds of ways. I’ve really leaned into learning piano and spent more time on guitar and I’ve really gotten pretty solid at mixing and building drum loops. Spending so much time in ableton producing songs and crafting the whole idea of a song has made me a much better bass player and musician because I understand my role so so much more. I’ve gained a much better perspective of the entire piece of music and of all the parts and how they layer and fit together. I guess I used to be a little bit selfish on the bass. I was always listening to the other musicians, but now I can listen through the lens of “how does all of this sound together as one cohesive sound/piece of music?” and that has definitely been a big positive for me lately.
   
4. What’s your favorite project to date you collaborated on and why?
   
   My most recent and favorite collaboration is for an Acid Jazz / Hip hop record I played bass for and produced called “SAMURAI”. The album features 8 vocalists (Shalom Little, DK, Abib Jahleel, Truth Hayes, Enya Absi, Rhonnie O’Neal, AUDIADASOUND & Squallé. ) The band is composed of musicians from the Atlanta school of “Reverence” – a culture of respect, tolerance, and freedom – including Marquinn Mason, known for performing with Kamaal Williams. It really feels like the “spirit” of Atlanta is on the record – Each vocalist was asked to do one thing: tell their truth. The words you hear are not my words – they are the words of the reality of life in America and even around the world. The album is an honest journey through love, loss, grief and a determination to “chase all our dreams ‘till our legs ache”. I’m really excited to begin sharing it with the world!