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A/S/L is a Los Angeles producer/DJ blending samples of house and disco music from the 70s through the 2000s. His influence is permeating the Los Angeles DJ scene. A/S/L appreciates his anonymity for the most part but wants his music to speak volumes and captivate the masses and the clubs. He is creating a movement that has a nostalgic feel to it.

His material is reaching to the far corners of the world thanks to his hard work ethic. He is gearing up for a few more projects following his forthcoming EP, Burnt Out Disco for Club Rats, which consists of some infectious ear worms. We talked to A/S/L while at home in Los Angeles: 

OnesToWatch: There are so many genres and subgenres in electronic music today, where do you see yourself fitting in?

A/S/L: I generally say I make sample-based house music. Sometimes it's more electronic, sometimes it's kind of disco house influenced. I like taking pieces from the 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s, and then trying to create something totally new from that.

How and when did you decide to become a producer and a DJ, and who do you look up to in the music industry? 

I started making music a long time ago, maybe fifteen years ago. I just never released anything because I was unattracted to the industry side of it. I was just sharing stuff with friends for the longest time. Then eventually I picked a random track as kind of a throwaway just to make a Spotify profile in case I wanted to release music later and people started listening to it. That inspired me to keep going. If no one listened to that first track, I'd still probably just be sending the music to my friends, even though I would still make it every day.

In terms of who I look up to, I fell in love with house music when I started going out in LA in my 20s in the warehouse scene, and there was a lot of the classic Chicago legends that were kind of coming to LA to play at that time including Roy Davis Jr. These early rough lo-fi Chicago and sometimes Detroit house guys were really the inspiration for me to start pivoting more toward house music.

What didn't you like about the music industry early on?

I remember I put out one song about ten years ago, and the person who was helping me at the time this blog posted it. He said that I would need to get every person I know to comment on this, or they're never going to post you again. I would rather just enjoy the process and share it with friends than feel like pressured. I'm fine to hustle, but I don't want to put that on other people.

What's the difference between the LA and New York scene, club scenes? Have you played New York City?

No, no, I haven't. I've played for friends, kind of privately, but I haven't actually played any largegigs, even though I've had a lot of people ask. It is on my agenda this year, but I've been focusing on the new music. When you're going out to the club, you're kind of looking for this bigger, transcendent moment of being together with everyone, which is kind of what this new EP I'm doing is all about. That moment feels the same whether you're in New York or Los Angeles.

What will your new EP, Burnt Out Disco for Club Rats, sound like? 

Super sampled. I put it in the name of the EP because I wanted people to know that the mix was brash and burnt out on purpose. The sound it really captures is that of a 4AM warehouse feeling where the speakers are busted and what's really coming through is the groove, you can really lock into the groove, even though there are these disco and soul elements in the background.

Do you find any negatives or positives to sampling?

Negatives, clearance stuff, for sure. The legal side is difficult, but the positives are that it is my favorite thing to do. I'm not really skilled musically. I can write a bass line or play some chords, but it's not like I would fluidly jam out. It's really a slow process. It’s my ear, I think, and finding what pieces to take from different elements.

Where do you see electronic music going in the next year or so?

Yeah, there's a few different things when I think of the future. One, is AI and how it is going to affect everything. Two, I feel like electronic music has always gone in different waves, and we've kind of been in this wave where we're reflecting on the 2000s, and I feel like we're about to start  to look back at the 2010s the Bloghouse era, which doesn't even seem that long ago. 

Do you see DJs producing for other artists still?

I think so. I think it is happening more and more, and you get people like Fred again..., who is taking major pop acts and putting them on UK garage tunes and making them even more popular as well.

What is next for you? Where do you see yourself within the next 5 years?

I've just been focusing on the music and focusing on each of these individual projects. This project will be my third EP that's about to be out. I've already got a few different projects in mind for what's next. I kind of work on stuff concurrently, so I have the next two projects I have. I have a few tracks for them here and there, but nothing's come together yet. I’d also like to start traveling and playing more shows. I want to go to places where the reaction of my music has already made an impact. People have messaged me from all over the world from Japan to Mexico City to South Africa, and all these random places that people are listening in.  

Who do you want to collaborate with?

I've been talking to a handful of people in my, like, there's this kind of immediate New York, LA house scene, where people are making that similar kind of music. I was just talking to this French DJ, Joe Mood who I see myself collaborating with. 

How important are visuals to you?

Overall visuals are super important to me. I went to school for design and I consider it part of the art whenever I'm conceptualizing a project, I'm usually designing alongside it, trying to come up with a visual language that strengthens the concept behind the album itself. So, I consider that a huge part of it. Also making the video pieces as well. One of my biggest collaborators is one of my good friends, Alex Takacs, who's a music video director. He's done videos for the XX, Lorde, and Flying Lotus, so he's done a lot of big videos. But I'm always bouncing creative ideas off him, and he helps with the visual component. 

Do you like to stay anonymous and let the music do the talking?

I totally understand the desire for anonymity, and that's kind of my vibe as well I don't need all the attention, which kind of ties into my project name, A/S/L. It's my initials for my real name, but also, Age/Sex/Location---the old internet slang where it's like, who is this? It ties into the anonymity of it as well. I do prefer that side of things. Yeah, there's this guy Camoufly, who makes cool house music and he does the anonymous thing, but he has like a cool weaved beanie type covering and it's cool. I like it.

How do you rally the crowds, and what's the reception been like from the crowd with your music?

It’s been great so far, but I'm still in the early stages of the DJ side of things, and still learning how to build and excite a crowd, but I think it comes down to just the music I make, connecting with my fans, and then playing a lot of that music.

Listen to Burnt Out Disco For Club Rats below: