Babel fish - "is small, yellow, leech-like, and probably the oddest thing in the universe." He might be a bit out of the norm, but that description don't fit in on Texas finest emcee and producer. After releasing some mindblowing material these last few years, I felt it was time to catch up with him, and ask him some questions about music and life.
For most readers of this blog you're probably a familiar name, but for those who don’t already know, could you please indulge us.
Babelfishh
(S.Huber) – decorative stamp ditch digger – Texas chew union representative –
country music consultant to the knertz collective – outside artist for
divergent series and the final church, etc. I sleep where I fall and beat
myself up too much. No meat, no form of oppression, a pack of smokes a day;
just generally fighting the good fight until the frontier implodes.
What was it
that drove you into making music? What triggered your creative vain?
I think in
my youth I told myself that art and music was not the thing for me. At some
point I realized that my own personal preference was more important that actual
talent. In the same way that a multitude of artists will put it: once I figured
out that I could create pieces that I personally enjoyed, the downpour of ideas
and creativity flourished. The ever-astonishing guild that surrounds me has
made me what I am and they will continue to round off these corners and mold me
solid.
How would
you describe your music and could you briefly tell us about the music-making
process? -Influences?
Techniques? Purpose? Lyrical inspiration? Etc.
Oh brother;
train wreck. I sacrifice a lot to get the needed annoyances out of me. Craft my
life around the needed free time to toot the remedy flute. I write what I see
and print the moments I can’t help but to juggle about, no matter how many
fucked up cords I’m using or how much background noise litters the air. Ignore
the phone and the doorbell. The nerve to be wildly unkempt on a 4 track or the
same dying software I’ve used for over a decade now.
You seem to
have been quite productive lately with your releases on I Had an AccidentRecords and Mism Records as well as a couple of releases last year. Can you tell us
about your current and upcoming projects and what's the reason that a lot of
your records have ended up on many different labels?
If I had
not been so productive over the last ten years I think I would have lost it by
now. My endless gratitude for the friends that believe in me and help me
release music is uncharted.
As always,
there’s a slew of things on the working wheel: new record with oskar ohlson, 2
goats gloom(FRKSE, dug yuck, myself) releases to hit the turf next year, just
produced an album for papervehicle’s The Beastmaster, and slowly skinning the Evak1&babelfishh skeletons. I’m sure there is others…..
When I
think of Texas and hip hop I have to admit that the kind of names that pop up
in my head are the likes of Geto Boys and DJ Screw. I think it's quite safe to
say that your style differs a lot from them. How has your music been greated
locally?
An
interesting subject that I rarely ponder.
As of the
last 8 months or so, I’ve played every local show as part of a tandem
performance with the mighty Evak1. The two of us have similar ways or digesting
the rigors of a workweek and we’re constantly on the prowl for platforms to
release the fumes in our veins. With that being said, we take on a lot of shows
that turn out to be wonderful and others that are a borderline waste of time.
The raging release of bustling workday misanthropy has always been important to
us; we have no idea how we are truly received out here.
Do you feel
like you're a part of the regular hip hop scene or do you feel like the odd one
out
I don’t
believe that the seam of music listening ears we fall into can be chalked up
into one seam. People who make interesting music attract interesting and rather
indefinable listeners. At least I like to believe that; I think it’s fairly
accurate.
Ever since
your first release your music has had a very lo-fi and rough sound to it. I get
the feeling that you, in many ways, have more in common with punk aesthetics
than with hip hop. Has this type of music had a great impact on you growing up?
I’ve always
been on some Minor Threat to Mobb Deep to Gehenna to Swordplay to Tommy Wright III to Infest type shit. Switching the musical styles up but keeping it similar
in some odd blend. I’d say the ideas that engulf the punk sub-culture have
always resonated with me more deeply though. It took me years to fully grasp it
and it’s stronger than ever at this point rather than when I was growing up.
Do you have
any musical memories that you’d like to share with us that has meant a lot to
you?
On tour in Portland Oregon I saw the ghost of
Jim Croce in a pirate themed strip club. This event took place years after he
died. The following morning I awoke in a crowded hotel room next to Lewee Regal--half-naked with a freshly cut head of wounds and hideously wild hair. He
was just lying on the covers as I was resting underneath…bodies scattered
everywhere….as he climbed under the covers in total slumber…I climbed out of
them. This was just a mere amount of hours after I first heard that Rodney Dangerfield died. I’m not really sure how much this random stretch of events
meant to me. Haha, it all gets catalogued somewhere though.
What are you up to when you're not living your rap life?
The daily blue-collar work whistle in a small cowboy meth town. Showering metal sparks and the birth of a lot of my writing steam. I just plow through the day(s) with hopes of coming home and working on the things that keep my half-sane throughout the slim amount of energy left.
As we're
getting near the end of yet another year, what have been your favourite records
of 2011?
This year I
really did not listen to many new albums, mostly older stuff and unreleased
songs from the homies I can think of a
few newer things though.
Everything FRKSE did
Everything
Tenshun did
Everything
James P. Honey did
Everything edison did
Everything Walter Gross did
Everything
psychopop did
Evak & edison - Six Pack O’ Death
Whorelord
tape (Lurk Sleep Kill records)
Mism 10”
with Ancient Mith, son kas, and woolgatherers
ironfilings and sellotape –Amidst the Grease and Chaos
Son of a Bricklayer – Moose with Antlers
Anything
else you would want to share with us?
Obsessed
with raccoons and baseball. Stay home until the walls wear me thin. Do what I
feel and keep the majority of strong opinions to myself. Sit by the trains with
a few cans instead of going to work on occasion. Four hours of sleep, coffee,
and busy hands. I’ll keep you in close
word until the bookshelf tips forward on itself. Lots of shouts to a lot
people…all my friends slay shit.
Oh, I’m
submitting a song I wrote and recorded during the same time I was mulling over
these questions. I think it hatched out of all of this. It’s random and
exclusive to this blog for now. I might drop it on a tape at some point, fuck,
who knows. Thank you very very much for inviting me to do this.
667. babelfishh. Spring, Texas. 2011
http://www.babelfishh.bigcartel.com/
http://ravenouswashbear.tumblr.com/
http://babelfishh.bandcamp.com/
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