Honoring Myself—an Interview with yesterdayneverhappened
On some level we are all aware that our voices are not our own. There is a notion in art making that the creative process is the movement of inner voice and inner eye into the outer world – of translating the machinations of your internal processing into the signs and symbols agreed upon as nodes of communication. An aesthetic experience, in this framework, is a kind of union: a meeting of the inner and outer. Thus it should be no surprise that some of the most common terms of admiration we hear around art, writing, and music are things like feeling “seen” or “heard” or "understood".
However, if we focus too much on the transaction of the inner and outer, we can be led to believe that they are separate things – that art is pulling a cup from your secretive untouched river of experience and serving its contents to those seated around you. Where in truth, what we are and how we think is more a constant reverberation and retranslation of outer experience. And the outer world is not some detached outer place but will forever be translated by inner subjectivity and shaped by perception. The inner is outer. And the outer is the inner.
yesterdayneverhappened understands this fluidity better than most people. Speaking with them you quickly see that finding oneself within the mingling of the inner and outer world remains at the forefront of their mind and approach to music. When they speak about influences ranging from video games to their hometown, Chicago, sometimes they even drop the preposition and say things like Life is a video game. Or I’m Chicago. Through and through.
Their most recent album, Search Bar, is an expression of the many things that have come to influence their sound through an incredibly personal lens. This album is equally about demonstrating their technical prowess and deep reserve of sounds as it is about finding oneself and dealing with oneself through these practices. There is no wasted energy on this album and each sample and sound has been pored over and thought about at length. But they are presented smoothly and without preference. A Dorothy Ashby sample exists on the same plane and with the same respect as one from Soulja Boy, their good friend babygh0st, or their late brother Josiah. All of it is honored. Because all of it adds up to who YNH is and where they were while making this album.
This range of samples and influences is all the more impressive when you consider how tight this album is conceptually. Upon my initial listening I was convinced that they had constructed this album narratively, building out the storyline to follow like a video game score. Search Bar feels like an act of elaborate worldbuilding, but upon speaking with YNH you realize that the process is much more natural and intimate. It is not just music they are making. It is their way of interweaving themselves with the world around them.
Me and our music editor, Zeév Banks, sat down with yesterdayneverhappened recently and spoke about some of these things.
Video games are a clear influence on this album sonically, but I was wondering if there was a structural or narrative influence to how it came together as well. I feel like you could score an actual video game to this album if you wanted to. Like “without you” feels like an initial cinematic sequence introducing you to the game and world and toward the end “is it” feels like a boss fight. When you were putting together this album were you thinking about storyline and a world like that?
Not at all to be honest. Life is just a video game but that structure wasn’t really planned. Even that opening song with Jen (Babygh0st) we had done a month or two before the album was done and I was like let’s just throw that on there. But I always listen to my albums front to back a shit ton of times and make sure it’s flowing. Like making a DJ set. So it was more about increasing and following the movement of energy.
At first I had it structured by BPM but I realized some of that didn’t really resonate the way I wanted it to. So then I started building it according to that flow of energy. But in a way it is like telling a story. The way that it starts and ends and fades out seems story-like but yeah it wasn’t intentional.
I wanted to talk about collaboration. There are a number of features on here and CITYSPROBLEM mixed and mastered the album. I know this album is also incredibly personal so I was wondering if you felt any push and pull while collaborating for this?
Most of the people I was working with were close friends so there wasn’t no push and pull. I really wanted all my homies on the shit. There were even supposed to be more features that didn’t make it. And there were a lot of people that influenced the way the album was made but aren’t actually on the album. Like Dazegxd was a huge influence on the first track. We were talking about how there weren't really any soulful voices anymore. We were trying to flip this one house track from the 80s and kept being like damn this shit sucks. And he was like you should try a vocalist. So I went on instagram and was like hit me up if you sing and also sent it to Jen. And Jen sent me a demo by the end of the day. And then that track came together after that.
The track I worked on with Nat (3mouth) came fast as hell too. I had a show in New York so I was sleeping on Nat’s couch and one day I was like let’s make a track. So we smoked and did it. It was like a one session kind of thing.
So very little push and pull on this whole album. Everyone that featured on it made it a lot easier to put together.
Do you think it was because it was all friends?
Yeah definitely. I don’t collaborate with people unless I know them. I don’t really be talking to people unless I know them so I’m definitely not making music with them.
There’s a reference to Further Adventures of Lord Quas on the album art. Could you tell me a little bit about how Quasimoto has influenced you?
I fuck with Quasimoto so much. The Yessir Whatever project is probably one of my most listened to albums. His sample use is very inspiring. How he splices stuff together I’ve always really fucked with. Being from Chicago it resonates with me a lot because music that comes out of the city is all about sample usage. I remember watching youtube videos that would break down where his samples came from and seeing him use mixed media to make a beat and that was always inspiring to me.
Quasimoto is an extension of himself and it shows all the things that he’s into. Music, movies, video games, all this shit. And seeing that I was like that’s someone who is very aware of who they are and is communicating it in this way. And on this project I really wanted people to understand who I was.
Chicago is a huge influence on you and on electronic music in general. I saw you say something about people making electronic music today don’t really understand how much Chicago influences their work. Could you tell me a little bit about Chicago?
Growing up in Chicago you kind of get a little bit of everything. It’s a big melting pot. I wouldn’t have been exposed to a lot of things that are on the album had I not grown up there. And there are a lot of people in electronic music that use Chicago and Detroit as a blueprint and don’t know it. But all roads lead back to the midwest.
But coming from there, and growing up there, the influence is really clear to me. It was a part of everything I did and was everywhere. Listening to it on the radio, going to clubs as I got older, going to the southside and going to footwork cyphers, all of that influences me and my sound. It’s all mixed in with my personal vision of how I experienced Chicago and that’s what shaped this project honestly.
But back to the all roads leading back to the Chicago and midwest point, there’s so many people coming out over the past few years that are making this music or listening to this music and don’t know where the influence is coming from. Like what’s the most played electronic genre? It’s house music. They do whole festivals for it. But people don’t really understand where it’s coming from. And there are some people that do understand that influence but they only make music that way for a check. That shit pisses me off.
Have you encountered some of the old heads in Chicago and played them this music? How have they responded to it?
I just recently started getting in touch with them. When I was living there I was tapped in with the queer community and drag community. There’s this one house head Garrett David that’s been spinning at Smartbar – which is one of most important venues in Chicago – for over a decade and he was one of the first people to say what’s up to me and hang out with me and show me music. But it wasn’t until recently that I’ve gotten a few more accolades that influential people from the city have been getting in touch to say they fuck with me and to keep doing what I’m doing. And I always try to pay homage and give respect where it’s due. Because a lot of people don’t do that. They’ll just skip that part and go straight to the money. But that’s not me. I’m fully Chicago. Through and through. Someone asked me if I was from LA recently and I fully tweaked out.
But I always try to pay respect. I’ll talk to the footwork OGs for advice and tap them for shows and whatever else I can. I just played a show with DJ Slugo. I like hearing older people talk. If you’re in a room with an older person and aren’t taking stuff away from it to carry into your life then I don’t know what you’re doing. The purpose of doing this music community shit is to grow the community and grow as a person. Why wouldn’t you want to listen to the people that did this shit before you? People just be fucking with the name but you have to realize these people are people. And they have experiences that you do not. So yeah I’m a lot more tapped in with the legends of before and I think it has to do with how I approach them and what they see in me. And I appreciate that a lot.
Dance and music are so intertwined in Chicago culture, footwork and juke music being the obvious examples. I was wondering if you approached your music in this dual fashion for everything, even non footwork or juke tracks.
I came from the internet music scene on top of the dance scene. So depending on how I want the track to feel I’ll approach it that way. If I want people to dance I’ll think of it in the club scene and I’ll pull from what I’ve seen at clubs on the southside and everywhere else. But if I’m just trying to make some cool shit I think I’ll approach it differently. I’ll focus less on trying to have people move to the music and more on having people be moved by the music.
You mentioned earlier that a lot of people use Chicago and midwest sounds and structure without properly paying their respects. Do you feel a tension in bringing this music out into the world that gets copied by so many people?
I’m not trying to pass anything on or champion anything to be honest. I’m just trying to present myself and my personal brand of this shit. I first really got motion off of my jungle tracks. But the beats I was making prior to that I always getting clocked as coming from Chicago. So I just felt like it was my duty to pay homage to both of those things. It’s just my personal experience that I’m putting out there. I grew up listening to jungle music. I grew up listening to rap music. There was juke on the radio. So all of this is just me and the way that I took it all in. I have my own experiences with the Chicago scene and that’s what shows up on this album – my take on it. But shout out to the people that are really out there showing out for the Chicago scene. There are a lot of people that keep it alive with cyphers, workshops, parties, and everything else. Shout out to all of them.
This album is dedicated to your brother who passed away. I wanted to hear your thoughts on working on this album and how that loss was a part of the process.
That shit fucked me up. It fucked me up all the way. And that shit is still obviously super fresh. For a lot of this shit I was making it with him in the room. The “is it” track I made right in front of him at my grandma’s house. A lot of the samples I picked were influenced by him and just where I was when I was making this album — I was with him. Either a game I was playing in front of him when we were small children, or a specific experience.
It’s definitely a dedication because he deserves it. I wouldn’t have had the strength to put out music if it wasn’t for him telling me to keep going or giving me advice. I remember the first time one of my songs blew up on tik tok I called him. Immediately. There was no one else. I called him. So I just felt like I had to do it for him and immortalize him in some way shape or form.
The best music is made from emotion and I’ve just been trying to transmute all this pain I have. I’m not trying to let go of it, I’m just trying to honor it and him. In any way I can. The week I found out he passed I set up a fundraiser and was able to give my mom some money so she could put it toward the funeral. Then I did another event that DJ Slugo played and I was able to send her some more money. This shit is all for a purpose. This is all done with intention and that was my intention with the album: to honor him through honoring myself.
There’s some tracks on there that have been in my vault for years. And there have been people that have been trying to fuck with me and not let me release my music for years. And for this I just had to put my foot down and find a way. This project has just been me finding a way.
You started your own label Day Break and released this album through there. You also put out an EP for babyghost on your label. How does it feel to have all this control now and also have a venue for your people?
I’ve always seen myself as a bridge for things and now I’m fully coming into that. I can get anyone plugged in anywhere. I’m fully certain of that. So I was like I might as well do that for more black and brown people that have issues like even getting started with this shit. I went all the way through this shit and the people running these labels are usually white. And they be gatekeeping opportunities and people. Especially for black and brown people. So I wanted to make it as an outlet for these people so they could actually put out their music. A distributor offered me a partnership so I have full leeway to drop whatever for whoever now.
It definitely is freeing. It came at the height of when I was getting fucked over by this other label so I was able to be like I’m not putting nothing out through yall ever again. It’s been good. I started the label like six years ago actually but I put it on the back burner so I could focus on my own shit. But now I actually want to flesh it out. Throw more parties and do more releases. I’m always scouting for new music now.
I wanted to talk a little more about place. We spoke about the importance of Chicago, but you’ve also lived in New York and now Baltimore. I was curious about the force moving you from place to place and how the change of location has affected you and your music.
Chicago I was born and raised there. And that shits in my soul forever. I’m glad I was able to do the shit I needed to do in Chicago while I was there too. Because when I left Chicago all the people that I came up with were starting to run the parties and throw the events. So I was glad to leave it like that. It wasn’t just me that got it there, but I’m glad to be a part of what got it there and that they’re still doing it and carrying on the tradition.
Then moving to New York I really had to like hustle to live out there. But I was getting a lot out of the sounds around me. I was taking sounds from the rave scene and sounds from everywhere else. I would go to video game tournaments and get sounds from there.
But to be honest location has never really mattered that much to me. It was good to be in New York because I met all my friends. But when I was moving to Baltimore I realized I could be doing what I’m doing from anywhere. People can’t really place me right now and that’s a good thing. I don’t want anyone to know where I am. Baltimore is a nice ass location too. The scene feels like Chicago five years ago. It’s very much up and coming.
But it’s never about the place. It’s always about the person.
I wanted to ask about your gear. I saw you use a sort of dated DAW that not a lot of people use. And you use a modded out PSP to make beats. Your approach to gear seems really specific.
I use my vita for on the go ideas. Sometimes I’ll make full tracks on there. I’ve been using it for live performances as well. Like hybrid for DJ hardware. So I use that in a lot of different ways.
I have a Yamaha QY70 that I got a few years back that has a lot of good vintage noises. I fuck with Vaporwave crazy. I would listen to it hella in high school. And I can get some of those sounds and synths off of that.
I’ll pull samples off of anything. I’ve got a vinyl rig too. And I just use it to sample records. And I’ll layer everything together. I’ll layer the vita noises, the VST, the vinyl, and one of my two hardwares, and I’ll bounce it all out and resample it. And I’ll keep resampling it until I get a noise or sample I want.
Zeev: Could you tell me about those workflows?
I think bass and sub bass are a lot easier for me to catch on a tracker for whatever reason. Having the most minuscule elements and being able to make something fit on speakers clicks for me for some reason. It helped me get an understanding of bass better. Melodies too. I’ve always made catchy melodies but when you put it all together it creates a unique experience.
Zeev: I wanted to ask you about the track afro breaking. When I first listened to the album it caught my ear because I recognized the Dorothy Ashby sample. How intentional was pulling that sample? When you look at the Afro-Harping album it takes an instrumentation that isn’t traditionally a part of black music and puts it into this context of funk where it finds a home. Even though jungle and drum and bass were pioneered by black artists the faces of them are white.
I just wanted to make a black electronic album through and through. For every element including sample choices. I was listening to Venetian Snares and was thinking what would something like this but black look like? He was sampling classical music and putting like crazy ass breaks on it. And so I was like I want to sample a black artist who was a pioneer and turn it into something completely different. So that was the intention.
Zeev: Throughout the project you can find the same DNA threading the whole thing but you touch on a lot of different subgenres throughout. Did you want to cover all these bases as a goal or did it just emerge organically?
It kind of organically developed that way. I was listening to that Toro y Moi album Outer Peace and people asked him what his inspiration was for it. And he was just like “I just want to flex my production skills.” And I was like true.
I fuck with all forms of electronic music and so I just wanted to hit on everything that I’m into. I just wanted to flex. Even my first album Twilight Princess, which is like baby me, still had a house track, a jungle track, gabber, and some straight up weird electronic shit. So the evolution just made sense to me. This was my second album and I was like I gotta show everyone how far I’ve come.
They will be performing at Cathedral 2 on August 7.
Their most recent album is search bar
Interview by Jake Hargrove and Zeev Banks
Photos by Malik Chatman and Rachael Mishkind