WastedCake — To me, that word or phrase signifies just how many good things go neglected and ignored. Hundreds of thousand of people have great ideas every single day, just how many of those ideas come into fruition? Not many I’d say. Even further, how much of that creative talent receives the attention it deserves? There’s no doubt that labels and media outlets are bombarded with dozens, if not hundreds of demos almost every single day. Of course people appreciate the effort gone into any creativity. But with that much content around, it’s impossible to even reply to it all, let alone listen to it.
For all of us, Youtube has revolutionised entertainment. Some of us are of the age where we remember swapping cassette tapes of our favourite bands. Back then, I guess the filtering of great content was left to the individuals involved in the industry. The A&R people, the record labels, music magazines and, the old fashioned ways like making weird mouth noises to one another. I believe they call it talking? I’m positive that the industry still uses these methods, proof being myself writing this article. However, how much content is selected for us through the cookie cutter and algorithmic nature of Youtube?
I log on to Youtube one morning and within my suggested videos is one titled ’24 hours of pure black screen in HD!’ Of course I click on it and yes, it is indeed 24 hours of pure black screen. This video has nearly 4.4 million views. It’s obvious click-bait and perhaps an important artistic statement? No… What am I talking about? It’s a bloody blanc screen. My T.V. is doing it right now and it’s not even switched on.
Luckily, out of the darkness, Youtube leads me to a music video. WastedCake, “Holiday Dysfunction.” A track produced by Alec Terrazas featuring Clay Lavigne on vocals. The mood draws me in. I’m listening. I check the view count… ‘Just 162’ when I first found it’. Now I’m not suggesting that good art has anything to do with popularity. Maybe I’m just new to discover their talent. The track track builds to a mantra with the chorus:
“Spin heads, breathe in, breathe out, today. For me to see a different way.’ The mood is pleasant, chilled and laid back. Guitars and synths flow over a gentle beat. Breakdowns giving way to a lead synth. Lyrically it is fairly cryptic, at times declaring ‘this new age’. Having really enjoyed the track I’m eager to hear more of their content. Their youtube page is entitled ‘Its Just Nonsense”.
I quickly hit the subscribe button.
What follows is not a collection of their music alone. In fact, what these guys are also busy doing, is creating short films and comedy skits, as the double act they call, It’s Just Nonsense. Watching this content I am just as impressed at their comedy skits as I am of their music. These guys gel together like all my favourite comedy double acts, one complementing the other perfectly.
For me, and possibly the rest of the world at this present moment in time, to find good music and comic relief like this feels heaven sent. Their random, over the top silliness found in their videos such as their skit “Caveman Culture” shows two enthusiastic archeologists talking about their fraudulent discoveries. Complete with ridiculous photoshopped ‘evidence’. Then there is the king of mumble rap Za Hoi and his sometimes confident, but most of the time humble style of non rhyming crap. I mean, rap. He’s apparently taking the world by storm with his sellout tours. Their content has the creative feel to that of British comedian and film director Chris Morris, but obviously not as believable as some of his sketches.
I sense that these two are putting 100% effort into their music and Youtube channel so I made contact in order to find out a little more about them.
Alec, says he discovered electronic music at age 12 with the discovery of the Daft Punk album Homework (I can’t fault him there). He grew up in Taft, California and says there wasn’t really much to do, so he spent a lot of time drawing. Two years previous he had already started playing the piano. He mentions downloading FLstudio at age 15, likely something many of our readers remember doing. Most of the time he was just tinkering with the possibilities of the software. But eventually he had recorded a few tracks. After putting them on Soundcloud and receiving feedback it spurred his confidence of his abilities. He moved to Fresno, CA in 2014 and started working at a local car wash. It was here where he met Clay.
Clay grew up in Fresno and cannot remember a time when he was’t passionate about music. He tells me his parents really encouraged him in any direction he wanted to go in. He is the son of the drummer of the band 40 Watt Hype, a local band that achieved success playing the Warped Tour time after time, and having their music featured in films and T.V. shows. I sense his pride in his father’s success and he tells me that it definitely shined a light on his future path. Inevitably, being the son of a drummer, he started playing drums. He didn’t stop there though. After battling it out on drums against his dad, he then went on to pick up guitar. Whilst at school Clay tells me he would record his friends rhyming. He then started experimenting with beats. He joined a couple of bands, one being a death metal group. After leaving school he bumped into Alec at the car wash.
Clay and a close friend then introduced Alec to some other examples of electronic music that he hadn’t heard. Artists like Porter Robinson, Mat Zo, Com Truise, Boards of Canada, Washed Out, Tame Impala, Mac Demarco and Tycho. Discovering their compatibility musically and comically, they worked together and set their plan in motion.
WastedCake’s new single “Discovery” is out Jan. 31st on iTunes and Spotify.
WastedCake — YouTube
