Artwork: Rob Draws
Producer lasko created one instrumental every day for the month of November. At the end of the month, the Chicago-based producer was sitting comfortably on 30 new tracks. Honing in on thirteen of those songs, lasko has since spent the snowy days of January preparing to present his selected assortment of Novemberstrumentals in the form of Thirty Days Past November. Shuffling between cosmic jazz, relaxed hip-hop, and future beats, the free-flowing project is exactly what you need for your Sunday coffee or your matcha tea. I spoke with the beatsmith about the series, the daily process, and what he has planned for the remainder of the year.
What was the process like for this monthly beat series?
I would usually take whatever time I had left at night after work and school starting a song. Some nights I would have a particular direction I wanted to go towards. It was kind of different every time since some days certain things came easier to me and other days writer's block was very real.
Did you focus on one song every day or did you revisit past tracks as well? Did you make more than one song on any particular day?
For the most part I tried to stick to a strict set of rules and one of those was I was only allowed to stick to one song every day and once my time was up for the night I could not go back and retouch the song. So as you might imagine there were a good number of beats that were pretty rough. The last song on the project is a remix of a song I did last year, so I guess that's the only outlier.
Out of the 30 from the month, how did you go through and decide which to keep and which to scrap?
For the most part is was pretty easy, I knew right away which songs were the weakest. When it got to about 20 that was more challenging because I had to think about length of not just the whole project but the individual tracks as well. An album full of 3 minute beats can get a little stale, usually.
Since November, have you been working on additional music or strictly revisiting the November series?
Ya, I got some tracks with some rappers waiting to be released but other than that I needed a break. Going for 30 days straight is not my type of workflow and I overextended myself.
How did you grow as a producer from the first day of November to the last?
I learned a lot about myself. How much time is the right amount of time to work with. A few hours is too short for me, I'm not a savant who can whip up a well composed master work in 3 hours. Each day taught me how to use the limited amount of time I had to the fullest more than anything. More than anything, it made me realize not to take time for granted.
Is this something you'd like to try again?
Nope, nope, nope. By the end of it all I was ready to call it quits. I've always been one for quality over quantity. It was an interesting experience regardless.
What's planned for the rest of the year?
Releasing some collaborations, releasing more solo stuff, and making more out of this year than I did last year.
Any final words or shout outs?
Hope people enjoy the project and thank you to everyone who's continued to support me all these years.
