Aspiring producer, current DJ and pro skier Matt Walker enjoys his music. His skiing is inspired by it and he inspires others by creating mashups and spinning beats to make scintillating sounds.Walker recently let us invade his iPod and chat with him about his favorite music.
What sparked your interest in music?
I have always been into music, when I was ten I was all about Blink 182 and Linkin Park. I also still have NOW’s 1-4 somewhere in my parent’s house (laughs).
As for my interest in electronic music, some high school buddies of mine went to Europe after senior year and got super into trance. They came back with tons of CDs from Armin Van Buuren and Tiesto that I burned and started becoming a fan of. The next summer we went to Tiesto at Red Rocks and I got hooked. That fall I saw Armin, Bad Boy Bill and Paul Van Dyk all in Denver and wanted more. But the following summer I saw Deadmau5 at Red Rocks and haven’t had an interest in Trance since (laughs).
Some people don’t know but you are a musician yourself. How do you find inspiration?
I wouldn’t call myself a musician yet. Right now, I am a disc jockey, plain and simple. I just take other peoples tunes and spin them how and when I want to. I am learning how to produce right now though, so my title will change soon.
As for inspirations of what to play and how I play it, I like Deadmau5’s versatility. He uses Ableton and is able to literally play any part of any song at any time, which yields the best mashups. However, he rarely mashes or remixes stuff on the fly anymore, which is annoying because he could be killing it so much harder live right now. The sound that Flux Pavilion is creating right now is amazing. He is taking dubstep’s heavy bass and making it catchy enough to recruit new people to the genre. I also like PantyRaid’s minimal bass style, just listen to Enter The Machine and you’ll hear what I am talking about. Also, I saw Rusko on Monday night. His on-stage presence is second to none, that guy knows how to get a crowd pumped.
What is the best song you have heard in the past month? Why?
I can never label one song as the best since no single song satisfies me regardless of the mood I’m in. The best mellow song I got this summer is Aeroplane’s remix of “Paris.†However, if I am in party mode, I want Flux’s remix of Gold Dust bumpin. If I were going skiing tomorrow, I’d need Redman “Buck Buck†cus that was the song B&E used for their reunited episode which is the best (laughs).
If you had to ski to one song on repeat for the entire winter, what song would that be?
Has to be Gangstarr – Above the Clouds. I have been listening to that song for probably half a decade now and it still isn’t old, it could definitely endure another year. R.I.P. Guru
How do view the relationship between music and skiing?
I’d say the music inspires the skiing, especially in my case. After skiing, the first thing I do is plug in my shuffle because I have to listen to my music again the next day. It pumps me up, keeps me focused and inspires me to try new tricks. I would bet someone could guess what genre I am listening to by watching me ski. I personally don’t look to skiing for inspiration when I play, however, I could see it working like that. I know skiing has inspired rappers like All Star, LCP and Son Real and I am sure there are many more musicians out there who look to sport for inspiration. Regardless, music is a huge part of the ski industry. The amount of time it takes to find an entire soundtrack comprised of catchy, unused songs to fit a ski movie is staggering.
5 musicians/ bands people should listen to today?
Jakwob
Big L (forever…)
PantyRaid
Flux Pavilion
Bassnectar
Lastly, any shout outs?
Of course, I should probably plug when I am going to be playing next (laughs).
-Aug 20th – Goose Bar, Boulder w/ Fleshlite
-Sept 10th – Level 1 “Eye Trip†World Premiere Afterparty, Cervantes Ballroom, Denver, CO w/PEV and Fleshlite
-Sept 11th – Poorboyz “Revolver†World Premiere Afterparty, King Cat Theatre, Seattle, WA w/ Hathbanger
-Sept 16 or 17 – IF3 w/ RPM
-Oct TBD – MWSFF, Milwaukee, WI
I’ll also take some space to hype Robotic Pirate Monkey up. RPM is a newly formed production trio out of Boulder featuring Hathbanger, PEV (Matt Berryhill) and Fleshlite (Matt Flesher). For anybody that followed JOSS, this is the group that remixed the Team Newschoolers track “Take it to the Top†which is available here… https://www.mediafire.com/?xlelqdandzz
Keep up on their Sound Cloud for more tracks droppin soon.
Hope you like the tunes!
