[powerpress]
🎶What type of music?
Anything from down-tempo atmospheric IDM, to beats, to glitchy electronica, to upbeat kinda proggy stuff, to straight up ambient music.
🎶When did you first start?
I started “officially” releasing music under my own name in 2017, though I have been making my own electronic music since about 04-05, when I was about 15 years old. I started with these real old MIDI transcription programs, Tabit and PowerTabs, literally just transcribing stuff I would write on guitar to MIDI. I would exchange files with a friend of mine, writing some really wild progressive rock stuff. After that, a friend turned me on to Fruity Loops about the same time I started getting into electronic groups like Boards of Canada and The Flashbulb, and that got me into making more beat-oriented music.
🎶Why did you decide to start it?
I have been a part of a lot of bands over the years and my personal music has always sort of taken a back seat. It was stuff that I might’ve shown a small group of friends, but never anything more than that. Then, sometime in late 2015-2016, I kind of just blew all of my projects up to focus on this stuff.
🎶Are you a solo Artist or part of group?
Solo artist
🎶What name do you go by?
I use my own name. Joe Garofalo
🎶How did you come up with the name?
I didn’t :] but I decided to use my own name because I cast a pretty wide net with music. I feel like if I decide to really take a certain path or explore a particular genre/style, I may give that project a fitting name, but for now, I feel like using my own name gives me the most creative freedom to simply be who I am.
🎶Who do you like to collaborate with?
It depends on the project. I love working with other electronic music producers. I feel like it’s good to jam with people who can show you a different perspective on your own craft. Bouncing ideas back and forth, exchanging tracks, etc., is an awesome way to learn something new. I also like bringing musicians in to work with me- drummers and bassists in particular. Those types of situations are cool because it gives me a little more agency to make decisions in my own realm while we’re tracking or coming up with ideas. I can more or less be worried about the technical computer stuff, arranging, and capturing the tracks, while having a great musician contributing to the writing process.
🎶Where do you play?
Honestly, I have played out pretty minimally. When I do, I am usually doing a stripped down beat/house set that has nothing to do with any of my recorded music. I guess that’s probably not the best way to promote my albums, haha, but I really have no intention of just DJing my material. I want to put together a full band and use the songs I’ve recorded as a starting point to make something completely new once I do decide to do the album stuff live. I have no desire for my live show to sound anything like the record.
🎶When are your upcoming shows?
I am looking to start getting out more this year. I don’t have anything scheduled yet. That will likely change soon. I have started doing some stripped down hardware beat sets, so I think I want to develop that sound more and maybe record those as their own project. Maybe that will get its own name! Who knows.
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🎼Joe Garofalo
Keyboardist/Guitarist/Producer from Metro Detroit
