Mr. Carmack: One To Watch

The track “Shroomeries” starts with a short Super Mario sample that pays fitting homage to its title. Suddenly, the sample stutters, elongates and fades in the context of an atmospheric, building saxophone lead… Then, the bass drops: a full, rich and booming foundation to that sultry saxophone lead that exemplifies well-composed beat production.

In 20 seconds flat of just one song in his exponentially-growing track record, Mr. Carmack shows more development in sound design than the majority of his peers. It’s why he’s currently making waves in the mainstream music scene, drawing attention from and working with the likes of Diplo and Pharrell. Los Angeles’ Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE), one of the biggest record labels in hip-hop music today,  inked him to a production deal last fall.

In a matter of months, Carmack produced a beat for burgeoning TDE talent Isaiah Rashad. The beat now backs “Webbie Flow (U Like),” the second track on Rashad’s critically-acclaimed debut EP Cilvia Demo. All of this, and Mr. Carmack continues to stay active in the underground as well, working with independent labels like TeamSupreme and Soulection that feature his tracks for free download and in beat cyphers and compilations.

*oldgoldandblack.com


While most up-and-comers seek a label signing that quickly traps them in the standard industry model of sparingly releasing singles, EPs, and albums, Mr. Carmack takes a different road to music release. He combines uploading works-in-progress and beats, directly after he finishes mixing and mastering them, to Soundcloud with selling his EPs and albums on Bandcamp, a free-to-join online music store catering to independent artists. This allows him to make his music as widely available as possible to his audience and toe the line so deftly between the underground and mainstream music scenes.

But what makes Aaron Carmack, the Honolulu-based wunderkind, so prolific? Every week, it seems like he uploads another banger on Soundcloud that puts an inventive spin on familiar samples or destructs completely genre tropes to which many other producers succumb. The answer is simple: experience and raw talent. Mr. Carmack’s classical training in jazz music and the French horn and drums allows his music to take on unique pockets, or ways in which he moves time musically. That, along with his knack for building complex synths and percussion and deep bass lines, gives his music an unparalleled bounce and rhythm.

Carmack also accentuates snare hits and bass lines to give a strong, punchy feel to his beats. Best of all is Carmack’s ability to take familiar samples and warp them to take on different sounds. He uses Kelis, Danny Brown and Earl Sweatshirt samples respectively as key pieces in the hard-hitting bangers “Reputation,” “Bang,” and “Drop (Get Silenced).” Yet in another context, he uses a snippet from the chorus of French Montana’s “Don’t Stop (Pop That)” in “Trigger,” a chilled, futuristic collaboration with fellow Hawaiian producer Jacuzzi.

Mr. Carmack also leaves no style untouched. Jersey club, future bass, trap, downtempo, dubstep are all examples of subgenres within the scope of electronic music in which Carmack dabbles. Refusing to confine himself to a certain sound, Carmack puts his Midas touch on whatever inspires him. It’s what gives his discography such a striking and rich dynamic and keeps him at the head of the beat scene today.