by SCOTT C

With no shortage of heavy-hearted hip hop instrumentals under his belt, New York-based Blockhead has made a reputation for himself as a thorough and earnest producer, unafraid to explore the darker corners of daily life. Although an accomplished solo artist, he has contributed to many projects, teaming up with people like Aesop Rock, Murs, Slug and Skribble Jam freestyle champ MacLethal. This week, he joins his Ninja Tune label-mate Sixtoo for a live exploration of his music on the big stage at Club Soda. The Mirror spoke to Blockhead over the phone from New York.

Mirror: So you just got home from a softball game?

Blockhead: Yeah. This bar I go to has a softball team that I play on, and I’m pretty much a sports guy. I play a lot of basketball really, but softball is kind of a fun summer sport, and you can get drunk while you do it (laughs).

M: So what is it, a bar league?

B: Yep, it’s a bar league. We get our asses kicked a lot, but that’s the price you pay.

M: What’s your angle on the field?

B: I’m a utility infielder, which means I play third shortstop usually, but I can pretty much play anywhere. I’m flexible. I played little league for like eight years, but basketball is my shit. I play basketball all the time. That’s my real sport.

M: Did you ever have any aspirations of taking that further at any point in your life?

B: Well, I’m only six feet tall, so the basketball thing was never gonna be realized, and was never really a possibility for me, and I would’ve kept going with baseball, but my high school didn’t have a baseball team, so I just kind of stopped when I turned 14.

M: Never got into football?

B: Naw. None of the high schools in New York really had football, except for the really big ones. I will literally play any sport, except for soccer, because I really don’t like soccer. I’ll play tennis, whatever. You put a ball in my hand, I’ll figure out what to do with it.

M: Maybe this is a shortsighted observation, but I don’t talk to many people making the kind of music that you do who are quite so... physically active.

B: (laughs) The music I make is totally opposite to my personality and what I do in life. It just happens to be like that, and I don’t know how to explain it. People will meet me and say, “You made that depressing song?” and I’m like, “That was me!” It’s not like I write the music, but more samples I’ve selected and arranged and shit. It’s a lot more mathematical than people give it credit for. It’s all about what fits where.

M: Do you feel like you have a responsibility to bring something else to the live show, considering that you work with samples and drum programming?

B: It’s difficult to do that as a studio guy, and someone who doesn’t play live instruments, and I kind of struggled with that for a while. But as far as what I do live, I just try to bring something that people won’t expect, without disappointing them or turning them off completely.

With Sixtoo at Club Soda on Saturday, August 5, 9 p.m., $25

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