Gigamesh has made a name for himself behind the scenes. His disco-laced remix of Foster the People’s “Pumped Up Kicks,” went viral and he produced Mike Posner’s multiplatinum selling track “Cooler Than Me.”
This past August, the Minneapolis native (real name Matt Masurka) put himself front and center with his debut album, Time Travel, which showcased his expansive influences and musical palette. Now, comes Time Travel Vol. II, which features him stretching his song-making boundaries even farther with classic structures and lyricism.
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Crave is exclusively premiering the first single off Vol. II. The appropriately entitled “All Night” is a dance floor mashup of Daft Punk robotic pop with synth-driven, power funk reminiscent of the late, great Prince. I had a chance to chat with Gigamesh over email about that other Minnesota music star, the new album and time traveling.
Gigamesh sounds like a vintage Nintendo or arcade game. How did you come up with it? And, what does it mean?
Gigamesh: That’s the first time anyone has made that association but I love it! My inspiration was even more nerdy than video games. It’s a made-up word from a book by a sci-fi author who I became briefly obsessed with after college, Stanislaw Lem. I gravitated toward the word because the book its taken from is a deliberate marriage of The Epic of Gilgamesh with modern technological concepts like information theory, postmodernism, etc. To be honest, a lot of the specifics were over my head but in addition to being freakishly intelligent, Lem also had a great sense of humor so his books are always entertaining even when they’re difficult to follow.
You’re from Minnesota, play soulful dance music. I’m sure Prince was an influence?
For sure. However, I actually hated pop (especially ’80s pop) until late in my high school years. Before that, I was mainly into rock like Nirvana and Radiohead. It wasn’t until I was introduced to Daft Punk that a bridge sort of opened up which helped me realize how much great music I was ignoring right in front of me.
What’s your favorite memory of Prince?
Instant messaging him on dial-up AOL when I was in middle school. My friend who went to some raves and after-parties at Paisley Park with her older sister gave me the screen name. I messaged him many times before he ever responded and there was no way of confirming it was actually him, but I remember both his screen name and his responses being very Prince-like, so I’ve decided to just believe it was him.
You play dance music, but vocals play a big part on Time Travel. Why did you decide to use singers, lyrics, etc.
I’m not much of a singer so I’m in awe of the power singers have to evoke raw emotion. I actually steered away from vocal-based music for a lot of my childhood but I think I’ve kind of matured into appreciating lyrics. However, most of my favorite musicians use vocals pretty sparingly so I might move more that direction as time goes on. A lot of it comes down to who I’m collaborating with and what they want to do.
There have been so many great time travel stories. What’s your favorite time travel movie, book, etc.
If I’m in the mood for something dark, 12 Monkeys. If I’m in the mood for something fun, Back To The Future II.
We’re premiering “All Night” tell me about the story behind the song (inspiration, concept, process)?
I stumbled on the vocal sample and just loved how it sounded pitched up & down so it all kind of grew out of that. I really wanted the beat to be bass-heavy beat while still being harmonically & rhythmically interesting, so I went through many versions before I finally landed on the final song. Ultimately, I wanted to make a tune people can listen to while they make some memories in the dark — interpret that however you wish. 😀
