[PREMIERE] FunkFiles.026 ::

Blue Future - "Sunset Before Night" | Plus Artist Interview

 

There is a new generation of musicians living among us, those who combine the sounds and influences of past greats with the technology of the future. One such particular individual is Jeremy Oleson, known to most as Blue Future. Hailing from Chicago, Oleson melds together soul and blues with modern bass music intricacies. The resulting sounds is a forceful, yet elegant, fusion of the sounds countless have grown up on with those of the musician’s later discovered who challenged perceptions of what music could really be. Our generation has a unique upper-hand, though, being the leaders in this movement and opening the gateways to the genre.

 

Beyond the new range of musical tones and sounds Oleson has to play with being a product of the present, further the Chi-Town musician is taking advantage of what the modern music world has to offer him. Currently, Blue Future is in the middle of the process of releasing his new album, After Tomorrow, for which he is taking a new and fresh approach. Rather than all at once, Blue Future is teasing and enticing fans, dropping a track a week until the record’s completion. The method might seem erratic at first, but in a world where resoundingly talented musicians are constantly getting lost in the woodwork, just about anything possibly capable of making one stand out is an act worth doing- and Oleson truly believes is his newest body of work.

 

“‘After Tomorrow’ is the biggest, most ambitious and most heart-filled project I’ve worked on yet. It tells the story of my life, my influences, things I’ve been through, and really represents the time period in my life that made me want to do music with my life…"

 

This coming Wednesday, Blue Future makes his way to Philadelphia to show The City of Brotherly Love just how The Windy City does it. He will join the infamous Blockhead, as well as local acts Wax Future and Aurize for the second week and night of the inaugural “Wax Future & Friends” series at Silk City right here in Philadelphia.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EVENT INFO • TICKETS

 

Last week we had a chance to take a glimpse at the recent workings of New York City producer Ageless, as well as get inside of his head. This week we’re turning to Blue Future for those some glances, and he is delivering the goods in truest fashion. Separate from his currently ongoing album release, Oleson is hitting us with yet another never-before-released track: “Sunset Before Midnight”. On top of that, the future blues boy took some time to sit down and chat with us about his new album, as well as take a walk through his origins.

 

Blue Future - Soundcloud • Bandcamp • Facebook • Twitter • Instagram

 

[PREMIERE] FunkFiles.026 :: Blue Future - "Sunset Before Night" -- FREE Download!

Complete Interview:

Funkadelphia: "You’re currently in the middle of releasing a new album track-by-track – can you tell us more about the album just in general? How does it differ from your previous works, if at all; and what made you want to release the album through this methodology?"

Blue Future: "After Tomorrow is the biggest, most ambitious and most heart-filled project I’ve worked on yet. It tells the story of my life, my influences, things I’ve been through, and really represents the time period in my life that made me want to do music with my life. I used to listen to electronic music and want to be able to make it so badly; I had found a sound in my head that I  wanted to create but was unable to for years and years. After years of working and honing my skills, I was finally able to get that sound out of my head and create it- and that’s what After Tomorrow is."

 

 

Funkadelphia: "Chicago, your hometown, is a historically famous city for music altogether- do you feel the city and its musical history have played a role in your music? How so?"

Blue Future: "Chicago has influenced every aspect of what I do. Musically, it’s one of the biggest scenes in the world, so you have a bit of everything to influence you. For me it was the blues first, then electronic music when it started coming around. Living in an urban area gave me an intense love of music with a hip hop sound. Watching the urban landscape pass by as you drive and listening to music like Pretty Lights is a perfect fit."

 

 

Funkadelphia: "Did you grow up in an artistically or musically-inclined household;

and with that, do you have any formal musical education?"

Blue Future: "That’s a funny story, because a lot of my family act and sing in musicals. Growing up my mother was always pressing me to join musicals with my siblings, but that wasn’t for me. They were all good kids in Christian theater, and I was the one out smoking weed and listening to Pretty Lights and hip hop with my friends.

One day B.B. King came to my town, and I saw his show; and from then, it was game on. I fell in love with the blues. I started learning blues guitar from an old blues man named ‘Music Man George’, who lived in a little house down by the railroad tracks. Music Man George learned to play guitar from his brother, who learned from Robert Johnson. George taught me everything he knew, and we played together on the summer evenings as the sun was getting low and the shadows were long and trains slowly clacked through his backyard. 

One day, George told me that he had taught me everything he could and that it was time to leave and start my own adventure. I didn’t want to stop seeing him, but he insisted. From then on, I went out and did everything from starting a folk band to playing acoustic guitar on the street for spare change to starting an awesome acid rock band with some friends. Then, electronic music got introduced to us when it was in its early stages and we got hooked.

My musical education was the blues from George, self taught trial and error, and the influences of my friends- we were doing things underground and by ourselves."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Funkadelphia: "Do you play any instruments yourself,

beyond the guitar, which you already mentioned?"

Blue Future: "I play guitar, drums, bass, harmonica, some mandolin, keyboards, and synths... and my laptop."

 

 

Funkadelphia: "If you could collaborate with any emcee on the scene right now,

who would you choose? What about of all time?"

Blue Future: "I don't know who I would choose out of those alive, but Guru from Gang Starr would be on my list."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Funkadelphia: "How much of your music, percentage-wise, would you say is sample-based versus originally composed and produced sounds?"

Blue Future: "I love sampling and sample-based hip hop beat production- it’s a beautiful art form. I will make sounds and textures out of a samples to add to the background textures of song and add a warm feeling; but even when things are sampled, they are turned into a new sound or instrument most of the time, like breaking a glass and making a new picture with all the pieces.
Even with that said, I usually use a very small piece of something and build a completely new song out of it; and I like to demonstrate that by soloing a sample out in the beginning and building in. You will hear that a lot and see what I do with it and how it changes into some so new it’s crazy."

 

 

Funkadelphia: "What is your primary base- both hardware and software-

in the studio and for live performances?"

Blue Future: "I love having extra things to use, but at the end of the day all I need is my laptop and Ableton. If I have nothing else but a boombox on the floor to plug an [auxiliary] cord into, or headphones and a place to sit, all the way up to a spaceship full of gear, I can do my work."