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Exhibit&Friends Ep. 5: Kamandi

August 8, 2019086
Read Time:5 Minute, 3 Second

LIGHT THE CANDLES

DIM THE LIGHTS

IT’S TIME.

For another episode of Exhibit&Friends!

I love writing for Glasse Factory – I can be such a fool on here. I also loved creating this episode. Today I’m going to tell you about a fantastic producer that goes by Kamandi. All the way from New Zealand, Kamandi continues to impress his listeners with music that captures a very mystical ambiance. You have to be careful when listening to Kamandi – his music is incredibly immersive.

Let’s dive into his recently released debut album, Voices, for a second. Once you press play it’s going to be tricky to press pause. I already said Kamandi captures a mystical ambiance, but this takes the cake. To be honest, it’s what made me ask him for an interview. I found myself feeling all types of emotions when listening to Voices and there’s not one verse on here. Feeling some type of way about a project that doesn’t have lyrics? That’s some fugazi – but I’m speaking the truth here. Although some of these tracks arguably fit a genre, such as “Anyway Friday” being the closest track to house music, the project is best when enjoyed from start to finish. After that, it’s clear to see Kamandi’s music is best categorized as “Kamandi’s style”, and not any particular genre. It’s that unique.

Ok ok ok I know y’all are just waiting for the interview…

But first let me plug the man himself:

Kamandi

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And of course, ya boy:

ExhibitCreative

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Aaaaand for the part y’all have been waiting for:

Tell us a little about yourself. Who are you and what do you do?

I’m Tyrone Frost, I produce records as ‘Kamandi’,  I make music every day.

How about your past? What was that like?

Worse than some, better than others.

Are you still a Nintendo and anime fan? What are you playing/watching?

Between creating music and trying to be there for my daughter I don’t have as much time, but a close friend of mine is working on a craaazy anime that I can’t talk about yet but that’s going to be good.

You mentioned you always wanted to work with a quality MC before you worked with Azizi Gibson. What made you want to start with a rapper? Are there any other genres/artists you’re excited to work with?

Rap was one of the main things I listened to growing up so it made sense to me, first CD I ever owned was 2pac ‘Me Against The World’, my music is usually instrumental so I felt like it had the space for a rapper.

Don’t think we’re not going to talk about your debut album, Voices. Congratulations – it’s a beautiful project. Can you dive into the creative process behind this project? What hurdles did you have to jump in order to create this project? (Focus on the creative/mental process, please)

Thanks heaps for listening. I wanted this project to break out of my own pigeon hole and to be interesting as a standalone body of work. I used different tools and instruments and taught myself to modify bits of gear to try and switch up my sound but most importantly I made a conscious effort to avoid falling into any songwriting habits I usually lean on. Don’t get me wrong, there’s similarities between this and older work but I feel like the free form of this project is more present than some of my other stuff.

Also, can you give us a who, what, and why on this mysterious visual for “Voices”?

A really talented artist I know who goes by ‘Lucy’ made this piece. We wanted it to show that my instrumental music is my voice so there’s no singer in a normal sense but It still tries to sing to people I guess.  

What would you tell someone that is trying to follow in your footsteps?

I dunno if I’d recommend following my footsteps but I try help people when they ask about starting to get their music into the world. I guess I’d say – Back yourself even if the whole world makes you feel like backing yourself is crazy. Make music that you believe in and then believe in it.

Is there something you want the Kamandi brand to represent? What do you want people to think when they first see/hear you?

At this point I just want to be creative. To me, creating is making something new, so I hope people get something interesting that they haven’t heard before when they listen to my music.

What is it about music that made you devote your life to it?

The feeling some music gives me is indescribable and that’s almost the point. It can’t be described cos it speaks louder than words. I badly wanted to be able to communicate with people in that way, I don’t know why I needed to but I did and I still do. So, I sat in my room day in and day out working on speaking my mind through this music. I hope that doesn’t sound dumb or pretentious but it’s the truth.

What is something people wouldn’t know about Kamandi if they didn’t know Tyrone Frost?

I can’t eat ice blocks or anything with a wooden stick in cos the texture of the stick is too much for me.

What do you have planned for the future?

Movies for sure. I really want to make more music for movies so I’m putting that into the universe lately.

If you could give everyone in the world one tangible object to better their lives, what would it be?

A book called ‘As a man thinketh’ but it should be called ‘As a person thinketh’ cos no need to put a gender on it. ’As a man thinketh in his heart so is he’.

 

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