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This Sanctuary article has been a long time coming. Andrew Chris has earned my utmost respect as a fellow musician, creator, and business leader over the past 3 years, since that first fateful MIC Internship Job Application he sent me on March 1, 2016. He was already running his own collective, On Tap, with a similar mission to MIC in the vein that the more the merrier and more productive, when indie musicians work together -- and he quickly turned from a MIC intern into the producer that added the Dream Hop sound to Millaze, after my literal life-long search.
So, I proudly introduce you to the one and only Andrew Chris -- because today is the massive release of his Dream Hop LP. It's an aural-visual experience. A trip. No, I can't describe it in typed words you need to go watch it on YouTube at 4:20 when it's released -- and go follow him on social media for the official link, it's all secretive and cool. Till then, read all about him here, exclusively.
Let's go.
I went by a lot of names throughout the years… School of Thought, FM SNÖ, dERS, 2caps, etc. None of them truly felt right. Andrew Chris is my actual birth certificate name. I saw the Ray Charles movie with Jamie Foxx last year, and there’s a scene where his manager tells him that they’re going to use his middle name instead of his last name because it had a better ring. Kendrick Llamar did the same thing.
It’s also meant to be a huge shoutout to my dad, Chris Haran, where I get my middle name from. He really opened my eyes to the magic of music. I saw how much he and his whole generation respected guitarists (“Clapton is God.”). Not only did he make me initially want to become a musician, but he did everything in his power to see that dream through. He paid for and drove me to lessons once or twice every single week for 9 years. The way I see it, he’s still my #1 fan, and I was proud to tout his name as part of the branding.
I started on guitar when I was 9. It’s the only instrument I’ve ever taken a lesson for. I just wanted to be Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, and David Gilmour. And look where that took me (chuckles).
I now look up to Scott Mescudi, Mac Miller, Tyler, the Creator, Travis Scott, Dan Auerbach, Donald Glover, & Kevin Parker in the same way. All 10 of those legends dedicated their lives to becoming a power worth being. To me, there’s really no greater honor for a human being than going down in history as a music legend. That’s just the craziest concept to me. Not just because of the recognition, but mostly because the amount that you inspire the rest of the population to do something magical… and music is @#$%ing magic.
It’s actually the genre I coined in attempt to describe my sound. “Experimental”, “psychedelic”, “trip-hop”, “alt-rap”, just didn’t properly represent me. My music is trippy, yet natural… like a dream. It attempts to piece together thoughts, notions, experiences, circumstances, just like your brain during sleep. Dreams are windows into your mind. They’re little moments of your subconscious leaking into your consciousness. I’m a firm believer of trusting your subconscious to figure out solutions.
Dreams are so important… for cognitive performance, for mental health, for physical health. This winter I got sooooo sick with tonsillitis. I’m talking 4 days straight of sleep. During my recovery, I happened to watch this Joe Rogan podcast with The Sleep Ambassador, Matthew Walker PhD. He talked about this new study that found that #1 correlated item to Alzheimer’s was a lack of sleep over a lifespan. Night shifts are even considered a “known carcinogen” in London.
More importantly, he talked about when your brain saves up dreams for when you’re catching up on sleep. There’s actually monks that deprive themselves of sleep for months and then sleep all day everyday for a week. Apparently, they have the most intensely lucid dreams and come to enormous conclusions.
This explained everything about what I meant by Dream Hop. Before I got sick, I had all of these fragmented ideas for my next album. Each and every time that I woke up that week, I had dozens of fully concluded concepts. It was magic. That’s when I decided on Andrew Chris, the owl as a logo, the Twin Peaks involvement, certain lyrics and sounds, and even complex new processing methods especially with reverb. When I sat down to make the 25 tracks (meant to represent the 25 years that Agent Cooper is trapped in the Red Room in Twin Peaks), I kept finding myself innovating my means of production. And I wasn’t even trying to think outside the box for the means, only the content. But my brain had so much quality dream time that it new exactly what to do.
Did I mention that music is @#$%ing magic?
The truth is, I try to minimize thinking during the actual production. Sure, I study and plan beforehand, but when I’m actually creating, I let go of the controls and trust my subconscious to lead the way. I try to capture exactly what I naturally would do, since that is the most deeply unique thing I’ve ever gotten to know: myself.
Synesthetic musicians like John Mayer say that they “hear colors” and “see sounds”. But for me, it’s more of a vivid circumstance that I see and hear simultaneously. Like a dream. I hit a note on a synth and immediately picture some sort of particular.
For example, my buddy Joe and do this thing we call “beat connoisseurship”. It started as me showing him the newest instrumentals I made since last time we hung out. We’d sit there trying all different types of coffees and talk about the flavor notes, body, acidity, etc. We started to do the same thing with the music I had on.
We’d sit there and listen then talk about what the song sounds/looks/feels like. “This one sounds like some sort of slow forward motion… like a parade.” “This one sounds like the temperature is rising.” “This one feels like driving along the Pacific coast highway in a vintage pastel colored convertible with red velvet interior.“ “This one reminds me of the smell of rain.” “This one sounds like a ghost-pirate ship dance party. As if they’re all coming out of the woodwork. There’s a lot of worn, dark wood petrified with a vibrant teal.” (chuckles)
Did I mention music is @#$%ing magic?
Music wise, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton were like my holy trinity of gods at age 9. All 4 members of Led Zeppelin were the kings of their own instruments. The chemistry between them was something that I’ve still never seen since.
From 4th-7th grade, my go to artists were The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Band of Gypsies, Led Zeppelin, Cream, Pink Floyd, Van Halen, Ten Years After, Deep Purple, & Mountain.
In 7th grade, I saw the video to Day & Night by Kid Cudi in an American Eagle. It was the first rap song I truly adored at first glance, but I didn’t look into it. Soon after, I heard my sister Julie playing Solo Dolo from her laptop. I paused LimeWire to ask her what the @#$% that was. So you can thank Scott Mescudi for my love of hip hop.
In High School, I played in a band with Jake Guerra & Phil Iannelli that sounded like The Black Keys, Cage the Elephant, The White Stripes, & Band of Skulls. We were pretty @#$%ing good. Phil introduced us to .daw’s. He got it for christmas & I used his account for the next 3 years or so. Jake came over to Phil’s one day and said “hey guys, I released a song!” What a concept. One of us made a @#$%ing song that was out in the ether for anybody to hear. Holy @#$%ing @#$%.
Still to this day, the people I look up to most are my music friends. I need them like Michael Scott needs laughs. There’s nothing I respect more than someone curating their talents and really putting their time and energy into making something out of it. It pushes me to outdo them and myself.
People always tell me that my work ethic astounds them. My ability to sit down for hours on end and focus on one task until it’s done. My secret is that my energy comes from that drive to be somebody who people look up to. Just like my dad looked up to Eric Clapton. Just like I look up to Tyler, the Creator for making his own beats and branding. Just like I looked up to Jake for releasing a song.
Man, music really is @#$%ing magic.
Now that I have a huge collection of audiovisual material, I plan on creating a really amazing live experience. Andy Warhol x Flying Lotus type @#$%. So far, my music shows have mostly emphasized my musical talent (like opening shows by making a beat loop on the spot). Now it’s time to bust out all the stops.
I hopefully will be performing at the 60th annual Three Rivers Arts Festival at Point State Park, downtown Pittsburgh. That event has always made me so proud to be a Pittsburgh citizen and it will be incredible to be part of the living exhibition. You can also expect to see me play around town at various venues & warehouse shows.
Dream Hop Episode II is in the works. I’ll give a little time for everybody to watch the 55 minute audiovisual experience that is the Dream Hop LP.
I’ll also be focusing a lot on On Tap TV’s YouTube channel. I started this new series, “Why _____ is @#$%ing Genius”, outlining the importance of various musicians, directors, films, media theorists, etc.
Follow Andrew Chris wherever you listen to music and watch Dream Hop at 4:20 with the link he posts on his social media - or here on the On Tap YouTube Channel.
This Sanctuary article has been a long time coming. Andrew Chris has earned my utmost respect as a fellow musician, creator, and business leader over the past 3 years, since that first fateful MIC Internship Job Application he sent me on March 1, 2016. He was already running his own collective, On Tap, with a similar mission to MIC in the vein that the more the merrier and more productive, when indie musicians work together -- and he quickly turned from a MIC intern into the producer that added the Dream Hop sound to Millaze, after my literal life-long search.
So, I proudly introduce you to the one and only Andrew Chris -- because today is the massive release of his Dream Hop LP. It's an aural-visual experience. A trip. No, I can't describe it in typed words you need to go watch it on YouTube at 4:20 when it's released -- and go follow him on social media for the official link, it's all secretive and cool. Till then, read all about him here, exclusively.
Let's go.
I went by a lot of names throughout the years… School of Thought, FM SNÖ, dERS, 2caps, etc. None of them truly felt right. Andrew Chris is my actual birth certificate name. I saw the Ray Charles movie with Jamie Foxx last year, and there’s a scene where his manager tells him that they’re going to use his middle name instead of his last name because it had a better ring. Kendrick Llamar did the same thing.
It’s also meant to be a huge shoutout to my dad, Chris Haran, where I get my middle name from. He really opened my eyes to the magic of music. I saw how much he and his whole generation respected guitarists (“Clapton is God.”). Not only did he make me initially want to become a musician, but he did everything in his power to see that dream through. He paid for and drove me to lessons once or twice every single week for 9 years. The way I see it, he’s still my #1 fan, and I was proud to tout his name as part of the branding.
I started on guitar when I was 9. It’s the only instrument I’ve ever taken a lesson for. I just wanted to be Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, and David Gilmour. And look where that took me (chuckles).
I now look up to Scott Mescudi, Mac Miller, Tyler, the Creator, Travis Scott, Dan Auerbach, Donald Glover, & Kevin Parker in the same way. All 10 of those legends dedicated their lives to becoming a power worth being. To me, there’s really no greater honor for a human being than going down in history as a music legend. That’s just the craziest concept to me. Not just because of the recognition, but mostly because the amount that you inspire the rest of the population to do something magical… and music is @#$%ing magic.
It’s actually the genre I coined in attempt to describe my sound. “Experimental”, “psychedelic”, “trip-hop”, “alt-rap”, just didn’t properly represent me. My music is trippy, yet natural… like a dream. It attempts to piece together thoughts, notions, experiences, circumstances, just like your brain during sleep. Dreams are windows into your mind. They’re little moments of your subconscious leaking into your consciousness. I’m a firm believer of trusting your subconscious to figure out solutions.
Dreams are so important… for cognitive performance, for mental health, for physical health. This winter I got sooooo sick with tonsillitis. I’m talking 4 days straight of sleep. During my recovery, I happened to watch this Joe Rogan podcast with The Sleep Ambassador, Matthew Walker PhD. He talked about this new study that found that #1 correlated item to Alzheimer’s was a lack of sleep over a lifespan. Night shifts are even considered a “known carcinogen” in London.
More importantly, he talked about when your brain saves up dreams for when you’re catching up on sleep. There’s actually monks that deprive themselves of sleep for months and then sleep all day everyday for a week. Apparently, they have the most intensely lucid dreams and come to enormous conclusions.
This explained everything about what I meant by Dream Hop. Before I got sick, I had all of these fragmented ideas for my next album. Each and every time that I woke up that week, I had dozens of fully concluded concepts. It was magic. That’s when I decided on Andrew Chris, the owl as a logo, the Twin Peaks involvement, certain lyrics and sounds, and even complex new processing methods especially with reverb. When I sat down to make the 25 tracks (meant to represent the 25 years that Agent Cooper is trapped in the Red Room in Twin Peaks), I kept finding myself innovating my means of production. And I wasn’t even trying to think outside the box for the means, only the content. But my brain had so much quality dream time that it new exactly what to do.
Did I mention that music is @#$%ing magic?
The truth is, I try to minimize thinking during the actual production. Sure, I study and plan beforehand, but when I’m actually creating, I let go of the controls and trust my subconscious to lead the way. I try to capture exactly what I naturally would do, since that is the most deeply unique thing I’ve ever gotten to know: myself.
Synesthetic musicians like John Mayer say that they “hear colors” and “see sounds”. But for me, it’s more of a vivid circumstance that I see and hear simultaneously. Like a dream. I hit a note on a synth and immediately picture some sort of particular.
For example, my buddy Joe and do this thing we call “beat connoisseurship”. It started as me showing him the newest instrumentals I made since last time we hung out. We’d sit there trying all different types of coffees and talk about the flavor notes, body, acidity, etc. We started to do the same thing with the music I had on.
We’d sit there and listen then talk about what the song sounds/looks/feels like. “This one sounds like some sort of slow forward motion… like a parade.” “This one sounds like the temperature is rising.” “This one feels like driving along the Pacific coast highway in a vintage pastel colored convertible with red velvet interior.“ “This one reminds me of the smell of rain.” “This one sounds like a ghost-pirate ship dance party. As if they’re all coming out of the woodwork. There’s a lot of worn, dark wood petrified with a vibrant teal.” (chuckles)
Did I mention music is @#$%ing magic?
Music wise, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton were like my holy trinity of gods at age 9. All 4 members of Led Zeppelin were the kings of their own instruments. The chemistry between them was something that I’ve still never seen since.
From 4th-7th grade, my go to artists were The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Band of Gypsies, Led Zeppelin, Cream, Pink Floyd, Van Halen, Ten Years After, Deep Purple, & Mountain.
In 7th grade, I saw the video to Day & Night by Kid Cudi in an American Eagle. It was the first rap song I truly adored at first glance, but I didn’t look into it. Soon after, I heard my sister Julie playing Solo Dolo from her laptop. I paused LimeWire to ask her what the @#$% that was. So you can thank Scott Mescudi for my love of hip hop.
In High School, I played in a band with Jake Guerra & Phil Iannelli that sounded like The Black Keys, Cage the Elephant, The White Stripes, & Band of Skulls. We were pretty @#$%ing good. Phil introduced us to .daw’s. He got it for christmas & I used his account for the next 3 years or so. Jake came over to Phil’s one day and said “hey guys, I released a song!” What a concept. One of us made a @#$%ing song that was out in the ether for anybody to hear. Holy @#$%ing @#$%.
Still to this day, the people I look up to most are my music friends. I need them like Michael Scott needs laughs. There’s nothing I respect more than someone curating their talents and really putting their time and energy into making something out of it. It pushes me to outdo them and myself.
People always tell me that my work ethic astounds them. My ability to sit down for hours on end and focus on one task until it’s done. My secret is that my energy comes from that drive to be somebody who people look up to. Just like my dad looked up to Eric Clapton. Just like I look up to Tyler, the Creator for making his own beats and branding. Just like I looked up to Jake for releasing a song.
Man, music really is @#$%ing magic.
Now that I have a huge collection of audiovisual material, I plan on creating a really amazing live experience. Andy Warhol x Flying Lotus type @#$%. So far, my music shows have mostly emphasized my musical talent (like opening shows by making a beat loop on the spot). Now it’s time to bust out all the stops.
I hopefully will be performing at the 60th annual Three Rivers Arts Festival at Point State Park, downtown Pittsburgh. That event has always made me so proud to be a Pittsburgh citizen and it will be incredible to be part of the living exhibition. You can also expect to see me play around town at various venues & warehouse shows.
Dream Hop Episode II is in the works. I’ll give a little time for everybody to watch the 55 minute audiovisual experience that is the Dream Hop LP.
I’ll also be focusing a lot on On Tap TV’s YouTube channel. I started this new series, “Why _____ is @#$%ing Genius”, outlining the importance of various musicians, directors, films, media theorists, etc.
Follow Andrew Chris wherever you listen to music and watch Dream Hop at 4:20 with the link he posts on his social media - or here on the On Tap YouTube Channel.
Find us @theMICmountain on social media because we, too, are humans on our phones.
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