Monsieur Frazier from Los Angeles started to DJ when he was residing in California’s Isla Vista neighborhood and was a sophomore student of Santa Barbara City College. Frazier stated that because DJing was his calling at the time, he figured out the way to do so. He started to produce a while after he left college prematurely as well as met Micah Smith, his business partner and production partner. Around 2011, it pretty much became serious after Smith and Frazier met and began working together.
Several things impact Frazier, so he finds it tricky to describe what he sounds like nowadays. Nevertheless, he tries his best to describe it. He told LA Weekly that his sound is rooted in the genres he was working in nine years ago: jazzy/soulful, funky house, and deep house. That said, some breaks, techno, acid, UK garage, bass, rap, hip hop, contemporary rhythm and blues as well as some lo-fi, bedroom pop and indie dance affect his sound. He likes to attempt to make it all effective under the bedrock of conventional dance music such as classic NY house, Chicago house as well as Detroit electro and techno music. Frazier describes his sound as an amalgamation of all the above.
Frazier feels that this is not a bad time for Los Angeles electronic music, even though LA has a pandemic situation. Los Angeles has been having a supportive and close-knit music scene for a long time. Frazier reckons that it is more supportive and close-knit than ever before and that there is beautiful creative collaboration in the music scene. According to Frazier, all want to help out each other with creativity and want success for each other. That does not mean that the Los Angeles music scene lacks competition. Only, the little competition that exists here does not entail people exploiting each other or doing some shady stuff.
If one person does not treat another well in the music scene, says Frazier, it would become news within the fraternity, and they would lose the support of others here. Then again, Frazier considers the music scene to be large enough to let everyone have a successful and fun show and benefit from it financially. As a disk jockey and producer, Frazier founded an artist collective/event brand known as Understated with Zach Piehl and Smith. Frazier stated that it has been challenging to return to work after the pandemic-induced lockdown, but he and his friends could make things work. His friends not only host events but are also willing to work with Understated.
Frazier stated that the willingness signals the inherent characteristics of the Los Angeles music scene. He seems excited about the release of his single entitled ‘Keep You Close’ with Nick Garcia. With some distinct yet subtle concepts and themes, Keep You Close is about a woman who Frazier was fond of and dating. The relationship ended in a way that Frazier did not expect, and he was disappointed that they never went past their dating stage. Frazier described the lyrics of the song as him attempting to gas himself up and show himself a bit of self-love. It is his single sonically as well as Garcia’s attempt to produce a track that falls in the UK garage (UKG) genre, with hip-hop and acid house touches.
The single comes as part of his first extended play (EP), which is named after himself. Remarkably, Frazier took the effort to craft the EP in the middle of a global pandemic. The EP has other tracks, but Keep You Close is the lead single in it.
Rappers such as Pop Smoke inspired Frazier, especially how Smoke introduced the UK drill genre to the US rap scene. Frazier reckons that Smoke had a brilliant ability to do so and wondered why rappers in the US could not do the same for electronic dance music too.
There is much to look forward to for Frazier this year. For instance, he will bring an end to the summer season with some shows as well as spend the rest of 2021 in his studio to a great extent. He has had shows virtually every week throughout the summertime since the middle of June. While he described it as a fun summer experience, it is also an endeavor that left him without much time to create new music. He now has the time to do so and is excited about getting back to doing what he perhaps does best.
