No stranger to the international scene, Nytrix has toured throughout China, UK, Canada & across his homeland – filling clubs and festivals the world over, with his cyberpunk infused aesthetic & bringing a uniquely energetic experience. As the multi-talented Los Angeles based artist continues to deliver powerful records that resonate with fans around the world, we caught up with Nytrix to discuss his highly anticipated, “1 Hour Melodic Bass Set” & plans for the future!
GDE: Hey Nytrix! Thanks for joining us & welcome to Global Dance Electronic! How’s your year been so far?
Nytrix: Very busy actually. I just got a new apartment (I move every 12 – 14 months) depending on my apartment lease. I feel like, it’s really important for an artist to move every year – you get a sense of new beginnings and a clear slate of goals. So, I’m actually typing this from “week 2” in my new place! In addition to that, I have cut about 6 vocals this year so far, on unreleased tracks and collaborations and shot 2 music videos, for singles – still unreleased. So just in the first 3 months, I’ve been hard at work.
GDE: Let’s jump straight in and talk about your latest Live show “Melodic Bass Set”, it’s the perfect escape soundtrack & we can’t get enough of it! Can you talk us through your track list choices, accompanying visuals & the overall soundscape vibe you set out to achieve?
Nytrix: With my music project, I always try to take my followers, on an escape. I don’t often do any interviews or behind the scenes ever. I like to sort of let my followers have their own relationship with the art and the music. Never really explaining things, never really showing how it’s made or how it’s all done. I’ve never really been a fan of that tbh. I love mystery and questioning, when looking at art. So, with my live show and it’s visuals, it’s a kaleidoscope of all my music videos and visuals that connect and blend it all together. I tried really hard with this set, to take my followers on a sonic and visual journey with ever changing and rarely repeating visuals. I really tried to craft a wide visual landscape, as well as sonic. Musically I wanted to keep it in a really dense melodic world, not straying too far from a euphoric and ethereal atmosphere. While there are a few points where it gets a bit bass heavy, I feel like it was just enough to break up some of the vocal and more slowed down live elements. It was really awesome, to performs a lot of my catalogue live. Moving forward, most of my shows will be a 70/30 split between mixing and live vocals, with vocal performance being on the 70 side.
GDE: You’ve toured around the globe & had numerous successful releases, signed to highly respected labels. Looking back across your artist career to date, what has been a stand out moment or achievement that you feel most proud of?
Nytrix: There are a couple moments, that really stand out. Tbh, any release I have, no matter what label, has a huge part of my soul in it. Even if the song gets 10k streams or 100 million streams, they all really mean the same value to me. Whenever you hear a ‘Nytrix’ track, my entire soul was invested into it. I’m a bit of an EDM Taylor swift, when story-telling, as they are based off of my personal life, and twisted into a fantasy lyric. I work very hard to create the visual artwork and music video art work as well – from every single cover, music video (wardrobe design, hair and makeup design, lighting design, creative and film direction, etc) vocal production, track production, always around 70 different mixes and masters of the song, etc. I really pour my entire life and being into it. So, when you get a piece of Nytrix art, it is never random, and never just there because it’s there, everything has a purpose. My greatest achievement though, hmmm… that’s a hard one… When my EP “Artificial Order” went to #2 on iTunes Dance Chart, that was pretty crazy tbh. Besides that, I would say a mix between my songs, “Only in a Dream” and “Breathe”. Both songs, were actually about the same relationship, sort of the beginning (Breathe) and end (Only in a Dream) of it. “Breathe” really was a proud moment for me as an artist. I was just coming off a failed Top 40 radio campaign with my song “Love Never Died.” And while that record flew through the clubs, up the billboard dance chart, and the Laidback Luke remix played around the world in nightclubs and festivals, when my old camp and I attempted to bring it to a national level, and really have a break out moment at mainstream radio, it just didn’t hit in that way. And maybe it wasn’t supposed to? But when I held a remix contest for that song, I met a producer via the internet (his name is Awakend), who won the remix contest. And we became online friends. I asked if he had any unreleased tracks, and he sent me tracks of his latest works, and in that playlist and I heard an early stage of the track “Breathe”. I remember doing my last radio interview in Seattle, and sitting on my hotel room bed, feeling pretty sad and disappointed in the radio campaign, and sort of realizing, I’m gonna need to re-access what to do next. And I remember hearing the early stage of that track as an instrumental and being like… I think, I still got one more song left in me. Not that I was at a point of giving up, but it was more a point of like, “what the hell am I gonna do next? Do I even have the spirit, drive, and brain power to continue really doing this?” I really didn’t know what to do with my career… I was a bit lost honestly. But, after writing the vocal and reworking the track a bit, we made the song “Breathe”. And set me back up again. And when the song was released, it really spread through the YouTube community. It was signed to Proximity and gained millions of plays. After that, a spark was lit up in me, and I just started to write a ton. If it wasn’t for my peer, this interview probably wouldn’t be happening to be honest, so in addition to the music accolades, one of my greatest accomplishments, was honestly finding a true friend in the music industry. I know that sounds bizarre but it’s real. We sort of constantly keep each other motivated and driven. It’s rare to find, but when you find a peer in the industry like this, and you both really want to see each other win, hold onto that person, cause its few and far between. We actually have our follow up collab releasing on Proximity April 27th, and I couldn’t be more excited for it. So yeah, those are some of my greatest accomplishments. That was a long answer, but that’s what interviews are for right?!
GDE: What has been most influential in creating your own distinct style / sound & are there any labels or DJs that have particularly inspired you along the way?
Nytrix: I am inspired by so many artists. That range from Rufus Wainwright, Damien rice, James Blake, Britney Spears, David Guetta, Lady Gaga, Seven Lions, The Pussycat Dolls, Chris Brown, soundtracks to movies, every house producer you can think of, Burns, Kerli, Luciana, Kiesza, Alexandra Stan, etc. My range of music is SO all over the place, Spotify and Apple Music algorithms honestly have no idea what to suggest to me, lol. But, my true love, is vocal production. That is my “sound” tbh. – Learning how to manipulate my voice to create the vocal you hear as “Nytrix”. It’s a completely moulded vocal. It takes me 2 to 3 weeks to make my vocal. Almost each word is punched in, sometimes, one word is made up of 3 different takes, and this applies to the backgrounds and harmonies that go around the lead. I look at my vocals, almost like a sculpture. Moulding each and every word to have a distinct feeling and texture. It’s a bit exhausting tbh, but it’s why it sounds the way it does. I’m actually about to do a tutorial on how I make my voice sound the way it does. But who ‘inspired’ me the most, would probably be the first vocal producer I ever worked with, Mischke. He does vocal production for so many mainstream Top 40 artists, I really learned everything I know from him. And also, he really set the bar of what is quality. Whenever I work with him, I know I can never phone it in, I have so much respect for him, I actually can’t ever just, throw a “rough” vocal his way, because I would be embarrassed. He would be the most influential person to me as an artist, I think. There is never a day I cut a vocal, where thing’s he’s said to me, don’t come into my headspace. Like, I always think, what would he say if he heard this take? And if it sounds just “ok” I know I have to re-do it. So, he is honestly my greatest music inspiration. He really taught me what it meant to make a high quality vocal, and the worth of what that really means.
GDE: Can you tell us about one of the best shows you’ve attended or performed at & what made it so special?
Nytrix: The best show I ever performed was in DC at Echo Stage closing out Au5’s set, performing “Only in a Dream”, opening for Seven Lions. The entire reason my ‘melodic’ catalogue exists was because of the collab he did with Kerli (Worlds Apart). If it wasn’t for that song, there wouldn’t have been the song “Love Never Died” tbh… that was completely inspired by that song. And without that, there would have never been “Only in a Dream”, so for me, personally, it was a complete full circle moment.
GDE: In the past year, with all the disruptions – what’s been the biggest change in terms of the way you work & what have you missed doing the most?
Nytrix: Well, I kinda left reality for a bit, as did everyone right? but in a way, it was very helpful and healing to me. I kinda found myself again? I have been hustling since I moved to LA, which was in 2010… and honestly, never really completely turned off my drive and hustle, until the pandemic, even though I had a couple releases in 2020, the hustle, was really shut down. I did a bunch of stuff outside of music. Worked random side jobs, got lost in a romantic relationship, lived in a very strange apartment – and honestly, kinda left reality. It truly made me realize how important and meaningful this career and job is to me – to be an artist. It’s who I am. I am a performer; I am an artist. It’s literally in my DNA. I’m always imagining, different visuals and songs, and am SO excited when talking to different producers and artists to collaborate with. I see visions, I love making music videos for other artists, and helping creatively direct different artists with their projects. I truly didn’t realize it was my destiny until it was all taken away. But now that I learned that, I couldn’t be more motived.
GDE: And finally, looking further into 2021 and beyond – do you have any upcoming projects you can share with us & what are some of the next goals and objectives in the pipeline for Nytrix?
Nytrix: Yes! I have a release up and coming with Proximity, Ninety9Lives, and Heaven Sent. I also have collabs with other amazing artists and producers with tracks that haven’t been signed yet, but definitely some major visuals and tracks on the horizon. I feel the fire again, for the first time since 2018. Excited to give the world Nytrix 3.0
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