SLC's SHAOMA Follows Inspiration to New Heights with 'The Rise'

Gifted SLC based producer (and sometimes DJ) Shaoma is putting out a new single this week that will make you think twice about the quality of artists making electronic music here. I asked him to describe the inspiration and process of making THE RISE :

"I'm not sure where to start. This track kinda came out of left field and kinda took me by surprise, there wasn't any premeditation or whatever... I guess it's a composite of many of the musical influences that have made an impact on me.

It started when I ran into an old friend in the park on the 71st anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attacks. He's 83 years old and was a rocket scientist during WWII and was at Pearl Harbor. He was one of the regulars from my Oyster Bar bartending days. Anyway, later that day I pulled out an old WWII radio broadcast LP I have, and decided to sample some bits from it.

I muted the samples and started messin' around on the keyboard. Ideas kinda just seemed to fall into place and it didn't take very long to sketch out a complete song structure. I'd forgotten about the WWII samples so I brought them back and I liked how they fit with the music.

Suddenly there was a deluge of ideas rushing through my head, and it became this weird self-inflicted race against time to capture as many of them as I could before they disappeared into oblivion. I decided I wanted to release it and the mastering engineer needed the final mix asap so he could get it done before he left on holiday. So I locked myself in the studio for two days and finished it."

This seems like a departure point for you looking at your previous output on Busy Horse Records as MAZAIBUZAI. Do you have any thoughts on why that is or where you want to progress after THE RISE is released? Seems like the perfect starting point for a new album:

"I can't really speak to what direction i'm heading with everything. I've always been pulled in a thousand different directions at the same time and it's next to impossible for me to focus on any one in particular. My classical roots go pretty deep so that's always going to be a big influence on my music, but I've always loved the rawness of underground bass music too... I guess I'm just trying to find a good balance of musicality and sonic impact."

► Listen/Preview at Soundcloud.

Pre-order of THE RISE in your choice of MP3 320, FLAC, or other formats. A link to the album download will be emailed to you the moment it’s released. ($0.99 USD or more)

Releases 21 December 2012 on Bandcamp and iTunes