The Range

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Delve into a world where rolling rhythms flutter and eventually smack into a sea of rushing beats that wash over your senses care of electronic music’s most exciting new act, The Range. Rhode Island’s only footwork meets hip hop and R&B producer, James Hinton, recently released his fantasyland-inspired anxiety attack of an EP, Seneca to overwhelmingly accepting audience.

The three track EP, filled with an excitable mix of clicks, wails, shakes and pops, is coupled with surging, gauzy beats, unexpected footwork tempos, and delicately, sparse piano keys, and serves as Hinton’s introduction to his playfully brilliant take on bass music.

Making his mark on the music scene through inventive Mysktial samples, breathy high pitched words that race through rumbling footwork rhythms, quirky percussion and effects ranging from shiny squeaks to huffing fumes of digitized beats, and what’s most notable is Hinton’s ability to conceptualize it all. Creating a dichotomy of emotions out of opposing sounds; lofty infinite feelings of singularity, juxtaposed with rushing bouts of excitement, all of which make Seneca one of the most brilliantly inventive releases we’ve heard this year.

Through our chat with the young producer Best Fit uncovers his expansive range of musical influences, how to make a Ciara melody sound even better and find how exactly a “Greg Maddux change up” correlates to music.

Who and what is The Range?

I’m James Hinton from Providence, RI in the states. I’ve released two EP’s on Donky Pitch (Brighton), first Disk and now Seneca, and one album on Astro Nautico (Brooklyn), The Big Dip.

Where does your sound come from? Influence wise…

I am definitely thinking a lot about footwork, jungle and radio R&B now. So I would say the idea of Metalheadz in the 90’s and Elmoe, The Host, and some of the newer Keyshia Cole. I’ve also been listening to a lot of Friendzone lately.

So you’re from the US, I would have guessed otherwise based on your music. Do you get that alot?

That’s interesting that you say that, I guess I never really thought about it. Everything is so blended for me at this point I don’t know which way is up. I’m a huge fan of a lot of stuff that has come out/is coming out of Europe so that might be finding its way into my music.

Is there a big electronic music scene in Rhode Island? Does it matter?

Well, more or less no and no. The original electronic music is almost all hardware-only, knob-twisting stuff and derives a lot from the historically strong noise scene here. There is definitely always something happening, even if its not quite what I’m focused on. I do have a few close music friends here and I really like the shows we organize. Plus, its great that its easy to travel to New York for shows.

Was there a catalyst that sparked your desire to start producing?

I always remember making music, I played the drums growing up and it seemed natural to play synthesizer along on recordings. Retrospectively I was just making drum and bass but it was really fun and I just kept up with it.

How would you describe your music to your parents before they had heard any recordings?

I suppose I would say its hyper percussion with nice harmonies. In practice I just usually say ‘I make music on my laptop’ and hope I get to eat Thanksgiving dinner without more questioning.

You first caught my attention with your Ciara edit, ‘Promises’. How did that track come about? Why Ciara?

That track in particular has such great harmonies in the middle prechorus section, the ‘you can be my prince’ bit. I really wanted to make something to fill out that part so I started working on something in the middle and built it from there. As to why Ciara, I think she really enunciates and that is attractive from a bending point of view. Also, ‘Ride’.

You’ve just released your fantastic Seneca EP on Donky Pitch. It’s such a unique take on bass music. Can you talk about what tools and equipment you used to create this release?

I’m entirely on my computer, just Logic, MIDI keyboard and a drum pad. I’m a big proponent of computer-only work with music as you can find almost anything you need online cheaply. I think sometimes people get so caught up in gear that they forget they have an EQ and compressor.

The track, ‘Greg Maddux Change Up’ kind of blew my mind. It’s really creative. Can you break down ‘GMCU’ for me?

I wrote GMCU in 2011 for the most part, I had found Mystikal being a total weirdo with the sample in the beginning section and I wanted to use it somehow in a song. At the time I had just written most of ‘The Big Dip’ and had become interested in pushing underlying percussion to be relatively complex against a more straightforward harmonic structure. I remember being particularly excited about Greg Maddux Change Up when I got the ending vocal together. It perfectly captures that time for me.

Would you say your style progression on that track is a “Greg Maddux change up”?

Haha. Someone said in a review that the song hung on so long that they forgot it was going anywhere which is exactly how I remember Greg Maddux pitching, so I’ll take that read and run with it.

What are your favorite sounds and samples used on Seneca?

I really like the drum line in ‘PS 3’, it was a pretty painstaking process for me to stitch that line together. I’m also pretty attached to the vocal material, many of the small vocal cuts were taken from recordings around Providence last summer so I associate a lot of memories with them.

Your three tracks on Seneca occupy two different spheres of emotions, if you will. A lofty infinite feeling of singularity, along with this rushing bout of excitement, it’s really an interesting dichotomy. Would you agree?

I definitely would. I think it has something to do with the sublime. I try to approach that mix of reflection, awe, and some kind of rush in pretty much everything I make and am not really satisfied unless it really makes me feel something greater than where I am physically or mentally at the time.

Seneca is playful, yet meticulous, and not overly polished in any way. I mean, you use a lot of distortion, perhaps to help blend styles and sounds. Whatever you do, it’s one of my favorite EPs of 2013 hands down. Did the EP come out the way you were hoping it would?

I think one of the main traps an EP can fall into is to simply be a collection of singles. As a whole these songs take a complete snapshot of where I am musically, and work together to form a greater statement, so I’m pleased with how it came out.

What does it feel like when you listen to your music?

It’s hard to not listen to your own work with a critical ear, but its amazing with those songs or moments where everything falls into place.

Your EP also includes three remixes. Why did you choose Obey City, Howse and Supreme Cuts in particular to remix this project?

They are all my good friends and I had wanted to have them do remixes for me for a while! They are each involved in an area of music that I am pretty passionate about – Obey City with lush and rhythmically compelling R&B, Howse with kind of ambient footwork, and Supreme Cuts making some of the most wild rap production I have heard in a while. I think my music sits somewhere in between that triangle, so it was good to be able to have them each bring out those elements in my songs.

What’s next for The Range?

Right now I am working on a lot of tracks for my LP on Donky Pitch in Fall 2013. I am also working on beats for a few people, but nothing is set in stone just yet.

I read in an interview, that you’re a finance genius. Is it true, the best things in life, are in fact free?

Physics and economics specialist yes, finance genius not so sure, but yes, of course.

The Range’s Seneca EP is out now via Donky Pitch.