Interview with Groundislava

[dropcap size=big]G[/dropcap]roundislava (Jasper Patterson) is an L.A. Native who makes beautiful, cinematic electronic music. A founding member of the Wedidit collective, his evolution from beatmaker to creator of full-on galaxies of sound reaches a new apex with his forthcoming album, Endless Voyage, which will be released later this month. The first single is here now (stream below), and features vocals by actor/singer Jake Weary. As longtime fans, we relished the chance to learn more about Patterson's creative process, relationship to Los Angeles, and of course find out the answer to the main question:

What's your favorite taco spot?
That's hard to decide as someone who grew up in LA. Growing up in Mar Vista there were a lot of great taco places and Oaxaquen food. I would say that the taco places I went to the most were in other parts of town, as I usually eat tacos when I'm out doing stuff... I definitely ate a ton of al pastor tacos from Leo's on La Brea and Venice, as well as El Chato a few blocks down (although their line is obnoxious.) On the westside I ate tacos from Mariscos Guillen La Playita on Lincoln a ton, but I wouldn't say those are my favorite tacos by any means, they were more of a side dish for their cóctel. In general some of my more sentimental favorites are definitely what I now consider mediocre westside taco spots, but in the grand scheme of tacos for most people they were still great (we're just taco snobs in LA aren't we?).

You grew up in Los Angeles, what are some of the biggest changes you've seen happen?
So many places that were basically "no man's lands" when I was a kid are like popping off now for young people. The obvious ones are Echo Park and Silver Lake and even Venice. The shit that trips me out more is how quickly Koreatown has become a hip part of LA within a matter of like 3 years. The city is so huge though, so it doesn't ever feel like it's close to reaching capacity (other than traffic)... it always cracks me up when people move here and complain about gentrification and rising living costs but basically have never been west of Western or South of the 10 or East of DTLA.

What is your entrance music? What should be played at your funeral?
My entrance would be atb - don't stop... I don't know about my funeral :s

If you could score a film by any director, who would it be?
That's a crazy question. I immediately thought of David Cronenberg but I then thought about if I could do his work justice. I would love to work with an orchestra and score some Disney film or something, maybe something like a Big Hero 6 or some other movie like that. I guess just a proper animated film would be ideal, but I guess that doesn't really answer your question haha.

What has been your music career highlight so far?
There have been so many highlights... some of the big ones have been getting huge audiences to sing along with my Katy Perry "Firework" cover/remix I made. Those moments of getting a massive crowd to fully interact are super special. There's been so many giant shows but the biggest ones are often the most disconnected. I think some of the other huge highlights in general were some of the first Wedidit shows where we sold out a venue like the Echoplex for the first time - experiencing not only that recognition but being able to share that stage with a group of people I grew up with (Nick Melons, Shlohmo, Djavan).

Given that your brother is also an artist, what was it like growing up together?
We always were doing similar shit, I only really branched off into music stuff later into highschool. I actually went through 2 years of college in visual art (1 at Calarts in animation, 1 at USC in fine art) before I was signed to Friends of Friends and realized I needed time to take my music seriously and play shows.

Do you have a lucky number?
Man I always liked the number 13 but I feel like that's just because 13 is 13.

When and where were you most happy?
This question just sent me on a weird emotional look into my past. I'm not sure. I guess I kind of miss the days of first getting into music and having no concern for the future or awareness of how things really work haha.

Indica or Sativa?
Indica 100.

There is a sound you play in your DJ sets, it sounds so familiar, sort of like a video game bird or something. What is it?
It's Vega from Street Fighter 2 making this weird little cry sound, haha, I'm glad you remembered to ask that, I always forget that people don't actually know what that's from.

If you could have your own theme park, what would it have?
A world themed after "The Sprawl" in Neuromancer!

What video games are you playing now, and what are your all time favorites?
I've been playing a competitive strategy game called Dota / Dota 2 since I was probably like 15 or 16 years old (I'm 26 now). I've always loved strategy games and Dota is sort of the finest expression of strategy in gaming in my eyes. It's recently become immensely popular and it's been cool watching the game and community grow since i was in highschool, and still playing with some of the same friends I played with as a teenager. I recently revisited one of my favorite computer games I played as a kid called Obsidian. Some of my other favorites are Phantasy Star Online I & II, the first Dark Souls, Phantom Crash, the Super Smash Bros. series, to name a few more.

If friends from out of town to LA, where do you take them to eat, to drink, to chill?
I would have probably said Koreatown for all three up until recently but most of my favorite spots have either changed, been shut down, or closed (namely, DGM on 8th and Berendo), though i totally still love it. I'd probably say Fu Rai Bo to eat (and drink) or maybe Honda Ya or Pollo Alla Brasa, drink maybe at Gaam in Koreatown or maybe just get beers and go post up at one of the many cool studio or warehouse or gallery spaces that homies have.

Tell us about your new album...
The new release is called Endless Voyage. It's definitely a throwback to the sounds on my first couple albums but the productions feel much "bigger" and occupy a way larger sonic space. The vibe of the music is fantastical and dreamlike, flowing through a handful of different styles as most of my releases do. I'm super excited to release it.

Got any shoutouts?
S/O to my WEDIDIT family as always, my big bro Sus Boy, and my homies CZ, Benedek, Air DJ.

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CLICK HERE to pre-order Endless Voyage on iTunes