With a week to go before his official return to music, J-Zone gives us an inside look at how he crafted his new album Peter Pan Syndrome. Avoiding technical perfection and using outdated, obsolete and broken equipment, the author of Root for the Villain: Rap, Bullshit, and a Celebration of Failure gets busy.
You know I hate texting, still use a Walkman and have run a small business since 1999 without owning a printer; but did you know I’m also a Luddite when I’m working on music? Of course I am!
I don’t shoot a lot of videos, but here’s one of me in the studio during the making of my upcoming album, Peter Pan Syndrome, using the most raggedy, busted, broken, obsolete equipment I could find, including my two girlfriends (cassette decks), Betsy and Diana. I also played the drums wearing a carpal tunnel brace, used a constantly shedding, cheap-ass Ikea rug to muffle the studio and still use the computer monitor that probably came with the Commodore 64! It’s all about limitations and mistakes. Perfection is for suckers.
Pre-orders for Peter Pan Syndrome are available now and be sure to check out the first single “Gadget Ho” here .
