My 5 Favorite Things: Black Matter
"My computers are my babies."
Under his Jesse Jamz moniker, DJ/producer Jesse See Tai consistently toured the U.S. and remixed the likes of Designer Drugs, Figure and Richard Vission. Last year he took on the Black Matter nom de beat and since then has been relentlessly pumping out high octane electro-charged tracks and insanely good bootlegs, consistently playing clubs like Control at Avalon in Los Angeles and Girls & Boys at Webster Hall in New York City. We checked in with this up-and-comer to find out five of his favorite things.
1. Computer: 15-inch MacBook Pro. My MacBook Pro is perfect for on the go music production, graphic design, video editing, and just watching movies. I have the antiglare HD screen so when I'm in airports or outside I don't get all those annoying reflections. In the studio, I have the giant Mac Pro with a 23" Apple Cinema Display. I can have some pretty big sessions open and it never skips a beat… [it's] super powerful and fast. My computers are my babies (laughs).
2. Travel Accessory: Nook with GlowLight. I love reading and the Nook with GlowLight allows me to carry around tons of books in one small device. the GlowLight is awesome cause I'm able to read in dark environments and it's still an e-ink screen, so it's not like staring at an LED screen (after staring at computer screens all day, it's a nice change (laughs).
3. Hobby: Cooking. I love cooking almost as much as I love food. When I'm home, I usually cook about four nights a week. It's very soothing for me. If I've had a bad day, I'll make a trip to the grocery and then head home and spend a couple hours in the kitchen cooking and listening to music. My favorite part of traveling, other than playing shows, is eating. I'm a total foodie.
4. Tour Stop: Seoul, South Korea. Definitely one of my favorite cities. The clubs in Seoul are crazy, the people are awesome, and the food is amazing. I always have such a great time and my friends there are super rad people. The club I currently play at is called Octagon. It's the coolest club I've ever played in. It's like being in a multilevel underground bunker with a full Funktion 1 sound system. The fashion scene in Seoul is awesome, so it always makes for good shopping and Korean food is definitely some of my favorite, so I do a lot of eating when I'm over there.
5. Store: Trash & Vaudeville. An awesome goth/punk shop on St. Marks Place in Manhattan. I get all of my pants and most of my boots from Trash. I've been shopping there since I was 17 and have been friends with one of the managers, Jimmy, since then. Great people and cool clothes.
Black Matter plays Cafe La Plage in San Juan, Puerto Rico on August 18.
