Endash

Photo by, Izzy Dow

Meet Endash

Straight outta Queens, Endash is an artist and DJ you oughta know. Right now. 

Fresh off the proverbial boat from Michigan, Endash delivers atmospheric synths and sharp percussion with captivating spoken word. It’s a little ambient, a little techno, a little bit house — all mixed up for you to come home to at the end of the day.

Below, we chit chat about looking to the future, the road to self-production, and the superiority of an East Harlem bodega’s HOT sammies.

Scroll on down and give it a gander. Maybe get a sandwich. 

VIDEO GAMES A Mad-lib by Endash

I love to RETREAT into video games. I can play them day and CORTANA, My mom and LICKILICKY are not too happy with me GAGGING so much in front of the television AZUMARILL. Although Dad believes that these MULTIPLAYER games help children develop hand-PINKY TOE coordination and improve their learning of MYSTERY BOXES, he also seems to think they have CONFUSING side effects on one's LEFT EYEBALL. Both of my PLASMA GRENADES think this is due to a SEMI-AUTOMATIC use of violence in the majority of the BANANAS. Finally, we all arrived at a SMELLY compromise: After dinner I can play 9000 hours of video games, provided I help clear the NEEDLER and wash the BLUE SHELLS.

Would You Rather

have a perfect photographic memory, or be able to see up to one day into the future?

Future! I take too many photos anyway and they're good enough for me. Looking into the future means getting a heads up on things I might make a mistake on. But no more than looking into one day into the future. I 100% don't need to know when and where I'm going to die. Yike!

Some questions with Endash

What is your favorite dinosaur? Why is it your favorite?

What is your favorite dinosaur? Why is it your favorite?
Whatever dino Mothra was. Listen. She's a queen, a mother, a savior. Her 1961 debut was bizarre, and her return last year was the only good thing about that film. I stan.

Where is your favorite place to perform?

Wherever a packed crowd wants to sweat it out for hours.

What is your go-to Karaoke song?

Everybody Wants To Rule The World from Tears for Fears.

How does the visual arts inform your work?

It informs so much of my work that there are literal interviews from visual artists in my songs! I love introducing recorded voices from people I draw on historically—Eva Hesse, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Beverly Buchanan, and Laure Prouvost to name a few. They give my life and my songs a spine I want to constantly center, pull from, and elevate. It's about using my music as a platform to highlight others that mean a lot to me, a “Me, but also ....” attitude. It’s grounding.

What was your method of teaching your self to produce music?

It came from two main spaces. First, I'm a technically trained percussionist and pianist, having played on a drumline, marimbas, steel pans, djembe, drum kit, and even nontraditional instruments like ladders and oil barrel. I was even in an experimental percussion group in college and wrote a cover of Bibio's "a tout a l'heure" with hedge clippers, brooms, guitars, a kit, and synths. Because of this training, anytime I'm approaching a song I think about the architecture of the drums first. Giving listeners a groove or pattern to grab onto is essential in techno and dance, as that drives their bodies and brain forward through the track whether they're listening to it in a club or home. The rest comes from recorded sounds especially in my last album Come Home, like my Grandmother’s last voicemail in “Just Be Safe,” the rustling of keys for hi hats and shakers in “I Don’t Want to Dance Shirtless, Actually,” or a drill EQ’d down for a gnarly bass in “UMMMM !!!.” I don’t currently use a lot of hardware because what I hear out in the world gives me enough found material to make and build songs I like.

Second, when it comes to assembling ideas onto a computer, I started with a ripped version of FL Studio when I was 14 then moved into Ableton Live a few years later. I put things on iTunes or Bandcamp by the time I was 18 because my family encouraged it (“I love it! You should release it!” They would say, over and over.) Little did I know that the process of releasing is seriously SO therapeutic, especially at that early age of producing. Even if it's all garbage, releasing gets ideas out into the world where you'll learn what works, what lasts, and what doesn’t. It also means moving on to the next track, which is (in those early days) almost always going to be better in quality. That's why I'm proud of my teenage EPs like Tether and Damp. It's important for me to celebrate the beginnings and not be ashamed. I’m seriously grateful to the family and friends that loved the early early stuff.

You’d mention on your bandcamp you will remix songs for a sandwich. What is your favorite sandwich?

If we’re talking cold: Turkey, avocado, tomato, bacon, and brie cheese on a hero. If we're talking HOT sandwich, a chopped cheese from any East Harlem bodega.

Where is somewhere you have always wanted to record?

In a cabin! I always think about Feist's massive album Metals, where she moved into a cabin and recorded for months with her friends. The idea of community in seclusion is incredibly interesting to me: can the creation of music communally heal us? What would that look like? What would healing sound like?


What has been the most challenging part about moving to and creating music in New York?

Very few people gave a shit about me when I moved here. When everyone’s a DJ or producer on your block, there’s little space to be seen as an individual. You’re a special snowflake in the middle of a blizzard. But recognizing that taught me a few critical truths Detroit or the Midwest suburbs did not, like instant gratification is never expected, or time isn’t an enemy, it’s an asset. New York forced me to ask myself: who am I? Who is my community? How do I find them? I’m privileged to have found such amazing people in the city and parties like Unter, The Bunker, Glu, and U-ME-US that gave me the core I needed to know I'm OK with who I am and where I am.

Then, zooming out of New York, artists are in an age that has very few spaces for DIY or underground promotion. Just take FACT Mag, which just completely repositioned its music editorial wing where a lot of friends were getting the necessary exposure to new audiences—no more. Young and emerging musicians have to be their own PR, their own manager, their own record label, and their own hype person, which is how we’re professionalizing so rapidly and building communities of comparison, not compassion. It also disproportionally affects communities of color, queer, and trans* bodies who often have to fight even harder to earn their time and space. I honestly have to stay sane these days by talking to my close friends, boosting their work, and muting the noise on social media. Because with social media, comparison jealousy affects me BIG time. I’ve succumb to it before many times. So continuing to gut check myself (“Is what I’m seeing making me feel bad about where I am and what I’m doing? If so, let it go”) while focusing on the love I have for my music, my friends, and the causes I love helps. The satisfaction and joy needs to come from making the work in the first place.

Android or I-phone?

iPhone but someone has GOT to make something better these days. If I get another push update I'm going to scream.

Describe your sound with the name of a popular breakfast cereal.

COOKIE CRISP !!!!!

What is the best encounter you have ever had with a fan?

Honestly, it's when people I love play my music or put it in a mix. It's literally an out-of-body experience. A dear friend Erin Keeffe played "Buchanan" from Come Home at a health rave called Glu back in December. I remember crying on the dancefloor being held by some of the greatest people I've met in music in NYC. Like, yowza !


What do you hope to inspire through your music?

Build, share, repeat.

Any final comments? (This is your electronic soapbox for one last answer.)

Check out da album here :) I also run and co-curate a music project discovering techno's roots and origins called Moods. I'm not playing any shows soon so if you're interested give me a shout.