Here’s one piece of advice LSDream has for collaborating: don’t hold in your farts.
“That gas can go to your brain and that’s where bad ideas come from. Get the toxins out,” LSDream, real name Sami Diament, says before his friend, fellow producer, and collaborator, CloZee chimes in:
“I’ve probably had a lot of bad ideas then,” CloZee, real name Chloé Herry, adds as they both break out into laughter.
The two alternative electronic producers are sharing the same computer screen to speak with MusicTech from Diament’s studio in Los Angeles (Herry flew in from Denver to be in the room as Diament). Their collaborative album, titled LSZEE after the name of the joint project, is out today on Odyzey Music & Heartwave, and their philosophy on working together is more profound than embracing flatulence.
They say that, for them, creating music is a spiritual practice. It’s not that music-making is about sharing a meditation schedule or decorating their studio with crystals (although Damient does host sound bath events under his Lightcode project). Instead, the heady pair attest that music production is about channelling and cherishing the fundamental act of creativity.
“We align with [spirituality] in the most simple forms. We’re creating art, which mirrors all creation.” Diament says. “We’re not here chatting about spirituality literally.”
“We’re living it,” Herry continues.
“One of the foundational energies we bring to this project is mutual respect; respecting the fact that we’re spending time together. When I show up to the studio, out of respect for myself and for Chloé, I’m going to show up with a good headspace. Ready to be positive, grateful, and ready to work,” Diament says.
Another part of their mutual respect is bringing their authentic sound and style to the project — not filtering it into what the other may want to hear. But they also understand that they have to extend their attitude of respect to their fans and listeners. They see music as an act of service as much as a means of individual expression.
But there’s a balancing act, for them, between being an artist and being an entertainer. As artists, they make the music they want to hear without concern for external opinions. As entertainers, they use their music to welcome other people into a space where they can be themselves and feel safe.
“So at what point do we have to extricate ourselves from the entertainer to be the artist? Saying like, ‘This is who I am. I don’t know how you’re going to feel about it. I don’t know if you’re going to like it. I don’t know if it’s good. But I know that it came from me, and I want to share it with you.’ That’s the energy of this project,” Diament says.
Diament and Herry’s chosen style of music gives them both immense freedom to walk the line between artist and entertainer. It’s commonly referred to as ‘bass music,’ but their sound is formless.
The word “bass” has become a common describer because their music — and that of their peers such as Of The Trees, Eprom, and G Jones — generally borrows from low-end forward genres like dubstep and trap. But in general, this section of electronic music has developed a scene by existing between traditional stylistic lines.
The 13 tracks on LSZEE fluctuate between hip-hop, dubstep, trap, melodic, and soul among others, while also implementing sonic aesthetics from world music. NIGHTHAWK balances a minimalist 808-driven beat with vocal samples derived from traditional African songs. French Dream applies glistening French Touch melodies and arpeggios (Herry is French) alongside boom-bap drums and funky horns.
With so much diversity engrained into the album, they don’t have to pick and choose between making music they love and making music their fans will enjoy.
“I don’t really think of genres at all. It’s not part of my thought process. I think about energy, groove, feel, motion,” says Diament.
“I wouldn’t even know how to classify what we’re doing,” Herry continues.
They both agree, however, that there is also value in working within certain lines. That could be purposefully curating a live set to include a UK garage section so they can work with that historic energy. Or it could mean producing an original track within a currently popular genre to contribute to a larger cultural movement.
But regardless of whatever intention, they are grateful to be in it together:
“It gives us confidence. We build each other up,” Herry says.
“As an artist, it’s very common to be like, ‘What if this isn’t good enough?’ There’s a certain amount of vulnerability,” Diament says. “It’s easier to do that when you’re with someone because we can support each other.”
The LSZEE project began from a similar place of vulnerability and support. Diament and Herry were both well-established artists before LSZEE. Being in the same scene, they knew of each other, were fans of one another, and had played on a handful of the same lineups. But the first time they truly created together was when they played a back-to-back DJ set at Illinois’ Summer Camp Festival in 2021.
It was the first time Herry had ever used CDJs to perform — in the past, she always used Traktor and Ableton Live.
“It was more than like, ‘Hey, come on stage. We’re just gonna play,’” Herry says.
“Luckily, if you already know music production and use Ableton, [DJing] is a much easier learning curve,” Diament continues.
Herry immediately adapted, and the set went so well that they began making music together. Very organically, they went from producing a few tracks together, to producing a few more, to renting an Airbnb in Joshua Tree, California, for a week to make music. There, they realised they had an album’s worth of material and then agreed their partnership was worthy of a full-fledged project.
“I’m very picky in who I’m collaborating with”, Herry says. “It’s very rare to find someone where it flows so well. A lot of collaborations fell through because we didn’t really agree. With [Diament], [we’re on] the same page.”
As well as they flow when they’re working, their process is decidedly separate. At each of their studios, they’ve set up two different stations, each with its own computer, for them to work individually while they’re in the same room.
They’ll take time to create at their pace, then once they have a fleshed-out idea they’ll begin passing it back and forth so each of them can apply their own preferences while ensuring that their ideas can still ring out freely.
“When someone brings an idea to the table, it wouldn’t be necessarily something that I would write. But we can see this going somewhere because we like each other’s music,” Herry says.
This process with Diament has helped her learn songwriting, arranging, and other building blocks of music-making by consistently analyzing Diament’s sound and style. “Sometimes I’m trying to make something LSDream-y.”
“That’s fun, too. Stepping into the mind of your partner,” Diament says. “Part of the DNA of our project is exploring new places together. What haven’t you made? What haven’t I made? Let’s go try to make something like that.”
When they explore these new places together, they use a massive array of tech. So much so that Diament asks me, “How much time do we have?” before going to his station in the studio (we’ve been chatting on Herry’s computer) to get his laptop and find his top plugins in their arsenal.
“What’s the special sauce?” Diament asks Herry.
The main synth they use for sound design is Serum, but they also use Omnisphere and Diva. They use clippers like KClip and StandardCLIP, Wavesfactory’s Spectre for enhancing, Slate Digital’s Fresh Air for the high-end, and Devious Machines’ Duck for sidechaining. Minimal Audio also has a strong presence in their album via Current and Swarm Reverb.
But that’s just a snapshot of everything they used on the album. They have plenty of new stuff they’re excited about like Musio, which Herry downloaded three days before we chat. They both describe it as a “game-changer” because you can download from a massive library of sounds that remain in the cloud instead of taking space on your hard drive.
They also give shouts to all the artists who are making Max4Live packs they use: Virtual Riot, DANKSAUS, jabeau, Elephant Tribe…
“You got us on one,” Herry says. “We can go into this vortex.”
LSZEE exists within this vortex. It’s filled with different technical applications, configurations and workflows, but the source is a spiritual connection between LSDream and CloZee. Together, they honour that connection by making music for themselves and for the people.
LSZEE is out now
