Shuffle code

ARTIST Q&A : MYK31


We kicked off the year with a new monthly artist collaboration series for our Merch. January stars Myk31, Ukraine based graphic design artist and video animator, who's the man behind the acclaimed and award winning Samo Sound Boy "Shuffle Code" music video and now has worked on our first artist collaboration of the year!

Make sure to go grab Myk31's limited edition T-Shirt and mouse pad collab with T&B while supplies last!


How/when did you first get involved with trouble and bass? any funny stories or reasons they got in touch with you?
Patrick (The Captain) hit me up last summer, asking me about my music videos and if I'd like to work on one. I believe the first artist he wanted me to create a video for were Zombies for Money. Then there was a quick change of plans and pretty soon I was working with Samo Sound Boy! That's the whole story really, we went to work pretty quickly. For most of my music videos, I do the whole concept/story side of it myself. But Samo sent me such a detailed script for "Shuffle Code", I was amazed, haha. All I had to focus on is visualizing his story, which I think resulted in better quality, as well as made it a true collaboration.


What's the story behind your new work? tell us about the process of your piece?
Before working on this particular piece, by pure coincidence, I spent about a week casually watching Youtube videos of old Genesis games (funny, since "Shuffle Code" also was all about the 16-bit Genesis style). So when I sat down to make the tee design, I just started sketching something intentionally ridiculous, something that might've been created in the 90's, the whole robot and goblin aesthetic similar to action figures, the mohawk, the big-ass battle axe etc. I wanted the two characters to represent the words Trouble & Bass, respectively. A bass kicker amp turned into a robot made sense, so I figured the other dude better be a living monster. The robot in my original sketch actually had a unicycle for legs — a la Gizmo from Duck Tales, but later I swapped them out for the Johnny 5 style tracks. The goblin character has teeth inside his eyelids and bolts in his neck a la Frankenstein monster, if you look carefully. Also I had to reference Tyrese Gibson for his sixpack, and Francois Sagat for his junk, not kidding!

What are some of your favorite T&B releases? What T&B artist(s) do you most relate with?
I love Samo's stuff, I love Deathface and Ursa Major... The Heavy Bass Champions series is something I can always count on as well. Oh and I really like Willy Joy's EP, especially Gimme Dat!


Do you have any inspiration for your own work/or this piece? Where do you draw inspiration from? sites, books, etc. Whats your work/thought process like?
I draw inspiration from pretty much anything. I do have favorite places to look for inspiration: music, art/design books, tumblr etc... But often I get cool ideas from random simple things, I could get excited after seeing a cool kitchen timer or road sign. Haha.
As for my thought process, surrounding myself with things, sights and sounds I like has become a habit, so by the time I start any project I don't need to set up a mood board or anything — my own mind is a repository of cool stuff by now. My tumblr blog is probably the closest thing to representing what flashes in my mind daily, even when not working on anything. Like, literally, if I closed my eyes right now, that's the slideshow I'd see.

What projects do you have coming up?
Can't talk yet about the most exciting ones! But there'll be at least a few music videos, at least one pretty big tee design, and as usual, quite a bit of random personal work done just for fun in 2012.



Some of your notable or favorite projects you've worked on?
One of my favorite things I've done recently, was the mini collaboration with my brother, Andy Fink, He just sent me this snippet that sounded like something out of a Zelda game, and by the end of the day I had a short video to accompany it. We call it "The Legend Of Sword", check it out, it's pretty silly and fun. Another one I really enjoyed was helping out Greg Enemy with the cover artwork for his release "xtra small". You should also check his music out, I don't know about everybody, but sampling TLC and rapping about Muggsy Bogues is my idea of what's awesome.

Do you prefer/how often do you work on projects that are music related?
I do prefer these and I wish I worked on them more often... Ideally, all the time! It's just a natural type of work in my opinion - I'm a music junkie, so it's great to get inspired by music and then create something that complements it visually. You could say it's like Ying and Yang, best of both worlds, etc.

T&B x MYK31 Artist Collaboration



So in 2012 we decided to collaborate with a new artist each month. For each collaboration we'll be producing a limited amount of t-shirts as well as a random never before made item to go along with the t shirt. For our first collaboration of 2012, we teamed up with Myk31, the director and creator of Samo Sound Boy's "Shuffle Code"music video. Along with the new shirt, we decided to print up some mouse pads to go with his 16-Bit robot and monster graphic!

Get the items over in our Webstore!

XLR8R Announces Samo Sound Boy - Shuffle Code best Video of 2011


We're very pleased and honored to say that Samo Sound Boy's "Shuffle Code " music video has been announced as the #1 Best video of 2011 by our friends at XLR8R Magazine. Other great videos include M83, Fatima Al Qadiri, SBTRKT and more! Video was made by the great Myk31 (T Shirt collab coming soon)

Check out the Top Ten over at XLR8R Magazine!

SAMO SOUND BOY - SHUFFLE CODE OUT NOW



Samo Sound Boy's much anticipated "Shuffle Code EP" dropped today, including two original tracks and two remixes by Da Fresh and Ikonika! Samo's the only west coast based producer signed to Trouble & Bass, who calls his home Los Angeles. Coming back with his 2nd release for T&B after his successful Heavy Bass Champions of the World Vol. VIII release earlier this year, Samo has really taken his song writing, production and mixing skills to the next level with this Shuffle Code EP. As you know from our back catalog, one of our favorite things to do is to seek out young and new talent and Samo has been one of the highlights of our roster in 2011.

Get Shuffle Code now at iTunes / Beatport / Juno / Amazon / Boomkat



VIDEO: SAMO SOUND BOY - SHUFFLE CODE



The Brand new 16 Bit Sega Genesis inspired video for Samo Sound Boy's "Shuffle Code" by Myk31 debuted yesterday on Gotta Dance Dirty and made it's way onto XLR8R.com and Boing Boing! Did you watch it yet?!

Tell us who your favorite character is? DJ Shrimp? Octo? President Skunk? And let us know your favorite Sega Genesis game!