Xyla

An All-Genre Bedroom Producer Finds Peace in Creative Freedom, Dancing, and the Community Support that Led to Her Debut Album.

by Ginny Barnes

When Xyla produces, she opens up all her windows. Living on the West side Sunset District of San Francisco, it makes for an amazing light show as she stands at the desk in her bedroom, making beats from golden hour into the evening. Indulging in these natural wonders is how she’s been taking care.

I was introduced to Xyla’s music at In Session, a six-day digital camp for women, nonbinary, and trans producers of color held this past September. She talked with me about how valuable music communities such as these have been in leading to her debut album, Ways, which was released October 30th by Leaving Records. Behind Ways is Xyla’s journey from her classical training in French horn performance to the experimentation and creative freedom she found in digital music production. 

As humans, we gravitate toward patterns. As artists, we’re fascinated with the ruptures in them, pulling bravely at the tears to see what happens. Xyla’s all-genre music travels in many directions, mirroring the limitless possibilities of the digital tools she uses to create it.

Ginny Barnes (GB): Can you share some of your story about what led to the release of your first album?

Xyla (X): Music has always been a part of my life. My dad was a musician, his dad was a musician. My grandma is too. I started off joining band in middle school. I really wanted to play the saxophone, but they didn't have any spots left. So they said, try this instrument. It was the French horn. I ended up going to college for it at San Francisco Conservatory of Music. And after my sophomore year I was like, holy shit, I really don’t want to be a classic musician. Not because I didn’t like classical music, but in my experience some things can be a little toxic. You are told to play certain pieces a certain way, or excerpts a certain way. I didn’t find I was able to be as creative as I wanted to be. Thankfully my school had a music technology program, and I signed up for an Introduction to Ableton class. As soon as I started producing, I said this is it. I want to do this.

I only took that one class. I graduated, got my degree in French horn performance, did a couple gigs, but I just kept producing. I started off doing it for fun. I did a lot of remixes. I wanted to cultivate more of my style because you're really able to do so much with a computer whenever you’re producing. It’s really incredible. But the entire time I felt like, I don’t know what genre I produce. I have no idea what genre I make. I don’t know what type of producer I am. I made a lot of trap and hip hop, but I didn’t feel like a hip hop producer because I also wanted to make this. Then, I accidently found myself at my very first underground rave. I was standing there in front of the DJs, and they were playing some crazy acid and techno that I had never experienced at that level. I was like holy shit, this is awesome too. It added a new level of things to explore with producing. From there I got into creating my own style of electronic music. It’s influenced by everything I was working on before, and some of my classical training too.

I never set out to make an album. I started really finishing tracks at the end of last year. One of my friends said, “Hey, so you post videos of you producing on Instagram and that's really cool, but you should really start taking yourself seriously. Send your music to a label.” So I said, “Alright, who?” And he said, “Leaving Records”. So I sent my stuff to Matthew David [of Leaving Records], and he liked it. A few months later, he reached out and said, ”Do you want to do a live stream? Flying Lotus is going to be on it.” I had never done any livestream. I had never done a DJ set. I just tried to make it happen. After that he said, “Do you want to make an album?” I hadn’t been making an album, but I realized all these tracks I had been working on fit together, and it just kind of happened. That was really crazy. I feel like the album just fell into my lap in a lot of ways. 

GB: As an all-genre artist, do find you’re blending genres together or exploring one direction and then another?

X: I think it’s a little bit of both. I definitely didn’t want to be boxed in or labeled as making one thing. There are so many ways to express myself, and there’s so many different types of music. After playing one instrument for so long, I really want to have the freedom to make whatever I want to. I do find I blend a lot of genres. For example, in my title track “Ways”, there’s R&B elements, gospel, breaks, there’s some ravy bits. There are a lot of different parts of my life that I love in one track.

GB: You participated in In Session. Can you tell me how you heard about it and some things you took away from the experience?

X: I think I just saw it on Instagram and signed up. I didn’t realize how fucking amazing it was going to be. I had no idea the scale of it. Really, really incredible what they did. We’re on the west coast, so waking up at 7am for some of the earlier classes was tough, but definitely worth it. Honestly, the biggest takeaway for me wasn’t necessarily learning anything new, it was getting to experience the community. There were people from all over the world in some of my breakout groups. It was cool just getting to hear their music, talk with them, and learn the methods they use. It’s really cool how ubiquitous music is. I was having some trouble producing over the summer and still am because it’s honestly a hard year to produce. This year has been crazy. It’s hard to find inspiration when there is a pandemic, and my people, Black people, are being murdered, still. It’s hard to feel like I want to produce. After In Session, it lit a fire for me. 

GB: How would you reimagine live music spaces in a post-COVID world? 

X: I would love for live music spaces to be organized by the people rather than a venue or a particular promoter. I find my favorite events are for the people, by the people. Whether that is a small underground club that probably doesnt have a ton of money flowing into it all the time or a just some people who are like “Fuck it, we don’t want to go to the clubs, we’re going to do something outside.” I’m finding there is a lot of politics in music. This person can’t perform here because of this and that. We should be able to throw events wherever we want. I started going out by myself at 21, and I’m a small, short woman. A lot of people have experienced harassment in these spaces, not just women. I really wish the live music scene—electronic, clubbing, or whatever—can become a safe space for everybody. It’s hard to do that without saying certain groups shouldn’t be allowed to be in those spaces, but I think we need to teach people how to respect one another.

Things that I love about it though... I love going out by myself. I joke with my friends that SF is so small, whenever I go out now I already know most of the people who are going to be there. I miss back in the day when I was first going out and didn’t know anybody. I could go to a techno party and not talk to anyone the entire night and just be in the corner and dance, and dance hard. Be sweaty, listen to new music. I'd always wear earplugs, so I could really hear it. Once I got to know people, I loved being able to socialize and have those conversations with someone you might not even see again. But mostly for me it’s the dancing. That’s been really hard not having that this year because dancing is such a big release for me. 

GB: I see a group like In Session doing that work of reimagining how we want to create music scenes, whether that is in-person or a digital community. 

X: Having a good community has been such a big thing for people during this time. You really see where people’s intentions lie and who really is for the community. After this summer’s attention to the Black Lives Matter movement, I, as (a) biracial, Black woman, and a lot of my friends who are Black artists as well, we’ve found that there has been a lot of commodification of artists of color and Black artists. Knowing who in your community is with you and in your corner during this time is important. When people want you to do a mix or be in their show, is it because they are part of your community and they care about you and like your music, or it is because we’re “in” right now?  

B: While we’re talking about the community, is there anyone in your community you want to shout out?

X: Ugh, there are so many good artists out here. First, Selim X who is so talented and definitely a favorite in the Bay. Rose Cherami and Idhaz. My friend, who goes by Rental VHS. There are so many good artists out here. I wouldn’t be here without the music community here, and I am so inspired by them. 

GB: Any hopes for what comes after this record or what comes next for your community of artists? 

X: The biggest thing that I want for myself after this is peace. A lot of the tracks on this album, whether they sound like it or not, are tied to a deep emotional struggle I was going through at the beginning of this year. I was really depressed and threw all my energy into making music. It was the only thing I was able to do. It’s kind of amazing that it's turned into something a little more positive and beautiful. It feels like by releasing it I can give away some of that pain. I’m excited to turn that burden into joy for other people. For anything that happens to me, I want to uplift my SF and Oakland people. They’ve all been so supportive of me, and I want to return that for them. I’ll be starting a dublab radio show in November. That’ll be me highlighting a lot of Bay Area artists. I’m excited for that to start. I want to uplift my community like they’ve uplifted me.

Listen to more Xyla on Bandcamp and Spotify.

November 5, 2020