Alex Goose: Man Behind The Music
Posted on October 1, 2009
Filed Under MARINATE ON THIS..., INSIDER, IN THE KNOW, PEEP THIS!, CULTURAL MUSINGS, VISUAL ARTS
I recently had the opportunity to chat with the man behind “The Blueprint 3 Outtakes”–Alex Goose, who’s not only a GIFTED MUSIC PRODUCER, but he’s a TALENTED GRAPHIC DESIGNER and PARTNER in the Atlanta based arts collective “THE BIG UP” which includes musical artist BRITTANY BOSCO.
Before we dive into interview, first things first:
Click here to download “The Blueprint 3 Outtakes”
Selah Says: Introduce yourself. What’s your name? Where are you from?
Alex Goose: My name is Alex Goose. I’m originally from the DC area and now I reside in Atlanta, Georgia.
SS: You’re a multi-disciplinary artist—what are your mediums of choice?
AG: I’m a music producer and I’m also a designer—primarily a graphic designer. I went to SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design) and got my degree in graphic design and I minored in sound design.
SS: You recently dropped “The Blueprint 3 Outakes Project,” which is AMAZING, how did this whole Jay-Z situation come about?
AG: I guess I’ll have to start from the beginning. Back in the spring, like March, an A & R connected with Jay-Z and the Roc hit me up. He found me thru an artist I worked with named Danny—he’s also from South Carolina, I don’t know if you’ve heard of him.
SS: I’ve heard of him.
AG: So, the A&R, who I won’t name, finds my Myspace page thru Danny and emails that he’s in New York, but he’s gonna be in ATL soon and we should have lunch and chat. When he came into town, he was like, “Yo, I wanna hear some tracks,” so I let him hear a bunch of beats and he was like “Yo, I should send these to Hov for the Blueprint 3 because he’s accepting tracks.” So, I sent him tracks, and to my knowledge, he forwarded them all to Jay.
SS: Wow.
AG: About two months later, he hit me back and said he sent Jay the beats, but he said he didn’t really hear anything. I was like, “Damn, that’s SUCKS” because Jay-Z, along with Nas are my favorite emcees—just the opportunity to send it was dope! So, after that, I let a bunch of people hear the tracks and everyone really encouraged me to release them. I wasn’t even considering that, I’ve never release a beat CD or anything, but I decided to put it out. I resolved, I’m gonna do this! I’m gonna do the graphic design and the packaging for it—I’m gonna really show everyone what I really do, as a producer and a designer. Around that time, I acquired a management team and they helped me launch the website and everything, then we put it out. And it’s been online for a week and we’ve had over 10,000 downloads.
SS: I was reading on your website and saw you stated that you prefer designs that are “simple and classic,” I mean, I like design from today, but I’m more fascinated with design from other eras. If you could be transported back any era, in terms of design and style, which era would you be transported back to?
AG: The timeframe would be from 1968 to about 1973-74. “74” would definitely be the cut off.
SS: Why?
AG: From a design standpoint, all my favorite designers came from that era—everything, from the design typeface used in that era to the music. All of my favorite records came out between 1968 and like 1974, because in the late 70’s disco came out…
SS: (Laughs)
AG: …and I felt like soul music started to disappear.
SS: Completely.
AG: I’m a big psychedelic rock head too. Even with film and movie soundtracks, I’m a huge of Film Noir and French New Wave. I’m also a fan of Italian movie film scores. So, it’s not only design and music—it’s film as well.
SS: What are your favorite albums from that era?
AG: Oh my God! Wow—that’s a really hard question because I have so many! I’m gonna just single it down and give an artist name. I would say Serge Gainsbourg is definitely one of my main influences as a musician. He’s really inspirational to me because he was an extremely talented musician, he was a painter, and on top of all of that, he was on top of everything! He was in tons of films and he would score the films—he was like “the man” of the moment. He was also very good a promoting himself and he had great style, and his music was INCREDIBLE! I really look up to him a lot.
SS: Oh, I get it! He was like the Fellini of music.
AG: Yeah, exactly! Wow, that’s a great comparison!
SS: So, there’s Gainsbourg in music, who inspires you in design?
AG: My main influence in graphic design is Herb Lubalin. Before I went to school, I did a little graphic design and whatnot, but when I went to school and found out about Herb Lubalin, that’s when I really started to realize how impactful typography is—it can be just as strong or stronger than a photograph. By the way, the TRACE logo is amazing!
SS: Agreed. (Laughs) What projects are you currently working on?
AG: I’m finishing up production for Danny’s new album called, “Where is Danny.” I pretty much did all the production for it. It’s an art album in the vein of Madvillain and MF DOOM. I’m also working on Brittany Bosco’s debut album called “Black.” That’s gonna drop in a few months. I’m working on a lot of other projects too.
SS: Which artists would you like to work with in the future?
AG: Of course Jay-Z , Nas, and Andre 3000 as far as hip hop goes. The Black Lips, DeerHunter, Grizzly Bear, Beach House, and I just recently heard about this band named WarPaint that’s extremely talented, so I’d love to work on an album with them too. I don’t know, we’ll see.
– Interview Courtesy of Selah Says
All Graphic Design work Courtesy of Alex Goose
You can view more of ALEX GOOSE’s work at: http://www.alexgoose.com
You can listen to more of his beats at: http://www.myspace.com/goosebeats
For more info on “The BIG UP” Arts Collective click here
Photo at the very top of the Interview: Alex Goose, by John Micheal Fulton
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this is awesome. thanks for the insight into Alex’s world!