From creating nostalgia-driven retro beats to going viral on TikTok, TayoLoxs speaks with UD about growing his musical inspiration from nature, the meaning behind his illusive pseudonym, and that addictive 909 snare found in old school funk…
When it comes to production, it’s hard to capture in words the magic that TayoLoxs has conjured up in his music. Reminiscent of the Nintendo games he played as a kid, there’s a nostalgia to his sound that is at odds with his years, a contemporary call-back to the funk beats he rinsed in childhood, and a keenness to accelerate what was once was to what could be next. TayoLoxs is an expert in his field, a producer well versed in slick partnership and collaborative artistry, having produced a number of tracks for notable emerging artists, with the promise of many more to come as early as this long hot summer.
It’s sometimes hard to pinpoint at what stage of their career an artist is at when their talent exceeds their age – TayoLoxs has reached a number of notable accolades that more established artists are yet to hit, with his track ‘BLACK KEYS 2‘ accumulating nearly four million streams on Spotify alone. More than just producing great music, Tayo has developed an ownable sound that he’s willing to share, a generous gesture towards generating authentically good music in authentically good company.
TayoLoxs is one to watch, a remarkably talented young producer with a promising trajectory ahead of him.
For someone who isn’t already familiar with your music, how would you describe your sound?
I’d describe my sound as happy and retro with a housey vibe – I take a lot of my inspiration from old Nintendo games I used to play growing up, so there’s some nostalgia there too.
Tell me about the music you listened to growing up. Was there any album you rinsed?
My mum didn’t really situate me in one genre, whether it was funk or house music, or soul or jungle, she’d listen to it all, so I heard a lot of different sounds. There was an artist we used to listen to a lot called Patrice Rushen, and another song I had on loop was ‘Nights Over Egypt’ by The Jones Girls. So a lot of soulful music, and then I started listening to jungle and garage, house and trap. That kind of thing.
You describe yourself as a multi-genre producer – are there any specific genres that continue into your work now?
House music plays a big role in my production now; I’ll listen to a track and take a house chord and a sound effect or a certain drum – the 909 snare is used a lot in old funk beats – and put it into the genre of new jazz. I’ll just listen to old things and try to bring them forward, creating that kind of nostalgia basically.
What brought you to the name TayoLoxs?
I used to get bullied a lot for my hair in school, and I thought I should play on that because it’s something I used to dwell on. I should be able to wear my hair and be my authentic self. So that’s why I’m TayoLoxs, I’m turning bad to good. You should be proud of who you are.
I’ve heard you make a beat everyday – how do you manage to create so much music?
I used to make like four beats a day, but I’ve slowed down because I want to do quality over quantity. Most of the time I’ll go out to the park before I make a beat – I’ll walk around, I’ll speak out loud what I want to do for the day, and I’ve noticed that the beat is 10 times better when I’ve been out before, my head is clearer.
That’s so interesting. Do you feel like being outside is a good source of inspiration for you?
Yeah for sure, I’ve noticed that I’ve always been out in nature before I make most of my best music. I’ve always liked being in nature – when I was a kid I would always bring back home those big triangle maple leaves (laughs). Being outside really does have a big play in my production.
Who are your influences? Can be music, production, fashion, or otherwise.
For producing, it’s probably Kanye West, Pierre Bourne, Icy Twat, Eric Lau, and Calvin Harris as well. When it comes to fashion; Lancey’s stylist, I think his name is Slicks, the way he dresses is really cool. I like wearing earthy colours and finding random accessories on Etsy that no one else has, and a lot of my friends design stuff which I wear too. Fashion is a really big thing for me, I’m trying to intertwine my music with my fashion sense more.
You have quite a distinctive visual style for your EP covers – what inspired that?
I was just streaming on TikTok making a beat and this guy Eklypse just sent a message like “bro I drew you”, and sent it through, and it was so good! He did the cover art for my latest EP Neptune. I feel like his inspiration was from this artist called Seven Sixties, but when I tell him what I want him to draw for me, it’s normally based on old computer games I used to play like Sonic Adventure Two.
How are you finding the Incubator Programme?
I feel like if it wasn’t for this course, I wouldn’t be as active as I am right now. I’ve been going out roller skating nearly every day, and because of the people on the course and the connections, I’m getting a lot of invitations to different places. One thing keeps leading to another. And I’ve also learned a lot on the course about copyright, trademarking, PRS & PPL, which I didn’t really understand before. But yeah, the course is helping a lot. It’s really developing me into the right artist.
What’s next for TayoLoxs?
This year I’m mainly focused on working with artists directly rather than just putting beats on YouTube and having random people taking them. I want to develop my artistry – like last year I put my track on Spotify and it blew up – I got over 3 million views on a track! But people don’t know my face, so towards summertime I want to speak to the camera more so people know more than just my name.
Follow TayoLoxs on Instagram and buy his beats HERE.
Check Gstina X TayoLoxs merch HERE.
Words: Elsa Monteith. A Brighton based writer and broadcaster working in and around the arts and on the radio waves.
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