Despite the fact that one half of Digital Negative is the Grindfather Richard Johnson of Agoraphobic Nosebleed and Enemy Soil fame, the duo’s music bears little resemblance to that which Johnson has become known for over the years. A collaboration between Johnson and producer Daniel Euphrat (Person918x, Timmy Sells His Soul), Digital Negative was birthed over the early stages of the pandemic and released their first EP in 2021.
Johnson and Euphrat are primed to drop EP 2 on March 3. To prepare listeners, they’ve released “The Floor,” a glitched-out, pulsing track that really underscores Digital Negative’s modus operandi of selecting samples to emphasize the artificial sounds in their productions. Euphrat breaks it down:
“The theme underlying Digital Negative is to emphasize the artificiality of the music,” he explains. “Part of that has to do with choosing the right samples, but the other aspect is programming drum patterns that are counter to what a human drummer would normally play. The beat here is an attempt to hybridize trap and footwork, two genres that I admire for emphasizing the unique capabilities of drum machines. Melodically, the goal was to repeat a few simple themes across a variety of “instruments” to give what is essentially a collage of disparate samples a feeling of cohesion.”
Listen to “The Floor” below. You can pre-order EP 2 on Bandcamp.
