SharedViews Mixtape Sessions - Vol 2 - Produced by Andy Immerman
When it comes to Andy Immerman, the first thing you’ve got to understand is that you’re dealing with a very humble, and multifaceted individual. We’re talking about a producer with real experience, progressive ideas, and obvious talent. With Andy, you can tell there’s zero fear of carving his own path out of this life. Being proficient in not only music, but art, design, photography and more, we were incredibly excited he agreed to sit down with us for a chat, and produce the 2nd installation of our SharedViews Mixtape Sessions! Enjoy this full length, 1-hour mix while you read through our summarized conversation below.
Andy started his career back home in Wisconsin. He seemingly always knew he’d move on to bigger things, but not before laying the groundwork that would drive his ultimate dreams and reality. What started as helping a friend from school, turned into officially assisting in the engineering process on what would become a multi-nominated and Grammy-winning album. Bon Iver’s 2nd official, self-titled album took the team close to two years to create, gaining most of its popularity after it’s release when Andy had already decided to move to Denver and begin chasing his own dreams. The only problem, first he’d have to help create his desired scene in his new home of Denver.
It took Andy almost 6 years after moving to Denver to start producing, but it wasn’t without want. “The Denver scene was still nice and small back then, but particularly dominated by Bass music,” he remind us. “I started by making really simple beats, around 128 BPM. Artistically, I began to feel more capable within the House music vibes.” He credits some of Denver’s more prominent names in the music scene like Brennen Bryarly, or option4 as he’s better known, for the development of groups like The 100 Presents, and creating a platform for smaller, more underground Denver artists to perform. Today, Bryarly is well known for his Hot Boi Records Label, and the never-ending string of parties and talent he’s helped bring to Denver. See our recent write-up for one of option4’s newest Denver events, here.
Six years into his tenure here in Denver, Andy is finding opportunity around every corner. He’s thrown down recently at heavy-hitting events like Denver’s own Global Dance Festival, and you can catch him giving direct support to Rodriguez Jr. this New Years weekend at Club Vinyl. When it comes to an album or EP of his own, Immerman told us, “that’s mostly a battle between the old & the new,” but he did clue us in to a potential appearance at one of the countries biggest New Year's Eve parties though nothing’s official so for now, we will just keep our fingers crossed for this up & comer, and continue to support him any way we can.
We asked about his inspiration on this SharedViews Mixtape Session, which features at least one unreleased track from Andy, and it all started with his recent collaborative effort titled Those produced alongside fellow Denver DJ Eric Lake of THNK TNK Records. This track is close to the opening which seems suiting as it made it all the way to #1 on the Beatport DJ Charts. “I wanted to use this track and stick with it’s funky/disco vibe as an opportunity to explore some new sounds I’ve been working on, as opposed to the older, more melodic stuff I used to make.” We asked "Those" counter-part, Eric Lake, about what it was like working with Andy on the hit track. “It all started when we met at STEAM where we’d both played a couple of times,” said Lake. “His style is generally more melodic than mine but we have a lot of overlap in our taste and originally made loose-plans to jam on my modular synth rig. I had recently moved and finally got my studio set up so when Andy came over I played him a few in-progress tracks including what would become our track Those, which was pretty much just the vocal and string samples and a drum loop at the time. Andy wrote a new bass part then layered some keys on top to give the track more melodic interest and drama. We then sat on the half-finished track for almost a year,” Lake laughed. “Andy immediately knew what melodic elements to add to the track to cement the samples together and dance around them in a way that I couldn't have done myself. Andy is an artist that's not only a friend, but I'm truly a fan of both his sets and his productions… and his photos/art for that matter. I look forward to hearing much more from him in the future.”
We asked about some of his current favorite artists, and instead of telling us, Andy decided to release a brand new Spotify playlist so his listeners can follow along with some of Andy’s current favorite music. He wanted to leave everyone with this lasting thought. “Do something for yourself every day. Don’t beat yourself up. You have 7 days a week to do something for yourself. If you do something every day, at least 1 or 2 of those days you’re bound to find motivation or create something you like. JUST KEEP MAKING!”
Scope Andy’s new Spotify playlist here, and be sure to peep his Instagram which is a beautiful account chock full of Andy’s visual art, and daily creations.
Original album artwork: Andy Immerman
Tracklist:
Feeling Good - Andre Lodemann
Those (Original Mix) - Eric Lake x Andy Immerman
Selva - Luke Alessi
The Calling - Eelke Kleijn
Orlaz - Sound Quelle
Under The Moon feat. Nathan Nicholson (Cassius Remix) - Claptone
Foxglove (Unreleased) - Andy Immerman
Rhythm Touch (Deep & Salty Rub) - Miguel Migs
Hiding (Extended Mix) - Icarus
Do Not Grill Inside (Original Mix) - Gab Rhome
Timelapse (Extended Mix) - Matt Meler
Not Easy (Sidney Charles Remix) - The Glitz