Shanghai Label Eating Music Talk Family Vibes and Learning From Stones Throw Ahead of Kiefer Show

Shanghai independent music label and collective Eating Music made quite a bit of noise in 2018. Besides releasing a wide range of infectious beat-filled electronic wonders, that spanned lo-fi instrumental hip-hop to neo-soul jazz, they introduced their inaugural Eating Music Camp, an intensive hands-on week-long boot camp for budding producers to learn, and more importantly collaborate, alongside some of the scene’s finest.

Their dedication to the communal spirit of making music, simply put, runs in their veins. And since then, the project, headed by prominent member of the Shanghai electronic and vinyl community Cookie Zhang, has only grown brighter, attracting more and more talent as they take their eclectic and refined tastes across the country.

This Saturday, Aug 31, at Omni Space, Eating Music and All Good Music will welcome renegade producer/keyboardist Kiefer (pictured at top), whose soulful jazz-infused work on Peanut Butter Wolf's LA-based Stones Throw Records has garnered him attention from some of the hip-hop scene’s most beloved, such as Dr. Dre, Anderson.Paak, and Lalah Hathaway.

For the show, Kiefer will be paired up with some of Eating Music’s newest additions to their roster, including Yunnan-raised StrawberryPapa before he heads off to play mentor at this year’s Eating Music Camp. I caught up with Cookie Zhang on the label’s evolution and how they aspire to emulate the "family vibes" of Stones Throw.

Eating Music has been busy – what have been some of the label’s biggest accomplishments this year? Do you feel like you have a better grasp of how to run and manage a label?
Since we started in January of 2018, Eating Music has put out 10 releases, including some physical releases on CD, cassette, Flexi disc, 12-inch vinyl, etc. For a label, the most important thing is putting out a good release. I'm always looking to improve on this part more and more while working with some unique artists. 

For me, I didn't have any plan to learn about how to run a label. I was just trying to build up my own vision. I know more about some basic rules for sure – like how to deal with music platforms, licensing stuff, etc.– but that's just the business part. I'm still learning and growing.

Kiefer and Eating Music sound like a match made in heaven. Were you a big fan of his before? What is it about him as a producer that stands out?
During last year's camp, all of our crew was listening and replaying his music a lot. So it's really great that we could have him be a part of it this year. I really like to listen to his albums when traveling – it makes you feel peaceful, away from other people and all the noises around. I like the vibe he creates, mixing in both dirty sounds (like drums, a bassline, especially on some tracks like "Highway 46," "IDK") and beautiful and free piano play. It veers away from the usual thoughts on jazz. I really gravitate towards things full of creativity that can break rules.

You’re working with Stones Throw next weekend. How did that collaboration come about? What could Eating Music learn from a label like Stones Throw?
We've worked with them previously, way before Eating Music actually, whether it was via importing records or inviting artists to play here. So it's been great and smooth to work with them. And if you're looking at a detailed version of what our label could be, Stones Throw is definitely a fine role model. Their diverse taste in music, as well as their family vibe – it's all very attractive to me. 

Next week will also usher in the second edition of the Eating Music Camp. Could you provide a little background on how that came together and what you set out to achieve? What were some of the highlights from last year? What are you most excited about for this year’s edition?
I used to run a place previously called DV House (in its original incarnation was our record studio Daily Vinyl plus a guest house). It was big and had many rooms inside – truly a 'house.' Ideally, I would like to adapt that place to something like Stones Throw did with their old LA house. Then I started my label. This idea of a music 'camp' combined these two circumstances together since I had a place to host this kind of event and was beginning to cooperate with many young artists who were mostly 'bedroom' producers. It was the perfect opportunity to put them together and inspire each other. So we held our first edition as Eating Music Label Camp in 2018 – the attendees (all students) are all of our label artists now and it's more like an internal event or work retreat.

It was great. They made some nice tracks and a jam video which got tons of great feedback from fans and friends. The best memory for me was how we all stayed together and shared our life with one another, from strangers to closer friends and family. I really want to keep this vibe going and get more interesting artists involved as well. So in 2019, I decide to upgrade our event to "Eating Music Camp" so it wouldn't just be artists who have already joined the label, but also open it up to people who just want to get better at producing music. I do believe the artists can feel our communal spirit and will look forward to forging these new relationships with the new blood.

What kind of artists does Eating Music attract in your perspective? What qualities do you look for?
Imagination, good taste, and strong beliefs in music – these are the key terms that immediately come to mind. Interesting people, who understand the things they are doing, create, not just repeat other's style or model. Skills can of course be refined day by day (one of our great mentors this year is Eric Lau, who will pass on his extensive knowledge), but the flavor and goals of one's career must be found by the artists themselves.

What is Eating Music cooking up in the future?
After we finish this year's camp, we have some releases to announce, like our first full-band cooperation release with Sleeping Dogs from Beijing. Also, as is our tradition, we will release some best works from the camp under the title Eating Music Compilation Vol. 2. Some other exciting projects are on the horizon as well, such as hosting a multi-channel panning showcase with Kaifeng-born, Vancouver-based composer, DJ, and sound artist Yu Su in December.

As the camp keeps becoming bigger, I've started to treat it kind like a music festival, so all the preparation must be started very early. This year, we started planning from late February, and it still doesn't feel like we have enough time to get everything ready. I believe in planning one day at a time, but I've learned that when you do more, you will get more feedback and can figure out how to do it better next time.

Catch Kiefer play this Saturday, Aug 31 at Omni Space. Tickets are RMB 130 advance or RMB 160 on the door.

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Images: everipedia.org, courtesy of Cookie Zhang