Biography: What is a “Random Malachi”? Randomness could be described as events within a resolution of scale too low-level to be observed or understood. Malachi means “My messager” and is an homage to my Ashkenazic roots. This is an indie pop, dark electronica project that brings levity to the sadness we all feel rather than to embelish it as unique. Stylistically, the music borrows from 90’s and 80’s art pop like Bowie, The Talking Heads and Bjork with it’s own distinct take. Originally based in Orlando, Florida, 2022.
Links to Where Your Music Can be Purchased: Music is on all major streaming platforms (Spotify, Amazon Music, Youtube). Will add a digital downloadable at https://shop.randommalachi.com
Have you always been interested in music? What is your story
and how did you start making music? My first interest in music was probably dancing around the house to “Night on Bald Mountain” from fantasia as a kid. If you’re not familiar, that’s the one with the demons and witches. My mom did a great job exposing me to a lot of music whether it was the Grateful Dead, Bobby McFerrin or various Jazz Fusion artists like John McLaughlin and Jean Luc Ponty. Older siblings introduced me to Nirvana, Nine Inch Nails, Aphex Twin and some Drum N Bass. That was how I started enjoying music.
I didn’t make music really until I was in middle school when I started playing around with Garage Band and picking up guitar. Since then, I taught myself how to play drums, bass and a little piano and sing. The music for Random Malachi is all arranged with synth
What are you working on now? Any future releases we can look
forward to? The upcoming album, “Moon”, will be released on Oct. 9th, the next hunter’s moon. This ten track album will include remasters of my last three singles and seven new tracks. The theme for the songs is the folly of desiring the things we cannot or should not have. It has an overall fun, strange, and dark mood.
Besides that, I’ve designed some new shirts and drinking mugs for the Random Malachi store and wanting to get started on my next single or album. I have several songs I’m producing.
What Is Your Ultimate Goal In The Music Industry? Music is a form of healing and I do want to offer that to people everywhere. If someone likes the bass or drums on one of my songs, or my unusual vocals style made them say “wow this guy can’t sing” but it cheered them up, that makes me happy. I don’t have ideations of stardom. We have all been born into stars and there are many of us. As far as who the music appeals to, I think “The Death of the Author” applies to musical genre as much as it does to literary works. I could call it indie-electronic but one would have to hear Random Malachi to put their own words to it.
What Has Been The Biggest Challenge In Your Career Thus Far? While I’ve been recording music since nearly twenty years ago, this is my first time really getting out there besides playing local shows. I started tracking the upcoming album, “Moon”, nearly five years ago. I would revisit each mix and say, “is this what I want?” When I asked “what do I need this to be? What is this about?” each song came into it’s own and a theme arose.
How do you go about writing a song? Do you have a melody in
your head and then write the other music for it or what’s Your typical
songwriting process? It depends on the song. For some songs I’ll start with rhythm first or a vocal take. I say vocal take, because the vocals in this project are more spoken and tend to slide. An example of this would be the last single I put out, “Magical Night”. For other songs like “Decision Problem”, which will be on “Moon”, I built off of the concept first which was indecisiveness and regretting decisions.
How do you feel the Internet has impacted the music business? Many listeners today suffer from “decision fatigue” or “analysis paralysis”. I have more conversations about music where someone will say “music isn’t good like it used to be.” The fact is that there is a lot of great music today that borrows from the past or tries something entirely different. Tik Tok, YouTube, and streaming apps provide a way to discover independent artists. Prior to the internet, many of these artists simply had no chance in the industry due to the monolithic control over production and distribution. I think the internet is positive overall but needs improvements.
List some famous musicians currently on your playlist? I have a playlist dedicated to Madonna, Wham!, and Paula Abdul for my dancing days. A David Bowie, Bjork, and Beck playlist for something peculiar but fun. All the songs by Nine Inch Nails, Chelsea Wolfe and The Soft Moon are on their own but still needed.
What Did You Do Before You Started Making Music? Visual arts such as illustration and painting. I went to an art magnet school for that and always liked drawing most of all. As far as education goes, I finished my Bachelors in Computer Science about a year ago at UCF; I worked full time while going to school and I’m glad I saw it through. While music has changed who I am, I would say it’s woven into the continuity of my life. It has enhanced my reasoning and emotional aspects, perhaps more than the visual arts ever did.
Would you have any advice for young people wanting to follow
in your footsteps? Imagine your favorite musician and all the music they made in their career. Imagine all the hours you spent enjoying that music and how much you admire this artist. Now remember that there are a lot of people who will flatly say “That artist is no good. They can’t sing. They’re unoriginal. They’re fake (insert genre here).” Keep doing what you enjoy and if you’re happy with what you’ve made send it out and get to work on the next project.
If you could change anything about the music industry, what would it be? My biggest concern is how easily we all get trapped in “the algorithm”. We have this model that is driven by terrabytes of clicks, scroll events, bounce rates, and each one shapes what we will listen to or how to categorize content. I am not immune to this, as I am in my own ecclecltic little bubble at times. It can take work to go hunting and gathering for good art but at least it’s there if you look for it. To summarize, we need stronger, new recommendations and exposure of niche channels driven by better algorithms as they’re most likely here to stay.
How do you feel about originality? In theory, most art is derivative of someone else; In practice, if you can put a name to it, I’d say it’s original. Attribution to the first of each musical idea is a little dodgy but fun to think about. Originality intrigues me and I do claim a degree of originality outside of my influences
Is there anything else we should know about you? or Something
that you would like to add? I would like you to know that I appreciate your time conducting the interview and for all your listeners and fans. “Moon” will be out on Oct. 9th!
