With the recent release of Ambient Drift on Postpartum, Run Wallace elevates a sound that meets the title’s intent with well produced lines and developed layouts. It’s a playground showcasing his beat craft where you just don’t want to get off that downbeat slide. The maturity of Ambient Drift lets you know that Run Wallace has a history beyond this release. And fortunately for us, he has more to lay down up on the horizon. If you are just hearing his name, let us introduce you. Slackline was fortunate to catch up with Wallace for a few bits during a recent busy schedule and get a few questions answered with Run Wallace.
Slackline Radio: Who is Run Wallace?
Run Wallace: I was born and raised in Germany. I started out as a beat maker for pragmatic reasons: We had a rap crew going and eventually got tired of using the same beats to freestyle over and wanted to create our own original sound. That was probably in 2005. I was always drawn to producers like DJ premier, Pete Rock madlib and so on – classic 90s education I would say. And so we tried to recreate the sound we loved. Coming from a city that had a tight Hip Hop community I was lucky enough to connect to many local producers and MCs that provided a good platform to grow and from the beginning be able to play my beats to other people in jam- or open mic sessions. I was since travelling and moving a lot, spending a significant amount abroad that surely has had an impact on my productions. Now, I’m working from Berlin, sharing a studio with other talented producers.
Slackline Radio: Berlin, and Germany as a whole, seems to have a vibrant downbeat scene. What is driving this explosion and how are you working in this space?
Run Wallace: I think the German scene in general has insanely good output. With great independent labels all over the country. Surprisingly, my Berlin network is relatively tight with a limited amount of musicians I collaborate. With most of them not necessarily directly connected to the hip hop / downbeat scene, which I really enjoy for the inspiration and creative input.
Slackline Radio: What was the inspiration on Ambient Drift and how did the album get produced?
Run Wallace: This has been the first solo release in many years so it has a special place in my heart. It’s a collection of instrumentals that I created in 2019 working from our new studio in east Berlin. Back then i was travelling the Balkans a lot, with the culture and architecture having an impact on the sound quality and artwork of the album. Hence, brutalism as defining architecture in many spaces turned into an inspiration, as you can see in the artwork. Also, i really love to create ambient music, using similar production techniques as in loop based instrumental beats. This is also reflected in the album production, with long loops and sometimes unpredictable melodies.
Slackline Radio: What is in the works for Run Wallace?
Run Wallace: There is a lot in the pipeline. Together with my studio mate Soupbox I will release two more volumes of “Highs, Lows & Antidotes” resulting in a vinyl release of all three volumes beginning of 2023 release through Besser-Samstag. There is an EP scheduled for September / October this year through Mutombo Records called “Blazena” an ode to the Balkans and definitely a whole different vibe that prior productions. In addition, there are a few more projects in the pipeline that I cannot talk about yet 😉 but which will also go beyond instrumental beats and downtbeat with a more electronic experimental character to it.
