CRaymak Shares Insight on ‘Malfunction’ EP and His Favorite Pokémon

Coming off the release of the Malfunction EP, CRaymak stopped by to chat about the EP, collabing with Doctor P, and his favorite Pokémon!

If you’re looking for unique soundscapes and out of this world sound design to plug into your ears, CRaymak has you covered. This producer who hails from Nova Scotia has been turning heads left and right with his masterfully constructed songs. He has even garnered the attention of Circus Records as well as the label’s head honcho’s Doctor P and Flux Pavilion.

Over the years, we have seen CRaymak drop some seriously cool tracks such as his Abstraction EP as well as “Savior” with Flux Pavilion and “Overheater” with Doctor P. He recently released his Malfunction EP, which is easily his best work yet. It boasts incredible production and heavy bass and is easily a release you can listen to all day long.

CRaymak is bound for success as the year unfolds. We caught up with him about the process behind the EP, collaborating with artists like Doctor P, and his favorite Pokemon! Check out our chat with him and his jaw-dropping mix below!

Stream EDMID Winter Waveforms 2020 || CRaymak on SoundCloud:

Hey CRaymak, thanks for chatting with us today! Let’s talk about your most recent EP, Malfunction, that’s out now on Circus Records. What was the process behind making this EP and did it differ from your previous releases like your Abstraction EP?

The process behind making Malfunction was pretty well close to the same as Abstraction. Although, the Malfunction took a little more time to come up with, where we released more singles prior to the idea of it even becoming a thing!

Basically, the names both have some sort of meaning behind them. I chose Abstraction as a name because I thought of my “sound” as almost “ever-changing colour” or “multiple colours on a pallet to create something a bit more abstract” … as in combining many soundscapes (melodic, trance-like, vocal-driven, bass heavy, beautiful vs intense sounds, etc.). As for the definition of Abstraction which is “freedom from representational qualities in art” and when I read it, I believed it was the right fit, and honestly still is the right fit for my “sound” currently. I hate to stick to just ONE thing, and can never narrow down my pallet to fewer colours then ALL.

Malfunction was definitely more focused on the “intense sounds” portion, darker and a lot more intricate sound design then Abstraction.

You have 15 years of classical jazz training under your belt, how did you incorporate this experience/training into your Malfunction EP?

Honestly, I try not to think about the theory side of music as much anymore unless I REALLY need to. Sometimes I pull out the theory, to think out a problem when my ears don’t know what I want to hear.

For a while, I found that theory held me back quite a bit as if I was overusing it for no good reason, kind of the same way people overuse EQs and compression too much (when they only know the theory behind them, when starting out). I find it works hand in hand, though when you get that control of doing what sounds good versus falling back on theory to reassure/reassess a particular section of a song, that’s when the balance worked for me.

Anyways, to answer the question, A lot of these songs on Malfunction actually came from more of what I thought just sounded good. I would say parts definitely required some theory knowledge attention, and “I’d Do It Again” DEFINITELY needed some of that, but at the end of the line, it all mainly comes down to “these are the notes I can use, in theory, BUT out of those, these are the ones sound the best”.

On the EP, you have a couple of collaborations – one most notably being “Overheater” with Doctor P. How do you approach collaborations and is there an artist you’d like to work with in the future who you haven’t yet?

Yes! “Overheater” was a ton of fun to work on with Shaun! It actually came together surprisingly fast for how many times the project went back and forth between each other. The approach to it can be different depending on the circumstances.

I guess the main difference would be having that full confidence or those ideas to make a project come together on your own. I can admit this can be kind of hard sometimes especially being someone as indecisive and as much as an overthinker/perfectionist as I can be. Versus having that extra mind on a track to help determine the direction of a track a lot quicker, and bouncing ideas back and forth. It definitely makes it a whole lot easier, especially working with Shaun, Sam Lamar, and Awal, by far some of the smoothest and easy-going collaborations I’ve had!

Not to forget, most times I like going into a collaboration with the mindset of wanting to learn from each other, which makes it even that much more fun!

As for artists in the future… there’s so many in so many different realms of music that I could choose. But in the electronic music realm… Seven Lions is a huge one for me, being one of my favourite artists and probably still the biggest inspiration/influence since his release Days To Come. Kill The Noise is definitely up there too, especially since he’s one of the nicest and most supportive guys in bass music, and he was one of my biggest inspirations with his Kill Kill Kill EP when I first started dabbling in production. And let’s not forget Skrillex.

Out of the seven tracks off Malfunction, what was the one that you had the most fun creating and/or the one that you are the proudest of?

Oh god. That’s a tough one. I feel like every song has its own specific favourite / fun parts that are all so different from each other. I feel like I really enjoyed “Whomp” because it was something a lot less noisy, and more bouncy groove-oriented than the rest of the songs on the EP.

“I’d Do It Again” was more of a melodic venture, which can also be fun, especially working with the vocal Saint Yves sung! And then again, as I said, every song had its, unique to their own, fun moments or learning/proud moments. Even between collaborating with Sam Lamar, Awal and Doctor P, it’s so hard to pinpoint just one moment from one track.

Let’s turn back the clock really quickly. Your “First of The Month” Series on SoundCloud back in 2017 was a major hit. Do you ever think you will bring that series, or something similar to that, back?

Thank you! Yeah, that project was incredibly fun. I often think back to how motivated and inspired that year-long project kept me since it was based on my earliest inspirations in music. I would love to do something like this again and definitely have thought about it.

Honestly, I feel like lately, that VIPs have been and will continue to be a project for this year that I’m looking forward too. Releasing a lot of VIP versions throughout 2020 of, say, tracks off of Malfunction, and who knows… maybe even some of my earlier works? Even though that’s not the same sort of project, it’s one of those things that keeps me motivated and inspired moving forward in one way or another. But now that you’ve questioned me on this, I will definitely be brainstorming up some new ideas for the months and even years to come, so thank you for that.

What has been the biggest struggle that you’ve faced so far in your career, and how did you overcome it?

Writer’s block and not sorting out bad habits before they stopped the flow of my music. Usually, some time and a bit of fresh air have helped immensely, surrounding yourself with the right people is always going to help as well.

If you could give one piece of advice to artists who are looking to break into the bass music scene, what would it be?

This one’s also really tough… I’m always learning myself, so go make mistakes and take lessons from them. Like I said before, if you surround yourself with motivated kind people, you can’t go wrong.

We heard through the grapevine that you’re a huge Pokémon fan. What Pokemon do you think relates most to you?

Wow. WHO TOLD YOU THAT!? I definitely am and always have been and will never stop! I never thought I’d be asked a question like this. Normally I feel like I would have an answer, but I’m a little lost. Charizard (especially shiny Charizard) has ALWAYS been my all-time favourite. But lately, I feel like Darkrai would have to be my choice or even among the same Gen 4 set of legendaries, maybe Dialga (one of the three “Creation trio”).

Ever since I played Pokémon Diamond as a kid, there was something about Darkrai that really stood out, and I’m glad he’s finally out in Pokemon Go. However, looking at it again, I really like his Biology on Bulbapedia and his Pokedex entry is very fitting for the dark side of my music (aka Malfunction). Also, we share the trait of blue eyes and wearing all black / I had red hair there for a while, so it just seems accurate.

I love his ‘dex entries: “It can lull people to sleep and make them dream. It is active during nights of the new moon.”

“Darkrai, the Pitch-Black Pokémon. Legend has it that on a moonless night, Darkrai will lure people to sleep and unleash nightmares upon them.”

Bulbapedia: “Darkrai does not only cause nightmares; it is also attracted to them.” “Darkrai possibly feeds off dreams, characterized by its association with never-ending nightmares.”

Finally, are there any big 2020 goals that you have set for yourself?

I’ve put a lot of time and thought into this recently and my biggest goals for this year are, well… First, finding those kinds of projects, like the First Of Month series, to really drill that inspiration/motivation factor back into my writing. Which I believe may be part of these VIP series… if it all works out to plan.

Second, writing a lot more original content and collaborating, finding ways/techniques to get quicker at writing and finishing. Meaning, breaking any bad habits, and finding a ton of good habits to build off of. And third, developing a true sound for myself that I can be confident and keep consistent with to move forward with the future of the CRaymak project!

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