The musician FIGURE SKATER

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Number 1 Interview Series is about Firsts and Debuts and Geneses and Solitude and Premieres. You are reading a work of Oneness. You are reading the Number One (1) interview series in the world ever of all time and absolutely. There is only one One.

Today The One is FIGURE SKATER. We premiere their song “estro moodswings.”

Seeing a lot of use of the word “sublimate” lately. Kind of annoying. Per Oxford D, it’s “to divert or modify (an instinctual impulse) into a culturally higher or socially more acceptable activity.” Primitive reflexes rerouted to art production, maybe. No sex just tunes. Diverting the ape-born drive to feast on freshly groomed fleas towards inventing new types of esoteric pornography on Midjourney. Doing a fun doodle instead of indulging the primitive urge to curb stomp people who say “jawns”. Perhaps this is what is meant when “sublimate” is used.

The musician FIGURE SKATER seems to me a picture of a kind of ‘sublimation.’ Their music gives the impression of the ‘sublimation’ of deep-set, pre-cognitive feeling. Flashes of fury and searing horniness. Flailing, thrashing, roiling; gritted teeth and snapped tendons. Potent and fundamental human impulses, transmuted musically with the skill and finesse of an elevated mind. Id and Superego freezing out Ego to make Big-Ass Slappers. Energy.

But what does the music sound like? An all-consuming whirlpool comes to mind, spewing out fucked up shards of heavy baile, venomous thugged out phonk, Discord-fried post-reggaeton, James Ferrarofied bedroom pop, The Bug-esque dub crushers, boom bap, 2-step, emotive D&B… whatever the muse of the moment might be. Anything can happen. And everything does.

Much of it goes down on Soundcloud, where they form the nucleus of a dizzying one-person musical universe. FIGURE SKATER is Miya Lowe is DJ BENDROWNED is evaboy is DUDE ZONE is half of GANJINC RADIO, was DJ GAPE. It’s the kind of art that’s the product of a kind of hyper-accelerated post-regional cultural/media paradigm that seems boring to attempt to diagnose.

Which is why I asked them some questions about Ones and Firsts and whatnot instead. And also premiered the new FIGURE SKATER tune ‘estro moodswings’. You read, you listen.

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You have one day to live, because I'm going to kill you. Your demise is unavoidable and non-negotiable. What do you do with this day?

Drunk driving to my exes house listening to dRake. Speeding

One life. What’s happened? What do you want to happen?

i think i've accomplished everything i wanted in life. ive made a lot of content and i'm trying to move my focus more towards moving my life forward and improving myself. im trying to find stability now and also working to develop genuine empathy

One love. What or who is yours?

music i think. or link from the zelda franchise. but seriously definitely the creation of art and music; i think being creative and having spaces where people can share their creativity is the most beautiful shit to fucking exist

One Time 4 Your Mind by Nas. What’s the goated old head rap song?

i honestly cannot answer this. i remember microphone mathematics by lord quas changing my life and view on beatmaking when i was 14. bullshit by the pharcyde was cool too

One by Metallica. Do you (hard) rock with them? What’s your relationship to/with heavy ass metal?

i hate metallica and most "heavy metal" 80s shit. right wing cop music to me, i guess im not white enough

One More Time by Daft Punk. Do you like going out and ‘doing nightlife’? Has that changed?

not really big on raving and nightlife in general unless im with my friends or seeing a performance from an artist i look up to (my friends), but nonetheless i love that we've built spaces for ppl like us to hang out and meet up, and then perform and listen to these creations we've all made through consuming each other's music and art. its incredible that i've kinda watched these scenes, regional or online, develop as time goes on and i'm more than grateful and proud that i had an influence on that, more or less. i think that's what i like about the shows i play at and go to. i don't think id have much for community without it.

One God. Or perhaps many. Or perhaps none. Or perhaps some nebulous non-personified spiritual force. Speak to me of your faith.

how many religions are there? i honestly doubt there's nothing and i'm not a nihilist. i dunno what religion got it closest but there's definitely some entity hovering over it all. i always question how the fuck i'm conscious, this shit isnt just an "electric meat sack", stop watching fucking rick and morty. also if there's a hell i think people will go to it for being pedophiles or something awful, not some normal ass human shit like being gay or disabled. i dunno, i have a weird relationship w religion and spirituality, i think if your head goes too deep into it, it leads to bad places but i do think something's out there responsible for all of this.

Your Public Enemy Number One, living or dead.

i've been breaking bread with those i used to call my enemies. i didn't betray anyone, i betrayed hate

It's nice to look out for number one. What does self-care look like for you?

it varies depending on the day. the past several years it's been watching vinesauce or jerma and making beats but recently i've been trying to get back into gaming myself. i've been playing the first animal crossing on the gamecube. honestly feels a lot less fanservicey and bleak than new horizons or whatever the new one is called. it has life. color. i miss when video games had life.

First world problems y’all! Put your number one pet peeve on blast.

i would usually say the idea of "cringe" and "maturity", dumb shit like that. like, when people criticize me for it. i feel that as an autistic person it's important that i dont try and mold myself to other's needs, and like, i've always been like "as long as i don't try to hurt people right??" but i dunno , i been finding it difficult for me to fully put myself into other peoples shoes and empathize w them if i don't know anything about them. i think im noticing that everyone socializes and thinks in incredibly different ways, even other autists, and what seems morally okay and "being considerate" to you can seem absolutely fucked up and sociopathic to someone else. somehow. i feel insane sometimes but i think the best thing to do is just keep socializing until you meet those you click with. idk what my pet peeve is. "interpersonal relationships" or some gay shit like that

An experience you wish you could relive for the first time.

summer 2015. splatoon for the Wii U released and i was listening to a lot of odd future and early yung lean, and the new death grips and ilys albums dropped around that time too. spent time at disneyland w my family, i remember chilling on the balcony, we had a good ass view of like, the mickey mouse ferris wheel or whatever. and i listened to "i don't like shit, i don't go outside" by earl sweatshirt fully thru for the first time. insane era. This shit sounds so lame now and if someone else told me about this story i'd kill them but i was 13. i was on top of the fucking world, felt absolutely unstoppable. i think that summer did shape me as a person a lot but also its definitely bad to try and go back to a certain period in your life. especially one where you were a 13 year old with zero responsibility and your familys money. wtf would i be thinking. i do think about ways i can sorta relive those times as a independent, moral, and responsible adult though.

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