Interview
Slurgeon is the musical alias of Portland-based Michael Reese.
Fostering swaths of beat makers and producers through ThristyCity, Michael has played a role in opening Portland's ears to more underground sounds - intentionally curating forward-thinking musicians.
And as they say, it takes one to know one. Michael is an adept producer in his own right, his releases on STYLSS, Ommaya Records, and his self-released Fat Tabby EP to name a few, demonstrate an understanding of the many facets of dance music - and their influence on one another.
Having just passed 11 years of ThirstyCity, I'm curious if you can share about how it started, and what's fueled the series for so long?
The homie Kipp (Northerndraw) started Thirsty City back in 2014. The ‘10s were a real golden era for producer culture IMO. It was much more common to see producers doing live sets of entirely original compositions, presenting a raw 60-90 minute journey through their own creativity. Low End Theory was really cracking in LA at the time, mostly in that format. I was definitely a day one regular attendee and played a handful of them before volunteering to take the reins and keep it alive when Kipp moved to Germany in 2019 to get his masters degree. The party had just hit five years and it had already been a great run, but it was too special a thing for me to let it die just because he was leaving town.
It was very much a hip-hop heavy event those first five years, and Kipp jokingly made me promise not to turn it into a techno night, knowing my passion for a wide breadth of electronic music. So during my tenure as the sole curator, i put a lot of intention into broadening the scope. And then came the covid shut down. While the venues remained closed i threw a couple picnics with some broad lineups. All day affairs at alberta park with 12 or so artists on the bill. It kept the spirit of the event alive in a way that i’m proud of, and i watched a lot of producers in our scene branch out quite a bit into higher tempos during all that time at home, which pleased me to no end. Eventually we found a new monthly home at the goodfoot where we’ve been the last few years.
What’s kept it alive is just the wild amount of talented producers here in Portland. I really believe that if the blog era had gone on into the ‘20s Portland would be known nationally as the hotbed of talent that it is. Our monthly showcase may be coming to an end soon, but there will still be one off events. 11 years is a hell of a run though, and Kipp and I take a lot of pride in what we’ve done with it.
Tell us a bit about the other events you’ve been throwing lately.
My heart is really in the club these days, and I’ve shifted my focus to dancefloor events. Process opened their doors to me and the homie Sol Elicio. We’ve thrown a handful of Thursday night parties on that gorgeous Danley system featuring some local selectors we love and admire, putting them on at primetime (10:30-12 for a portland weeknight) and bookending the nights ourselves. No real format other than freedom to present your taste, hitting any and all of the tempos, vibes, and genres we so love.
Next up I’m launching a new series called Different Animal, and the first edition is right around the corner on Thursday 9/4. With this one I want to lean deeper into left field sounds. Same freedom of style, but let’s get heady and out there. I don’t want to concern myself too much with being terribly accessible, this party is for the nerds and weirdos. I want to get feral with the folks that want to do the same. Pull up sometime and we can all scare our inner hoes together, musically of course.
Your production knows no bounds, from neck-snapping breaks, to ambient dreamscapes and everything between. What unifies these sounds for you?
First off, those are kind words, so thank you. I feel like I've evolved my style, and definitely my skills over recent years. I’d say that there’s a bit of chaos energy in my tunes that is really just my personality seeping through, and that’s what makes my “voice” what it is. Drums are typically the focus when I start a new tune. I typically start at whatever tempo I’m feeling that day, often with some element or basic rhythmic pattern that I’ve absorbed from something I’ve heard lately and using that as a jumping off point. Sonic pallets change over time, but it’s typically my approach to drums that unify my sound. When I’m in ambient mode, I’m usually chasing an emotive, wall-of-sound sci-fi score vibe, with a lot of reverence to texture.
What is something that is exciting you about music; locally, globally, or both.
Locally I’d say that there are more and more interesting events in the dance music realm happening all the time and I see people playing more adventurous sets in recent years. Portland has a lot of talent, and I can’t count how many times I’ve seen locals smoke the headliners in terms of what I personally find interesting. I’m also gonna go ahead and name drop my homie Omari Jazz. I’ll shout that name from the roof of the highest building. He can do it all and his forays into club sounds the last two years… goddamn.
Globally, I think that covid shut downs pushed a lot of producers to fuck around a bit more in realms outside of their norms and came back on the other side with some exciting results. I love seeing people take elements from all these different genres and bring them together in their own way.
What is a piece of music that had a particular impact on you recently?
This release is 3 years old now, but Kincaid’s Sugar EP has been in constant rotation since I stumbled upon it in January of last year. I listen to it quite often and it always feels new to some degree. Every moment in that EP is so detailed and intentional. The tracks are drawn out but not overly so, filled with imagination, and executed with tact and mastery. There are multiple distinct sections in each song and they tell full stories. It’s a level of expression that I aspire to achieve with my own sound.
Describe your mix a bit for us. Where are you taking us?
I wanted to present my favorite lanes of dance music in the context of a prime timeslot type of set where the party is fully rolling. I don’t get to play slots like that very much, and coming off of the fantastic weekend I just had at Bass Coast last month, I just wanted to bring some serious kinetic energy to it. I started it off with my favorite tune from Eprom’s catalog, which I always felt would be a great sound system palette cleanser to get a quick reset from whatever wild energy the floor might have been left with at said hypothetical party. And from there I build it back up. About 30ish minutes in we are fully in rave mode and I’m getting it a little more fast and feral as we progress. Lots of flavors in the stew, genre-wise. Hybrid bass, left-field techno, electro… really just the high energy shit that captures my imagination when I’m in the dance. When it comes down to it, I'm playing for myself here, crafting the kind of set that would keep my body moving and my brain engaged at the right level where I'm never getting bored. The type of ride that would leave me walking away on wobbly legs, smiling wide and drenched in sweat. I really enjoyed putting it together and I hope that anyone down to take the ride with me, be it in the car, at the gym, or just having a little solo rave at home enjoys as much as I did.
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