Nigeria-born, Toronto-raised musician and producer LA Timpa talks about his love of cassette players
This article is taken from the Autumn/Winter 2024 issue of AnOther Magazine:
“The first time I picked up a cassette player was 11 years ago, around the same time I was collecting and playing with digital cameras and typewriters. I like to call it the first musical ‘instrument’ I learnt to play because of how integral it became to my creative process. I had just finished high school and I found myself at a junk store in Toronto where I came across a mini portable cassette player. I bought it and put some batteries in to play the tape inside, and it was a homemade recording of two white guys in Toronto from the 90s just rapping over these classic 90s beats, one of which was Jay-Z’s Hard Knock Life. I was so fascinated by the fact that the only way in the world to listen to this moment someone decided to record was through this device – that was the only place it existed and there was something so eerie about that. I started collecting old cassette players after that, listening to old recordings that had been left in them, which inspired me to record various moments throughout my days. I’d interview people on the street and capture all these different sounds, noises and conversations that I would then use to create music. To this day, it is the most consistent piece of equipment I use. So many of my songs over the years were born this way – it is foundational to my craft.”
The Nigeria-born, Toronto-raised musician and producer LA Timpa (real name Christopher Soetan) first made a name for himself eight years ago, with the release of his debut EP, Animal, in 2016. The five-track experimental, electro-pop project established the artist’s ethereal sound, blending deconstructed pop melodies with ambient IDM and lyrical storytelling to explore everything from love and mortality to loneliness and destruction. For his 2019 LP, Equal Amounts Afraid, he worked with the British producer and composer Kwes, a collaborator of artists such as Solange and Sampha. Time of Marcker, LA Timpa’s most recent project, chronicles his pursuit of inner peace via a sonic rollercoaster powered by raw emotion. Like much of his catalogue, the song Ornary, Pt 2 on the new album was inspired by a mix of noises from old cassette recordings – a soundscape now emblematic of his work.
This story features in the Autumn/Winter 2024 issue of AnOther Magazine, which is on sale now. Order here.
