I was stoked to have a few stolen moments with Cory Grindberg… aka Letmode and he didn’t disappoint! First of all thank you so much for being here and being so open to answer some questions. Let’s start out with you introducing yourself, who you are, where you’re from, all the details. Letmode: formerly known as Cory Grindberg. I am from Minneapolis, MN, and I currently reside in Minneapolis, MN. I spent a few years in Chicago and St. Louis as well. When did you start playing music? 5th grade Have you always been solo in making music, or have there been other collaborations or bands you have or are involved with? I was/am a part of producer duo CHAD (https://soundcloud.com/chadisallweknow) with my good friend daedae (https://soundcloud.com/daedaepivot), daedae and I together have done a little work with SABA (https://soundcloud.com/sabapivot/temporary-feat-tink https://soundcloud.com/sabapivot/saba-next-door https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7b2Ke0VVvis ), and some work with Joseph Chilliams (https://soundcloud.com/joseph-chilliams), some work with Mfn Melo (https://soundcloud.com/mfnmelo) also I’ve done some work with Ric Wilson (https://soundcloud.com/ricwilsonisme), and the producer collective Potatohead (https://soundcloud.com/labelpotato) aaaaaand here’s a handy playlist of all my collabs ;) https://soundcloud.com/letmode/sets/songsieitherproducedorco-produced When you make music, especially an album or EP where or how do you draw inspiration? Is it track by track or some sort of storyline you compile from other inspiration? Inspiration can be hard to come by! I often have to push myself a bit to feel inspired; I just start working and hope something dope comes out. typically creation starts on a track to track basis and eventually a mood or arc will arise about 5 or 6 tracks in. Do you find you are changing and developing your sound with each new release? I try! I try to impress myself every time I make a track. 90% of the time I’m not impressed, but shoutout to that other 10%. that other 10% is what gets released to the public. with this approach, I *hopefully* end up with a changing and developing sound. but I’m my own worst critic, so I don’t think I’ll ever really know. What are some of the biggest influences on your current sound? Mannie Fresh and Pierre Bourne. also SOPHIE and A.G. Cook and EASYFUN. also, yeezus was ahead of its time. also, I think distortion is great and more things should be distorted. What are some of your biggest musical aspirations for your music? For somebody to get as into my music as I got into the Neptunes’ music when I was younger. To create a unique yet ubiquitous sound. but honestly just having people listen to my music is enough for me! What do you find the most challenging about making music? Overcoming self-doubt. Are there any current collaborations or new projects we should be made aware of? YES- go peep that new SABA album Care For Me. shoutout to Saba, @daedaepivot, and #Daoud for producing all the tracks on there together (sidenote: I think producers need to be shouted out all the time. Every track should have a producer credit in the title, on SoundCloud, on Spotify, on apple music, on everything. also you should be able to check the metadata of a song and see all the information about composers, writing credits, musician credits, engineer credits, all that stuff, all that stuff should be readily available to all music listeners all the time! unless of course you are an author of the song and choose not to share that information, that’s fine. ALSO- I will be dropping an EP in the near future! stay tuned… What music is currently filling your ears? What do you have on repeat? fbg duck - slide (prod. @LilRiicoBeatz) https://open.spotify.com/track/3t35Gl89MBdzXZYhz2owdG?si=1k691W1oQiKj8bln1Jf-dQ EASYFUN - monopoly feat. noonie bao (prod. EASYFUN) https://open.spotify.com/track/7bzGIvAl75rZB20O9t5a5Z?si=q_uJSStZSdqTioVkSfs2FA future - feed me dope (prod. Will-A-Fool) https://open.spotify.com/track/3lyeSiAIdLoZUHhV8psOTI?si=V8UpkEWYS6yEBre1Z0Huqg jpegmafia - 1539 n Calvert (prod. jpegmafia) https://open.spotify.com/track/6ZWYN5GsObNdeT6K3j3V5E?si=e4dKnAW5QR65gzzbJy71fQ drake - sneakin’ feat 21 savage (prod. London on da track) https://open.spotify.com/track/4ckuS4Nj4FZ7i3Def3Br8W?si=vZR4a_RuT5-a0Kpx_vTOlg london on da track - no flag feat. 21 savage, offset, Nicki Minaj (prod. London on da track) https://open.spotify.com/track/1tyjWMMINb9S0YBynTvJ7s?si=wYVPVZfgQqm8hVtsSYBmOw future, young thug - 200 (prod. wheezy & TrePounds) https://open.spotify.com/track/5b06JZjts6dgyyuY1m7roq?si=iCFcVaGoTjSN6q01rRnJ_w drake - nice for what (prod. Corey Litwin, 40, BlaqNmilD, Murda Beatz) Most Definatly take some time to get through Letmode's socials! Posted by: MsGem