Review Fix Exclusive: Dzang Talks EP, Glacial Erratic And More

June 16, 2021 Patrick Hickey Jr. Music 0

Review Fix chats with Dzang, who discusses their new EP, Glacial Erratic and more.

Review Fix: How did you get involved in music?

Dzang: I started playing when I was a little kid: violin at 7, guitar at 9.  All my friends played too so by middle school we had a band.  I was in bands throughout high school and college, which eventually led me to producing for other people. 

Review Fix: What’s your creative process like?

Dzang: It really depends if I’m working by myself or with others but my ideal process for Dzang is to jam with some great musicians and a good sounding studio and then edit all those spontaneous ideas into to something more “composed”.  But, because of quarantine, this EP is just me by myself. Instead of musicians jamming I had all my synths running together and then I edited all the best bits together after the fact. 

Review Fix: What inspires you?

Dzang: Oh wow, so much… these days though, seeing friends and playing music with other people.  Covid really made me realize how important collaboration is to me. I always knew it got good results but now I know that I actually need it to be my best. 

Review Fix: What does music mean to you?

Dzang: Everything. It’s my meditation, therapy, socializing, and peace of mind. 

Review Fix: How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard you?

Dzang: I usually say something like “down-tempo, come-down grooves”. 

Review Fix: How are your live shows different from your studio work?

Dzang: The Dzang shows after my last record (3G) were really fun because I was playing with a real band (Olivia Kaplan, Jorge Balbi, and Georgia Lill) and there was a lot of listening and stretching out on stage… things took on a different form every night. These days, I’m trying to figure out how I want to do that by myself for this music. 

Review Fix: What inspired your latest single?

Dzang: ‘Retreat’, and really the whole EP, was made after a mind-blowing trip that my partner and I took to Alaska. We spent time in Denali and Glacier Bay National Parks and witnessing the water cycle at a glacial scale and timeline just really blew my mind.  It re-contextualized the climate crisis for me and so, for me, the music ended up being about states of change and how the “balance” we and the earth are always seeking is actually a flow-state. Nothing stays the same forever; in fact, stagnancy is death. 

Review Fix: What are your goals for 2021?

Dzang: Honestly, just to be around people and make music with them. 

Review Fix: What’s next?

Dzang: A lot of projects I’ve been working on are coming out this summer.  I produced a record for Olivia Kaplan that’s coming out July 25th, playing shows with her and also Buzzy Lee, and then at some point there’ll be a record from my ambient side project, Cove. 

Review Fix: Anything else you’d like to add?

Dzang: Thanks for listening!  Making music isolation, its hard to imagine people actually hearing it. It means a lot to me to have you pay attention.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14316 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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