No More Closeted Beats: Scene Spotlight on Feedback Alliance

by Jenny Stark
Photos by Casey Curtis and Steven Wilkinson
Feedback Alliance

As a semi-closeted creative writer myself, I have come to appreciate the importance of community in the act of creation. A creative’s life isn’t an easy one to lead. It’s solitary, monotonous and riddled with scotch, self-doubt, the stench of not showering for three days and cigarette smog. I sit, sipping and inhaling, staring at a page peeking through my type writer with “fuck you” repeated fifty-five times just hoping to catch a lucky break. The dust accumulates on top of the detritus that is my thoughts scribbled on anything near by– napkins, notebooks, sticky-notes, the wall, my hand, the cat, etc… like a lover scorned. You hit the wall, literally and figuratively. However, if you can muster up the courage to share your scribblings, usually (not always) something completely new, unexpected and excellent comes to be from that open collabing. You not only unlock your pieces potential, but spur growth in both yourself and the writing community at large.

Emerging from the shadows of nationally acclaimed heavy-hitters Team Supreme and Soulection Radio, the Austin based beat-collective Feedback Alliance is capturing the essence of community in creation, bringing beat-production back to the forefront of local hip hop and pushing bedroom producers out of the beat-making closet. The collaboration works constantly and non competitively in order to both challenge each beat-smith’s possible potential and compile the illest of un-tapped tracks. No matter if you like grooves mimicking the tranquility of long walks on the beach, tracks that embody the intellectualness of a good read, lusty beats rough like an uncut diamond or leisurely tunes that sparkle like pure gold, FeAl is seeking to pull you out of your comfort zone. With a fine tuned palate for the exquisite as well as erratic, the Austin-based Alliance is consistently outsourcing a vast variety of housemade tracks that are sure to give music fanatic some serious feels.

Feedback Alliance

Each week, “a ghost” (usually a local friendly of the close knit community) carefully chooses a sample and BPM to include in a pack. Once the pack is compiled, each receiving member (about 20) has only one week to abandon their right-brained selves in order to create a completely fresh one to two minute track that they will then premiere on that week’s compilation, as well at the Feedback/DGR live monthly showcase at Plush. From turning Battle Star and Star Trek samples into out of this world electro tunes, dubbing local legends like Lauren Bruno over breathy grooves, spinning grimey hip hop from sleazy listening to easy listening or slapping us in the face with some seriously bassy samps, Feedback is certainly keeping it fresh with their creativity.

Birthed from the exasperating efforts of three homegrown talents, Christopher Ross Medders, Steven Wilkinson and Casey Curtis, the Feedback Alliance continues to curate an affinity of vibes on every dance floor it touches. Originally competitors in the round-robin mind-fuck that is continous beat submitting and self proclaimed closeted beat-smiths themselves, the three decided to form a trifecta of mutual exclusivity aimed at organic growth and distribution after joining forces through local friendlies Applied Pressure and Exploded Drawing. Once introduced, the sparks began to fly and the three began hypothesizing a more community-centric way to better themselves, their friends and the overall production scene– bringing them to create the Feedback Alliance.

Feedback Alliance

Christopher Ross Medders, aka Eversive of the Soul Glow Collective, is the group’s appointed educated one and does all things techy, mastering the muddy off of crisp, clean beats. Steven is the group’s appointed creative one and takes over all things media for the group, as well as collaborates on beats with Casey Curtis under the moniker Midi Cyrus. Casey “Cuts” Curtis, the groups self proclaimed “blanket,” mixes the mixtapes and provides live DJ set intervention. Their goal: to bruise the battle mentality surrounding beat making and leave no beat unturned.

Whereas most beat collectives are compiled of competition (battling) and complacency, these three producers work together to bring the sick shit no one is hearing to the forefront. With their growing success this past year and having just celebrated the year of the collab’s birth, the Feedback Alliance’s open love affair with the community is crawling out from the underground and taking over the beat-production scene. Including appearances by indigenous legends such as Lo-Phi, Bames, the Black and White Years and Tangence, national treasures like Lakim and all the local “you-need-to-knows” in between, the Feedback Alliance continues to shed some much needed light on the world of beat production and the producers that keep it spinning.

Feedback Alliance

To keep the groove alive, the Feedback Alliance can be found showcasing their skills every second Wednesday alongside local podcasting friendly Dusty Groove Radio, creating a safe place for producers to play their jankey beats on a serine sound system. This Wednesday, you can catch Feedback alliance alongside Dusty Groove Radio and special guests at Austin’s favorite DJ dive-bar Plush for an unforgettable (no matter how drunk you are) NYE beat extravaganza!

To become a part of the growing collective, or just to peep the happy-haps, you can visit Feedbackalliance.com for outsourcing links to their upwards of twenty EPs via soundcloud.com.