Truthlive’s new single Resist continues his run of varied releases, following the club-leaning Going Up and the more reflective Surrender. Built around a chopped vocal repeating the word “resist,” the track draws on electro, early Detroit influences and Miami bass while keeping a modern production feel. The broken rhythm also marks a shift away from his usual straight drum programming.
In the interview below he talks about the political context behind the record, the role of dance music as shared space, working with engineer Jake Levant, and why he’s comfortable making tracks that don’t sit neatly inside one style.
Your creative approach comes from feeling rather than genre rules. Going Up was about club energy, Surrender about mood and musicality. With Resist, you’ve brought in a political dimension. How did your emotional intent shift while making this one?
My emotional intent didn’t shift. Music and art are inherently political—most especially music related to club or rave culture. I wasn’t trying to bring in a new dimension. It just might be more on the nose with this specific song.
In earlier conversations you’ve talked about capturing shared experience, whether the rush toward a warehouse or a relaxed groove, Resist folds in rhythmic complexity as part of its message. How do you see the fractured beat language amplifying the political meaning you’re embedding?
The fractured beat is several things simultaneously. It is a callback to the Electro or early Detroit days. I also hear some Miami Bass and Freestyle in the track. All of this influenced me while I was growing up, before I ever made any of my own music. It’s a very roots electronic oriented song, albeit with modern bells and whistles. I tend to lean toward a four-on-the-floor approach in my drum programming, so it fits that a song called “Resist” in this musical aesthetic has a more syncopated rhythmic drive. The vocal sample actually saying the word “resist” uses a robotic voice. In a sense it’s like the robots rebelling because we reject being made into robots, and in turn, I didn’t use mechanical four-on-the-floor drums. There is a nice thematic duality between the electronic roots and more humanized things–sonically, in the production choices, and in the messaging.
You’ve said that inspiration shouldn’t be forced, and that each record reflects its moment. Resist is explicitly tied to resistance in a cultural climate, what was the moment or feeling that made this track feel necessary for you?
The second I heard the vocal sample I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. Yes, it is a response to the cultural climate, but I wasn’t intentionally seeking to make a very straight forward political tune. I heard the vocal sample, which says “resist.” I immediately heard a breakbeat electro 808 kinda vibe with certain synths in my mind, and let it happen. It all just aligned and made sense. I am glad I did. We all need to get more involved with resistance. A not-so-subtle white nationalist Christofascist movement is rearing its ugly head in the USA with increasing aggression and force.
Dance music’s political roots – from disco’s liberation communities to underground electronic scenes – inform Resist. When you lean into that lineage, what do you want people to carry off the dancefloor beyond the beat? (Joy? Solidarity? Something else?)
Resistance can come in many forms. One of the most important forms is through perserving and staying connected in community. There is a lot of overt political and social action the world requires of us now, but we must also remain engaged with creation and self expression, as those are the very tenets under attack.
You’ve moved between energetic club records and smoother, mood‑driven tracks; Resist sits between. How do you think listeners with different expectations (peak‑time DJs vs. home listeners) will respond to a track that is both rhythmic and message‑driven?
I wish I knew. From a marketing and promotion perspective, I am certainly making things harder on myself by being all over the map, in terms of genre classifications. I imagine most people will respond to the song sonically, how hard it slaps, rather than the title and the single one word lyric of “resist.” What’s interesting is that while you referenced three very different songs, none of them cleanly fit into any sub-genre. Classifying them for promo purposes hasn’t been easy. I would say I am being consistent in that regard. I am making sorta genreless music in a broader sense. The real goal is to share music that is consistently good and interesting. Or at least, I want to be pleased with it, and more recently, I have been. I feel that if I can keep this up, I will find an audience that understands what I’m doing and trusts the quality and range, rather than expecting my next work to sound exactly like prior releases.
In past interviews you’ve embraced collaborations that shift a track’s essence. On Resist did any external input or non‑dance influences push the track’s direction further than you expected?
I have been working with a super dope Producer and Engineer who makes everything we work on sound better in the mixing and mastering stage. My dude Jake Levant from Xotix is hella good. I consider him a collaborator on it. I think my songs are basically done when he gets them, but we always level them up more. He produces Bass music when doing his own thing. We definitely brought in some downtempo Bass elements on this one. Also, the vocal chop came from a sample we found, which I used as a rhythmic guide to record my own vocals. There are some very political lyrics that I laid down that are now super duper chopped up and sound highly resemblant of the og sample. It’s mostly there for tonality and rhythm but it’s also an easter egg maybe no one will ever discover… the lyrics to the chops.
You’ve resisted being boxed in stylistically. Resist also resists simplicity in rhythm and theme. Do you feel that political tension in the music mirrors a personal tension in how you navigate artistic identity?
Shit, maybe. The last song was called Surrender though. If these songs are tells of my psyche, apparently I am doing both–resisting and surrendering. There must be some truth to what you’re asking me. I think there is some mirroring. That feels fair.
When people talk about tracks being “danceable,” it’s often about four‑to‑the‑floor energy. Resist demands listener engagement in a different way. How do you want DJs and crowds to experience resistance on the dancefloor, physically and emotionally?
I want them to experience it in whatever light serves them best. I think it’s a great dance track and a protest song at the same time. I can see people using it for motivation, as workout music in the gym, in the car to start their days, as a word of encouragement to own their identity, protest music, whatever. If someone adopts in their life I am grateful and don’t want to overly predict or control how they do that.
Resist is out now on My Own Drum
