An Evening with Adam Meixner

The Urbana neighborhood East of Lincoln Avenue and between Elm and Indiana Streets could be described  as the Haight Ashbury of Chambana. My experiences  have only reinforced that. There are many creative minds based in this area, so I’d like to bring focus to them in a series of interviews for this blog, starting with my friend and colleague Adam Meixner.Last week I made a trip across campus to Urbana, IL to meet with Adam, known professionally as Yung Milhouse or Hal9000. I wanted to get a better feel for his creative process and what inspires him. In addition to rapping and producing beats (which you can buy at Traktrain), he's also the drummer for local post-punk band Netochka. With a repertoire this diverse, his music is quite eclectic. His soundcloud features spacey beats coupled with intense and emotional vocals, reminiscent of cloud rap artists like Bladee. The beats he produces are just as unique, sporting heavy 808s and dark, brooding melodies. You can listen to them here.As we sat on his couch watching a projector playing adult swim video clips, Adam filled me in on his musical backstory:“I’ve been playing music in some capacity ever since I can remember. I started playing piano when I was six, and I went through several instruments. I taught myself the drums at ten, learned guitar at fifteen, then I moved on to producing and DJing. I’ve been singing all my life too, I was in an acapella group in high school.”Adam describes his music as “melodic, spacey, [and] bouncy”, and says that when he makes beats he's drawn towards grooves and high pitched sounds like bells or theremins.Some of his biggest influences are internet rappers such as Yung Lean, Lil Peep (RIP), and the aforementioned Bladee, but also the classics like Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles, and even Tool (specifically Maynard James Keenan). His favorite artists are equally diverse, including Death Grips, Yes, King Crimson, $uicideboy$, Playboi Carti, and Marvin Gaye.As the drummer for Netochka, Adam has played several local shows around Urbana, a few of which I’ve attended. When asked about which show he enjoyed the most he answered, “The last one we just did is my favorite show I’ve ever played. There was a lot of turmoil. There were a lot of things I was thinking about. I was just the right amount of drunk to be confident and not sloppy.” Live performances are important to Adam who also said, “I'd like to drum along to King Crimson. Robert Fripp is a god to me.”Adam welcomed me into his studio to demonstrate his creative process, which he describes as “so frustrating." He explains, "I have manic and artistic moments. I’ll be really creative for a week then after that I’ll be in a slump for three weeks. When I’m busy I tend to get more creative.”Despite that, this process has helped him produce popular songs like Pills on Pills, and some of his own favorites: Lips Part B and Rehab/Relapse. He worked his computer and turntables, producing some heavy thumping beats that featured noisy Death Grips samples and hardcore bass hits. If there’s more of this to come, then keep your ear to the ground.You can listen to Adam’s music at https://soundcloud.com/yungmilhouse (rap) and https://soundcloud.com/halninethousandone (beats). You can also buy his music at https://traktrain.com/hal9000#161718.