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Interview: Creating “Aa” and the art of successful collaborations with Baauer

In conversation with the New York producer in the lead up to the release of his first full-length album

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Weekly updates


It’s been a while since we’ve heard from Harry Bauer Rodrigues. You’ll probably know him by his stage name Baauer, as well as a particular song / viral internet sensation, but there’s been a lot going on with the producer since that all blew up four years ago. Following a steady release of remixes and EPs, Baauer is finally back with the full-length album Aa. But why the long wait?

“I had a million ideas, so I guess I wanted to take my time to get all my ideas together into one cohesive album project.”

And it definitely looks like it’ll be worth it. The tracklist boasts A-list assists from the likes of Pusha T, M.I.A., Rustie, Future, Novelist, and more, teasing an eclectic banger of an album, especially if his first singles are anything to go by. We recently jumped on the phone with the New York-based beatmaker to get an insight into the creation of his latest project. Check out some highlights from our convo below (including the hint of an impending Australian tour).

Aa is set for release on March 18 and is available for pre-order now.

  • Interview: Mikaela Ortolan

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01. He loves working with other people

It’s just always awesome, it’s so much fun. You know when you’re by yourself making tunes, to then get somebody else to come on, and sort of give their ideas? It totally takes a track to another level. So it’s always really cool.


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02. He even had a say in the album artwork

It was definitely a collaboration between both [me and artist Jonathan Zawada]. I think we were talking about all the different kind of sounds I like, and pulling from all different parts of the world and different kinds of music. That’s how we came to this kind of mesh up collage-y look that we ended up with.


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03. But he still likes to work solo

I love to work with other people but I think I work best on my own just because I do so much trial and error, you know. So I’m always doing things that sound terrible, so when there’s no one else there they wont know about it haha.


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04. On his love of imperfections in music

I like them because when you mix music with computers it’s just so easy to make it sound so polished and basically not human at all. So since I’m making everything digitally, I love when sounds have some kind of mistake or some kind of imperfection, it makes it feel more like organic or more human in some way.


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05. On his favourite collab partner so far

I think maybe Just Blaze. Because I learnt a lot from collaborating with him and he was the first big [collaboration] so that was probably the most important one to date and my favourite.


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06. And the hardest person to work with

Haha, the hardest person to work with? Myself. I’m always changing my mind about everything. I can’t decide on one thing, so it can be so hard sometimes to commit to one thing and then leave it, you know?


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07. On his dream collab (brace yourself)

I think right now—Enya. I listened to a whole bunch of her music last night actually; she’s amazing and so underrated.


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08. On his favourite 'Harlem Shake' video

You know they did one in space, that’s probably my favourite. That’s pretty cool.


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09. Are there plans to tour Australia?

Absolutely, absolutely. I cant [tell you when] right now, but definitely soon.