Having retired from my position as Creative Editor for Graphite Publications, I am now channeling my energy into a similarly exciting project called MixBot. I work alongside Machine Learning extraordinaire and professional DJ, Zeyu Li to develop this project. Something that we’ve always wondered was why it was so difficult to create your own mixtape! You have to buy hundreds of dollars of equipment, learn how to use complicated software that looks like the cockpit of a Boeing 737, and spend hours getting everything right.
We wanted an elegant solution to that problem, which is why we are developing MixBot. The interface looks nothing like a DJ controller and is congruous to the music players that you use every day. MixBot lets anyone with a Spotify playlist make a mixtape: your songs are rearranged in a new order so that they flow smoothly and perfect transitions are generated just like how a DJ would do it.
The algorithm throws up some surprises: one time I made a mixtape in which “Gold Digger” by Kanye West transitioned into Toto’s “Africa”…and it sounded strangely great!
We’ve also set some milestones this year. We partnered up with Faculty Olympics to create music mixes for their Café Campus events (nobody knew that an AI had made the music they were dancing to). We’re also getting ready to launch our Beta version in July so that people who love music can actually make mixtapes for themselves.
I am thinking about hosting some MixBot parties in the next few months where attendees send in their favorite songs to be mixed into the set! It’s pretty exciting because it changes the fundamental social dynamics that you would find at a typical dance-floor. I am also looking forward to the next Graphite Creative session. At a time when I don’t write as much, meeting up with Montreal creatives give me a renewed closeness to the sources of inventiveness that have inspired and will continue to inspire me—paper and pen.
Who/what inspires you?
The people that exist in the everyday, the ones who fade into the backdrop and are seen but forgotten – usually they are the ones who make things happen. Speak to them. Listen to their story. Elevate those voices that may be soft, but tell powerful stories that deserve to be heard.
This is a loaded question, but where do your ideas come from?
From interacting with as many possible things as you can. Speak to progressively stranger people, peruse more unturned books, listen to a band that you’ve never heard of. And ask yourself, why these people care about what they care about, and how their ideas fit in the fabric of your imagination.
For example, I wrote a poem published with Graphite called “confluences” based on a BBC article about refugees. Within the worlds of connectedness in terms of nationalities, proselytizing religions, social media, the humanity of humanity, farm-to-table, and everything else between you and me, there is a web of oneness to be discovered.
What’s your editorial process like?
I take notes throughout the day of little things that inspire me, be it a quip or a poem, or a particularly poignant drunken conversation. Then I just write it out in long-form at night – usually after midnight with a liter of water by my side. Write with the intent of destroying your work – nothing you write will ever be perfect. While I love Leuchtturm notebooks as much as anyone else, they have one HUGE flaw: they are too pretty! I don’t feel as comfortable experimenting and crossing out lines on leather-bound notebooks. Stick to a dollar-store notebook if you’re like me and love to mess around! I also chew a copious amount of gum (as pictured) to keep me focused.
Who is your dream collaborator? (any creative—artist, poet, writer, etc.)
I am incredibly inspired by Jeong Kwan, a Buddhist nun in Korea who communicates her spirituality through her food. Her philosophy manifests itself through every fraction of the self: her hermitage garden grows with its own will, she ages her soy sauce patiently for years, preparing every ingredient deliberately and gently, and finally, cooking for others for the purpose of balancing the mind and body. And she does all that while being incredibly joyous and full of laughter!
Are you more of a gardener or an architect? In other words, do you prefer to outline or see how the story unfolds?
I am definitely a gardener! I aspire to be a creative in the mold of Jeong Kwan in terms of her lightness of spirit that lets her perceive connectedness in a world that is, in many ways, increasingly disparate (although I am not prepared to move into a hermitage anytime soon).
Learn more about MixBot at their website and sign up as a Beta tester for their product!
Boris But loves writing about random ideas and is a former Creative Editor at Graphite Publications. He is now working on a music tech startup called @Mixonset, which helps listeners instantly create seamless mixtapes in one touch. In his spare time, he hunts down the best food deals in Montreal, sings karaoke until his voice cracks, and cautiously plays with Mile End cats (he is no stranger to Benadryl). Follow Boris on Instagram (@bobu_tea) for more!