The jury's still out on whether growing up in a foreign country makes you more interesting… or just more displaced. On one hand, flying to Brunei for swim meets and spring breaking in Bali is, admittedly, awesome. But on the other hand, have you ever seen an expat brat wringing her hands over how hard it is not to have a driver/maid/personal gurkha anymore? Kindly kill yourself.Thankfully, there are still good people in this world like Cybergiga, a New York-based producer who I first met while we were hormonal little tweens in Tokyo. Somehow, Cybergiga managed to navigate the over-privileged bullshit and cultural confusion inherent to expat living, emerging with an impressive debut EP co-released on Palms Out Sounds and Camp & Street. It's called Been Had Felt Like A Cyborg and he described it himself as the soundtrack to "railing lines of computer chips and being teleported into a bizarre anime dreamcast game."Borrowing the syncopated melodies and pentatonic scale of traditional Japanese music, Cybergiga also samples heavily from cult acts like Yellow Magic Orchestra, and infuses it all with the slow, codeine-laced beats of Southern rap. Melancholy is at the heart of Cybergiga's music, but it's the stoner kind of sadness—the kind that's actually kind of soothing to sink into. Cybergiga and I got beers one night and talked about the awkwardness of growing up abroad, smoking weed with frequent collaborator Le1f, and re-dubbing soundtracks to Japanese softcore pornos.THUMP: What have you been up to since high school?
Cybergiga: I wasn't good at assimilating back to American culture. I definitely had a really hard time when I moved back to the States. I had a drug problem and eventually I had to take a couple semesters off from Wesleyan.Which drugs did you have a problem with?
Which ones didn't I have a problem with? [laughs]When did you move to Tokyo?
When I was six, and I lived there until graduation. But I don't feel like I got the stereotypical expat kid experience. In high school, my dad was fired and moved back to the States, so I moved into a tiny subsidized apartment close to school. I don't know if you knew that.No, I didn't. That sounds rough. Did you always feel like an outsider while living in Japan?
There's no way you can avoid being a gaijin. As good as I got at making myself appear smaller than I am, it's hard not to stick out. When I moved back there was definitely all kinds of culture shock.What kind of culture shock?
There are protocols for interacting socially in Japan. But people are unpredictable in America. People are crazy.You're part of Le1F's "crew" and met at Wesleyan, right?We just started talking about how much we loved Bjork. He was definitely the kid that everyone knew, especially after "Combination Taco Bell and Pizza Hut." We just smoked weed everyday.You told me a few months ago that you were writing your own soundtracks to Japanese softcore porn movies. Are you still into that?Yeah. I'm really into writing stuff over a film's soundtrack. Like, I remember one of the first things I composed was ambient music over that Kurosawa movie, Stray Dog, on mute. Le1f came into my room and he was like, "Oh shit." That inspired me to keep going.What's with the whole sci-fi/cyberpunk thing you have going on?It's just the shit I've always been into. I watched Blade Runner and The 5th Element in third grade, and have always been vaguely into it. I listen to a lot of Aphex Twin and Yellow Magic Orchestra, but also Gucci Mane and Three 6 Magia. I've always been trying to make futuristic hip-hop beats, which I guess is called trap now.Are you trying to ride the trap wave?I don't just take hardstyle songs and put in 808 subs and high-hats. It kinda sucks when something blows up like that because everything becomes so formulaic. This shit is really personal to me and the visuals I associate with it are specifically related to a certain time of my life. One of my friends told me he's been listening to my E.P. on repeat on his headphones at work, and that's the best thing anyone could say to me. That's fucking awesome.Tell Michelle why you should be her personal ghurka - @MichelleLHOOQ
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Cybergiga: I wasn't good at assimilating back to American culture. I definitely had a really hard time when I moved back to the States. I had a drug problem and eventually I had to take a couple semesters off from Wesleyan.Which drugs did you have a problem with?
Which ones didn't I have a problem with? [laughs]When did you move to Tokyo?
When I was six, and I lived there until graduation. But I don't feel like I got the stereotypical expat kid experience. In high school, my dad was fired and moved back to the States, so I moved into a tiny subsidized apartment close to school. I don't know if you knew that.No, I didn't. That sounds rough. Did you always feel like an outsider while living in Japan?
There's no way you can avoid being a gaijin. As good as I got at making myself appear smaller than I am, it's hard not to stick out. When I moved back there was definitely all kinds of culture shock.
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There are protocols for interacting socially in Japan. But people are unpredictable in America. People are crazy.You're part of Le1F's "crew" and met at Wesleyan, right?We just started talking about how much we loved Bjork. He was definitely the kid that everyone knew, especially after "Combination Taco Bell and Pizza Hut." We just smoked weed everyday.You told me a few months ago that you were writing your own soundtracks to Japanese softcore porn movies. Are you still into that?Yeah. I'm really into writing stuff over a film's soundtrack. Like, I remember one of the first things I composed was ambient music over that Kurosawa movie, Stray Dog, on mute. Le1f came into my room and he was like, "Oh shit." That inspired me to keep going.What's with the whole sci-fi/cyberpunk thing you have going on?It's just the shit I've always been into. I watched Blade Runner and The 5th Element in third grade, and have always been vaguely into it. I listen to a lot of Aphex Twin and Yellow Magic Orchestra, but also Gucci Mane and Three 6 Magia. I've always been trying to make futuristic hip-hop beats, which I guess is called trap now.Are you trying to ride the trap wave?I don't just take hardstyle songs and put in 808 subs and high-hats. It kinda sucks when something blows up like that because everything becomes so formulaic. This shit is really personal to me and the visuals I associate with it are specifically related to a certain time of my life. One of my friends told me he's been listening to my E.P. on repeat on his headphones at work, and that's the best thing anyone could say to me. That's fucking awesome.Tell Michelle why you should be her personal ghurka - @MichelleLHOOQ