Following three years in deep hibernation, Lone's Magicwire imprint, a subsidiary of the iconic R&S label, has returned to grace our ears with an EP of spacey, cosmic grooves from newcomer Lance Neptune, who hails from the unlikely small town of Glenarden, Maryland. Neptune's Animal Eclipse EP offers six tracks that blast off with ambient, spiraling synths and floating drum taps that swiftly whisk through your ears, yet feel grounded with a beat you can move to. Along with a full stream of the new EP that drops today on Magicwire, we caught up with Lance for a short email interview where we discuss growing up in Maryland, how he linked up with Lone, and of course, why outer space rules.THUMP: Tell us a bit about your background as a producer?
Lance Neptune: As a kid I would constantly beat on things around the house and I would always visit my uncle to play with his Casio keyboard and hand percussions. For my 12th birthday my uncle bought me this music software called Ejay Hip Hop 6 [Laughs]. Looking back on it, that was a very wicked software to use. It wasn't very hip hop at all, and it had a lot of weird sounds that intrigued me. In 9th grade I met a guy named Michel White (at the time he went by Mike Marz now known as Darth Olympian), we realized we made spaced out music and I joined his production team OSP (OuterSpaceProductions). Once I graduated, I did local underground shows until I realized they weren't of the quality I was expecting. Year 2013 came along and I had enough with the low quality shows and started viewing music as my career.What was growing up in Maryland like for someone making music?
Making music in Maryland coming up was really cool! Everyone had hope that I would make something out of music because the sound didn't quite fit the mold. I skate too, so I stood out a lot, on top of the music I made. The scene is very vibrant! In fact my manager just recently started working with an underground legend in DC. He goes by the name of txnykill.How did you link up with Lone and his Magicwire imprint?
In 2014 I released my single "Pink Violet" on the label. From there, [Magicwire] got in contact with me and informed me that they might be interested in working with me and rebooting the label. From there I met up with Matt (Lone) after his DC show. We hung out at a local bar and talked about a few things. We then made it official to work together.What's up with the celestial references on the EP?
I'm always inspired by space. In fact a lot of these tracks were made with space documentaries on mute. My favorite planet has to be Mars—it's something bizarre about that planet., I just can't put my finger on it.What's next for you?
I want to start touring and grow my craft, while exploring more sounds and really taking things to the next level with my current sound.
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Lance Neptune: As a kid I would constantly beat on things around the house and I would always visit my uncle to play with his Casio keyboard and hand percussions. For my 12th birthday my uncle bought me this music software called Ejay Hip Hop 6 [Laughs]. Looking back on it, that was a very wicked software to use. It wasn't very hip hop at all, and it had a lot of weird sounds that intrigued me. In 9th grade I met a guy named Michel White (at the time he went by Mike Marz now known as Darth Olympian), we realized we made spaced out music and I joined his production team OSP (OuterSpaceProductions). Once I graduated, I did local underground shows until I realized they weren't of the quality I was expecting. Year 2013 came along and I had enough with the low quality shows and started viewing music as my career.What was growing up in Maryland like for someone making music?
Making music in Maryland coming up was really cool! Everyone had hope that I would make something out of music because the sound didn't quite fit the mold. I skate too, so I stood out a lot, on top of the music I made. The scene is very vibrant! In fact my manager just recently started working with an underground legend in DC. He goes by the name of txnykill.How did you link up with Lone and his Magicwire imprint?
In 2014 I released my single "Pink Violet" on the label. From there, [Magicwire] got in contact with me and informed me that they might be interested in working with me and rebooting the label. From there I met up with Matt (Lone) after his DC show. We hung out at a local bar and talked about a few things. We then made it official to work together.What's up with the celestial references on the EP?
I'm always inspired by space. In fact a lot of these tracks were made with space documentaries on mute. My favorite planet has to be Mars—it's something bizarre about that planet., I just can't put my finger on it.What's next for you?
I want to start touring and grow my craft, while exploring more sounds and really taking things to the next level with my current sound.
Lance Neptune is on SoundCloud