Alex Asher Daniel: Medicine For The Soul
- Muzikscribe
- 6 days ago
- 6 min read
Alex Asher Daniel moves through sound like a shadow through light. RE:VISIONS is raw, fractured, and alive — music that lingers long after it’s over. We talked chaos, creation, and finding life in the cracks.
Let’s hop into this latest project, RE: VISIONS — Conceptually, what does this title represent both to and for you?
Re:Visions is a collaborative project created in response to my original sound and video installation, The 3 Doors / The 3 Dense Planes. I wanted to take the original instrumental soundscapes from the gallery installation, and give vocalists the opportunity to create on top of the score. So, I asked some friends to be a part of this and reinterpret the tracks with me. The original score is based on the practice of shamanic journeying, and methods used by healers and spiritual guides to access sacred states of consciousness. So, this album of reworks was titled "Re:Visions." It was powerful to see how aligned people’s thoughts were lyrically without giving them almost any guidelines. The original music seemed to really resonate in their bones, and the artists truly connected to something cosmic.
For RE: VISIONS, you teamed up with an eclectic group of fellow artists; Emily Kokal of Warpaint, Del The Funky Homosapian, Leo Wyndham Of Palace, Breymer, Mani Draper, Doris Pearson Of Five Star, Pep Love, Raven Katz and Yela, how were you even able to manage assembling such a unique line-up?
These are all friends in my creative circles. I’ve known most of the artists on this album for decades. I’ve known Del and Pep since we were teenagers in Oakland. And Emily Kokal, I’ve known for over 20 years now. I always want to work with my peoples and create art together, and I’ve always loved those guest artist collaborative albums with an eclectic range of artists. For years I’ve known so many talented artists working in various genres, so it was always my goal to create projects that bring people together over a unifying aesthetic. I did that same approach on my last album, Book Of Spells. I love hearing how various artists will approach a topic or musical theme.
Tell me your whole inception into music — When did you first become interested in it? And, how did it all begin for Alex Asher Daniel?
Music has always been an essential part of my life, and I’ve been playing music since I was young. I played piano as a kid, and I played the drums in the high school marching band and Jazz band. I still play both, only not so great now, but enough to write and create. I always wanted to make music, and most of my friends were musicians or in the music industry, but I always chose to focus first and foremost on my career as an artist and painter. Growing up in Hip Hop I always wanted to make beats, but for a long time I couldn't afford any equipment so I made a ton of pause tapes! When we were younger, A-Plus from Souls of Mischief taught me how to use the SP1200 and the EPS/ASR-10, but it was years before I bought my own equipment. Adam Bravin from She Wants Revenge took me to get my first drum machine, the MPC 200XL, and then I moved to NYC and Mark Ronson helped me get a Korg Triton and studio monitors, and then I pretty much had my whole set up…and I still have that equipment today. For a long time I made a lot of beats that collected dust, I produced some random remixes for artists like UNKLE and Maxwell, made some tracks for members of my Oakland fam, Hieroglyphics, and I've created some powerful soundscapes and binaural beats for meditation apps, but it took me a long time before I officially brought music and sound into my body of work as a contemporary artist.
Now you hail from Oakland, CA, correct? So growing up in ‘The Town,’ who all did / do you consider to be your strongest musical influences?
I’m actually a product of both Northern and Southern California. I grew up in Altadena and Oakland. My two spiritual homes. I was always a fiend for music, and collecting records. I listened to everything, and I soaked up everything. My father is from Chicago so he had a lot of amazing blues records, and he played the Beatles a lot when I was young. Both my parents were involved in the Civil Rights movement, and had a lot of folk music and protest songs. I grew up with a lot of Funk and R&B around me on the street and radio, like the Gap Band and Rick James. And in the early ‘80’s, I was super in to New Wave; like Duran Duran and Depeche Mode. Of course, MJ and Prince. Man, I listened to everything from Public Image Ltd to Paul Simon to S.O.S. Band to The Smiths. And, of course, Hip Hop. Hip Hop is in my DNA. We were born the same year. It’s been there with me the whole time. As for West Coast Hip Hop, I grew up in L.A. listening to King Tee, N.W.A, C.M.W., everyone coming out of the Rhyme Syndicate. I had a friend who knew one of the DJs at KDAY, so we’d go over there and get promo records and stuff like that. And in the Bay, of course Too $hort the legend of legends, and then Richie Rich, Mac Mall, 40 and The Click, C-Bo, the Get Low Records crew, etcetera. The late ‘80’s and early ‘90’s in the Bay had some heavy hitters.
That said, how do you describe and / or define the style of music that you create and / or perform?
I don’t believe in caging the music in a definition. I’ve worked with sound across so many genres from Hip Hop to Meditation, and I feel like the listener has their own thoughts on the matter. For me, the unifying constant is being an open channel to spirit.
Switching gears here, what exactly do you want people to get from your music?
Medicine for the soul.
If you could collaborate with any one artist, living or dead, who would it be and why?
Oh, man...there are so many, but I'd love to work with Sade. Her entire vibe and poetic resonance. The band as a whole is an absolute desert island disc for me, and I was blessed to have Stuart Matthewman do a Cottonbelly remix for my last album and it was a huge moment for me.
On a more serious note, are you happy with the current state of music?
I’m happy that talented artists are more easily able to release their music. I’m unhappy that the industry and audience value that music less. People treat art as disposable and fleeting content now, and that is a losing situation for culture.
What do you feel has and will continue to be the key to your longevity?
I can do nothing but continue creating work that is true to myself, and be the most clear channel I can be. It means a lot to me when that work resonates with people, but you do not control the life an artistic work takes on after it leaves home.
What’s an average day like for you?
You can usually find me in my studio painting, and while the paint is drying I’m in the studio working on music. There is always food and wine involved at some point, too.
What advice would you have for someone wanting to follow in your footsteps?
There is no cookie cutter path for artists, especially in the art world. Everyone has their own road to travel, and it's usually filled with a lot of potholes. Both the art and music industries are now changing every day. The only advice I would give is to be true to your spirit, be respectful of the art form, stay poetic, and share your work with the world.
Looking ahead, say five or maybe even ten years from now, where do you see yourself?
I would like to further explore the bridge between sound and healing.
As for the immediate, what's next for Alex Asher Daniel?
I’m working on a 3-tier project where I’ve composed music for the ballet, and I am currently collaborating with dancers to bring the work to life in physical form and then creating a series of paintings which will be a recording and celebration of the dance.
I am also planning to exhibit my most recent video work titled ‘42 Feet Above Sea Level.’ It’s an abstract film based on my original archival home video tapes of friends in Oakland in the early ‘90’s. There's some amazing footage from the Hip Hop scene in the Bay back in the days.
Re:Visions (Music Inspired by The 3 Doors / The 3 Dense Planes) is available now on Bandcamp, and streaming services worldwide.
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