iotosh carves out his next big ‘Sound Ting’ - Calls 2020 his ‘biggest year as a professional musician’
Published:Saturday | November 7, 2020 | 12:07 AMStephanie Lyew/Gleaner Writer
With Jamaica’s shining stars lauding his skills, Iotosh Israel Mykal Geister Poyser, or simply, iotosh, is a proven young talent with some of the most uninhibited, imaginative and idiosyncratic sound productions. It could be because he doubles as a recording artiste, one who knows what he likes and what he wants for his music. Whatever the reason, one thing’s certain – iotosh is a step ahead in carving out a productive career out of beat-making.
Scoring more than a handful of productions in the past year, the producer, recording artiste and multi-instrumentalist is calling 2020 his “biggest year as a professional musician”. “The production credits I have earned in 2020 alone have helped to solidify my stance in the industry,” iotosh told The Gleaner.
The 22-year-old’s beat-making skills were enlisted on three songs on Jah9’s sophomore album with VP Records, Note To Self, which premiered earlier this year, in March, including the title track which features Chronixx. He produced Protoje’s Deliverance and Self Defense, and also co-wrote the latter. Both tracks made the cut for the Grammy-nominated artiste’s latest album In Search of Lost Time. He also shares in the success of Lila Ike’s debut EP The ExPerience, being one part of the production team on the track titled Solitude.
“It ( Note To Self) introduced me to the industry standards, from the level of production to the business operations that involved agreeing to deals and signing off on contracts,” said the producer of the eye-opening moment in his career.
Even though iotosh has been exposed to the business of music from in the womb, the son of music journalist Michele Geister Poyser and songwriter Ragnam Poyser, known for his work with the celebrated Xterminator record label of the ‘90s era, he admits, “I have heard the horror stories, from my parents. Applying their knowledge keeps me from ending up a victim of ignorance. Fortunately, I didn’t have to learn on my own, learning from the mistakes of others. Working with the likes of Runkus for about three years was also fundamental to my growth.”
The popular music-streaming and discovery platform Audiomack has forecasted iotosh as “Jamaica’s next big producer”, adding that, his projects are part of a developing legacy as the island’s reggae and dancehall scene experiences a shift.
“Listening to reggae was organic. I also listened to lo-fi hip hop, but Kyraxx introduced me to trap and alternate R&B music which has, ever since then, become part of my sound – call it minimalistic, with the right amount of layers to sound deep and solid that it hits hard,” he said of his beats which are influenced by everything from the Marleys and Lee Scratch Perry to the late Nujabes, who was a mixing engineer and Japanese anime record producer, considered a pioneer in his field.
Kyraxx and iotosh, two former Munro College alumni, have been collaborating on music for a few years. This counting Kyraxx’s first EP, released in 2015, titled Waves and Waves II in 2016, then again in 2017 with Double Standards. Together, they have made a noteworthy foray into an unfamiliar space for him: trap music, specifically, commercial trap and alternate R&B, and embarked on establishing the record label, Sound Ting, a name conceptualised by Kyraxx.
NO GAMES
Sound Ting is still in its kindergarten stages, and he may have started out by fooling around the tools, but iotosh is not playing any schoolyard games with the label, he said, “It is true, the label is still kind of young, but in this industry, the more knowledge one acquires on copyrights and ownership of music in the earlier stages of their career and business, the more valuable it is in the long run.”
While he’s branching into different musical worlds, he is true to the classic reggae beats which are heard clearly in Pirates by Leno Banton (son of Burro Banton), and Miss Jamaica by Zac Jone$ and Agent Sasco. Both, as well as a few independent productions of his own, have been released through the label.
“I am leaning more on my talents and duties I have as a producer. I am aware that my strong suit is production and, once the recognition is garnered in that area, the plan is to use that to leverage my artiste abilities,” he said. “There’s no letting that part of me go, the artiste in me is the personal side as I am transcribing my own thoughts. It also helps with producing to give a better idea of song structure.”
The recent product of iotosh’s endeavours as a recording artiste was Reasons, released in July of last year. He claims that he has created a balance between the two – recording and producing – leading him to establish the independent record label. The single, which was produced by Crate Classics, the London-based duo Aaron Horn and Jamie Rodigan, is a strong statement of the unwritten.
He says there is a stigma that exists in the realm of music production, that is, persons rather working with the more established names in the industry.
“The truth is, people are comfortable with what is already known, and that thinking is not always what is best for the music or the creative behind the music. However, creating a firm foundation, even if it means establishing a label, can provide all the furnishings needed. I am not VP Records or Universal Music Group, but I definitely would want to get to their level, where the label is able to stand on its own,” he concluded.