Hip-hop musician Nomar Slevik is a writer, producer and audio engineer. Incredibly, “The Healing Process” is his 19th release. Slevik’s originally from Fort Kent, and now calls Bangor home.
As for his name, it’s a pseudonym he created during his stint as a humor newsletter writer for a Portland television company. The name stuck, and Slevik’s been using it for his music ever since.
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GO recently got the skinny from Slevik about why he chose to release “The Healing Process” on vinyl, what went into making it, and what some of his sources of inspiration are.
Why was it important for you to release “The Healing Process” on vinyl?
For me, listening to vinyl is an intimate, personal experience. I also think it’s a listening experience that you work for. You carefully handle the record as to avoid scratches, you need to flip the record over halfway through to continue listening, it keeps your attention and more importantly, it keeps you involved. There’s texture and movement, and it’s thrilling. When I buy vinyl, it reminds me of when I used to buy CDs and cassettes as a teenager. I read everything in the inserts, and was very much invested in the artist by studying the physical product as opposed to all of the digital music that I have today.
Where can people find you online?
(At) cmilledpavement.com, nomarslevik. com, nomarslevik.bandcamp.com is where you can find stuff for free. Otherwise, it’s the typical digital providers: iTunes, Amazon and Google Play Store, among others.
Over what period of time did you write this record?
I wrote the album between 2009 (and) 2011. I was literally in a new place physically, and was trying to understand it emotionally. Writing comes so easy in situations like that for me that I must have written 40 songs or so. From there, I started a development process, only working songs that provided me with sustenance.
You’ve said that healing is an option, if chosen. What do you mean?
The familiarity of the emotional state that I was in made it easy to stay in an unhealthy arena. It can be comforting, easy and irrational. So choosing to heal, well, that can be complicated, frightening and takes a lot of work. I made a choice. This album is my journey through that choice.
Where do you find some of the clips you sample? Like the one about the Sasquatch? And there’s some horror movie and science-fiction stuff on there.
I’m a huge fan of ’70s horror, and most of my samples come from VHS copies (some DVDs) of those old movies like “The Severed Arm,” “Last House on the Left,” “I Spit on Your Grave,” “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and “Halloween.” I’m also a paranormal investigator, founder of P.R.I.ME Paranormal, and have a fondness for UFOs, Mothman, Sasquatch, etc. Some of the samples come from documentaries about such topics.
Congrats, I’ve never heard anyone rhyme anything with “pterodactyl.” Do the phrases just come to you? How hard do you have to work at it?
Sometimes it comes so easy and I can write a song in just a couple of minutes, hour, whatever. A lot of times, it can take weeks for me to craft something fully that I am comfortable with. However, the quick ones typically end up becoming my favorite songs.
On a song like “Problem Solver,” there’s so much going on musically. How do your songs come together? What’s the process look like?
There’s no one answer to this, as there are a myriad of ways that I develop the music. It can start with me just tinkering innocently on my keyboard or deliberately looking for samples. I enjoy using hardware to make my music. I use keyboards, drum machines, samplers, only using the computer as a tool for the development, i.e., layering and mastering. I record everything in my bedroom and to answer your question, the process looks ridiculous, and it’s one of the most amazing things in my life.
What’s your current favorite track on “The Healing Process,” and why?
I really dig “Faith.” It’s a song about dealing with startling paranormal interactions since childhood, and how it can be dealt with and overcome in adulthood.
What’s your biggest source of inspiration?
People! I love observing everyone, everything. I get so much inspiration from people.
What’s one of your favorite albums, and why?
“Funk Upon a Rhyme” by Kokane. It came out in 1994, and I couldn’t stop listening to it. It may seem odd that a kid from Fort Kent grew up on gangsta rap, but this album was different. It showed me, at the time, that genres can not only bleed, but can be absurd and pleasing. That’s a pretty big deal in 1994 to a 17-year-old aspiring rapper.
Staff Writer Aimsel Ponti can be contacted at 791-6455 or at:
aponti@pressherald.com
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