Electronic musician Cody Wilson, known onstage as Corduroi, has fared well in a city where indie music is king and the electronic scene is still gaining a foothold. The multi-talented artist (who also lends his skill to local favorites Sip Sip) has grown his fan base over the past three years playing shows both big and small around Austin and is gearing up to play the semester kickoff of “Local Live” on Sunday. The Daily Texan sat down with Wilson and talked composers, musical influences and playing in the Music Capital.
Daily Texan: You’re originally from San Antonio. At what point did you move to Austin and how did the more musically-minded culture influence you?
Cody Wilson: I was born in San Antonio and grew up in the suburbs there and got really tired of it, and I moved to Santa Fe, N.M. I had always wanted to live in Austin so I decided to come here. Being in Austin has been great. I’ve gotten to play at a lot of venues like Stubb’s and The Mohawk, bigger places I would have never had the opportunity to play at in San Antonio. I’m lucky to be involved with the people I’m involved with. I play in Sip Sip, and through that I know a lot of people in Mother Falcon, and it’s cool to be able to work with such talented people.
DT: What’s your background in music?
Wilson: Well, when I was a kid I’d listen to a lot of movie sound tracks, like the actual original motion picture scores. I’d really enjoy listening to John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith; the sound track to “The Fifth Element” was great.
DT: John Williams is my absolute hero. I loved that stuff growing up, too. That’s awesome.
Wilson: Yeah, I’d always get the sound tracks with the popular artists and then also get the scores for the movies. So I listened to a lot of that stuff early on. Then in middle school I was really into nu metal, Korn and Limp Bizkit and that stuff, and around then I started playing guitar, mostly in cover bands. Then one day my brother got Radiohead’s Kid A and that completely changed my perspective on music. In the midst of it all I started using Fruityloops, which is kind of old school at this point, but it’s an electronic music program. At first I just did it for fun. I’d make a song in a day and put it out online and be done with it. But over time I started to take it more seriously.
DT: Do you feel that in Austin, where there’s more of a tendency toward indie and rock music, that it’s more difficult to get on bills and gain a fan base as an electronic musician?
Wilson: Yeah, I think that it can be really hard, not in terms of finding shows to play with other bands, but hard in terms of entertaining that audience in the same way. When you get onstage and you have a laptop and all these controllers, [for] a lot of people it’s hard to make the connection.
DT: What are your biggest musical influences? What’s your ideal collaboration?
Wilson: Oh man, I love everything on Warp Records: Aphex Twin, Flying Lotus, Squarepusher. My dream collaboration would probably be Flying Lotus just because he’s amazing. He has a sound that no one else really has right now. I feel like every time he releases a new album it totally tops everything he did last. When I listen to it, I think, “This is amazing, and I want to make something that, if not just on par with, exceeds my expectations for myself.” That’s what I strive for.
DT: What’s next for you? Any South By plans?
Wilson: Don’t really have any South By Southwest plans at the moment, I play a lot of shows for the Raw Paw zine parties. In the next two months I’m finishing up an EP that will be out in April that I’m releasing through a label in Utah, and I have a collaborative release coming out.
Printed on Friday, January 18, 2013 as: Electronic artist talks music genres, influence
