Stereo Music for Breakbeats and Samplers is the debut album of composer Nick Sylvester, known best for his production and songwriting work with artists like Yaeji and Channel Tres.

Over 15 tracks, Sylvester takes the breakbeat to its breaking point, with fast-paced microsonic sampling and modular improvisations not typically heard in rap, house, garage, drum & bass, drill & bass, or other well-worn domains of the break. In Sylvester's world, the drummer is no mere timekeeper. Rhythm becomes sounds becomes rhythm again, in a rapid call-and-response style that recalls trading fours and the playful humor of early musique concrete.

The album arrives July 22 on Smartdumb, the spiritual successor to Sylvester's former label Godmode. In college he studied computer music and musique concrete with Drew Daniel, Martin Schmidt, and Keith Fullerton Whitman, as well as renaissance choral singing under Jameson Marvin. In New York, he learned his way around the studio under James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem, and studied analog synthesizer design with Jeff Blenkinsopp. Recently he's begun composing for games and picture, including the ESPN documentary American Son about tennis great Michael Chang, and Tide Breakers, a touring city council simulator that debuted at No Quarter this past fall.

Sylvester lives (and shaves) in Los Angeles.
credits
releases July 22, 2025

All songs written, performed, and produced by:
Nick Sylvester

Recorded at The Treehouse, Los Angeles, CA
Mixed at Smartdumb, Los Angeles, CA

Instruments used:

Make Noise Morphagene
Make Noise XPO
Make Noise QPAS
Make Noise Mimeophon
Make Noise 0-CTRL
Moog Mother-32
Teenage Engineering OP-1 Field