Dubstepforum.com

I must admit, I have an enormous weakness for shy artists. Much like the German polymath von Goethe, I believe that, while character may emerge in the full current of human life, talent almost always develops in quiet places. This is precisely why Atlanta’s bass-friendly, camera-shy Vax tugs so adamantly at my heartstrings.

Vax is a firm believer in keeping his social networking ego in check and minimizing self-promotion: he’s content with occasional label releases, relevant feedback from trusted message boards, and infrequent Facebook updates about recently-completed work. Even during our phone interview, he blatantly refused to bombard me with a lengthy musical biography of shows he has played or producers he hopes to sound like, opting instead to talk about his philosophy on personal progression as an artist.

“I’ve had several years of piano instruction,” he tells Ignite The Sound, “and I would say that my creative process mostly entails just sitting there and clicking non-stop until something sounds good.” But don’t let this guy’s propensity to casually understate his work ethic fool you, for Vax has a whole lot more experience under his belt than he cares to let on. He has worked under several pseudonyms, making ambient/melodic electronica in the privacy of his own bedroom for many years before emerging into the realm of bass-heavy internet radio as Autopilot. “I got into EDM because it was a little bit more of a challenge for me, and I was inspired by a lot of the innovation I was hearing in dubstep circa 2006-2008,” he says.

Autopilot has been on award-winning Sub.fm since 2009, and hopes to return to internet radio after taking a brief hiatus in order to settle into his new home in Atlanta. In the meantime, his newest production venture, Vax Trax, has proven to be more than enough to keep him busy. His website (vaxtrax.biz) features a complete portfolio of his work. Vax even generously offers the fist two albums — The Last Winter and Cut — on a name-your-price basis. His latest EP, Anachronism, was recently released on Gradient Audio — an independent digital label based out of Portland, Oregon.

Purely out of humble respect for the boundless complexities of the human soul that true art is meant to capture, I won’t bore the audience with a tedious analysis of Anachronism’s musical composition. Vax himself maintains that “real music” is simply stuff he doesn’t want to turn off as soon as he hears it, and I’m more than happy to say that the 4-track EP fits the bill perfectly. That said, I advise diligent listeners to download it, and encourage conscientious promoters to book a quiet man of exceptional talent.