In 2016, Wethersfield musician Brazos Ebner (who releases music as Braz_OS), inherited DESKPOP, a record label with about 300 Soundcloud followers, from the Ohio-based producer FLOOR BABA (aka Jesse Martin).
Ebner quickly turned DESKPOP, which now has more than 7,000 Soundcloud followers, into an online haven for like-minded composers — artists with names like Drainpuppet and Shady Monk — while forging deep connections to independent game developers. If there’s a shorthand term for the label’s sound (other than “deskpop” itself), it might be “gamewave” — the title of a 2015 FLOOR BABA album.
“I want to try to run it like a democracy, not like a dictatorship,” Ebner says. “Even though I’m in control of everything, it’s run by the community.”
DESKPOP’s most recent compilation, “Deskpop VR,” works with Audiowave VR Music Visualizer, an iOS app designed for use with Google Cardboard, Daydream, or another virtual reality headset.
Ebner sat down with Courant music writer Mike Hamad in the podcast below to listen to tracks from the DESKPOP VR compilation and some of Ebner’s solo work. Studio tracks include “the first night” (00:00), “Hey, Kodama!” (05:30), “Clouds of Tomorrow” (11:05), “filterbubble VR” (17:00) and FLOOR BABA’s “DEEP SPACE ARTIFACT” (22:00).
Stream and purchase Braz_OS’s music at braz-os.bandcamp.com. Download Audiowave VR Music Visualizer by Aaron Kc Hsu on iTunes. Listen to “DESKPOP VR” on Spotify, Apple Music or Bandcamp.
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