LA born and bred, Ando San has spent his career to date carving out his own lane, fusing introspective hip-hop with intricate progressive metal guitar work. A rapper, producer and accomplished guitarist, his music draws on everything from jazzy boom-bap to instrumental math rock, resulting in a sound that’s as technically ambitious as it is emotionally honest.
Today, Sumerian Records are proud to announce his signing. The signing marks a significant milestone for one of alternative music’s most distinctive emerging voices. Speaking of joining the label, Ando says, “I am incredibly stoked to be a part of the Sumerian family. This is a huge moment for me, I have been a fan of this label since I was 15/16 years old and it’s honestly insane to say that I am now signed by them. It’s been a long time coming and this is only the beginning. I’m bringing the heat.”
His first releases for the label arrive today, arriving hot on the heels of his recent feature on ‘Hate Figure’ on the PRESIDENT album, in the form of a double A-side, ‘Hype Man’ & ‘Triggas’ (ft. Mazbou Q).
“Honestly, when I was writing ‘Hype Man’ I was incredibly inspired by “Dark Throne”, he shares. “Specifically the guitar riffs from their record “Ravishing Grimness”. Really dope album and one of my faves from “Dark Throne”. I thought it would be cool to start the song with a black metal vibe and then lead into a heavy beat. I named it “Hype Man” because at the time of recording the song I needed to hype myself up. I’m usually alone in my room making these songs and this one in particular needed that energy! I feel like you need to be your own personal “Hype Man” to get through things when you really don’t have anybody around to pump you up. It’s a super power!”
Of ‘Triggas’ (ft. Mazbou Q), he reveals, “this song is about my triggers. I have a lot of trauma. Been through many things in my life and one thing that has helped me get through those hard moments is recognising my triggers. I think triggers could be a hindrance to a person’s growth. I feel like it has stunted me for some time and I recognise that the things that do trigger me are personal traumas that I have experienced in my life. Coming to terms with that has taught me many things about myself. It has taught me to see when a trigger is coming, to know how to act when I’m triggered and to let the trigger pass. We all have our own personal triggers. It’s important to understand why it’s triggering you and to learn to work past those triggers. I think a lot of my music is just a molten pot of all my favourite genres. The song is synth heavy with a dope UK style drill hip-hop beat with metal guitars. Literally just doing whatever sounds sick. The most important thing for me is to be artistically authentic to myself. I have to be honest about who I am as a person to get to the originality I am constantly searching for.”
