The Internet: Feel Good
The Internet, an R&B band that spawned from the L.A. rap collective Odd Future, has released four studio albums to date. Their bold debut, Purple Naked Ladies, their follow-up Feel Good, Ego Death, which earned them a Grammy nomination, and their triumphant return after a brief hiatus, Hive Mind. Like any band or musical artist, each of these projects mark a distinct chapter in their creative journey, and The Internet rarely fails to innovate. That being said, their latter work isn’t the spark that ignited my curiosity. It was the sound and the story behind their often overlooked sophomore effort, the aforementioned Feel Good, and the omnipresence felt throughout of a now tragically deceased creative force, Pittsburgh rapper Mac Miller.
Between the release of P.N.L. at the end of 2011 and Feel Good nearly two years later, The Internet got busy. At the time they were still a duo consisting of Sydney “Syd tha Kyd” Bennett and Matt Martins. They lived together in Los Angeles and recorded new music regularly at the small studio the former had built in her parent’s home.
That March, their song “Ya Know” appeared on Odd Future’s The OF Tape Vol 2, and Syd made an appearance alongside Tyler, the Creator and Frank Ocean on the song “Analog 2”. Martins would be credited for his assistance on the production of Loiter Squad, Odd Future’s sketch comedy show on Adult Swim. Additionally, Frank Ocean would release Channel Orange that July, receiving critical acclaim and breathing new life into the R&B musical genre that he and The Internet dabbled in so frequently.
Meanwhile, Malcolm McCormick, known by his stage name Mac Miller, was also busy. Climbing his way to respect amongst his peers one rung at a time, Miller was building a solid reputation as a work horse, even while his output was regularly disregarded as “frat rap”. By the end of 2012, the 20-year-old would have seven mixtapes under his belt, one studio album released, another in production, an upcoming reality tv show as well as numerous collaborations with other artists and EPs and LPs released under his various aliases.
Miller met The Internet in the midst of all this, when he was invited by Syd’s brother “Taco” to one of their shows in Los Angeles. He would then extend an invitation of his own, asking them to come to his home studio, which he called “the sanctuary”.
It was a windowless room, located beside his swimming pool on the lower level of his home in the city they all lived in. There was one chair in front of the computer, bean bags on the floor, a bathroom and all red lighting. It often stank of cigarettes, weed or both, depending on who was hanging around. Miller thought of it as a safe space, hence the name, where he was free to hunker down and obsessively hone his skills. He wrote nine albums worth of material across two years during this time reportedly. When he was developing of his 2014 mixtape Faces, Miller refused to leave the studio even while his friends were throwing him a birthday party upstairs. However, he was never known for being selfish, and instituted a generous open door policy for his friends and colleagues. Utilizing his producer alter-ego, Larry Fisherman, Miller crafted beats for anyone and everyone who asked. Some would stay all day, arriving in the morning and leaving well after the sun had gone down. For Mac Miller, the point (outside of the very real joy he seems to have found in this environment) was the betterment of his craft, not only on his own, but alongside the people he cared about or was otherwise inspired by.
Syd and Martins would have a front row seat to all of this when they arrived at the studio in late 2012. The latter would remark during an interview discussing Miller, “He doesn’t waste time in laying down verses. He’s not one of those people who sits on songs. Most of the time we’re just there chilling, laughing. And, then somebody will go record.” Later in the same interview, Martins would elaborate further, stating “When we do make music, we start by goofing around and he just happens to have some beats he wants people to get on and wants to finish. That’s how it happens. And, that’s how it should happen. That’s the best shit. No pressure.”
Syd and Martins quickly joined the revolving door of artists hosted by Miller. One day, Ariana Grande came by. Another day, Schoolboy Q and Ab-Soul. On yet another, rapper Vince Staples and Earl Sweatshirt. There was no predicting which talented or notable individual would appear next or when. Sometimes there would be a party at Miller’s home, though Syd and Martins weren’t usually around on those occasions. One night, The Internet and Miller were accompanied by the cosmic bassist Thundercat. A low-key night up until that point, the latter presented the room with a few beats and the group got to work then and there, writing a hook for their favorite one. The resulting song, “In The Morning”, took four to five hours to complete, with the group departing Miller’s home around 7 AM.
On May 24th, 2013 Matt Martins and rapper Pyramid Vritra (also of Odd Future) released Jellyfish Mentality, their third album as the duo The Jet Age of Tomorrow. The fifth track “Juney Jones” would feature a verse from Mac Miller. A month later Miller would release his own album, Watching Movies with the Sound Off (which was met with positive reviews) and begun his 38-date “Space Migration Tour” in support of it. At his request, The Internet went along as his backing band. By then, they had expanded their roster to include bassist Patrick Paige II and keyboardist Taylor Walker (both of whom participated in the production of their debut album) as well as drummer Christopher Smith. Other supporting acts featured on the tour were rappers Chance the Rapper, Meek Mill, Vince Staples, Action Bronson and Earl Sweatshirt.
Mac had two buses. One for him and his team, and one eighteen wheeler for the production staff responsible for setting up the stage, the house sound, lights and monitoring. Chance the Rapper followed behind in an RV and would regularly invite the band to join him in it. Later on they would state they didn’t really know Chance, having only met him once before, but they had a great time with him during the six weeks they spent together on the tour. As for The Internet themselves, they traveled in a sprinter van.
The first date was in Austin, Texas on June 25th, 2012. Afterwards, The Internet attended a birthday party at the promoters house for “Big Dave”, Mac Miller’s bodyguard who had a supporting role in his reality show, Mac Miller’s Most Dope Family. During a stop in Chicago, the band would stay at Chance the Rapper’s lake-side mansion. They were each given their own bedroom and the location reportedly contained a private beach and jet skies, among other things. They would go on to play every stop on the tour, which ended on July 18th, 2013.
Before The Internet returned home they had already settled on the roots of their next project. They rented out a 2,000 sq. ft. location in Hollywood with two studios. Unsatisfied with the synth collection at a local guitar center, Syd asked her partner’s mother to lend the band some of her equipment, such as a Korg SV1, Yamaha Motif and Mellotron. Syd would cite sea life as a major inspiration behind the music created during this time. The band would infuse their love of neo-soul, jazz, Latin dance music and of course, R&B into the project. Featured artists included the likes of Jamaican-American singer Jesse Boykins, Malaysian performer Yuma, Mac Miller and Thundercat. Incubus’ Mike Einziger executive produced and played guitar on “Dontcha”, which was released as a single. These collaborations came about not through the band’s pursuit of these individuals, but instead the artists coming in contact with the music and reaching out on their own. Syd and drummer Christopher Smith handled the mixing and mastering. Feel Good would be released on September 24th, 2013, a little over two months later.
The finished product is filled with lengthy, improvised jams. According an article I found on Vice, this was due to complaints that too many songs on its predecessor ended abruptly. Regardless, each track melds seamlessly into the next. Musical genres are blended, and there are plenty of “good vibrations” felt throughout. The key I think, is that The Internet went into Feel Good with a firm grasp on the finished project, as opposed to Purple Naked Ladies, which seems to have been cobbled together from similar sounding fragments. The core of Feel Good though, in my opinion, is Wanders of the Mind ft. Mac Miller. It’s a song in which he sings about freedom, the paradoxical nature of human life and the struggle to find one’s purpose, backed once again by the vibrate instrumental abilities of the The Internet.
Finally, one of the most obvious improvements from their debut is one that’s front and center: Syd’s vocals. Prior to the formation of The Internet, Syd released a solo project raunchboots. Across its ten tracks, there’s rarely an instance in which she uses her voice. Syd herself has spoken in interviews about how she never saw herself as a vocalist, preferring to handle things behind the scenes. This seems to have changed during the development of Purple Naked Ladies, though Syd still audibly lacked confidence in her ability to sing. Feel Good is undoubtably her best showing up until this point, and she’s continued to progress with each of the band’s subsequent releases. Considering all the time Syd spent with Mac Miller, another artist known amongst his friends and collaborators to have been insecure with his own singing voice, this could very well be yet another example of the kind of collaborative betterment that Mac Miller sought facilitate.
As the fall of 2013 became winter, Miller and his team were back in the studio, hard at work once again. He contacted The Internet and informed them that nine of the songs they did together on the “Space Migration Tour” had been put together as a live album, which he planned to release if they approved of it. Of course they did, and the release occurred that December. Also included were four of Miller’s own songs that he had left off his previous album, and “In the Morning”, which he, the band and Thundercat had composed before the tour.
Although his vocals can be heard in the background of the song “Gabby”, keyboardist Taylor Walker would leave The Internet amicably in 2014, before the completion of their third album Ego Death. He would be replaced by Jameel Bruner, Thundercat’s brother. Like Walker, Bruner’s tenure would be brief, he departed in 2015, but his impact is palpable. He introduced the band to a young and talented classmate of his, Steve Lacy, who joined as their guitarist. Lacy would be the missing piece the band needed, and with his help producing Ego Death, The Internet would go on to receive their first Grammy nomination.
About a month after the release of his experimental mixtape Faces, the lease on Mac Miller’s home expired and he moved out, leaving the sanctuary behind to embark on the next phase of his life and career. He punctuated the moment with a tweet, “Thank you to all the people who made that place special.”
For us music fans, we’ll never know what it was like to be inside the sanctuary, but clearly magical things happened there. I would never claim that any one individual or location changed the course of anybody’s career besides themselves, through hard work, commitment, skill, talent or whatever, but The Internet's second album “Feel Good” is a firm statement. Humans may be at their best and brightest when they are given the time to exist in each others orbit, absorb each others unique style, and mix and match their individual philosophies and outlooks on the world. That was what Mac Miller saw when he looked at the sanctuary. It’s a sentiment that shines through bright as day on Feel Good, and thats why it’s my favorite album from The Internet. And I mean honestly, what could matter more than the memories we make when we’re having fun, not on our own but together?