This is the first part of a HOUDINI exclusive interview with up-and-coming producer and musician, Harper Rush.
On an early morning in March, the benevolent YouTube algorithm placed an intriguing video in my recommendations, “mp3 player DJ set” from a channel called, “harper2k.” The video’s thumbnail showed an enticing triptych of sorts: a fish-eye view of a shaggy-haired madman at his desk, paired with an infinitely-repeating OBS window and a distorted webcam snapshot of shitty, off-brand MP3 players tangled in a nest of 3.5mm cables.
A click and a few minutes later, I was completely entranced by the woozy, spaced out electronic beats playing from each one:
Some weeks later, I had consumed a large chunk of Harper Rush’s video backlog, studied his techniques, and bought all his albums. Harper churns out an insane volume of music mostly in the realm of IDM-tinged experimental hip-hop beats. He’s released two albums this year alone: the woozy, faintly blogosphere hip-hop record Hobo Dinner 2 and the brooding, beautiful dungeon synth opus, As the Crow Flies. Since 2021, he’s output an extremely stacked run of ten records, all of which are worth listening to.
I had to know more about this criminally-underrated producer living in upstate New York, so I reached out to Harper this past April and arranged an hour-long interview with him. Without further ado, I present to you Harper Rush’s first public interview, a THREE-part HOUDINI Magazine exclusive. Enjoy!
Harper Rush publishes a new beat on YouTube every other day.
The usual format is simple: he presents the viewer with a low-res webcam view of himself live producing a beat or song. His image is accompanied by a larger screen recording of his Ableton window on his Macbook. The core construction of the beat is assembled within a few minutes, as proven by the system date/time on his laptop nestled in the corner of the frame. As the production nears its final form, the screen recording suddenly switches to double-time as the finished beat plays over the footage. It’s a serene experience for the listener every time.
When I asked Harper about where his love for beatmaking stemmed from, he credits his dad for purchasing him a copy of Magix Music Maker:
“My dad got it for me on a disc when I was 11 to use on the family PC. Then when I was 12, I got Ableton Intro because it was on sale and I had forty dollars. And I knew Ableton is what Skrillex used, and I wanted to be like Skrillex. It just became a daily thing. [...] Growing up my parents were kind of anti-video game. Growing up [Ableton] was, like, the video game for me from age 12 up. That’s basically why I do this, to be honest.”
Armed with this shiny new DAW, young Harper began making songs that emulated Rusko who he describes as, “an old school but almost brostep, kinda dubstep producer.” In true 2012 fashion, he says he originally heard Rusko’s music on Skrillex's Pandora radio station, but he assures me the brostep phase didn’t last long.
As he progressed into his mid-to-late teens, Harper found himself surrounded by friends who wanted to be SoundCloud rappers. Naturally, he started making beats for them. He learned to rap by imitating Damon Albarn’s delivery style in the Gorillaz’ Song Machine singles. He says that making music in this, “2016 Lil Peep era,” still shapes the music he’s currently into and makes today. He also mentions Hot Sugar’s God’s Hand and Gorillaz’ Demon Days as highly influential records to his budding signature sound.
Flash forward to today and the Albarn influence is not so apparent; Harper has honed and carved out his own witty and unique writing style. His lyrics are often catchy and rife with Gen Z humor and meme culture. However, just as frequently, he moves through softer territory with thoughtful and plaintive moments that feel real and relatable.
Initially he says he wrote a hundred percent of his lyrics beforehand and, “really, really stressed over them.” This changed with the creation of his 2022 album, SQUATTER, where he shifted from writing lyrics to improvising one line at a time once the beat is already finished.
Despite this shift toward a more laid-back improvisational writing method, Harper is still trying to get out messages that are important to him. He explains that this enables him to have more fun with his productions, and it helps him to use his music as a diary:
“I try to convey things that are evocative or make you think about something. I choose the important parts. My message, I would say, is that it’s hard to be here. It’s hard to do all this. You know what I mean? I feel like there’s so many kooky things. You know the orphan-crushing machine meme? I feel like that’s what I’m trying to talk about in a way. I’m just complaining about the orphan.”
We go off on a tangent about his YouTube channel and his decision to screen record the process for every track he makes, which leads to a wonderful exchange on the catharsis of making your own music:
Salty: “I think it’s cool that you do the YouTube live screen recording. I think it shows people that you don’t have to gruel over songs for two weeks or be in the studio for 8 hours straight. You show people you can just bang something out in a couple hours and just call it done.”
Harper: “I think in a way it almost feels like if you make a song that’s sort of an artistic take on your own suffering, then that suffering is worth it. Then it’s cemented, here is this thing. Even if no one hears it, it was worth it because I have this .WAV file to show for it. And it sounds awesome, even if it only sounds awesome to me.”
Stay tuned for part two of this interview, where I get into a Q&A with Harper discussing his production secrets and project goals. In the meantime, check out Harper’s most recent album, As the Crow Flies: a brooding, captivating dungeon synth opus and a side quest from his signature experimental hip-hop sound.
After that, listen to his other (excellent) experimental hip-hop release from this year, Hobo Dinner 2. Go dig through Harper’s website and follow him on Instagram.
This interview was originally conducted on April 19th, 2025 and published on our old website.
