It’s Sunday night in Manhattan at Irving Plaza, and Dan “The Automator” Nakamura takes the stage behind a mouthwatering wall of synths, across from Kid Koala [Tape Op#159] and his three turntables. Deltron 3030 is back to rock the same stage where they made their New York debut 25 years ago, and the place is mobbed. If you were a hip-hop fan at the turn of the 21st century, Dan The Automator most likely blew your mind on numerous occasions. After...
Interviews
Kenneth Blume III, FKA Kenny Beats
By John Baccigaluppi
After posting my year-end 2025 favorite albums on <tapeop.com>, I ended up emailing with Kenny Blume who produced one of my favorites, Geese's Getting Killed. He mentioned that he had finished building a new studio, Putnam Hill, with both a digital and analog tape workflow, as well as two custom consoles, and he invited me to visit the next time I was in Los Angeles. Formerly known as Kenny Beats, whether you call him Kenneth or Kenny, please use his last name, Blume. He's currently 34 years old and has been making music since he was in high school. In this time, he’s already worked with artists such as Kendrick Lamar, Mac Miller, and ScHoolboy Q before he even graduated from college, later working with the aforementioned Geese and IDLES. I met up with Kenny at Putnam Hill after he'd finished up tracking vocals for a new Weezer song (“Shine Again”) he was producing, and we sat down for a chat for Tape Op.