Well… well.. well.
It’s been a minute my fellow yappers, but with good reason. Meet HAILE, artist, world-builder, and the mind behind the Kepler universe.
What does HAILE mean?
Bro's name, Haile means power, strength, & resilience. He’s named after the Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie (his dad kinda ate with that).
He also goes by K442b, an alias inspired by the EXO Planet naming system.
If you didn’t know, exoplanets are primarily named using the host star’s name followed by a lowercase letter, starting with ‘b’ for the first planet discovered, and continuing alphabetically for subsequent discoveries. Here’s an example from NASA: “Let’s use HD 189733 b (a blue-ish planet where it may rain glass sideways) as an example. The first part of the name is usually the telescope or survey that found it. In this case, “HD” stands for the “Henry Draper Catalogue,” a widely used star catalog. The number 189733 is the order in which the star was catalogued by position (the 189,733rd star added to the catalog). The lowercase letter “b” stands for the planet, in the order in which the planet was found. The first planet found is always named b, with ensuing planets named c, d, e, f, and so on. The star that the exoplanet orbits is usually the undeclared “A” of the system, which can be useful if the system contains multiple stars, which themselves may be designated B, C. (Stars are designated with capital letters; planets receive lowercase designations.) If a bunch of exoplanets around the same star are found at once, the planet closest to its star is named b, with more distant planets named c, d, e, and so on.
That’s a lot, but um here’s a brief explanation of his cinematic universe:
The Kepler Universe
Kepler & Avery (the protagonists from his first album, We Love It Here)
The upcoming album “Call Me Kepler” follows Kepler
Their world, a flooded planet, is paired with a rag-tag group of space pirates touring the galaxy. He utilizes music as a world-building engine, incorporating animation, story, and sound, all tied together.
How did you get into music?
HAILE says he’s always been surrounded by music since birth. His parents played a lot of jazz, & when he was in the car as a wee lad he’d be in the backseat predicting melodies and guessing the next note like a game.
He first realized he could sing when he was playing the Jackson 5 Wii game with his brother & dad. The pitch detector within the game caught his voice, and from there, both his brother, dad, & mom encouraged him to keep singing.
As for his production origin story, his big brother, WHYZMAN (Omar Wiseman), is his main inspiration. Omar began producing around the age of 15, and Haile started picking it up at 12. He recalls that in middle school, he would create music and share it with his friends. His first beats were actually made in GarageBand, which lacked a snap-to-grid feature when he would try to chop up samples. From there, he purchased a Focusrite and created his first project, "We Love It Here," on GarageBand, which he later reworked into Ableton.
In high school, he created a label called They Love It There Records, which initially began as Side Quest Studios, a DIY music video channel with some high school friends.
But that was the blueprint for what he has now. He’s been animating and filmmaking his whole life, which is why his music feels like a soundtrack because it literally is.
*Cue vine boom sound*
His First-Ever Song:
sweet spot (Soundcloud)
Favorite Plugins Right Now
Surprisingly, he told me he doesn’t really use any plugins and just mainly uses the Ableton stock audio effects and VSTs. He uses his own vocal chain he created through the stock effects in Ableton, but for guitar textures & effects he uses the Chroma Console Pedal - “all you'd ever need in one box”.
What’s your fav thing to yap about?
As for the things he likes to talk about, he enjoys discussing the universe, spirituality & the meaning of happiness with his family and friends. He actually claimed he has a growing physical media DVD collection of 90% animation and films that are “stacked to half his height”.
Where to find HAILE:
You can find his music on Apple Music, Instagram, & on the THEY LOVE IT THERE! YouTube channel. If nothing else, you can reach out to him here on his LinkTree as well. He’ll will have some in-person shows around LA & hosting a release party for his album soon, so be on the lookout for updates on his socials!
The Stu Sesh:
The Sample:
The Finished Beat:
3 Artists & song recs:
$4PAIN by HAILE:
WHYZMAN: cosmic introspection
We Got It Made by Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band
What we were listening to during the interview:
Feel It All Around by Washed Out
Insane by Flume
Courtship Dating by Crystal Castles
