Music Profile Monday: An Interview with Deep Thrills

Photo courtesy of Skylar Steinberg (XKYLAR)

As much as I love living in London, it's incredibly frustrating trying to get in touch with artists having their big moments when everyone is based in NYC and LA. Fortunately, Los Angeles' own Deep Thrills, also known as Matan KG (one half of Paper Idol), was generous enough to overlook the 8-hour time difference and answer some questions I had after hearing his viral song, "First Date” with XKYLAR.

I first discovered Deep Thrills during a late-night TikTok session. His page appeared on my For You Page (FYP), promoting his latest single, "First Date." The song immediately grabbed my attention, prompting a deep dive into both the track and the artist. The song sounded like a blend of CSS, LCD Soundsystem, and Crystal Castles—a unique sound reminiscent of the Bloghouse era and Tumblr's mainstream heyday.

Deep Thrills and Paper Idol are two artistic projects that have joined this growing group of artists dominating indie and pop music with a sound that hasn’t been heard in the mainstream since the early 2010s, a sound described multiple times as “electroclash”. While these artists and genres never went away with the demise of MySpace and Tumblr, the sound of electroclash and bloghouse  continues to creep onto the charts in adjacent sounds and genres.

I sent a DM to Deep Thrills' Instagram, hoping to get past Instagram's message request stage. To my delight, within 24 hours, I received a response saying he’d be more than happy to answer some questions. I sent off some questions after some trial and error with navigating said 8-hour time difference.

After a few emails and a few embarassing typos (a very quick lesson in not becoming sloppy just because work was busy, and also don't try translating conversational interview notes into actual written questions at 2:00 AM after a work event), Deep Thrills very graciously gave me the time of day to find out more about his career and the LA indie scene.

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NL: Tell us who you are in a single sentence.

DT: Mezcal soda and French music.

NL:I read in an article online that you survived a near fatal accident, and that’s what inspired you to take the leap into music industry deep end; what were you feeling in the lead up to this transformative moment so that when this happened? How did the years and moments before influence you?

DT: This actually happened last year, someone tried to push me over a bridge into oncoming traffic. My favorite Tito's Vodka hat from Bonnaroo fell on the sidewalk as I ran away, but I ran back for it. Luckily he couldn't catch me. The whole thing was so surreal, but really made me consider life's brevity, in kind of a cliché way. When I went back to the studio, I decided to write music with the exact emotion I had at the time, whatever that was. It changed my process in a positive way.

NL: You performed at Outside Lands 2023 with your music partner that forms Paper Idol, how did Outside Lands come about when you came about before this insane bloom of bloghouse music?

DT: Yes, Adam Rochelle [keyboards] and I have been touring together for about 5 years now. Paper Idol played a great string of festivals like Bonnaroo, Capitol Hill Block Party. Outside Lands came about because they reached out to our awesome agent Phil and we got to play. It's been really interesting seeing the shift in taste, a few years ago it was a lot of hip-hop and indie guitar music and now I feel like it's moving more experimental and electronic.

NL: During 2023, it seemed as though Paper Idol was transitioning away from this pop indie rock sound that had been extremely popular in the years leading up to 2020, and your album The Playground was a giant stride into this territory of music that had not really been explored since the early 2010s.

DT: Paper Idol has gone through all sorts of genre waves; the project started as a dance-punk band at Wesleyan University where I was studying neuroscience. If you listen to the early Paper Idol singles, they have a bit more of that electroclash sound that I'm putting out now. As I became a more versatile producer, Paper Idol started to change as well – there's indie-rock, trap, and disco influences in the Paper Idol catalogue. It's been fun having a project that's so diverse in its sound but still cohesive… Adam and I call the signature genre of Paper Idol "delusional pop"

The cover art for Deep Thrills' single "First Date" featuring XKYLAR

NL: Your newest single, First Date, encapsulates dating in a casual space, and the beauty of it is that you cannot tell if the story is about 2 strangers in New York or Los Angeles. Every horror story I’ve ever heard, or even blandest first dates ever, have happened in New York. Being from Orange County, though, I've heard my fair share of shitty dates (and fever dream situations) in LA through friends. What was the LA date experience that pushed you to write and make this song?

DT: Funny, the original title of the song was "First Date, Los Angeles" because it was really an homage to the LA experience, but I decided to drop the city because it's relatable everywhere. What a strange world to be single in, where most interactions are initiated from a single photo on your cell phone.

But yeah, the song is loosely based on my experience dating in LA. I went on a string of first dates in 2023 so I had a lot of material (laughs). One time, a man came up during a date and literally tried to steal my shoes. Luckily we got away unharmed, but we never went out again. Then I bumped into her at Trader Joe's which was a bit awkward. We didn't even mention the shoe theft. But I mainly go on good first dates, I like meeting new people and I like Mezcal. The problem is, there are so many forces at play in a big city, career goals, sex, marriage intentions, highway traffic… the list goes on. So it's really like gambling.

NL: How did you come to know XKYLAR? How did this song come to life?

DT: I throw an electro party called Lip Service in LA, and my friend recommended her as a DJ. That's when I found her music, her visual work… she's an insanely talented person. She's was going in this club direction with her music right when I was working on First Date; at the time, it was only me on the track. But as soon as I heard her stuff I was like, "yeah, she's gotta be on this record." So we linked after that first party and knocked it out. It was fun finishing the lyrics together since she came with her own first date stories!

NL: With First Date going viral on TikTok, the success of Brat and the Dare, how’re you feeling about the future of the indie music scene right now in Los Angeles? Are you noticing more people drifting away from indie rock as we’ve known it and going for something in the opposite direction?

DT: I am, and it's really cool to see. I was always the electro guy in my group of indie rock friends. It's great to see music you love get popular, from Justice to LCD Soundsystem, Soulwax, Digitalism… the list goes on. LA is a little late to the party but the scene is growing. One thing I'd love to hear more is honesty and vulnerability in the music, right now it feels like the electroclash scene is highly connected to a sex and fashion revolution, which is super fun, but has a ceiling. Like, James Murphy and Julian Casablancas were making party music about how depressed they were. I really connected to BRAT, especially tracks like "Sympathy Is A Knife" which I spun 6 times before realizing the lyrics were about severe insecurity.

NL: What do you want the future of Paper Idol and Deep Thrills to be in the next 5 years?

DT: I want to put out my best work, play the best shows, collaborate with my favorite people. That's really it. If I'm still touring and making music I love in 5 years I'll be happy.

NL: Since your newest single and your "Von Dutch" remix have gone viral, how has your relationship with marketing your music changed? Going viral is a make or break for a lot of budding artists, and as an established artist who was around way before TikTok, do you also feel that pressure of going viral every time you're thinking about releasing new music?

DT: Honestly, the whole viral thing is pretty new to me. I made all sorts of Tik Toks to promote The Playground and got totally burnt out, and I didn't post for about a year. I'm approaching it differently now: I'm only posting stuff I really like, I don't spend a lot of time on it, and I make sure my music is featured. It's way more fun and it seems like people are resonating with it.

NL: Favorite album right now?

DT: NO NOW by Clarence Clarity. Some of the best original PC-music-adjacent music in the world.

NL: Who do you think we need to be watching in the up-coming wave of new artists from the scene, other than yourself of course.

DT: XKYLAR, Hyderdaze, Shallowhalo, Gregor McMurray, Holander, Shana Sarrett, De Lux are all the homies making sick ass music right now.

NL: Would you ever move to NYC? 

DT: If anyone has an open room DM me.

NL: What do you want to tell us?

DT: My "Von Dutch" remix just dropped so give it a listen.*

*He also just dropped a Chappell Roan remix, which can be found here :)

Music is at a blossoming moment. Maybe it’s the recession or just the trend cycles recycling. Either way, watching artists such as Deep Thrills will only prove to be exciting, even watching while 5,000 miles away from LA.

You can follow Deep Thrills on his Spotify, Soundcloud and Instagram account for his upcoming projects, and you can follow Paper Idol on Instagram and Spotify!