Nostaljik's Bio
Nostalijk (pronounced na' staljik) is an American hip-hop recording artist, author, producer and mix engineer, currently residing in Ventura County, California. He released his first full-length solo studio album, Hangovers & Hot Weather on Triple O Records in June of 2010 and a compilation called The [Nostaljik] Effect: Volume I on Triple O Records in September of 2012. He released two follow up LPs entitled The Institute For Gifted Backpackers and Down Feenicks Disc I: [truth!], both in October of 2012 on Minds Under Craze Recordings and Triple O Records respectively. He released The Audiotistic EP on his newly founded independent record label, Posthumous Recordings on January 6th, 2013.
EARLY LIFE
Nostaljik was born in Santa Paula, CA on September 11th, 1982 and grew up in Fillmore, CA. He performed at local talent shows and pep rallies from age 12 until he graduated from Fillmore High School in the year 2000 and started writing and performing his own songs at age 16. In high school, he enjoyed the sciences, performing arts, and participating in the Mock Trial and drama clubs. During his senior year in high school, DJ Reerun invited him to join Minds Under Craze Recordings and began recording with him soon after. When he graduated high school, he immediately attended Ventura Community College as an Early Childhood Development major. He invested some of his financial aid money in pro-audio equipment and discovered his inner producer while working as a part-time assistant teacher for Easter Seals.
MUSIC CAREER
After meeting local emcees, Ronin Gray, Scripts Unlimtd and producer Sean 3re of Order Of Operations in community college, Nostaljik joined the group along with local emcees/producers Rollz Blunt and Danny Noncents to form Triple O Records. After performing at a series of local gigs, the group went on to release Triple O Records Mixtapes 1 & 2. Ronin Gray, Scripts Unlimtd, Nostaljik and Rollz Blunt continued to perform whenever given the opportunity. They also went on to save up enough money to shoot music videos and go on small road trips to promote themselves. After the release and promotion of his first solo release, Hangovers & Hot Weather (which was mixed and mastered by Reerun), he decided to attend Full Sail University full-time to learn how to produce professionally.
Once Nostaljik started school again, he created Autumn Bleeds Aurora - a one-man science fiction based screamo/trip-hop band to escape an egoist local hip-hop scene and try something different. Attending the Vans Warped Tour inspired him to break out of his shell and aspire for "something bigger than himself" with a semiautobiographical science fiction novel and a live show to act it out. The one thing that he felt was keeping him from lifting the band off of the ground underneath him was a lead singer. After only a year, he eventually scrapped the project and started anew with the realization that he may never find his musical equal to front the band. He adapted to this realization by merging acid jazz, dream-pop and trip-hop elements into a mixture that formed The Posthumous Love Act.
In 2012, Nostaljik felt compelled to release a new hip-hop album with the same sort of emotional production that made Hangovers appealing to his audience by doing something no other hip-hop artist or producer of his time had done yet: compose an album based on and inspired by the music and events of the Final Fantasy video game franchise. Down Feenicks Disc I: [truth!] (released on Triple O Records) was a departure of conventional mainstream hip-hop and was more of a clash between everyday street life and role-playing video games. Nostaljik was so content with the reception of the album that he expanded Down Feenicks into a trilogy with the second disc, Vegnagun to be a joint venture between Nostaljik and local artist, Jeffy Obvious of 8th Of Dope Records.
In January of 2013, Nostaljik entered his last class of the Music Production program called Final Project and decided to write, produce and perform The Posthumous Love Act's debut album, The Audiotistic EP as a requirement for graduation. It was released as a free digital download on the band's Bandcamp site. Audiotistic was well received among his family and friends and Nostaljik plans to shop the EP around to labels in the attempts to pique someone's interest and have it picked up by a major label for mainstream distribution.
ORIGINS OF NAME
Nostaljik chose his rap name during his sophomore year in high school after the passing of two classmates because he said that if he could, he would "turn back time to the way things used to be." He immediately began to be called by that name on campus after a circle of close friends stopped calling him by his government name. He's since wanted to change it but feels like all the work he put in under that moniker would have been all for naught if he did.
INSTRUMENTS
Nostaljik made his first beats on a Boss SP 505 Groove Sampling Workstation and a Boss Dr. Rhythm drum machine, both by Roland. He first taught himself to produce on a PC with Acid Pro, Fruity Loops and Sound Forge. He subsequently switched to an Apple MacBook Pro and was trained to use GarageBand, Logic Pro, Pro Tools, NI Kontakt 5 and Wave Burner. He now records in a home studio called Random Star Studios with a Blue Spark microphone, a Native Instruments Komplete Audio 6 interface and a Native Instruments Maschine Mikro. He took bass lessons, owns and plays a metallic blue Squire P-Bass by Fender. Some of his favorite plug-ins include Absynth, Guitar Rig, FM8, Antares Auto-Tune Evo, iZotope Stutter Edit and the Waves Power Pack.
DISCOGRAPHY
The Act Of Silence EP: 2002
Triple O Records Mixtape Volume I: 2003
Robin Steele: 2004
Tomorrow's Agenda: 2005
Triple O Records Mixtape Volume 2: 2006
Motavation (with the Budded Leprechauns): 2007
Hangovers & Hot Weather: June 2010
Cold Fronts & Sobriety: January, 2011
the [nostaljik] effect: volume 1: September, 2012
The Institute For Gifted Backpackers: October, 2012
Down Feenicks Disc I: [truth!]: October, 2012
Danny Noncents, Young Eaz & Nostaljik presents The Hip-Hop Hitmen: November, 2012
The Audiotistic EP (with The Posthumous Love Act): January, 2013
MUSIC VIDEOS:
Ronin Gray: Pow Pow Pow
Ronin Gray: Still So Dangerous
Mic Bles: 4 The Real
Ronin Gray Featuring Order Of Operations: I Feel Bad For You
Ronin Gray: Kush TV (La Zona Rosa Show)
DJ Reerun: Let 'Em Know
DJ Reerun: The Cypher
DJ Reerun: Cypher The Rebuttal
Nostaljik: Whole Lotta Thug
Meiko Featuring The Posthumous Love Act: Leave The Lights On (A Posthumous Love Remix)






