By: Madisson Stanley

19-year-old Kansas City native Trey McIntire makes music in his Missouri State University dorm and compares himself to a confused Ernest Greene with a love for trap beats. The college sophomore has been releasing snippets on his SoundCloud account and demonstrates the makings of a future producer possessing rare qualities as a grounded and informed individual.

Talking with McIntire, you sense his intuitive understanding of where music is going and where he wants to take it himself.
What inspires him is what makes him unique compared to any other artist I’ve encountered, along with his ambition to follow in the foot steps of producers and managers doing a lot of work for the rap game right now, in example Christian Clancy managing Odd Future Records and Clams Casino cranking out beats for Mac Miller and A$AP Rocky. McIntire is pushed to create by cityscapes and the environment around him but favoring the Kansas City skyline especially. (Who doesn’t love that view, seriously?)

“Inspiration comes in doses. Sometimes I’ll go for a month without even thinking about making music and then randomly it will hit me. Then I’ll get stuck in a spell where I spit out a new track every few days. When I actually sit down to produce something, I don’t typically get up until it’s done,” McIntire said. “Having past experience is definitely a benefit, I was able to pick up on fundamentals like bars, measures, and matching tempos.”

Although he hopes to keep an open mind about the path he’s taking for his own creations, he’s drawn a line in the sand, claiming to have no interest in pursuing house music or any kind of dubstep.

“I don’t really see labels jumping all over my stuff right now, but I feel like I’m very versatile musically. Direction wise, I want to keep doing everything. Chillwave, DJ sets, hip hop instruments and so forth,” McIntire said.

While exploring his different options of genres he intends to experiment with them all, getting a feel of what he does best and playing up other qualities than what he has so far.

“Both of the respective genres [I’m pursuing] have the ability to depict very different environments. Maybe I’m the only one that thinks this way, but music and scenery are highly connected in my mind,” McIntire said. “If I listen to a Wu Tang song, I picture a dark cold night in NYC, smoke coming from chimneys, lights, sirens, graffiti, etc. If I listen to Feel It All Around by Washed Out I picture a road trip and swimming at sunset. I enjoy the feelings that are conveyed through electronic and hip hop music.”

On paper or under review, McIntire may look like a college kid trying to find what’s right for him, but as a listener you are immediately put into a trance by his mixes while they start playing in a loop. The progression is apparent as you work from newest to oldest because the kid has a deft hand, with a talent that’s worth waiting for as he improves. You can easily pick up on his interests currently if you’re an avid listener of the genres he’s currently diving into, and you start to envision somewhat the scene that influenced the track in the first place. Trey’s music takes you somewhere else even if it’s brief. If you’re compiling a playlist for a study group, a road trip, or when you’re just hanging out, McIntire is your man. It grabs your attention but isn’t ever obnoxious, it’s different than most electronic music I’ve experienced. Using old school mixed with indie, mainstream mixed with his own concoction, each one is different from another, sonically fitting and is definitively recognizable as his work. A visit to his page will only have you stoked for what he’ll be posting next.

While every track might not be stellar to all his listeners, with experimental luck he surely won’t disappoint with things to come. He hopes to put out a mixtape around New Years and just dropped a new song.

McIntire creates his own album artwork. Listen to his tracks at: http://soundcloud.com/snakepit_treasures