The ROTTEN Issue: Dokpetra
Words BY Oliver Gerharz, Photos by Elijah Pines
With how much rotten slop there is online, it’s important to take note whenever you see something special on social media. So when a distorted edit of Outkast’s “Hey Ya!” with funny sounding chopped-up lyrics shows up on Twitter, it’s time to go to the house of the creator for an interview.
Dokpetra is one of Earth’s premiere Slurmers, the heroes chopping up classic songs in Ableton Live to create Slurmcore — a strange genre of remixes individually known as Slurms. Inspired by a 2017 Tumblr post (Mmmm Slurms) spoofing “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” by The Proclaimers, Dokpetra has become a major figure in Slurm culture.
One of their videos titled “SLURMLORE” is a perfect guide to Slumcore, from an explanation of the iconic image of John Lennon walking silly that appeared in Mmmm Slurms, to a breakdown of how to make your own Slurms. Still, that edit of “Hey Ya!” was Dokpetra’s breakout hit. “I just lucked out with that one. I think it was the first one I tried,” Dokpetra said.
“To borrow a word from Devo, there's something mildly devolutionary about Slurmcore,” Dokpetra said, “I think in this particular kind of watershed moment where generative AI has unfortunately entered the music conversation, it feels like a great time to throw up one's hands and say, well, if that's acceptable, then this should be too. And at least I actually did something with my human brain and hands.”
While the most popular videos on Dokpetra’s channel are all recent Slurms, a deeper look reveals two years of fascinating quirky music, the driving influences behind it and the overcoming of a perfectionist urge.
[I need some kind of major visual divide on the page here as we shift away from a discussion of Slurmcore and towards a focus on Dokpetra as an artist. I think I want to use this photo Elijah got of them peeking through a hole in the wall.]
Dokpetra started releasing music shortly after turning 30, a birthday that acted as a “wake-up call.” Dokpetra said they came to a realization that “nobody's going to do this for me. If I want to release music, I'm going to have to learn to produce and I'm going to have to start writing it and putting it out there.” That was when they created the alter ego “Dokpetra” for Bandcamp and YouTube releases.
Before the Slurms came, Dokpetra’s primary project was four volumes of “Song-A-Day” releases, a “casual project” where each song would be completed in one 24-hour period. Dokpetra conceived of the project as a way to push through their perfectionist tendencies from their time as a theory composition major.
“I had so many nights where I would be sitting at the piano just hitting my head against the keys trying to get something to come out, but my standards for myself were so high, I just would throw every single thing out,” Dokpetra said.
The genre variety across the 42 songs is incredible, with individual tracks sounding like they come from different planets — even though everything is derived from one two-story studio in the Twin Cities. Throughout the project, and especially in volume four, a more electronic sound emerges, leading to Dokpetra trying on both “Indietronica” and “Electropop” as genre labels.
According to Dokpetra, funk music is part of the bedrock of what they do, especially because of the way it defined the music of Minneapolis. That inspiration is audible in every song and every Slurm that Dokpetra has put out. Geek Rock is another genre that has inspired Dokpetra, especially Devo and They Might Be Giants.
“I think that [Devo] are brilliant artists who are often mistaken just for goofballs doing some sort of absurd wacky weirdo thing,” said Dokpetra. According to Dokpetra, that humor is a part of Devo’s music but isn't the core of things.“They're actually really focused and have some really serious messages.”
Humor and goofiness plays a similar role in Dokpetra’s work, both when they join in on their favorite trends like Slurmcore and when they make songs like “I Like To Be Fat” from the fourth volume of the “Song-A-Day” project. The song features a variety of distorted vocals, like “I like that I’m warm most of the time even when it’s cold.” This song is obviously very silly, but the serious callout of the energy that people spend telling people not to be fat harkens back to Devo’s serious messages under silly music.
“I've just been seeing people be weird and mean about fat people my whole life. Something that's important to me is you know, [...] that it's fine if you're fat,” Dokpetra said, “I know that I'm fat, and I like to be fat. So chill out.”
While all of their music has that same charm, Dokpetra’s main output the last couple of months has been Slurms. Dokpetra says they don’t create to get views, but notice that people do like and watch their Slurms. ”I'm not much of a trend follower, but if there is a trend happening that is relevant to my interests and that I think is fun, I like to jump in and contribute to the meme,” Dokpetra said.
In addition to music, Dokpetra enjoys making the intense visuals for both Slurms and their own music. This varies from pulsating edits of John Lennon to a pixel-art music video to piano performances in the dingy basement. “Visual art is the main thing I love in life besides music,” Dokpetra said, “If I ever get burnt out on music, which is very rare, I like to switch mediums and do something else.”
Looking forward, Dokpetra is starting to put together their first official release. It will be a proper EP; something with more of a throughline — where each song gets more than a day. Thankfully, more Slurms are coming soon — Dokpetra says they’re “not sick of slurming yet.”
