Riddle M: "I Really Have a Thing for the Long Forgotten. It's All Hocus Pocus Focus!"

Few artists embody the home-brewed pop spirit quite like Riddle M. Over the last few years, Harrison Riddle has carved out a universe of his own built on lo-fi psychedelia, tape-warped surrealism, and an unfiltered sense of imagination. Now based in Chicago and surrounded by likeminded peers (e.g. Alga, Sharp Pins, Answering Machines), Harrison's fragmentary pop wonders stretch wider than they first appear. Wherever you start, whether it's Aurora or his latest album Lo Stereo, you'll find yourself tumbling down a rabbit hole of off-kilter melody and pure-hearted experimentation, à la Gary Wilson, Bobb Trimble, and Julian Leal. For all the bedroom roughness, Riddle M's sense of melody never wavers. His songs drift and dart by with the handmade grace of a paper kite. Street-level hums from a one-man band extraordinaire, left in obscurity. Let's hope R. Stevie Moore returns his calls.

Hot Sounds: Where did you grow up and how exactly did you develop an interest in playing music? What made you want to go towards this creative direction?

Harrison Riddle: I grew up in Decatur, IL "Pride of the Prairie" but moved to Chicago about a year ago. There's not a lot happening over there, but you can find some interesting sights and a lot of places are haunted. My favorite spot is the Greenwood Cemetery and it’s the oldest cemetery in Illinois. I guess my interest in playing music really sparked when I got my first guitar for my fourteenth birthday. I played a little piano and dabbled in some sax and percussion in my school band before, but I never really cared for reading music. My head was tuned to early Stones, Pink Floyd, and Ramones songs when I first started getting really into music. I wanted to go this way so I could write my own catchy pop songs one day.

HS: What's the story behind the Riddle M moniker and when did you start recording music all by yourself?

HR: Well, I originally went by my last name Riddle for my music, but people had trouble finding it because of too many artists with the same name so I changed it by adding an M at the end. There's no meaning behind the M. I just thought it sounded good. I started recording my first chunk of material in 2018 with my friend Caleb Jefson, aka Marble Teeth. We would hang out in his brother's garage and record on this small device called a Spire Studio connected to his iPad. He would record me playing most of the parts and he'd record the drums. Later down the road, I would record music on my computer in my parent's basement but then I borrowed Caleb's old 4-track cassette recorder and I really dug the sound out of it. The first few songs I made on 4-track sounded like a crossover between Daniel Johnston and something off of Beck's One Foot in the Grave. After that, I would record half of the stuff on my computer and the other half on 4-track until strictly sticking with the 4-track.

HS: Aside from playing music, what are some fun super statistics of Riddle M for the die-hards? I know you have an interest in collage. 

HR: Yes! I make all sorts of paintings, drawings, collages, and mixed media. I haven't been super active with visual art recently because of music, but I had oil paintings and other pieces at art galleries in St. Louis and Decatur for a while. I am pretty focused on what drives me at the moment and so when I feel the move to make more paintings I shall. I also make my own frames for paintings by hand or buy metal ones from thrift stores for paper art. It's cheaper and makes the whole thing better in my opinion.

HS: What can you tell me about your last release Lo Stereo and what period of your life were you in when you recorded these 18 songs? 

HR: For Lo Stereo, I pretty much went through about 80 songs I recorded all on a 424 MKIII 4-track. Almost all the songs were recorded from late 2023 to August 2024. I was living with my parents in Decatur and working at a restaurant taking whatever free time I had to make music. It was nice because there isn’t much to do in Decatur, so I had a lot of time on my hands to do what I wanted.

HS: How did you approach the songwriting on this album? What did you find yourself mostly writing about?

HR: I usually will play around on guitar or branch out to other instruments and then something will form out of a certain melody. Most of the material was recorded fast and the songs are short. Sometimes I would have eight songs recorded in a month. I think that my song writing for the album was based a lot on making up characters, places, and things. Sometimes the lyrics don’t mean anything at all. It’s just the way the words sound with the music that gives off a certain style. It can be endless coming up with things to write about but challenging until it clicks when things sound good.

HS: In regard to your previous releases, how do you feel Lo Stereo compares both sonically and thematically? What have you learned or discovered in the process of creating this new record?

HR: Well, I think it’s the best thing I’ve released so far and met what I was going for. It definitely embodies some of the lo-fi qualities off of the previous albums but it’s focused on a more cohesive electric and synth powered sound vs a lot of indie folk tunes I made in the past. I was trying to make an album with a lot of transitions like Bee Thousand by Guided by Voices but also have a murkiness quality to it like The Pod by Ween but very spacey. I also have a thing for making music that sounds like something long forgotten but revamped like Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti. This is something that will come up more on my next album. I guess the process of laying tracks in a certain order on 4-track improved with the last album because I started laying the drums with bass on one track and guitar and keys on the other. Similar to '60s style panning but not hard left and right stereo. It’s also been nice and kind of surprising to me how many people like it even if it’s a small bag. I think that moving to Chicago was definitely helpful with making friends and finding people who really get what I’m going for. I’m really good friends with the band members in Sharp Pins. The drummer Peter (Alga) and I went on a tour in August, and it was a blast. I also gave Kai a tape with Lo Stereo and Aurora last fall/winter and within a couple of months he really dug the music and was showing it to his friends which I was kind of surprised because I was so used to no one really caring about my stuff when I lived in Decatur. I'm going to be opening for the Sharp Pins release party for their new album Balloon Balloon Balloon on December 6^th in Chicago at Not Not.

HS: Diving into some of the toons on Lo Stereo, how did "Falling On Off" come about? 

HR: Well for "Falling On Off" I can remember writing the guitar part first and then adding the lyrics after which sounded more like a '50s rock 'n' roll swinger. When I laid down the drum machine and the spacey guitar overdubs to the 4-track it gave it that more atmospheric sound which makes it completely different from what it originally was. I happen to have this often where the original idea for a song sounds super different when it's complete. I really like to play around!

HS: What inspired "Modern People"?

HR: When I wrote "Modern People," I was heavily obsessed with the album Oar by Alexander Skip Spence. There's a song off the album called "War in Peace" which has this otherworldly dimension that is so pleasing. There's a part in the song where Skip Spence sings a higher section and then holds onto the note while sliding it down which gives it this sound of awe to my ears. I wanted to do something sort of similar, so I made my own version using the built in drum machine off my little Yamaha synth ha. The lyrics are somewhat an ode to my dystopian galactic universe.

HS: Where did the idea for "Pin Holder" come from?

HR: It’s funny you ask because the song comes from completely nothing. It has no meaning whatsoever. I just took words that sounded good together and threw it in with the melody. When I was picking out songs to put on Lo Stereo, I was unsure of adding it because of how weird and bizarre it was but thought It would blend well to the oddness of the album.

HS: What's the story behind "Bubbles"?

HR: For "Bubbles" I remember creating all the instrumentation right before a tour that my friend Carter Ward and I did along the east coast. I wanted to make something that was Jesus and Mary Chain-esque but with my own lo fi spin. Somehow if Martin Newell made something like it during his heyday. After I got back from the tour, I wrote the lyrics about my time in New York City. I felt like the lyrics fell right in place and must’ve written them in 15 minutes or so.

HS: What can you tell me about "Silver Dollar Queen"?

HR: I honestly don't remember much for this one. I think I recorded the song within a couple of hours. Just banged it out quick. I really like the words "silver dollar queen sliver in a dream" because the words silver and sliver sound similar. A play on words.

HS: What can you tell me about some of the demos you've sent over the last year and what are some future plans for them? (i.e. "Hourglass," I Put A Spell on You," "Radio Static," etc.)

HR: Yeah, so since I moved to Chicago, I’ve been creating a lot of songs and demos on my 4-track trying to develop a sound for the next album. I recently got a new old eight track cassette recorder that I am going to use to re-record a lot of the demos I've made on 4-track. I’m really looking for a wider sound and sonic experience. Something very collage based too like The Mothers of Invention would do. Almost all the songs off the last couple albums have been pretty short so I am trying to make songs somewhat longer for the next record. Roughly three to a little under four minutes long at most. I’ve also been obsessed with Joe Meek's recordings and have been experimenting with tape saturation and the way all the instruments sit together. My favorite Joe Meek single is probably "It’s Hard to Believe" (Stereo Version) by Glenda Collins because of the eeriness mixed with romantic qualities which have this timeless feel to it that I obsess over. Last thing I want to say about the new material is that I’ve been messing around a lot with different decades of music so there’s a mixed bag of doo wop music, '60s jangle pop, '80s synth wave, and more. I really have a thing for the long forgotten. It's all Hocus Pocus Focus!

HS: You also lent over the unreleased "Sunny Rain" for our last compilation tape Snap! Crackle! Pop! Where The Action Is Vol. 1. What's the story behind that track?

HR: Hmm. I don't remember a whole lot about making this one. I recorded it very fast I think around Christmas time a couple years ago.

HS: You'll be hitting the road for a tour starting this week with Mold Gold from St. Louis. How do you approach your music in a live setting and how's it different from when you typical recording setup?

HR: Yes! I am excited for the run. Mere (Mold Gold) is the coolest. Well, my live sets consist of using my 4-track as a backing track DJ symphony orchestra along with guitar, synth, and tambourine. Sometimes I bring out the vuvuzela horn out for a part of the set if the turnout is good or people are tuned in. As Timothy Leary once said Tune in, turn on, drop out. I guess it’s different from my recording set up because It’s just a backing track of the past songs I play along with vs recording track after track to make something up.

HS: What do you enjoy most from touring across the USA? Anything in particular you're looking forward to this time around?

HR: I think what I like most from touring other than playing music is trying out different food when I get the chance. I try to get a meal the city is most known for out of curiosity. I really like New Haven pizza and there’s this good Greek restaurant in Omaha, Nebraska I want to go back too. I don’t think Omaha is known for their Gyros, but it was really good haha. There's also a lot of really good food in Chicago. I’ve been eating a lot of Vietnamese cuisine recently.

HS: Any advice or last words you'd like to share with our readers?

HR: Hmm. I’d say to anyone making music or art in general to go all the way. Don’t ever take advice from people who tell you what you should be doing and do what comes out naturally. Keep doing the thing that makes your art distinctive from what the others are doing.