Music
year’s credit list alone makes him
sort of a rap/pop Forrest Gump
for 2018, with his signature blend
appearing on Migos’Culture II,
Christina Aguilera’sLiberation,
Nas’Nasir, Travis Scott’sAstro-
world, Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s
Everything Is Love, Kanye West’s
Ye, and Teyana Taylor’sK.T.S.E.,
among others.
“It’sbeencrazy,”Deansaysof
his jam-packed dance card—
especially thefive-week stretch
when he dropped an album a
week for Kanye’s G.O.O.D. Music
roster, a schedule Dean firstMIKE DEAN IS HIP-HOP’S CLOSER,
the guy you call when it’s time
to get your album across the fin-
ish line—or give it a much-needed
kick in the ass.
“That’s what usually happens:
People come with the record
done but just need a little
more sauce on top,” says the
53-year-old multihyphenate,
blunt in hand.
While you may not have heard
Dean’s name before, you have
heard his sound:efusive, chest-
rattling synthesizer rifs popping
up on today’s top albums. ThisDEAN OF 2018
ProducerMike Dean has worked on this year’s biggest
albums (Travis Scott’sAstroworld, Migos’Culture II,
Kanye West’s Ye). He looks back at his crazy—and crazy
productive—nine-month stretch.BY ALEX SUSKINDGOOD
KARMA
Reveling in his love for the Beatles,
Tom Petty, and Thunderclap Newman,
singer-songwriterAaron Lee Tasjangoes
psychedelic on his transporting
new album,Karma for Cheap (out now).
He talks to EW about traversing the
musical map and getting an assist from
Sheryl Crow.BY SARAH RODMANON REVVING IT UP“There was definitely a newfound sense of
wanting to be more adventurous and con-
sciously pushing myself to go places that
I hadn’t gone. I started playing more
rock & roll versions of [my previous songs],
and audiences were really responding, so
I decided to continue that sound onto
a record—andKarma for Cheapwas what
we came up with.”
ON DOING IT ALL (PLAYING BLUEGRASS
AND AMERICANA FESTIVALS, AND OPEN-
ING FOR PUNK ROCKERS AND POP STARS)“It obviously looks all over the place, but
when you’re trying to create the music that
I’m trying to create, that’s really the spot
that you’re trying to get to. The albums that
I’m liking, that I’m hearing newer artists do,
feel more like a playlist almost than an
actual record. People are really interested
in something that has a sense of adventure
to it.”
ON COLLABORATING WITH SHERYL CROW“She sings the harmonies on ‘Crawling at
Your Feet.’ She was at a Starbucks and heard
‘Little Movies’ and Shazamed it, and told
her manager to find me and invited me to
open some shows for her last year. It was
really amazing.”y g.
Aaron Lee
TasjanDEAN: PHOTOGRAPH BY BEN TRIVETT; TASJAN: MATT WINKELMEYER/GETTY IMAGES