We were lucky to catch up with Jake Almanrode recently and have shared our conversation below.
Jake, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
I have always been very musical. Around age eight, I started lessons on the violin and at 13 was playing piano – completely self taught. I started really getting into electronic music and DJing around the same time I started undergrad – and I DJ’d pretty much my entire time of undergrad to make some money on the side. I really never thought of music as becoming a professional pursuit – especially since I was a human biology major with my focuses set on becoming a doctor. I did have a longterm plan of having nice home studio when I was older (something the doctor money would pay for) and I ultimately wanted that because I had this vision that in my older age after the medical career, I would perhaps get into film scoring. With this plan in mind, after undergrad, I sold all of my DJ gear and equipment so I could pay my first and last month’s rent at my new home in Sunnyvale, California – and swiftly relocated to begin Chiropractic college.
Chiropractic College is where a lot of things changed for me. Being surrounded by people and faculty who were so enthusiastic about “loving what you do” and “do the things that you believe in” really played a tremendous role in laying the mental groundwork for my music career. I had gotten this far in life based off of the normal life approach of, find a good job, do what makes you money, not what makes you happy – so on and so forth. It was the second year of Chiropractic college where everything changed. A good friend of mine invited me to go with her and her friends to EDC Las Vegas in 2017. I went and Porter Robinson’s performance was the “moment” so to speak. I remember standing in the crowd, the music was loud, but my thoughts were way louder – and I was heavily filled with this feeling of “you can do this.” It was exactly what I was doing during undergrad, minus the thousands of people, but I knew, right then – the talents, skills, and abilities I had in music were meant for so much more.
So, I returned back to California and within the next week or so, I had Logic downloaded on my computer again, and with zero cares about being two years into my doctorate program I began producing music with the firm vision and goal in mind – I will be doing this as my professional career. I never quit at anything – so I continued on with school – I spent 9-10 hours in class and studying to be a Chiropractor by day, every day – and would then stay up four to five hours until 1-2am every evening making music.
Jake, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Absolutely. For those that do not know me, my stage name is Angel District. I am a composer, recording artist, and songwriter. I’ve been making music professionally for 8 years now. The music I make is primarily electronic influenced with touches of Trance, Melodic Bass, Electronic Pop, Rocktronic, and Synthpop. I have a very signature sound as it is very cinematic. My music is very thought provoking and hypnotic – making it really easy to get lost in and remove you from reality. I take audio engineering VERY seriously and I am also a perfectionist – so the sonic experience listeners report is never anything short of magical and highly immersive. I genuinely feel and believe that I push the boundaries of soundscape in modern music today and that is why I truly do not sound like anyone else. I have a very original and deeply thought out sound. A lot of work goes into carefully engineering the audio of my music so it doesn’t induce anxiety, rather profoundly increases focus and calmness.
My music is also incredibly emotional and full of story. Some of this I attribute to the fact that I am a deep empath myself and my clinical work and experiences as a doctor with patient encounters has given me a really unique position on connecting and relating with people given my proximity and intimacy with a myriad of stories, feelings, and emotions that come with patient care. Part of being an artist is to express emotion – and being in a clinical environment where you get to sharpen your skillset of diagnosing, connecting and relating as a human I think has been really advantageous on impactful songwriting skills.
One thing that I am really proud of is how helpful and enlivening my music has been to so many. Something I think my audience and fans know about my music and have come to expect from it is that it goes beyond the entertainment realms. I don’t just make beats and loud noises to fill a club or car – I truly make something to feel and develop through. People who listen to Angel District are very special people – people who feel deeply, love deeply, and think deeply, and who believe in the magic and the power of the human soul. The human experience has profound meaning for my fans and I don’t think there is a single one of them that has a shallow outlook or view on life. They pursue and relish the good and never numb, rather grow from the lows.
As for some stats, I’ve just reached 50 thousand monthly listeners on Spotify and we are on our way to do well over one million streams in 2025. I can confidently say, this is just the beginning. So please join in on the journey – exciting things are coming quickly.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
As an artist in music, there is no single event or story that requires your resilience. You have to be resilient every single day. Especially if you are an independent artist. There is no help. No one will help you. There are very few if any “yes’s” – but there are a million NO’s every single day. You cannot give into this. Not if you are really serious about your career and you are truly committed to your dream. But the volume of negativity and “NO” you will get is enough to make any sane person quit within a year. For me, I have just always clung to my vision and my goal. My mission is to change the world. My mission is to redefine what music can be. My mission is one for quality.
Electronic music gets a bad reputation among a lot of genuine music lovers because it is just loud and repetitive – but to me, especially in Trance music, it is such an incredibly profound canvas to really demonstrate storytelling with. I think part of the reason it can catch on through Angel District is because of the musicality and engineering. When perfect audio engineering meets skilled and artistic musical storytelling – paired with a magical genre – you’re going to have something undeniably special. Something that can truly pull you from this world and guide you into a realm of sound and music no one really could ever fathom existed. I am actually one of those people that really doesn’t like a whole lot of electronic music because of its quality decline – and I believe the reason why so much of it is so bad now is because it’s too accessible. When you have zero knowledge of music or audio engineering – your contributions to the scene/genre are ultimately going to pull it down and dilute it – rather than strengthen and enrich it. Am I resilient? Absolutely. I have to be—to keep standing up for quality and redefining the electronic music world.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
For me, it’s how you live your life. True artists are a special type, because you constantly live in state of high observance – being really tuned into your surroundings and the atmosphere. You have high awareness of peoples energies and intuitive intelligence on emotion. This is so rewarding to me because it keeps you present. You notice so many little things. You see the extraordinary in the ordinary. It sounds cliche but it is really true. I love being an artist because I get to put a magnifying glass to simple things that many people might overlook or not understand – but then through a creative act and medium I can transcribe and convey that concept or thing to many people in a tangible way. I really feel like most days are honestly kind of magical – because there is always something to notice, always something to gather, and always something to see the profound in. The minuscule, insignificant and often believed-to-be trivial details are always where the magic is. I get to live in the details everyday and I love it. The real wealth and meaning in day to day life is not loud, flashy or large, it is humble, subtle, and quiet.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/angeldistrict
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/angeldistrictmusic/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/angeldistrictmusic
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/045HqayMEplh2S44FMiR6u?si=bm7OeQIfTTqx8vmVIe5eWA
Image Credits
Fluorescent Rain Records