The Nicolas Sales Interview

Scrolling through the endless Instagram feed - you know the drill: @rap, AI cats rapping, dill.cheese likes, keeping the rap economy afloat. But every blue moon, the algorithm lines up. That's how I found @nicosurreal.

Nicolas Sales is making experimental electronic music, blending underground hip-hop with techno. Not riding waves, he's a one-man operation: producing, mixing, mastering, vocals, all of it. Steady at 20k monthly with rare collabs from 645AR and KirbLaGoop, he's quietly reshaping the modern grind. We tapped in to see what keeps the hustle moving.

Underising: You're based in Berlin. What's the underground scene like there? Would your music be the same if you stayed put? I notice you move around a lot.

Nicolas Sales: I moved to Berlin in 2018 for audio engineering, graduated 2020, and just stayed. Six years there - I learned German, passed as German, fully integrated.

The longer I stayed, the more I let it change me. I realized how much I'd been missing, how much weirder my art could get. Rave culture, underground events, the people who took me in like family - that changed everything.

I went from lo-fi hip-hop and emo rap to experimental electronic and IDM. Merging genres you wouldn't normally associate - that's where the inspiration lives now.

Underising: Being a one-man band is serious talent. How do you keep from getting stuck in loops? I know work and personal can't mix - you need that line as an entrepreneur. What drives you?

Nicolas Sales: I've managed to intertwine them, though there's been strain. I work from home, and "home" changes constantly - I travel, backpack, couch surf. I've learned to adapt anywhere and get creative fast.

Doing everything myself - production, mixing, mastering, visuals, cover art - became the only way. I don't depend on anyone to go from raw idea to finished release. Still bounce ideas off day ones and my girlfriend to avoid the echo chamber.

What drives me? That feeling after finishing a track - playing it on repeat for half an hour, imagining the visuals, letting it simmer.

Underising: When did you first see traction? Did you ever feel like you were throwing music into the void?

Nicolas Sales: My lo-fi took off around 2016-2017, got tracks into those big "beats to study to" Spotify playlists. I started singing on my own beats because sending them to rappers who didn't hit how I wanted got annoying. Said fuck it, I'll do it myself.

Worked as a dishwasher in high school (2015-2017) to save for my first mic, interface, MIDI keyboard. Still use that same mic 10 years later. Around 2018, a rising AMV YouTube channel reached out to feature my songs. That's where the non-instrumental work started gaining traction.

Underising: Smart move. You realized you were good and didn't box yourself in - natural talent. But detaching from reality comes at a cost. Speaking of which, your latest track "Forces Old And Ignored" is a trance. What does it mean to you?

Nicolas Sales: Appreciate it. One of my recent favorites. It's about what we once feared, respected, coexisted with - lost to time and modernity. Connection to land, nature, spirits that shaped entire cultures. Pagan gods, dark energies we projected onto the world thousands of years ago, dormant now, waiting for the veil to lift.

Also, I made that beat and immediately thought: I'm not selling this. I'm keeping it. That's my process - the best beats never leave.

Underising: As you should. Can't imagine anyone else giving it that care. I'm all about being in tune with oneself - that energy radiates. That's what Underising is about. We're all born with the ability to rise; many take detours, others lack motive. You found yours.

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