“How I rap correlates with how I play. There’s a lot of syncopation and dead notes”: Ando San on marrying hip-hop with prog, thumping, and his eight-string guitar personally spec'd by Jeff Kiesel

Ando San.

Ando San has spent nearly a decade melding crisp modern prog with experimental hip-hop. Born into a creative family where musicians were commonplace, he was introduced to the “weird, esoteric” sounds of MF Doom and Madlib early on, before his uncle turned him onto death and progressive metal.

After starting his musical journey as a vocalist, then a bassist, it was Tosin Abasi’s standout wizardry that turned him to the dark side.