J Dilla is a Hip-hop producer and has inspired many artists, including as I’ve included, Flume. J Dillas’ drums were very unquantized, and I feel that this gives his drums a more human feel. This ‘human feel’ is something else that Flume has mentioned inspires his music. 

In Flumes’ interview with Mixmag he further references this inspiration. Speaking of how he played saxophone when he was younger, Flume says that he loves the ability of creating music and sounds on his computer that have literally never been heard before and that he could never create by playing his saxophone. Flume says “So, that’s for me, the most exciting part of electronic music”. (Mixmag, 2019)

Flume said in an interview with Time that when he becomes too comfortable he becomes uninspired and that he needs to feel out of his comfort zone and travel to different places in order to feel inspired.  This is exactly what he did when he was finishing his album Skin. While finishing his album skin he felt under pressure as his deadline approached so he travelled to Mexico alone for his birthday. He found this quite productive and finished up the album that week. He also talked about a time he went to Tasmania by himself and just drove around national parks to get inspiration.

Baauer talks about his earlier years where he lived in London (7-13) which he says it “shaped his taste in music and everything. It completely moved me.” 
He started producing at only 13 years old in high school. He also talks about enjoying the rave scene in London when he returned at 18 and how this became influential for experimenting with electronic music production shortly after he returned to New York.

This has influenced the work he has done since and he says he has purposefully messed with his sounds more. Baauer responds to his interview with rolling Stone saying “He’s proud of Aa if only because “of the spectrum of weird shit that’s on there.”  This was purposefully done so as to be differentiated from Harlem Shake.