May 15, 2014

Artist Spotlight | KASBO [Future Beauty]

by Jake Groch EDM, Funky, Happy • Tags: &, 123mrk, 2-Step, 808, A, Ambient, Banger, Bass, Best, Bird, Blogs, Cashmere, Cat, Ceilings, Chet, Chill, Chillout, Chillstep, Chillwave, Crunkwave, Dance, Deep, Dirty, Download, Downtempo, Drum, drumstep, EDM, electro, electronic, Europe, Facebook, Faker, Filthy, Flume, Flume-Step, Free, Future, Garage, Gent, Grant, Hat, Hi, Hip-Hop, house, HQ, IDM, Jacob, Jon, Just, Kasbo, Local, love, LoveTrap, Midtempo, Mix, music, Natives, Onions, Orchestral, Original, Rager, Reaching, Remix, Snare, Soundcloud, Sovereign, Sweden, The, Trap, UK, Unique, Way, Wind-Up, You

Coming from one of the biggest dubstep (and overall heavy, bass driven music) fanatics – it was rather difficult to make the transition to a more downtempo, hip-hop influenced type of production method. With friends who just wouldn’t stop playing artists like Flume, Cashmere Cat and 123mrk – I was prepped to groove straight into a style of music that I was previously closed-minded to ever give a chance.

Today, a smattering of electronic dance music producers possess their own unique approach when it comes to creating a downtempo, hip-hop or trap-influenced track and based on their own individual idiosyncratic takes on the genre, the method with garner a name. Productions such as these from this next producer, Kasbo, have been labled as Future Bass, Garage, Love-Trap, 2-step, Chill-Trap, Chillout, Crunkwave, Flume-Step (ironically), Midtempo, Trap-Step, Moombahtrap, Future Garage, Deep House, Future, Ambient, IDM and way too many others.

For the sake of our own sanity, we will usually refer to it as Future Bass…unless we’re trying to keep ya’ on your toes. Stagnation can be so, well boring really.

If you don’t like it, sue us (please don’t, we have no money).

Kasbo, an 18 year-old EDM producer based out of Gothenburg, Sweden (go figure), has certainly caught the attention of the bold, beautiful, bulbed-brethren here at Rager Onions HQ (we’re so modest). Filling out the frequencies with heavily melodic and lush productions, this young up-and-comer looks to have a bright future in this game we call the EDM industry.

We are sure you’ll agree after listening to the four elegantly composed pieces below.

LINKZ:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kasbo/219160718225442

https://twitter.com/Kasbomusic

https://www.youtube.com/user/KasboOfficial

March 4, 2014

Dude, That’s So ‘Meta’ [Artist Spotlight]

by Jake Groch EDM, Funky, Happy, Heavy • Tags: Ambient, Atom & Eve, August & Andrew, bass music, Breakbeats, Complextro, Downtempo, Dubstep, EDM, EDM Blogs, Electro House, Electronic Dance Music, Fringe Disco, Glitch Hop, house, Iceland, IDM, Jake Groch, Melodic Dubstep, Meta, Mimetic, Neo Eden, Nu Disco, Progressive House, Rager Onions, Reign, Seattle, Self Referential, Spectre, The Wolf

For those readers who are unfamiliar with the term “meta,” it is a word used, chiefly in art or the humanities, to describe something that is self-referential or introspective in nature. This idea may also be referred to as “breaking the fourth wall,” which involves a character “speaking directly to or otherwise acknowledging the audience” through a camera in a film or television program or more directly, in person, like during a play.

Many of you may remember a classic Shakespearian technique we all learned in school known as the “aside,” in which a character would turn to the audience, address them directly, and reveal a bit more information about themselves that the other characters may not be aware of. This is a classic example of “Breaking the fourth wall.” However nowadays, an aside might be more eloquently referred to as something that is “so meta, bro”.

After understanding the meaning behind this next artist’s moniker, we can’t help but curiously wonder how self-referential abstraction will reflect in our favorite art form, electronic dance music. Taking into mind the word’s use in other artistic endeavors, and the infinite spectrum of sounds and thus, moods, that can be created in an electronic music production, “meta music” might just be a formation of sounds that, when amalgamated, animate themselves into a living, breathing, self-aware musical landscape, capable of acknowledging the listener’s existence and drawing them in, much like the Sirens of Greek Mythology would.

We are not speaking for August & Andrew of Meta when we hypothesize in regard to the meaning behind this group’s name, we are merely projecting our experiences when listening to their music with instances in which we have seen the word “meta” used in other forms of art. Who knows, maybe after this post the two might just be ~~appreciative~~ lucky enough to conduct an interview with us here at Rager Onions (*hint, hint*), where we can get to the bottom of this philosophical debacle.

In the meantime, we hope that you can amuse and immerse yourselves in the musical beauty produced by this next electronic artist and producer duo with “composer-like tendencies,” who hails from both Seattle, Washington and Reykjavík, Iceland. Spanning the globe and expanding your own self-awareness, Meta music is the kind we can truly dig. Please enjoy the abundance of auricle abstraction below.

September 9, 2013

SectionZ’s ‘Fresh Volume 2’ | Exclusive Artist Interview w/ TUNEDEF

by Jake Groch EDM, Funky, Happy, Heavy • Tags: Abstraction, Arthur Kilo, Auvic, Bale, Disappear, Drifting, Dubstep, EDM Blogs, Electro House, Electronic Dance Music, Excellence Before Genre, FL Studio, Genettic, Grand Theft Auto, IDM, Jake Groch, Joshua Hernandez, Lazlo, Mosen, Music For 2 Musicians, New Jersey, New York, Ohmtrix, On Ballast, Phil Kirsanov, Plux, Portanexus, Prismatic, progressive, Rager Onions, Rob Gasser, Savant, Section Z Fresh Volume 2, SectionZ Records, Shannon McGill, The Reverb Junkie, Throwback, TUNEDEF, Turquoise, Unforgiven, Visinin, Western Skies Motel

Our friends over at SectionZ are churning out what we believe to be some of the most versatile and progressive electronic music around. With the second installment of their compilation series titled SectionZ Fresh, Josh and Shannon are offering EDM fans a taste of the future, a taste of something different. With their label’s motto in mind, Excellence Over Genre, these next nine tracks act as a tribute to a group of relatively unknown producers who properly exhibit the aforementioned skill set.

Regardless of genre or style, SectionZ has the ability to seek out producers who display the only quality that matters when producing EDM, musicality. A quick glance at their roster would immediately corroborate this fact (with Savant being the most glaring example). With all of the experience under their belt, Z and Shannon have gone ahead and compiled another set of excellent electronic music tracks featuring producers that you need to know.

Notable jams on their most recent compilation include: ‘Plux’ by TUNEDEF, ‘Turquoise’ by Prismatic, ‘Unforgiven’ by Portanexus and ‘Bale’ by Mosen. But don’t get us wrong, every single track on this album is worth a listen. In fact, we actually had the chance to sit down with an artist of our choosing from SectionZ’s latest edition of Fresh for an in depth interview. After several thorough listens, we decided to have a chat with New York native TUNEDEF in order to give our listeners more insight into the artist behind Plux, our favorite track on the compilation.

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Rager Onion Exclusive Artist Spotlight & Interview – TUNEDEF

We had the privilege of sitting down with Phil Kirsanov who produces electronic music under the moniker TUNEDEF. Besides being a regular 20 year old college bro who currently attends The College of New Jersey, Phil has always been into music. He started playing piano at the age of 4 and grew up listening to current and classic video game soundtracks.

His first taste of EDM came in the form of a virtual “radio station” that aired on the video game Grand Theft Auto 3. Users were allowed to switch between various genres of stations while using a vehicle in the game, the channel in particular which caught the ear of Phil was titled MSX. It featured mostly drum and bass and jungle music.

However, it wasn’t until about three to four years ago when this infatuation with electronic music was realized in the form of music production on FL Studio.

“I saw some ‘Strobe‘ remixes on YouTube and thought the program looked fun.”

So, like many young producers these days, Phil Kirsanov began to develop his sound on his own, learning more and more as time passed. Using a “studio” that consists of his headphones and computer, TUNEDEF has been creating music and funding his efforts out of his own pocket. The good news here being that his hard work has payed off.

Catching the attention of the crew over at SectionZ with a demo of his single ‘Plux’, Phil’s track was selected to be featured on their most recent release of their compilation series. The progressive label goes on to state, “We chose this music because we believe they [the artists] represent change in the face of formulaic EDM, some because of style, others because of attitude, but in the end, they all represent the three pillars of what we look for in musicians.”

We wonder, under which of these pillars does TUNEDEF rest?

And in regards to genre, Phil has found the right home in SectionZ Records. From his roots in producing Drum and Bass and Liquid, TUNEDEF has progressed to incorporate sounds of almost any style. Mr. Kirsanov states,

“My productions change as my taste in music changes. I just try and make music in the style I would want to listen to. When I make music, I don’t have a set idea of what I want to end up with. The songs tend to change a lot while I am producing them. As an example, I just tried to make something trance-like, but instead it ended up have a half-step drum pattern.”

With a stamp of approval from one of the most knowledgeable labels around, TUNEDEF is headed down the right path as 2013 heads into the latter half. We look forward to hearing more from electronic producer Phil Kirsanov out of the big apple (perhaps in the form of an upcoming release? *hint hint*). Until that day comes, we’ve shared a few of his jams that we truly dig. Give them a listen, and be sure to drop by TUNEDEF’s various social media pages to gesture your virtual approval.

SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/tunedef-1

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TUNEDEF

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TUNEDEF

SectionZ Fresh Volume 2: