[RH First Glance] Will Sparks
There is seemingly no minimum age requirement in EDM music these days. As the festivals grow larger and more grandiose, many of the artists manning the decks, keeping the party going and travelling the world are becoming increasingly young. Enter Will Sparks, the 20-year-old Australian DJ who headlines at Studio Paris tonight as part of his "Melbourne Meets America Tour". His arrival in Chicago was prefaced by an inclusion on the Beatport Chart, an online EDM barometer of who's got next.
Beatport operates as a sort of Billboard Hot 100 for the burgeoning electric dance music that has exploded from underground raves and one-off festivals to traveling circuses and a full-fledged business, complete with trade expos and conventions. It is in this Gatsby-like atmosphere that a literal kid from anywhere in the world can vault himself into an international from his bedroom in the matter of a week.
Sparks made the enormous jump from playing Aussie clubs to traversing the globe after his remix of Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" topped out in the top five and garnered over 250,000 Soundcloud listens which earned him a release on Pharrell's Star Trak Entertainment.
"The whole thing has been a bit of a surprise and a shock, but I'm kind of just embracing it and working really hard," said Sparks, Australia's Breathrough Artist for 2013. "It's grown a lot over the past year. When it happens, everyone's different and I try to keep my head, I'm still the same person."
The EDM world today is similar to a hyper-active Disney channel in a sense-rushing young adults through a wringer that makes them famous, preparation be damned. It is in this vein that the increasingly young have found fame and, in many cases fortune.
23-year-old Avicii came in at No. 2 on Forbes' list of top-paid DJs in the world, taking in right around $40 million.
For his part, Sparks is simply trying to continue to ride the positive trajectory his production skills have put in motion for his career, focusing on the music itself and continually progressing the sound.
"I'm just going to keep on working my hardest," said Sparks. "There is a lot of pressure, you have to come up with new things all the time, create these newer things like this Melbourne sound people are talking about-I didn't exactly mean for it to blow up like this, I just did what I did."
Before his 21st birthday, the current king of Melbourne electronic music is Will Sparks. Carrying the torch for his hometown sound, Spark signed a joint venture with Lucky Entertainment and Interscope Management to set up this 24 city tour, effectively introducing himself and Melbourne to the world.
"We all want to be progressing the sound and doing something different," said Sparks. "It is nerve-wracking in different countries, man. When I'm on my home turf it's easy and I know what to expect but I'm enjoying the excitement of it.Read more
[Video] Maya Symone: "SummerTime Chi"
A couple weeks ago, we dropped Chicago artist Maya Symone's single "SummerTime Chi." Today, we bring you the visual which covers about what you would expect: summertime in Chicago. With the cold and rain we dealt with for most of the past three months, the video is a refreshing reminder that there were some bright, warm days here and there. Enjoy the video below and keep an eye out for Maya Symone.
http://youtu.be/chNBizhDVp4
[Video] Netherfriends: "Never Walk Out On You"
Netherfriends has been consistently making great music for some time now, but has just recently begun dabbling in film. For "Never Walk Out On You" he teamed up with Impolite Society and shot a home made video at their recording studio, Kimball House. Elee and Westley do their thing, capped by an epic 30 second shot of Westley's angry face. Check out the video below and check out the whole team September 14 for Kimball House Rock.
http://youtu.be/HesEX929Cbw
[Video] A$AP Mob & Flex Talk Kendrick
It's the only thing on anyone's mind, or maybe everyone is just taking the easy route for interview questions. But regardless, Kendrick Lamar was brought up again in a public forum, this time on Hot 97 with A$AP Mob and Funkmaster Flex. In response to Kendrick's claim as "King of New York" Rocky said "As far as that King of New York shit, you smoking crack." A breathtaking rebuttal. He goes on to talk about how silly the whole thing has been and how important the verse was for the larger hip-hop game. The ironic thing is that everyone mentioned in the song has been largely seen sitting somewhere talking about what Kendrick said, instead of raising the bar the way K Dot prodded them to.
http://youtu.be/i_WX4C08l4A
Austin City Limits Expands, Announces Shows
Sometimes it seems as though Austin, Texas is simply a perpetual festival. Outside of SXSW though, ACL is certainly one of the main attractions to grace the state capital annually. Late night shows for the festival, which runs October 3-12 to encourage bands to tour Texas, were announced today. The decision to split to two weekends allowed for bands to do shows during the week in Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. Some highlights include Paper Diamond with Run DMT at Haven on 10/6, Toro Y Moi at Emo's Austin 10/9 and Wavves at Antone's on 10/10. For the full lineup check below.
AUSTIN
10/3 The Bright Light Social Hour with Reignwolf and Walker Lukens at Emo's Austin
10/3 Luminox and Loudpvck at Haven
10/3 Aaron Behrens and the Midnight Stroll with Nic Armstrong and BattleMe at Stubb's Indoors
10/4 Grouplove with The Mowgli's at Emo's Austin
10/4 HAIM and MS MR at Antone's
10/4 Wild Nothing and Autre Ne Veut at The ParishÂ
10/4 Deap Vally with Ume at Stubb's Indoors
10/4 FIDLAR with The Orwells at Holy Mountain
10/4 Wild Belle at Lamberts
10/5 The National at Stubb's Waller Creek Amphitheater
10/5 The Black Angels with The Joy Formidable at Emo's Austin
10/5 The Revivalists and Moon Taxi at The Parish
10/5 Widowspeak with Boy Friend at Stubb's Indoors
10/5 Gospel Brunch with The Blind Boys of Alabama at Stubb's Indoors
10/5 JC Brooks and The Uptown Sound at Lamberts
10/6 Paper Diamond with Run DMT at Haven
10/6 Gospel Brunch with Endurance at Stubb's Indoors
10/9 The Waller Creek Conservancy Benefit featuring The Shouting Matches with The Blind Boys of Alabama at Stubb's Waller Creek Amphitheater
10/9 Toro Y Moi with Classixx at Emo's Austin
10/10 Patty Griffin at Stubb's Waller Creek Amphitheater
10/10 Phosphorescent with JD McPherson, Shakey Graves at Emo's Austin
10/10 Wavves with King Tuff and Jacuzzi Boys at Antone's
10/10 Mord Fustang with Jesse Rose at Haven
10/10 Whiskey Shivers with Hello Wheels at Stubb's Indoors
10/11 STRFKR with Bear Mountain and Chrome Sparks at Emo's Austin
10/11 Junip with Valerie June at Antone's
10/11 Mark Farina with Blockhead, Little People, DJ Mel at Haven
10/11 The Autumn Defense and Roadkill Ghost Choir at Lamberts
10/12 Eric Church at Stubb's Waller Creek Amphitheater
10/12 Franz Ferdinand with Smith Westerns at Emo's Austin
10/12 Noah and the Whale with LP at Brazos Hall
10/12 The Burgerama Tour featuring The Growlers with Foxygen, The Cosmonauts, Gap Dream and Pangea at The Parish
10/12 Red Baraat at Stubb's Indoors
10/12 Gospel Brunch with The Blind Boys of Alabama at Stubb's Indoors
10/12 Twin Forks with Matrimony at Holy Mountain
10/12 Typhoon at Lamberts
10/13 Gospel Brunch with Tyree Morris & Hearts of Worship at Stubb's Indoors
DALLAS
10/3 Wild Belle at the Cambridge Room at House of Blues
10/4 Shuggie Otis at The Kessler Theater
10/5 Queens of the Stone Age at Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie
10/5 Dawes at South Side Music Hall
10/5 Franz Ferdinand at House of Blues
10/5 Jake Bugg with HoneyHoney at The Kessler Theater
10/6 Silversun Pickups with Electric Guest at Trees
10/7 MS MR at the Cambridge Room at House of Blues
10/8 Local Natives with Wild Nothing at House of Blues
10/8 HAIM at Trees
10/8 Red Baraat at the Cambridge Room at House of Blues
10/9 Walk the Moon with The Mowgli's at House of Blues
10/9 Phosphorescent at the Cambridge Room at House of Blues
10/10 Vampire Weekend at Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie
10/11 Toro Y Moi at House of Blues
10/12 The National and Tame Impala at South Side Music Hall
HOUSTON
10/4 Franz Ferdinand at House of Blues
10/7 Red Baraat at the Peacock Room at House of Blues
10/8 Walk the Moon with The Mowgli's at House of Blues
10/9 Local Natives with Wild Nothing at House of Blues
10/10 Toro Y Moi at House of Blues
10/10 Typhoon at the Peacock Room at House of Blues
10/12 Dawes at Warehouse Live
SAN ANTONIO
10/11 Silversun Pickups with Electric Guest at The White Rabbit
[RH First Look] Introducing KSRA: What Will Be, Will Be
Photo by Tasya Menaker
It's 2006, and Rachel Thomas is staring down the edge of a long blade.
A decision had to be made. Die right now or live, because pointing a knife at yourself daily is no kind of life.
A choice was made, the knife lowered. The next day, Thomas re-discovered sound.
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Thomas, better known in Chicago as KSRA, has had a life journey that embodies itself whole-heartedly in the music she makes.
On the cover of her debut album, Petra, Thomas lays amongst a field of paper, pages detailing a long period of self-reflection; one that spanned five years, two countries, two states and hundreds of pages of notes on the events therein.
In 2005, as a junior music student at the University of Michigan, Thomas took the opportunity to travel to Chile for a study abroad trip. Disenchanted with the classical route she chose to pursue in school, it was to be a trip of discovery; a chance to experience new things and grow.
Soon after landing in Santiago, Thomas hopped a cab south to a small fishing village. While riding through dense forest and steep inclines, the steering column broke and sent the cab, with Thomas inside, barreling into a home. Having survived, she began looking for a way back to town, eventually flagging down another driver.
Danny Brown Threatens Fool's Gold
Detroit MC Danny Brown isn't known for discretion and made it known today that he is unhappy with Fool's Gold, who signed Brown in 2011 around the release of his critically-acclaimed XXX. Disgruntled over the time it has taken for the follow-up to XXX, titled Old, to be released Brown took to Twitter to air his displeasure with A-Trak and Fool's Gold. In the tweets, which have since been deleted, Brown alleged Old may be shelved for good and toyed with the idea of leaking the project himself. Following several fan inquiries on the social-networking site, A-Trak cleared things up with a tweet confirming a video for the project that will be released next week. Check out the tweets below.
Chopping Up 'The Recipe' with ProbCause
Photography by Lloyd Johnson
Things come about in abstracts for ProbCause. The Evanston, Ill., native, who is in the process of wrapping up a MFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, has become known around his city for pointed lyricism and careful collaborations. On his latest project, The Recipe Vol. 2 he seeks to have his message stimulate eyes and ears alike while pulling from all corners of burgeoning the Windy City scene.
The Recipe vol. 2 is a departure for the Psalm One protege-an exploration of blending separate aspects of himself and those around him into one cohesive project.
As a kid growing up in the north Chicago suburb of Evanston, Prob began taking daily rides south on the Purple line towards the city to graffiti. New to the culture, he quickly discovered the inevitable link between graffiti and hip-hop.
"I think that has always been a thing for me, trying to figure out how to combine music and art," said ProbCause. "With this album I did individual visual art for all of the songs on it."
Crammed into a small stall amongst a catacomb of artist spaces off of Monroe St. in the loop is Prob's work. As he describes different tracks from the latest installment of The Recipe, he shows off his original visual components.
Hanging from the white walls, the paintings vary from abstract meanings to sports motifs. Pointing at one of an old-school basketball player he smiles, "Phil Jackson in the old days". Probcause may be from Evanston, but he can appreciate a strong mustache like any naturalized Chicagoan.
The complex drawings pair with each track and evoke the mood and theme of the overall piece, acting like a road map to his latest project, one that takes the listener on a trip around his adopted hometown.