Drum & Bass has been on the rise to the forefront of the EDM scene, gaining more and more traction as this classic UK subgenre finds its way overseas and more and more into the US bass culture. With this surge of DNB music into our local airways, there has also been a wave of new and exciting DNB artists all trying to make their mark as well. One shining star within this genre, already climbing his way into the bass music spotlight is none other than DC-based artist Shreztah, who has already begun turning heads left and right with his music. Today, we have the absolute pleasure of teaming up with our friends over at The Gradient Perspective to premier his latest track “Reaper”, which is a DNB stomper unlike any we have ever heard. This one will definitely get those finger guns going, with its rolling bass, and catchy melody that will have any dancefloor up and moving. There is no doubt that we are going to start hearing this one being rinsed out all over the place this festival season. Let’s take a deeper dive into why we are calling this stomper “Reaper”, a certified bop.

Diving Deep w/ Shreztah

1. How did you decide to get into making music? Was there a particular event in your childhood/life that made you stop and realize that you wanted to pursue a career in music?

I have always been a pretty musically inclined person from a young age. I’ve played guitar and piano on and off throughout my life but I am by no means a classically trained musician. I always just played music for fun! I discovered electronic music through YouTube in elementary school and I would listen to Deadmau5 in my room in the dark because I just loved the vibe of a dark room and strange music that still holds true to this day. My best friend in middle school Jared introduced me to dubstep in 2010 and my life changed trajectory from then. I was absolutely blown away by how it pushed the boundaries of everything I knew about music at that point and knew I wanted to find out more about it and where it came from, eventually leading up to me going to my first dubstep show in 2016. This was the night I decided I wanted to continue doing that for the rest of my life. A little while after that night and a couple of other events I decided I to buy my first dj controller and eventually Ableton which has led me to where I am today. 

2. As an artist, you can experience a number of roadblocks along the way to achieving your goals. What motivates you to continue to be creative and make music even when times get tough?

3. Being an artist in the spotlight, you have a continuously growing impact on your fanbase and the scene. Due to the nature of this, have you had any fan interactions that have particularly hit home for you as an artist, and why?

Whenever people I have never met before come up to me in a crowd or at an event and tell me how much they enjoy my music it warms my heart so much that I am able to have an impact on someone through something that I created. Before I got involved in the electronic music community I barely had any direction in life. Through this community, I was able to find who I am and who I want to be. I’ve made something of myself for myself and others to be proud of.

4. What’s next for your project? What plans do you have in the near future that you hope to accomplish as “Shreztah“?

What’s coming up next so far for me is my self-release old school rave/ breaks inspired 3 track EP “The Sound Culture Rave-a-thon” dropping next week on Wednesday, May 3rd. Hopefully, you can catch me spinning a couple of festivals and events this summer :). I will also be continuing to work with “District.wav” a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C. striving to tackle community wellness through peer-to-peer harm reduction support and raising awareness to behavioral health topics including but not limited to, substance use/education, sexual education/health, & mental health. 

When it comes to music, one melody can transport any listener through time and space into a completely alternate reality. Many artists try to tell stories with their music, painting pictures through notes, bleeps and bloops. This is especially true for up-and-coming bass master Andriod Dreaming. We have the absolute pleasure of premiering and showcasing his latest track “Decorating Time”, a bass-heavy tune that will captivate both the ears and the soul. Fueled by its future bass sounds, this track will have anyone tuned in with its catchy melody, deep booming bass, and glitchy auditory experience. We definitely are going to be blasting this one for the foreseeable future. Let’s take a deeper dive into why we are calling this stomper “Decorating Time”, a certified bop.

“I slowed down on releasing music last year to focus on developing my sound and exploring new production techniques. ‘Decorating Time’ is the result of some of the happy accidents that occurred during this period.”

1. How did you decide to get into making music? Was there a certain event in your childhood/life that made you stop and realize that you wanted to pursue a career in music?

Music has been a passion for as long as I can remember. I got really into the guitar when I was young, but fell in love with electronic music after being introduced to it in college. It really blew my mind to hear something that was so novel, going beyond melody and rhythm to exploring textures and other dimensions of sound.  After finishing school, I picked up Ableton and I was immediately hooked on producing. 

2. If you had the chance to collaborate with any artist of your choosing, who would it be and why would you choose them?

A dream collab would be with Max Cooper. I’m consistently impressed by the creativity in his compositions, and the way that his immaculate sound design plays off of the harmonic ideas in his work. His creative use of technology for live performances is also really inspiring, and I think his work with setups such as ‘4d sound’ bring a really interesting way to experience music.

3. What has been the biggest lesson you’ve learned since you started making music? Do you have any words of wisdom for aspiring producers hoping to follow in your footsteps?

Be patient, and make sure you’re having fun! When you learn to play an instrument, it is a slow, rewarding process, and you can learn for a lifetime. Producing electronic music is no different, so you need to really enjoy the process. Find ways to inspire yourself over and over again – try new gear, learn from good teachers, collaborate, and challenge yourself. If producing is fun, it will continue to pull you in. 

4. What’s next for your project? What plans do you have in the near future that you hope to accomplish as “Android Dreaming“?

Lately I’ve been trying to get further from a computer when I write, so I’ve been using synths, drum machines, and a piano a lot more than I used to. I’m writing a lot of music these days, and I’m trying to release more consistently this year.  I’m looking forward to sharing a range of tunes from club-oriented tracks to weirder modular compositions and downtempo tunes. I’m also working on developing a live set and hoping to share a version of it later this year!

If you want to talk about artists who are quickly paving their way to the top of the charts, the name Feelmonger may come up and for good reason. There is a current fire in him that’s been burning strong now for the past 8 months with his ongoing release schedule. When you’re receiving constant support from the likes of Mersiv , Steller and others in live sets , stopping is the last thing you want to do. Mathew is now here to further show folks that there’s more to come with his newest 4 track ep titled “High Dive”. Today we have the honor of premiering the first single off the ep w/ APE ESCAPE , a gnarly drumstep track with lots of switch ups and break downs to keep folks glues to their speakers. Feelmonger will be dropping one single per weak leading up to the final full platform release date on May 5th so make sure you keep your eye for more. Now it’s time to take a deeper dive into the man behind it all and why we consider this track to be what we like to call , a certified bop.

Collaborations in the music world can be some of the most exciting releases. The combination of artists that can come together and put their minds to work is limitless making each and every collab release something everyone looks forward to. Today, we have the pleasure of premiering an absolutely insane team-up between heavy-hitting artists Indigenous and Mike’s Revenge that you definitely don’t want to miss out on. Combining both their sounds into one stomper of the track “Run That Back”, both of these artists showcase their individual sounds while giving listeners something they’ve never heard through their combination of sound design. Between the deep booming bass line and catchy synths, this hybrid banger is the perfect mix of heavy and wubby that will catch anyone’s ear and get them out on the dancefloor. Let’s take a deeper dive into why we are calling “Run That Back”  certified bop. 

“Run That Back”, Mikes Revenge and Indigenous team back up to bring you a monstrous Hybrid banger. 

Diving Deep w/ Mike’s Revenge and Indigenous 

1. How did you decide to get into making music? Was there a certain event in your childhood/life that made you stop and realize that you wanted to pursue a career in music?

2. What has been a personal career struggle that you have battled with the most and how has it helped mold your character for the better good presently?

The quality of music and mixing has only improved since the first event that I’ve performed at. -Mike’s Revenge

The quality of releases and technical skills are the biggest differences from now and then, back then I would just throw some stuff together and hope someone would listen, now I try to have a theme, commissioned artwork, and proper marketing strategy. We are still improving on all those things, but the difference is night and day when I consider the first starting point to this point in time. -Indigenous

4. What has been the biggest lesson you’ve learned since you started making music? Do you have any words of wisdom for aspiring producers hoping to follow in your footsteps?

With the every expanding amount of music that is available to the world, it can be difficult to navigate the never-ending amount of tunes right at our fingertips. New music is coming out every day, hour and minute, and with so much to choose from it seems like a task to up-and-coming artists to keep up with the masses and propel themselves into the spotlight. This has been an easy feat for up-and-coming artist, Ian Snow, who has already begun to make a tremendous mark on the electronic music world. Today, he is back and better than ever with his latest heater “Unlimited Vision”, which we have the absolute pleasure of premiering for you today. This track is a supersonic sound journey like no other, quite literally transporting listeners into a whole new dimension. Each melody and beat through “Unlimited Vision” creates a new and awe-inspiring feeling that is only found in the best of electronic music. This track is going to be rinsed out far and wide, and we will definitely have this one blasting for quite a while. Let’s take a deeper dive into why we are calling this stellar track “Unlimited Vision”, a certified bop.

“There was something about using spoken-word during the verses here that I thought would resonate with listeners better than singing, so I wrote some poetry and called up my friend, Zoska, to record (even though she has a great singing voice). My goal was to create an anecdote that could have potentially come from any fan who listens to this genre; someone who, like me, probably doesn’t have the perfect voice haha. I don’t think I need to comment on what the lyrics are about – just that it’s one of my favorite activities (in moderation) that brings so much inspiration. Like a lot of my tracks, the builds are meant to put you in that rocket, and then the drops are full-frequency space bass, sending you off into the cosmos.”

Diving Deep w/ Ian Snow

1. How did you decide to get into making music? Was there a certain event in your childhood/life that made you stop and realize that you wanted to pursue a career in music?

I’ve been a musician basically my entire life. My mom was a piano teacher, so I started taking lessons from her. After butting heads over not practicing enough for years, I switched to the guitar and drums. In high school, I was in what was essentially a Rage Against The Machine cover band. In regards to electronic music, I was first introduced to the scene when I interned one summer for Jake Udell/Krewella (we all went to the same high school). At that time, I thought I’d probably end up in management or working for an entertainment company helping organize festivals. However, after college, I decided I wanted to try working in music studios, so I went back and got certified in audio engineering while simultaneously jumping around a couple production houses in Chicago. Right after getting my certification, I got hit by a car going about 40mph while crossing the street. It definitely should have killed me, but I jumped at the last second and somehow perfectly threw myself into the windshield. There must have been twenty nurses that visited me in the hospital calling it a miracle after seeing the pictures. It was then that I decided I should give the solo career a shot.

2. It can be very hard sometimes to separate music from day to day life when it’s a huge part of your life. How do you personally separate your artist life from your everyday life, and have you faced any challenges doing so?

I’ve seen a lot of producer friends talk about this, and I think most of us follow a similar path. You deep dive into production, straining your relationships with friends/family, not adequately taking care of yourself, sleeping less, etc. After a while, you learn that, while being an artist is a grind, you’ll always perform better when your days are balanced. There was a period where I stopped working out and gained twenty pounds, which ultimately left me depressed and lacking the proper motivation to write good music. You don’t necessarily need to have a strict schedule (although, I don’t think that hurts). Most weeks, I end up producing through the nights and sleep during the day. The difference is, now, I make sure that I’m working out most days of the week, sleeping well, eating well, and maintaining relationships with those close to me. It’s with that combination that I’m able to maintain the proper mindset to work on music.

3. Is there a message you would like to portray through your music, and if so, what would it be?

Think outside the box. Be unique. Be yourself.

4. What has been the biggest lesson you’ve learned since you started making music? Do you have any words of wisdom for aspiring producers hoping to follow in your footsteps?

It’s possible to work incredibly hard while not taking life so seriously when you do what you love. Bad days are dark clouds that will eventually pass. If you feel stuck, unappreciated, inadequate, you’re not alone, and there’s a whole world of people out there who can help. If you are one of the lucky ones who knows what you want out of life, do it every day. If you don’t know what you want to accomplish in life, help other people/animals, and I promise you’ll be happier than you were before.

Additionally, for years, I produced music that I thought would stream well or was popular at the time. There’s nothing wrong with writing music for other people if you just want to stay behind that scenes and get that paycheck. However, I strongly believe you’ll never reach your full potential unless you create the music you love and listen to everyday.