It's the Supersound

Trissy Baby had a funny interview with our boys over in LA — Tribe of Zebras. This is why we ♥ them so. Skip to the bottom to hear their latest single “The Way You Make Me Feel (Feat. Jennifer Knight)”

What is Tribe Of Zebras?

– We are DJs/Producers Duo from Los Angeles
Comprised of Amika Akaya & Austin Wedvick.

How did it come about?

– Well Austin is White and I’m Black and we both are down with Zebra
patterns and Tribal shit. So we wanted to people to come together
as a tribe and listen to our sounds.

You guys are from LA. In Canada we don’t have any celebrities, we only have beavers. Have you ever seen a celebrity and if so who? and were they way shorter looking in real life?

– Haha are you referring to short celebrities as Beavers ha. I never
thought of that, But i guess Robert Downey Jr. was a short celebrity
we saw that we were surprised about. Danny Devito is pretty short but
we already knew that.

Have you ever seen Lindsay Lohan? She is my favourite celebrity.

– Yeah, she’s chill.

Do you have a favourite celebrity??

– Owen Wilson, Morgan Freedman & Shakira “Hips don’t Lie”

Favourite thing about the city you live in?

– It’s summer almost everyday.

Least favourite?

– Traffic

Favourite guilty pop pleasure artist?

– Austin, Taylor Swift “I’d Tap” , Amika, Rihanna she’s
a babe and has amazing vocals.

Favourite sound in the whole wide world?

– Air-horn Dun, da, da, dun

In Canada we call soda, pop. What is your favourite kind of pop to drink when you want something refreshing?

– Orange Pellegrino

I’m really into cool YouTube clips and am wondering if you have seen anything super awesome lately?

– Tim and Eric Awesome Show Dr. Steve Brule, For Your Wine… Crackhead In The Projects Backflips Off A 2 Story Building.

The million dollar question. I have been reading a lot that the earth is totally doomed, how do you think we fix it??

– Zeitgeist, & electing meta-world peace on the Lakers as president.

Did you know that in Canada “Z’ is pronounced Zed rather than Zeee, which way is better?

– Z

What’s next for TOZ?

– New EP coming out soon.

Tribe of Zebras – The Way You Make Me Feel (Feat. Jennifer Knight)

Interview by @TristanOrchard
Posted humorously by John

I woke up to a rainy day in Los Angeles, and I couldn’t be happier to share Mr. Josh Legg’s newest jam with you guys.  ’Angeles’ is full of feeling — taking me back to the NightWaves days and putting the emphasis on what Binary is, and who Goldroom is, down to the soul.  The new jam is full of euphoric groove, and it’ll massage all the right places.  As an added bonus, we did a little Q & A with the man so you guys can get some background on the project as a whole. Without further adieu…

Goldroom – Angeles by Goldroom

GDD :Where are you from & How has that influenced your music? What elements from your past have helped influence your musical style / taste?
Goldroom: I grew up in Massachusetts in a pretty standard suburban situation. Didn’t enjoy much about that. My summers however were spent messing around in boats on Cape Cod though, which has influenced pretty much everything in my life. The feeling and memories of being a teenager without any cares except partying and girls is something that I always come back to in my music. My musical tastes really reflect that I guess. I like big, obvious, universal emotions, regardless of the style of music, be it Tom Petty, Nirvana, Daft Punk, or LCD Soundsystem.

GDD: How do you describe the Goldroom sound?
Goldroom: I think I’m still working towards a sound, and thats something that I hope I never really settle into. To me, careful and thoughtful songwriting is the much more important element of the equation. ‘Sounds’ and ‘vibes’ are so short lived these days that trying to chase whats cool right now is fruitless. The only thing that really stands up is a good song. That said, people seem to call my music tropical, and I think thats a reflection of the fact that I like to write positive and emotional chord progressions, and the fact that I tend to enjoy dance music more in the 105-115bpm range. Clean sounds and emotive melodies are big parts of my sound, which I hope sets me apart from a lot of electronic music being made right now.

GDD: What do you use in the studio and how does that derive from your musical upbringing?
Goldroom: I grew up writing songs on an acoustic guitar, so in some ways I’ve tried to take that approach to writing electronic music as well. I prefer playing on real instruments to just working inside my computer. Grooves happen more easily, and there’s just something more human about playing a song rather than drawing it. As for my DAW, I use Logic9 for all of my productions (although I do use Ableton Live to record mixes and do some other audio warping work). My sounds are a mixture of drum samples, some soft synths from a few rad VSTs, a couple of analog synthesizers I own, some bass guitar, and a couple guitars as well. I love recording live percussion too. Wood blocks and congas can do a hell of a lot to a groove. Hopefully once Goldroom starts playing live, we’ll be able to take the studio vibe we have and bring it to the stage.

GDD: Tell us a little about Binary.
Goldroom: Binary is my day job and has been the biggest part of my life for the last 4 years. Kyle Petersen and I started it in early 2008 as an artist management company and record label, and we’ve been championing clean, melodic, pop based dance music ever since. We’ve released a bunch of records, put some bands on a few awesome tours, and done pretty well for ourselves. We also have a blog that really champions the same sounds, Dreamwave being a genre we coined way back in the day. We have an ever growing roster, and a really tight knit family of producers here in LA that rank among my best friends in the world.

GDD: Describe your perfect venue.
Goldroom: Have you seen the photos from the beach sets at Holy Ship? When I close my eyes at night, thats what I see.

GDD: Haha, Yah we have…Thats one show i won’t be missing next year! How do you go about picking tracks you’d like to remix? Seems like you’ve done an unreal job so far!
Goldroom: Most of the time I get approached to do them, so it comes down to listening to the tracks and seeing how much I like the vocals. I almost never would remix a song without vocals. In fact, when I did my remix for Pat Lok, which had no vocals, I actually recorded some of my own. On the whole, it doesn’t matter if the artist is big or small, it just matters if the song hits me in the right way. There have been a couple of occasions when I’ve reached out to an artist to do a remix because I’ve loved the original so much.

GDD: What are your 5 favorite tracks play out right now?
1. Niki & The Dove – Mother Protect (Goldroom Remix)
2. Edwin Van Cleef – I Feel You
3. Gigamesh – When You’re Dancing
4. Oliver – Footsteps
5. Fabian – The Jack
Honorable mention to Bit Funk’s “Rap Music” which I’ve probably played at every club gig I’ve played the last few months.

GDD: What are 5 artists we need to keep our ears open for?
1. Lancelot. He’s the next big tropical house producer from Australia. Crazy talented producer.
2. Zimmer. Disco Texas artist that somehow slipped under the radar way more than he should have. Amazing stuff to come from him.
3. Poindexter. Portland based producer/songwriter thats like an American cross between James Blake and Breakbot.
4. Clubfeet. Fantastic band that had a bit of a hit back in 2008 but has a full length coming on Plant Music thats incredible.
5. Jensen Sportag. Entirely too talented to be so unknown. I honestly think they could be America’s answer to Air. Their productions are that meticulous. Can’t wait to see them at SXSW this year.

Honorable mention to my guy Fabian, who’s probably too well known to include here, but everyone should expect big things from in 2012.

GDD: Would you rather wear a permanent life jacket or permanent helmet for the rest of your life?
Goldroom: Safety takes no holiday bro. I pretty much wear a life jacket at all times anyway, so lets get nautical with it.

GDD: What does the year of 2012 hold for Goldroom & Binary?
Goldroom: Binary is going to continue to step up on the label side of things. We’re in the process of signing a handful of new producers and bands. Our most recent signing, SolarSolar, is getting a ton of press from the indie world and we have really high hopes for their album, which is coming out in February. If you’re into Zero 7 or Frou Frou, you’ll fall in love with these guys, they’re great. As for Goldroom, I’m just going to keep making as much music as possible. Some of the trappings of the music business have started to try and take hold, but I’m not interested in letting that side of things keep me from focusing on getting better at making music. I do anticipate playing a lot more shows in 2012 though. Look for me at SXSW, followed by my first go at playing shows in Europe in April. Really excited for that!

Follow Goldroom on Soundcloud, Facebook, & Twitter

There is no question about it, Pierce Fulton has been creating quite the buzz in the Progressive House community lately. Ever since his single, For Me, dropped and was featured on Above & Beyond’s Trance Around The World, Fulton has been unstoppable. I recently caught up with Pierce, and not only was he kind enough to give GDD™ an interview, but he also recorded an EXCLUSIVE mix just for all of our loyal readers.

Read on after the jump for our chat and mix! 

Gotta Dance Dirty™: What’s your usual drink order?

Pierce Fulton: I never really have an order, mostly just wing it and see what happens.

GDD: Who is your biggest influence in the EDM scene right now? Why?

PF: I don’t necessarily use one artist as an influence, although I must say Eric Prydz has inspired me from day one, but moreover a solid production is what inspires me. Something unique or strange that catches my ear definitely does the job. Just in the last few weeks this remix Style of Eye did of Soso‘s “Who’s Gonna Love Me” has been a huge inspiration, such great grooves and it’s got a wicked punch.

GDD: I am generalizing here, but emerging EDM artists normally don’t come out of Vermont, how has living in Vermont influenced you musically?

PF: Well the fact that I have to stay inside all winter helps a bit, but it’s a really nice place to live. Quiet and chilled out, best way to put it is “the place of no distractions”, so I can always get a lot of work done.  It’s also just funny to explain to foreigners that it is, in fact, an American state because they never know where the hell it is.

GDD: You’ve slowly been making the huge transition from underground sensation to EDM household name, what advice do you have for all the up and coming producers?

PF: My best advice is to just be different. I know everyone gets pulled into these certain styles and whatnot (I still do myself because it’s almost impossible not to) but I’ve always tried more than anything to do something new and different with every production I have.  I guess it’s a matter of evolving from what’s already been done, I’m always trying to find the next step, as hard as that is.

GDD: You recently played with Tiesto at XS Nightclub in Las Vegas, how would you describe that experience?

PF: It was killer.  Since I was playing before him, I got to set the mood a bit with my favorite progressive and tech tracks.  The venue was amazing, good crowd, fun times.  I’m excited to go back to Vegas, even though I feel like a kid while I’m there…being 19 has it’s disadvantages.

GDD: You have a new single coming out February 13th, what can you tell us about it?

PF: Well it’s my first release of 2012 and I’m really excited to get it out there.  It’s called “Who Wants Spaghetti?” and it’s got an upbeat electro vibe, kind of a nice follow up to my track “Pardon My French.”  I know I’m gonna get a mixed response from the title and sample in the track, because I’m sure a lot of people will think I have a really stupid sense of humor.  The story is really that my friend and I were just in my dorm room a few months ago and I was working on the track when I got the idea to record a snippet of him to use in the song.  After many random and strange ideas, he just blurted out “Who Wants Spaghetti?” and it just worked.  Nothing to do with the style of the track and it has no particular meaning, just an odd joke.

GDD: You’ve been labeled a musical enthusiast, admiring all types of music from reggae to metal. How did you fall in love with EDM in particular?

PF: I think it was like 2008 or 2009 when I had a friend from Venezuela at my school on an exchange program.  He really introduced me to EDM.  From there I listened more and more and eventually got into producing.  I had been producing hip hop for a few months before I got into EDM, but once I did I never looked back.  I still hold on to my roots though, my parents brought me up with some incredible music so I always find time to fit in some Stones and Zeppelin albums.

GDD: We have seen the accessibility to the means of music creation grow exponentially of the last few years, how do you personally feel this has effected the EDM scene?

PF: I think it goes with anything that blows up out of nowhere, everyone wants a piece of it.

GDD: What DAW are you using?  What synths are you using (soft-synths? hardware?)?  What’s your favorite piece of equipment and why?

PF: I’m just using Logic Pro 9 on my laptop.  I don’t have this big elaborate studio because A) I move around non-stop and B) it’s become more and more unnecessary to have all this fancy gear with technology advancing so fast.  As for soft-synths and stuff, I mainly use Sylenth, some u-he, Massive, TAL plugins, and a bit of Camel Audio’s Alchemy.  I’d say my favorite piece of equipment is my old Fender Strat, doesn’t see much time anymore because it’s what I played when I was in a band stuff but I sneak some riffs into songs every once and a while.

GDD: What’s next for Pierce Fulton and what do you hope to accomplish in 2012?

PF: Well next up is the spring semester for my sophomore year, which at the moment is gonna be impossible to pass because my tour schedule is filling up with new dates every week, but I’m sure I’ll manage.  Also a ton of material is coming, more originals and remixes, and I think it’s gonna be an all around good year.  As for accomplishments, hmmm I definitely want to perfect the “over medium” egg, I always undercook or overcook it.

• Pierce Fulton – Pierce Fulton’s GDD Mix

Tracklisting:

Much Love,
TRE

posted by @tristanorchard