Jay Dot Rain is on his hustle. He has to be. Coming from Alabama, Jay Dot isn’t privy to the kind of immediate exposure or fanfare that artists from larger metropolitan areas enjoy on the regular. Despite this, the Alabama A&M senior has garnered attention from the likes of DJBooth and Complex in recent months in the lead up to his well put together mixtape, Memoirs of a Young Dreamer, released October 2. Continue reading |Interview| Jay Dot Rain Puts Alabama Back on the Map
Category Archives: Interview
|Interview| Sandra Vu of the Dum Dum Girls/SISU
Transitions aren’t easy. For some, change comes easy and they slide into the new routine, for others it’s a bit more difficult to adjust. Sandy Vu of the Los Angeles-based band Dum Dum Girls falls somewhere between the former and latter. Vu, who entered the scene as the drummer for Dee Dee Penny’s all-female project steps out from behind the drum set on a new venture of her own, SISU. Where she was a moving part in the Dum Dum Girls, Vu is free to creatively express herself with the new band, moving about from on instrument to another and crafting a sound that is wholly hers. The transition hasn’t been an easy one though. As anyone with a lot on their plate can attest to, starting a new band while in another is no easy task. I caught up with Sandy, who plays The Empty Bottle in Chicago tomorrow night, as she was just getting out on tour with Dirty Beaches in support of her upcoming album, Blood Tears, out on Mono Prism September 17th.
Jake: Tell me a bit about the tour and opening for Dirty Beaches.
Sandy: We have been super excited to play with Dirty Beaches, I met him about two years ago now when Dum Dum Girls did a tour with him and it’s just going to be special because we’re all family at this point. Their tout manager is our good friend and stuff so it’s kind of like a big reunion party. Continue reading |Interview| Sandra Vu of the Dum Dum Girls/SISU
North Coast Music Festival: Interview with Cherub
Photos by Bobby Reys
Cherub has been steadily building a name for themselves since crossing paths three years ago with a common musical goal. It was simple, guitarist Jordan Kelley had a sound he wasn’t quite sure how to achieve, Jason Huber had just the voice and production skills to make it happen. Having found each other in Nashville, TN, the pair created Cherub, a hybrid dance/funk electro-pop that has drawn comparisons to Prince and Pharrell. Over the past two years the duo have watched their stars rise exponentially, playing Bonaroo and Electric Forest, along with a successful SXSW in Austin last year buoyed by supports from the Red Bull Sound Select series. This year Jason and Jordan jumped on tour with Gramatik in the spring and, with festival season out of the way, will begin a Fall tour with ProbCause, Mansions on the Moon and Pell. We had the opportunity to sit down with the pair before the played the Dos Equis stage, check out the conversation below. Continue reading North Coast Music Festival: Interview with Cherub
North Coast Music Festival: Jesse Miller of Lotus
Lotus has carried the flag for their own genre for awhile now. “Jamtronica”, the band’s signature blend of electronic elements paired with a creatively unique jam band aesthetic that has kept them at the forefront of both genres for close to 15 years now. Lotus’ ability to master a wide range of disciplines musically has allowed the Indiana-based group to constantly tinker with it’s sound and evolve the band’s dynamic. Lotus is a fully adaptable animal, with the ability to go from rock to dance to hip hop all in one rocking set and, largely without vocal aid. I had a chance to catch Lotus frontman Jesse Miller while backstage at The Last Stand Stage, check out the interview below. Continue reading North Coast Music Festival: Jesse Miller of Lotus
|Interview| North Coast Music Festival: U-God
Like most anyone involved with hip-hop music or pop culture in general, I grew up listening to Wu-Tang Clan and vividly remember ODB crooning through the speakers of my Mom’s Ford Explorer when I was a kid hijacking the radio. So, waiting on the elevator with two photographers to meet and interview U-God during North Coast was one of the crazier moments I’ve had in my life. The two of us said hello, settled in and enjoyed the view from the 29th floor of the Hard Rock Hotel, check out the conversation below.
Continue reading |Interview| North Coast Music Festival: U-God
Mad Decent Block Party: Interview with Big Gigantic
The Mad Decent team has been steadily criss-crossing the country with an also-steadily changing group of performers. As the summer begins hitting the homestretch, Mad Decent heads to Texas for an all ages performance at the Whitewater Music Ampitheater before the festival series heads off to the west coast for a pair of final dates in Los Angeles and San Diego. The New Braunfels stop includes headlining sets by Major Lazer, Bauuer, Dillon Francis and Flosstradamus, as well as Big Gigantic who we were able to catch up with before they hit the Lone Star state for a brief Q + A. Check out the interview below with drummer Jeremy Salken and head here for tickets if you’ll be in the area this weekend.
Jake: Last time I talked to you two, you were preparing for New Year’s Eve in Chicago. How have things been since?
Jeremy: Wow that was a long time ago! Now we’re prepping for this tour and New Years in NEW YORK!! Things have been freaking incredible. We literally just finished up our summer festival season and it couldn’t have gone better. We didn’t play as many festivals as last year but we headlined a few which was a huge step up for us! Cant wait to be back in Southern TX though! Things tend to get a little crazier down there! Continue reading Mad Decent Block Party: Interview with Big Gigantic
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. Continue reading KSRA: What Will Be, Will Be
Chopping Up The Recipe With ProbCause
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. Continue reading Chopping Up The Recipe With ProbCause
![[Video] Jugrnaut Presents: ProbCause & Psalm One](https://jakekrzeczowski.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/screen-shot-2013-08-22-at-11-05-12-am.jpg?w=672&h=372&crop=1)
[Video] Jugrnaut Presents: ProbCause & Psalm One
I caught up with both ProbCause and Psalm One after getting some vegan food at The Chicago Diner and we chopped it up about music, life and fake meat. Check out the full video, shot by Jeremy Frank.
Soul Trapping with Tree at Pitchfork 2013
Graphic by Virgil Solis
Chicago’s genre-bending MC Tree loves to make predictions. Last year, while attending Pitchfork as a guest, he told everyone who would listen that a year from then he would be on one of the four stages in Union Park. On July 21st, he proved that estimate true as he played the opening 1pm set on Sunday. It was an appropriate setting for the Soul Trap creator.
As he dabbled between the duo of Sunday School mixtapes released over the past year and a half, church bells rang out from service at First Baptist Congregational Church just west of the festival. By all accounts, it was a solid fest debut for Tree, who was joined onstage by a drummer and vocalists Lili K and BenOfficial. Tree’s prediction this year? Read it in the Q+A below and hear the lofty goals the producer/MC has for the rest of this year and 2014. Continue reading Soul Trapping with Tree at Pitchfork 2013
Jake Krzeczowski 