The past year has seen the Canadian-born artist, better known as Grimes, rise to the top of the contemporary electronic music scene through her specific style she refers to as “experimental pop music.”

Grimes created waves in the music world on the heels of her critically acclaimed 2012 release “Visions.” She visits Metro on Tuesday to share some of that success with Chicago.

In the computer-dominated world of electronic music, Grimes is a refreshing change of pace, forgoing more advanced recording software, opting to produce “Visions” entirely on Garageband, the free music production software provided on every Mac.

It wasn’t an attempt at irony, simply an artist going with what she knows. “I had only been making music for about a year,” she said. “I literally didn’t know how to use anything else. [Garageband] was there, it was free.”

Thriftiness seems to be a big part of Grimes’ decision-making. She moved to Montreal from her native Vancouver in 2006 not so much for the rising music scene, but simply because it was a practical situation for her.

“The cost of living is extremely cheap and that helped me,” said Boucher. “You can get a nice apartment where you can be loud and no one complains.”

The creative space allowed Boucher to cultivate her unique sound that she describes as not fitting in any one particular genre.

Known for her colorful production paired with trance-like vocals, Grimes got a taste of the electronic dance music scene this summer when Grammy-winning artist Skrillex invited her to join him on the Full Flex Express tour, a weeklong train tour across Canada.

Grimes found herself among the likes of EDM headliners such as Diplo and Pretty Lights, and, as one of the only women on the train, opening for them to audiences she wasn’t much used to.

“A lot of my shows before that, the crowd was very withdrawn,” she said, “and it was fun to perform for a bunch of teenagers just having a good time.”

While her live show likely won’t involve spaceships and glowstick cannons like a Skrillex concert, he did help her realize an important aspect of the industry.

“From talking to Sonny [Skrillex] I found that if you’re willing to take charge of a situation you have a lot of power over how you’re perceived and how things are done,” said Boucher. “It inspired me to say, ‘Screw it, I’m taking over everything. I have the power to make this how I want to be.’ ”

Updated: October 19, 2012 7:37PM

Chicago is quickly establishing itself as the nirvana for rising hip-hop artists.

Over the past year or so Chicago has found itself firmly on the front page of hip-hop with a slew of new artists putting the city on the map, causing one music exec to compare it to Seattle’s grunge scene in the ’90s.

The latest to emerge from the Second City’s streets is Donald Pullen, a k a Rockie Fresh. He earned his stage name during lunch time freestyle battles at Homewood-Flossmor High School and recently inked a deal with Rick Ross’ Maybach Music Group.

On Saturday, Fresh, 21, returns home to play to Metro on his Electric Highway tour.

“The first concert I ever went to was Chester French and Hollywood Holt at the Metro,” Fresh said. “I always dreamed of filling it out, so the opportunity to do that is pretty cool and I kind of went all out for it.”

When he says all out, he’s not joking.

Opening for Rockie Fresh at the Metro is fellow Chicagoan and Epic Records signee King Louie, as well as up-and-comer Casey Veggies.

He carved a niche in the hip-hop world by incorporating different influences from outside it. He has worked on projects with Joel and Benji Madden of Good Charlotte, Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy, sampled electronic duo SBTRKT on his last mixtape “Driving 88 and wants to work with John Mayer.

When asked about his wide range of influences, Rockie says it’s just who he is.

“The thing is that the [alternative influence] is really just what I like,” Fresh said. “It’s just the aspect of the music I appreciated before I started to rap. I feel like it’s all a part of my sound and it’s something I value a lot.”

Chicago hip-hop has been in the news lately for negative reasons, often tied to the violence that has plagued the city this year..

While he is conscious of the problems, Fresh doesn’t feel the burden lies with the hip-hop artists coming out of the city.

“I feel like there’s a lot more positive aspects that could be highlighted and highlighting the negatives acts as promotion,” said Fresh. “I feel as though I lead by example.”

Expect Fresh to continue his example as his first release, Electric Highway, his first release under Maybach Music, and continues to extend his place in the world of hip-hop in and out of his hometown.

“Chicago means a lot to me because it’s where my family, friends and inspiration come from. It’s good to be back,” Fresh said. “I plan to keep making music; it’s going to be a great ride.”

Jake Krzeczowski is a local free-lance writer.

Updated: October 7, 2012 10:19AM

Tom Evans and Dan Griffith both expected to be working “normal” jobs by now.

Evans, aka Procrast, a Northwestern University graduate had been eyeing a gig in consulting in Chicago while Griffith, aka DJ Griffi, an electrical engineering major from USC, had toyed with the idea of spending his days in a Silicon Valley lab.

Instead, the two childhood friends will don LED-powered panda masks and take the stage at the House of Blues Sunday as part of their “Mating Season” tour.

What started as a way to avoid homework and post songs for friends evolved into a joint venture out of Los Angeles, which they launched under the banner of The White Panda.

“We came up with the name just thinking of ideas one day,” said Griffith, who claims to have nearly 500 different panda masks in his closet. “The whole panda image was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made for the group.”

The panda quips don’t stop there. Music videos by the duo feature pandas onstage, pandas in the crowd and in one of their latest videos on YouTube a panda recreates the popular “Gangnam Style” dance moves. 

At a time when the rise of Electric Dance Music (EDM) has taken over the pop market, many DJs have come under fire for simply flipping a switch, playing the music and standing onstage.

The largest incident came when Swedish House Mafia member Steve Angello was seen casually smoking a cigarette while music blasted from the speakers on either side of him, premixed.

“A lot of people are surprised when they leave our shows because the mash-up concept isn’t as much of a novelty as it once was,” said Evans. We bring a lot of energy to our shows and it’s sound and it’s lights, visuals. It’s more than just a track by track mix, we try to get the crowd involved.”

What sets the duo apart is their ability to adequately fill the niche they have carved for themselves since 2008, when the mash-up scene (creating a remix by combining two or more songs) was dominated by Girl Talk..

“We were on of the early artists to make [mash-ups] a little more mainstream,” Griffith said. “We tend to lend ourselves more to the EDM world. That’s one of the reasons we were able to separate ourselves and one of the reasons we remain relevant today.”

While the two may not have forseen the path their music has taken them, there is no hurry to change lanes just yet.

“We’re both pretty studious guys and the fact that we went this directions is kind of crazy at times,” said Evans. “We now have fans who get excited with each new release so we just try to push ourselves and evolve as the music industry evolves.”

Jake Krzeczowski is a local free-lance writer.