interview
D Smoke Provides Gifts & Caroling to L.A. Foster Youth Ahead of War & Wonders Tour: ‘It Was Magical’
Ahead of his debut North American War & Wonders Tour, which launches Jan. 11 in San Diego, Grammy-nominated rapper and Rhythm + Flow inaugural champion D Smoke is wrapping up an incredible year by giving back to younger people in need. On Saturday (Dec. 18), the Inglewood, California, native and former high school teacher hosted a Reimagining CommUNITY During the Holidays event, in partnership with CASA of Los Angeles, Crete Academy and Cancel The Contract: Antelope Valley. Explore See latest videos, charts and news During the heartwarming festivities, D Smoke and his his wife, Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter and violinist Angelina Sherie, were joined by their parents and pet dog, along with local Crete Academy elementary school students, to sing Christmas carols for South Central L...
R3HAB Reflects On Storied 13-Year Career, Passion and Purpose
Have you ever been to a party with terrible music? In a social setting, the musical selection obviously plays a critical role in the ambiance and can either liven or dampen the mood. Experiencing the latter is what inspired an ambitious, teenage R3HAB to get into DJing and music production. “I remember when I went to a school party as a teenager, I realized how much music had an affect on the mood,” R3HAB told EDM.com in an interview. “With that, I noticed how important it is to curate [the music] correctly.” 13 years ago—nearly to the date—the Moroccan-Dutch DJ and producer emerged with his first production, “Mrkrstft,” which was eventually remixed by dance music icon Hardwell. The record marked the first of many collaborations wit...
US Fed Chair says cryptocurrencies aren’t a danger to country’s financial stability
While speaking at a press conference after the recent Fed interest rate decision, the Fed Chair Jerome Powell said that cryptocurrencies are currently not a danger to the country’s financial stability. He however noted that there should focus should shift to monitoring and controlling cryptocurrencies. Jerome Powell has served as the Federal Reserve Chair since 2018 and is likely to serve for a second term following a positive backing by President Joe Biden. Powell and his vice chair Lael Brainard have shown enthusiasm on ensuring that cryptocurrencies do not cause financial instability. Powell actually did express his reservations about cryptocurrency industry despite saying that it does not pose any risk at the moment. He stated that cryptocurrencies are speculative assets “ris...
Klas Bergling Reflects On “Dangerous Combination” of Avicii’s Fame and Fortune In Candid Interview
In a new interview with The Sunday Times, Avicii‘s father, Klas Bergling, continues to advocate for the mental health of rising musicians. Though there’s a natural, innate discomfort around the conversation of suicide, Bergling isn’t shying away from the term. “You should call things what they are,” he told The Times. Bergling also shows he has no hesitations about confronting difficult memories related to his son’s passing head-on. In the immediate aftermath of Avicii’s heartbreaking death, conversations swirled around the circumstances that could have led to such a tragedy. Ultimately, Bergling attributes some of the reason to a lack of structure in the midst of his son’s meteoric rise to fame. “It’s fame and fortune, and t...
Matt Zhang on a mission to reinvent crypto for institutional investors
Institutional interest in cryptocurrencies is increasing as the space continues to mature. A survey released on Dec. 8 by European investment manager Nickel Digital Asset Management found that 85% of institutional investors and wealth managers have dedicated teams to review cryptocurrencies and digital assets. The study noted that the investors surveyed manage around $108.4 billion in assets. The London-based firm also released a report in September of this year showing that 62% of global institutional investors with zero exposure to cryptocurrencies expect to make their first crypto investments within the next year. It’s also notable that Wall Street veterans are beginning to enter the crypto industry. Most recently, Matt Zhang, a former trading executive at the global bank Citi, la...
The Beautifully Unpredictable Duality of James Blake
Before he was the Grammy-winning musical chameleon he is today, James Blake found himself in a constant state of emotional camouflage. Like any prodigious musician on the come-up, the pressure to be “cool” hovered like a black cloud, following him from party to party. And his moods changed like quicksilver, leading to a bit of an identity crisis, says Blake, whose titular track from his scintillating Before EP was recently nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Dance/Electronic Recording. “I’ve always felt slightly on the outside of things. In any scene I was ever in, I was always on the outside looking in,” Blake tells EDM.com. “And I think it took me a long time to realize that there was no scene, you know? There was no being outside looking in...
Banana Split Duo Talk Making It to ‘Masked Singer’ Finals & The Song You Didn’t Hear
Consider Banana Split officially melted. After making an impressively delicious run on this season of The Masked Singer that included showstopping performances of everything from Michael Bublé‘s take on the Julie London classic “Cry Me a River” to Lady Gaga‘s “Poker Face,” the dynamic duo with the powerhouse voice and smooth piano stylings were eliminated during the Group B Finals on Wednesday night (Oct. 8). Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Following their shocking elimination after covering “Singin’ in the Rain,” the season’s front-runners were unmasked and revealed to be [SPOILER ALERT] American Idol alum Katharine McPhee and her husband, 16-time Grammy winner David Foster. In fact, in a season that boasted a combined 85 Grammy nominations, 2...
Alan Fitzpatrick On Why His First Album In Over a Decade “Feels Like His Debut”
“Putting music out for the club, it feels like I can do that with my eyes closed,” mused Alan Fitzpatrick in an exclusive interview with EDM.com. “I do that so often—it’s natural for me.” Since his appearance in the techno scene more than a decade ago, Fitzpatrick has amassed an impressive canon of music, from smash hit “We Do What We Want” to a remix of Shannon’s 1983 electro-funk record, “Let The Music Play.” Just last year, the Brit released a whopping 24—yes, 24—original tracks, including two EPs with his under-the-radar electronica alias, 3STRANGE. But in 2019 Fitzpatrick decided it was time for him to try something new, stepping outside of his creative comfort zone to embark on his first album since 2010. And Machine Therapy, out now via Anjunadeep, was born. Complet...
What So Not On How He’s On the Verge of the “Greatest Work of His Career”
For What So Not, life was but a beautiful chaos before the world shut down in March 2020. For years, the Aussie had been touring his project for months at a time, playing hundreds of shows a year while attempting to write and release music on the road. But then, as countries shut their borders and people began to isolate, the renowned music producer—“High You Are” and “Gemini” fame—found himself quite literally locked down to one singular location. “It was a very big change, but it wasn’t an unwelcome change,” What So Not told EDM.com in an exclusive interview. “I was kind of deep down longing for that time.” He certainly made the most of it. Unlike those of us that baked bread and binge-watched Tiger King, What So Not spent his time on his craft, tinkeri...
Adventure Club On New Album, NFTs and the Future of Melodic Dubstep
Starting as a hardcore pop-punk band before evolving into a powerhouse dubstep production duo, Adventure Club have cemented themselves as bass music legends over the course of the last decade. However, despite touring the world and putting out dozens of singles in that time, they’ve only released one studio album, Red // Blue, back in 2016. But that’s all about to change. After dropping a slew of singles this year, including the euphoric “Broken Love” (with Cammie Robinson) and the uplifting “Anywhere” (with ARMNHMR and HALIENE), Adventure Club are on the verge of releasing a new album called Love // Chaos. Now back on tour and with Love // Chaos complete, Christian Srigley and Leighton James of Adventure Club caught up with EDM....
Azealia Banks Slams Kanye West, Says Cancel Culture Doesn’t Exist: ‘Only God Can Cancel Something’
Azealia Banks took aim at Kanye West on Monday (Nov. 22), sharing her uncensored thoughts on the rapper in a new interview. Chatting with Rolling Stone, the topic of ‘Ye came up, as the “212” MC discussed how she came this close to naming her recent track “F— Him All Night” after her nemesis. The reason? “Because Kanye trolled me a lot,” she said. (Instead, the single’s cover art points all 10 fingers at West thanks to some creative nail art.) “Listen to my music. Listen to the last five years of Kanye West’s music. I’m superior,” Banks continued. “I don’t have to talk about that which is beneath me. He’s been, I guess, selling sneakers and doing outrageous shit, everything but the music. When Kanye puts some music out that is important, then I guess we can have that conversation. But righ...
Mike Posner Reflects On Avicii: “When I Was In the Coldest, Coldest Periods of My Career He Would Call Me to Work”
On a personal level, Mike Posner has likened the loss of Avicii and his father to being doused with a bucket of ice water in the middle of the night. The sobering events resulted in a near instantaneous shift in the Grammy-nominated artist’s perspective, inspiring him to break the comforts of his daily life in ways few would expect—and even fewer would attempt to replicate. Nowadays, pushing aside the cushy comforts of a Top 40 artist is becoming second nature for Posner, who is learning to appreciate the trials and triumphs of each passing moment. Posner summarizes his outlook with “Amor Fati,” a near and dear phrase which translates to “love of fate” in latin. In an exclusive interview with EDM.com, Posner candidly reflected on his rel...
