ARTIST FEATURE: Catching Up With Eliot Lipp: Basslights, Snapchat, and Pizza (Q&A)

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A DOZEN QUESTIONS FOR ELIOT LIPP:

Fresh off a brand new album, working with fellow hot up-and-comers Cherub and label-mates Michal Menert & Supervision, plus recently finishing up a massive PLM tour across the country, Eliot Lipp is having quite the season. With all that momentum, it’s clear that Lipp isn’t slowing down, with a giant NYE performance, plus news of a new collaboration release, and a slew of new material on the horizon, the New York producer has tons to talk about. That’s why we caught up with Eliot Lipp the other day for a quick Q&A. Our conversation led to many topics pertaining to music, art, and how to keep warm in the winter. You can read our full Q&A below:

CURATED MUSIC: First of all, congratulations on the new release Watch the Shadows! It’s been a very anticipated drop. Reading your descriptions for each track, it’s clear much thought went into the album, Can you explain a bit about what Watch the Shadows means to you as a conceptual body of artwork?

ELIOT LIPP: Thanks man. I’m trying to do [the write-ups] for each song and then I’m going to put them all together into one post. I think one of the big main themes is… there are a couple things I feel like I keep coming back to with all of these different posts. I guess one of them is showing the old school sort of throwback sound that all these songs have, and there’s moments in each song where it will sound like mid seventies funk or eighties style shit, and while I’ve been trying to explain the significance of that, I’ve realized that, that part of my music is essentially just me trying to connect my style and my sound with the just sort of history of electronic music and just to give it a sort of perspective you know, based on a lot of the music that has come before mine.

CM: You say, “One of the most fascinating things about music is how it evolves through different regions, cultures and eras. It’s the universal language of the human spirit” and your music encompasses every style of music from every time period.

LIPP: Yeah, that kind of thing is real important to me. That’s one of the reasons I’ve always been drawn to instrumental music as opposed to music with more of a narrative or music that just tells a story even. To me, instrumental music is more about the raw emotions that are derived from melody and rhythm.

CM: You have an extensive collection of synthesizers. Are those responsible for the sounds we all love in your music?

LIPP: Yes a lot of them are. I play a lot of VSTs as well, and plugins. I started collecting analog synthesizers probably about 11 or 12 years ago. I started buying and selling them, and I’d buy broken ones, fix them up, and trade them. So, the collection I have right now, or at any given time, is usually pretty temporary because I like switching them out. There’s a handful that I probably want to keep forever but I really like buying and selling synths just as much as [collecting them]. I’m not a hoarder, I’m not trying to have this museum of synths, I like to have a collection but at the same time I like moving them in and out because when I get a new keyboard, when I get new sounds, I get inspiration from playing on them and just tweaking new sounds in different ways, so I like to try to keep recycling through.

CM: Looking back on the PLM Tour, what’s a really funny memory you can share with us?

LIPP: (Laughs) Um…. Well… Our tour manager would do this thing when we would all be hanging out on the bus where he’d yell “BUNK CALL” and everybody would have to run to their bunk, and the last person to the bunk…. I mean, we never really punished them, but we would just talk about what [we would do]. It was just to try to get to your bunk first so everyone would be running from the front of the tour bus all the way back to the bunk and there was always some sort of injury… (Laughs). But, because there were 8 of us and there were 7 bunks, someone would always get left out. (Laughs). Then we would just fuck with them the rest of the day. It was especially funny after a show would be over and we’d be having a little after party on the tour bus and there’d be girls and stuff on there, then out of nowhere, Ben [our Tour Manager] yells “BUNK CALL” and we all run to the back and there’d be some random people just sitting in the front like ‘what just happened!?!?’ ‘Where’d all those guys go’? There were a lot of funny moments on the tour, I wish I could share more of them but there was just a lot of debaucherous behavior. (Laughs).

CM: You end this year performing at Basslights with Bassnectar and Pretty Lights plus Chromeo, Beats Antique, and Exmag. Are you excited to bring in the New Year with that crew and nearly 10,000 others in Hampton Virginia??

LIPP: Yeah I’m definitely excited for that show, it’s going to be a good one. I love all the other acts that I’m playing with and I’m honored to be on the bill especially with Lorin and Derek, and I’m a big fan of Chromeo too, so I’m definitely looking forward to that. Having this new album out too, being able to keep promoting the record is exciting. I love playing all these brand new songs out. I’ve been looking forward to every show I have coming up lately. 

CM: Off the top of your head, can you give us your favorite LippTip and/or share with us a brand new one?

LIPP: Let’s see… hang on… um… Well I had a recent one, a couple weeks ago I said; “If you smoke cigarettes in your house, please let me know before we go over there so I can never go over there.” (Laughs) I don’t know if I can pull a LippTip off the top of my head. Well, it’s getting cold out right. I should think of one for the weather. (Laughs). Shit man, maybe I could come back to that.

CM: Your collaboration with Michal Menert is hot. Are there any other collaborations on the horizon?

LIPP: Michal and I are doing a whole record together. While we were on tour we started a bunch of new tracks. We’ve each been working on them a little bit on our own; I think that the key is to get back together in person. I don’t really do the email collaborations; I like to be in the studio working side by side. There’s that and I’m not sure what else, there’s a couple other collaborations. I’ve been working on one with this emcee from Tacoma, Washington that goes by Glen. He’s really tight. I’m actually supposed to work on a track with him today. I mean, there’s a couple things in the works but I think one of the next releases coming up for me is definitely going to be the record with Menert.

CM: Your Snapchats are works of art and inspirational, how do you keep them so fresh?

LIPP: (laughs) I just love to draw; I’ve always been really into drawing. I like the challenge. It’s kind of really hard to draw on Snapchat. It’s hard to make it a work of art because you are limited with your color scheme, and you just have the one brush size for your paintbrush. I love social media, I love being able to connect with my fans and show my sense of humor, or just show sides of myself that I don’t always find a way of putting in my music. That’s one of my favorite things about Snapchat, just trying to make it cartoony and stupid. It’s immediate and it just goes away right away, it’s nothing permanent, so the light heartedness of it I think makes it a pretty cool way for people to connect with each other. 

CM: What other forms of art inspire you?

LIPP: I love graffiti. I love even just tags, besides the big colorful murals I love just people’s names spelled on the wall because you notice, whenever I travel, I see the different styles change in different cities, and that’s always been interesting to me. I’ve always been into painting. I love abstract painters. A lot of times when I’m on tour, if I have nothing to do for the day, I’ll go and check out a city’s local art museum. I’ve always been into art; I actually went to art school for a while. But yeah, I think one of my favorite styles is definitely graffiti art. 

CM: Do you have any goals for the coming New Year?

LIPP: I don’t know if it’s a goal but one thing I’m really shooting for is to try and be more immediate with my music. With this new record, some of those tracks I was sitting on for like two years. Granted, I kept reworking them and changing quite a bit throughout that time, but I think we’re at an age now with Soundcloud and everything where we can just finish a song and post it up immediately for the fans to hear and you get feedback on and people to just experience it, instead of just waiting. It’s nice to gather up a whole collection for an album and make a big deal of everything but I think that I want to try and push myself to try and put out more singles and just start dropping tracks without all the hype and without waiting too long. That’s one goal I set for myself in 2015, I want to release a lot of music and really put myself out there. I still like doing albums, but I think I’m going to take a break from that, especially since I’ve just release a brand new one, I have the time where I can for a while and try just experimenting.

CM: Health question: Does your raw juice intake outweigh your pizza consumption?

LIPP: (laughs) that’s a really good question. I try to get a lot of juice in me and less pizza but it’s probably about 50/50 right now. (Laughs). Dude, that’s how I am, I go back and fourth, I’m either eating super healthy and drinking green juice everyday, eating salads, or I’m just full on cheeseburgers and pizza, especially on tour, it’s so hard to eat healthy on tour sometimes I’ll just give up and just eat like shit. (Laughs). But man… I try to balance it out.

CM: Any last thoughts on the LippTip??

LIPP: Why can’t I think of a LippTip right now…. Umm… Hmmm… Fuck it’s hard to just pull one right out of my head like that. Umm… I don’t know, I guess I’d say; stock up on flannels, go to Goodwill and get yourself a few flannels for the winter. You can never have enough flannels, they will never go out of style, and they keep you warm. Sometimes even at Goodwill, I’ve found some of those Pendletons, I’ve found some brand name flannels here and there lately. You know, I definitely would suggest Goodwill or Salvation Army, some kind of thrift store because you know, if you go to the mall or you go to a regular spot it’s going to be like 100 bucks for a nice flannel, you want to just go spend 8 bucks and get a couple of them. (Laughs). That’s my LippTip.

LIPP: Thanks!

Listen to Watch The Shadows by Eliot Lipp below:

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Eliot Lipp on Facebook
Eliot Lipp on Twitter
@EliotLipp on Snapchat

PREVIEW: Detroit Gets Down With Eats Everything & More This Saturday

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EATS EVERYTHING IN DETROIT TOMORROW!

It’s very clear that Detroit is enamored with Dirtybird Records and anything that passes through it’s releases. That being said, the excitement for Eats Everything‘s performance this Saturday at Club Fantasy’s Shazzzam event is tangible. Perhaps the most diverse producer in this whole “deeper” movement, Eats Everything’s domination of festivals, clubs, and airwaves has been growing intensely over the past couple years. A Bristol UK resident, Eats Everything has been steady spreading his sounds across the world, earning him accolades and rave reviews from every trustworthy outlet. Detroit get’s to experience Eats Everything this Saturday, Nov. 15th, at Club Fantasy for Shazzzam with fellow performers Liquid Stanger, Emalkay, Ill.gates, Golf Clap, and more. Tickets are available here.

Eats Everything on Facebook
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FESTY NEWS: Save The Date! All Good Festival Returns to West Virginia in 2015

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ALL GOOD MUSIC FESTIVAL & CAMPOUT RETURNS IN 2015!

Rejoice! Rejoice! Arguably the best (in the completely subjective opinion of this writer and festival goer) Summer music festival is back after taking the year off in 2014.

Many tears were shed and wooks joined together in cuddle puddle of sadness when All Good announced the haitus, but hope remained knowing that the festival of almost two decades now would not let them down, and would, in fact, be back, and possibly better than ever.

It looks like our prayers were answered and it feels like Christmas morning to many as we woke up to the news that All Good has set dates in Summit Point, West Virginia at the beautiful Berry Hill Farm (About 90 minutes due west of Baltimore).

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All Good, fittingly, has consistently had the best overall atmosphere and positive vibes of any festival I’ve been to in the last five years, but has been marred with a string of bad luck, tensions with property owners, and even attendee deaths in 2011 and 2013.

The lineup is always a perfectly eclectic mix of rock, folk, bluegrass, jam, funk, soul, and electronic with the two main stages being side by side with essentially interlocking sets to ensure you don’t have to rush across festival grounds to catch one band while missing 3 others. Attendees have the time and frame of mind to simply relax and enjoy the music that is brought to them.

I speak for many when I say All Good will be the highlight of your 2015 Summer festival season. Do yourself a favor: mark your calendars.

We’ll see you in West Virginia!

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All Good on Facebook
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CONTEST: Willy Joy & Buku Come To Milwaukee’s Miramar Theatre On November 21st (Win VIP Tickets + Meet & Greet) [ENTER HERE]

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WILLY JOY & BUKU EMBARK ON TOUR (WIN TICKETS + MEET & GREET BELOW):

Easily two of the most hard-working and futuristic music producers in the game, Willy Joy and Buku have been steady grinding while dominating venues together all over America. With a big new collaboration tune, “Sting”, blowing up (free DL here), both artists are now heading out on their latest adventure dubbed the ‘Leaner and Meaner Tour’ bringing the two bass blasters across the country and to the midwest for a few hot shows including Milwaukee at the Miramar Theatre on November 21st. Tickets for the MKE show are available online here, and you can also enter our contest for a free pair of VIP tickets to the Milwaukee show plus a meet & greet with Willy Joy and Buku at the show here. There are multiple ways to earn entries so make sure you enter the contest and tell your friends to do the same! If you haven’t seen the two of these guys together, head to the nearest show and get ready to turn up!

ENTER CONTEST:

LISTEN: Willy Joy & Buku – “Sting”:

Willy Joy on Facebook
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Buku on Facebook
Buku on Twitter

ARTIST FEATURE: Getting To Know Dirty Chocolate And His Scrt Stsh Collaboration (Interview)

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DIRTY CHOCOLATE: Interview, Scrt Stsh Clothing Release, & Exclusive Mix

Certainly a well rounded artist, up-and-coming beat producer Dirty Chocolate has been generating quite the buzz recently. Armed with dreamy chord progressions and sharp drums, Dirty Chocolate’s tunes are quickly earning top spots on many listeners’ playlists. Dirty Chocolate and his unique beats are on their way to levels of prominence that will forever indite them as favorites. We recently learned that our friends at Scrt Stsh Clothing were teaming up with Dirty Chocolate to release an exclusive collaboration clothing collection and mix so we knew it was the perfect time to catch up with the young producer. Below you can read our interview, check out the clothing collection, and listen to the exclusive mix.

Q&A With Dirty Chocolate:

CURATED MUSIC: When did you first start experimenting with sound and making music? And what inspired you to start?
DIRTY CHOCOLATE: Well, I’ve been listening to beat music for a very long time, but I started making my own content about 2 years ago come November.

CM: What was PeachBoiz and how did it live and die?
DC: Peachboiz was a collective of friends. It was just a lot of very creative people making similar music supporting one another. Good intent, who started it is only like 15 I think, bright kid. It had a good run. That’s really all I have to say about that.

CM: What is the extent of your involvement with Moving Castles and how did that come about?
DC: I joined the collective in its early stages, with very few members. AO Beats was the one who introduced me to everyone; Really nice friendly & supportive people.

CM: Recently your track “Hyper Speed” was featured by Thump, and Nest HQ did an artist spotlight on you. How does it feel to have your music recognized by some of the most respected names in music?
DC: It has been an unreal experience so far. I remember first starting, looking at THUMP for news in electronic music. Nest HQ has been really supportive since 3ds dreams almost a year ago, much love to them. But overall it’s a really exciting feeling to be recognized by people I look up to.

CM: Tell us a little more about Sleepy Sounds.
DC: Well, right now there is not much to tell. It’s very beta at the moment. But It is a brand and collective that My good friend, who goes by JabbaTheKid on Tumblr, and I are starting. Right now it is in it is very early stages though.

CM: What production equipment do you use in the studio?
DC: I just just use Rockit 5s and my MPK 25 for producing. For mixes I like to use either my Traktor or m APC 40 controller.

CM: Have video games influenced your music productions at all?
DC: I would say video games play a huge role in my music preference and style. I like feeling nostalgic and remembering the fun memories from my childhood, and I try to capture that feeling in my music.

CM: How did you get connected with SCRT STSH and what can we expect from this collaboration?
DC: SCRT STSH I have been following since they first supported 3ds Dreams. I really loved their designs. So when Tim, who runs SCRT STSH, approached me about a possible collaboration, I was excited to say the least. I think from this collaboration we can expect some really sick clothing designs that I am excited to be a part of.

DIRTY CHOCOLATE x SCRT STSH:

Click here to purchase the Dirty Chocolate x Scrt Stsh Clothing collection.

UntitledsctrystshClick here to listen to Dirty Chocolate’s exclusive Scrt Stsh mix.

Dirty Chocolate on Faceboook
Dirty Chocolate on Twitter