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Image via SoundCloud
We don’t cover dance and electronic music all the time on Pigeons & Planes, but when we do, we bring you the best of the best. Each month, Plugged will take a look at certain aspects of the electronic landscape, filling you in on the artists, scenes, and music that you should be paying attention to, whatever your taste.
I’m not sure if you’re aware, but the future of music lives on SoundCloud. It might sound silly, but it makes sense; the music sharing program has so many social aspects built-in, and whether you like it or not, many record labels, managers, and PR agents now equate an artist’s worth to the number of plays they get on SoundCloud, similar to how they look at Twitter followers or Facebook likes. The intrigue surrounding SoundCloud, though, is that there are producers and artists who can thrive on SoundCloud and still be unknown to the masses… almost like the secret pockets of talent and mystery that one can find in a good Tumblr dig.
The key is that these acts are cultivating sounds that are truly impacting the mainstream. Just look at some of the recent SoundCloud success stories. Cashmere Cat got his weight up via SoundCloud, growing from random remixes and some fire for LuckyMe to production credits for Ariana Grande, Ludacris, and now Kanye West (alongside Sinjin Hawke). Lido went from being a promising “good guy” rapper out of Norway to a critically-acclaimed producer based on his consistent track record of amazing remixes, including his rework of Disclosure’s “Latch,” which caused a major commotion when it was taken off of SoundCloud. If you factor in the presence of producers like Hawaii’s Mr. Carmack, Canada’s Kaytranada, Australia’s Ta-ku, and the entire Soulection movement, you should be realizing that blowing up off of your SoundCloud feed is very real.
That said, it’s time to look at some producers who are making noise. Some, like Cashmere Cat, are just a few steps away from seeing their names in the liner notes of acts worldwide. Others are showing promise, and are well on their way to making a stronger impact. Whatever way you slice it, SoundCloud is the breeding ground for the next generation of stars. Here are four you should be paying close attention to.
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Image via Facebook
Ekali
Location: Vancouver, BC
Who he could work with: Drake, PARTYNEXTDOOR, and anyone else on the OVO roster.
We last spoke with the Flow-Fi representer during RBMA Tokyo, where the 23-year-old opened up about his path to becoming one of the most talked about producers on the come up. Many were surprised that his track “Unfaith” had been sampled on “Wednesday Night Interlude” from Drake‘s If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late, but he definitely deserves anything that shines the spotlight on him.
Keep it real: if Drake’s OVO-signed PARTYNEXTDOOR is aware of you enough to sample a track for an official Drake mixtape, there’s no doubt that they rest of the crew are aware of you too. These things don’t just happen out of the blue… right?
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Sam Gellaitry
Location: Stirling, Scotland
Who he could work with: Tinashe
At 18 years of age, Gellaitry has been something of an enigma. When people first picked up on his sound over a year ago, ears perked up—there’s always some interest when a producer who can’t buy beer legally in the U.S. is consistently presenting great material. Sam wasn’t giving away much in terms of information, but as The FADER pointed out, there’s a definite Hudson Mohawke influence in his material, although his mixture of deeper hip-hop grooves and club-ready house-ish funk tracks remind us of what Kaytranada’s been working on. Thus, it made sense that Soulection was the home of Sam’s debut EP, Short Stories, which highlighted just how vast his imagination was.
Not too many producers are as ill on the beats as they are with a bass guitar or piano at their fingertips. Sam’s at the right age that, with a few years to truly focus on refining his singular sound, there will be no stopping him.
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Image via Facebook
Polar Youth
Location: Gent, Belgium
Who she could work with: Ariana Grande, if she was looking for that chilly bounce
Who know that 19-year-old girls in Belgium were so mesmerized by future bass sounds? With music production being such a sausage party to begin with, you can imagine what many of these SoundCloud commenters thought when they realized that Polar Youth was churning out bangers this dope. She has a knack for pairing your regularly-scheduled trap beats with somber, soothing melodies.
You could hear any of today’s pop queens trying their hands at a more turned down affair over some Polar Youth vibes. Her remix of Miley Cyrus’ “Adore You” just made sense: it’s the kind of material that you could throw on for bae and get intimate to, but also has this fly ’90s R&B flex to it. Oh, and speaking of bae…
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Image via Facebook
aywy.
Location: Sydney, Australia
Who he could work with: Miguel, Jai Paul
Australia’s aywy. is on some mastermind shit. He’s part of the foundation of Flow-Fi, a collective that’s on Soulection’s path to wider recognition. A group of like-minded artists blending genres and building the future with no blueprint or manual. And what’s crazy is, he’s sitting near 25K followers on SoundCloud… while not even topping 7K on Facebook. With tracks that are sitting on six-figure SoundCloud plays, all finding ways to turn the influences he’s wearing on his sleeves into a new way of digesting shit you’re not even fully able to categorize, he’s the perfect embodiment of what someone “blowing up on SoundCloud” looks like.
The best part? He’s doing it without sacrificing himself or his vision. He’s the kind of producer who can flip a chilled hip-hop track that glitches out a number of Biggie Smalls lines while planning on putting out a deep house EP. aywy., formerly known as Abstract Youth, is the sound all of the best moments of your iTunes on shuffle at the same damn time.
