INTERVIEWS
How It All Started: Dance Music’s Most Influential Labels Reflect On Their First-Ever Release
Dance music wasn’t always this popular. In fact, the sights and sounds we now associate with the genre were once considered taboo. They were the emblems of a counterculture forced to blossom not out in the open, but in the safe confines of arcane nightclubs and warehouse raves. So how did electronic music break through the glass ceiling? Before the songs of Above & Beyond, Roger Sanchez, Armin van Buuren, and other legendary producers rattled the world’s biggest festival stages, they were auditory ugly ducklings on a quest to reach their full potential. The music always had the potential to fly, but without the help of the gutsy independent record labels willing to back it, its wings would forever remain clipped. And after all these years, those indies have proven...
Saint Motel Traveled Halfway Around the World for One Night Only From Macedonia: ‘The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack’ Live With Orchestra
While there’s been no shortage of bands doing livestreams and recorded shows over the last 17 months or so due to the pandemic, it’s hard to think of anyone who has gone to quite the lengths as Saint Motel. On Wednesday (August 18), the indie icons will release One Night Only From Macedonia: ‘The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack’ Live With Orchestra. As one might deduce from the title, the band flew to North Macedonia to perform their latest album, The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, with the help of the Fames Orchestra. It was a bold idea inspired by one of their top collaborators on the album, composer Duke Bojadziev. “For The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, we had an idea to do film score transitions, so we worked with Duke Bojadziev to do the transitions from song to song in ...
EA President of Music Steve Schnur on Curating Madden NFL ’22 Soundtrack With Moneybagg Yo, Tierra Whack and More: Exclusive
EA Music has unleashed Madden NFL ’22, the first-ever soundtrack for its long-running Madden NFL video game franchise, today (August 13th). Working exclusively in collaboration with Interscope Records, Electronic Arts curated a roster of exclusive songs from upcoming Interscope talent to showcase “rising stars for the next generation of players” including the likes of Swae Lee, Jack Harlow, Tank and the Bangas, JID, and Tierra Whack. “I’ve had a long relationship with EA SPORTS and I’m excited to release my new song, ‘Ball is Life’ with Jack Harlow, on The Madden NFL 22 Soundtrack,” Swae Lee said in a statement. Advertisement Related Video Madden NFL 22 will also involve more than 50 additional tracks in a new mode called The Yard. Fans can hear new tracks from Killer Mike, Leikeli47 and C...
Artist of the Month Meet Me @ the Altar on Creating Their Own Success: “Why Wouldn’t It Work?”
Artist of the Month is an accolade awarded to an up-and-coming artist or group who we believe is ready for the big time. In August 2021, we turn our attention to rising trio Meet Me @ the Altar as they release their major label debut EP Model Citizen. When talking to Téa Campbell, Ada Juarez, and Edith Johnson, the three members of pop punk group Meet Me @ the Altar, it quickly becomes evident that they are delightfully, inescapably Gen Z. As the trio huddles around a laptop for a conversation — one that touches on their musical journey to date, how finding each other was “fate,” their DIY sensibilities, and more — it becomes clear that they operate within a simple principle: If no one is going to do something for them, they can just do it themselves. The idea of aspirational instrumentali...
“Patience and Persistence”: Nitti Gritti Opens Up About Motivation and How Growing Up in Haiti Shaped His Music
Miami-based DJ Nitti Gritti is a jack of all trades, and a master of them all. Since his first releases in 2016, he has flawlessly produced genres across the board from hip-hop and trap to house, bass, and even rock. With one Latin Grammy Award win and one Grammy nod under his belt, Nitti Gritti launched his duo SIDEPIECE in 2019 with Party Favor, which quickly exploded in popularity. If there’s one thing that’s true about the producer, it’s that he’s always remained at the forefront of the scene. At HARD Summer 2021, his back-to-back set with Wuki delivered his signature high-octane punch. Dressed in corresponding animal print, the pair threw down an immaculate set at the Harder Stage. In addition to pyrotechnics shooting from the stage, clever transition...
Text Message Interview: SMLE and Athena on Their New Collab Bursting Onto Rocket League
The release of Athena‘s debut single “Eternal” alongside Grammy-nominated duo SMLE marks another seminal moment for the connection between dance music and gaming. One of the foremost streamers of Rocket League and a member of the prominent esports organization Team Envy, Athena described the situation as “unreal” in an exclusive EDM.com text message interview between herself and SMLE. Athena recapped her experience previewing the new single for her fans on stream, and having her expectations blown away by the reaction. “They’re all freaking out going crazy,” she said. “Didn’t expect it at all.” The artists also react to seeing their post-apocalyptic, Mad Max-inspired makeovers in the new official music video for ...
Comedian Josh Johnson Fights Some Bees For His Life in “# (Hashtag)” Special Clip: Exclusive
Over the past few years, comedian Josh Johnson has been building up a seriously impressive resume. The Chicago-based stand-up performer, writer, and podcaster regularly juggles more projects than we can keep track of, and his hard work is really starting to pay off. Last year, Johnson received an Emmy nomination for his writing work on Trevor Noah’s The Daily Show, and he was recently named one of Variety’s 10 Comics to Watch in 2021. The rising star is now preparing for multimedia releases of his debut stand-up special Trevor Noah Presents Josh Johnson: # (Hashtag). The hourlong special first aired on Comedy Central on June 18th, and will be made available for streaming on Paramount+ on August 11th; an album version will follow shortly in September. First, Consequence is exclusively premi...
FINNEAS on Making Music with a “Foundation of Unconditional Love Underneath Everything”: Exclusive
Give Grammy-winning producer and songwriter FINNEAS a call to ask him about a project, and he’ll offer his very best advice — but keep in mind, he ultimately wants creators to follow their own unique paths. “There’s not a right way or a wrong way to have a career in music,” he tells Consequence via Zoom. “You can be creative and you don’t have to worry about doing something wrong.” At just 23 years old, FINNEAS is proof of that exact sentiment: his non-traditional navigation through the world of music has already yielded him eight Grammy awards and made him one of the most sought-after producers and songwriters in the pop world. His hitmaking collaborations include work with Selena Gomez, Camila Cabello, and James Blake. Now, in partnership with Fender, he’s taking calls on the Fender x FI...
Bad Bunny on Leaving His Mark and Making History In Spanish
Bad Bunny is at the top of his game. In under five years, the Puerto Rican rapper has become the biggest Latin pop star on the planet. His success is transcending cultural and language barriers that can be limiting for Latin acts. He’s mainstream. After making history in December with the first all-Spanish LP to top the Billboard 200, Bad Bunny was announced as 2020’s most-streamed artist on Spotify. Now his 2022 arena tour is already sold out, and he’s the face of multiple brand partnerships, including Cheetos’ Deja Tu Huella campaign. The title translates into “Leaving Your Mark,” and that’s exactly what he’s doing. “I’m always proud to be Latino, to be from Puerto Rico, and to be from the Caribbean, and it’s always an honor to represent that worldwide,” Bad Bunny tells SPIN in Spa...
Mark Ronson Pulls Back the Studio Curtain
When Mark Ronson was working on his namesake AppleTV+ documentary, Watch the Sound with Mark Ronson, there was no shortage of not just internationally acclaimed artists he had access to, but genre sonic pioneers willing to sit down with the super-producer and expose secrets behind some of their biggest songs. Calm, yet exceedingly curious in his interviews, Ronson got legends — like Paul McCartney, Beastie Boys’ Mike D and Ad-Rock, Bikini Kill’s Kathleen Hanna, Questlove of The Roots, Thurston Moore from Sonic Youth, Santigold, Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme, Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl, Public Enemy producer Hank Shocklee, Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran, and so many, many, many more — to not just go behind the music, but inside it, explaining not only the tricks of their trade, but how the...
Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst and Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield Trade “Songwriting Slump” Tips and Discuss Returning to the Stage
Katie Crutchfield was destined to be a Bright Eyes fan. The singer-songwriter, who performs poignant folk-rock as Waxahatchee, recalls the music of Conor Oberst as a crucial turning point in her upbringing as a self-proclaimed outcast in suburban Alabama: “I feel like Bright Eyes had one of the biggest impacts of any band at the time,” Crutchfield tells Consequence by phone from her Kansas City home. It’s serendipitous that nearly twenty years after she first became enamored with albums like Letting Off the Happiness, Fevers and Mirrors, and Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground, Waxahatchee would be pegged to open for the Bright Eyes show, along with Lucy Dacus, at New York’s Forest Hills Stadium on July 31st. (The emo-folk titans played their first show tog...
Alex Lifeson on Solo Music, Envy of None, ‘Really Cool’ Upcoming Rush Reissue
Alex Lifeson didn’t have some grand master plan for all of this: the glossy-looking website, the big rollout of new music, the subsequent parade of interviews. But the dominos just keep tumbling, and he’s going with the flow. With the launch of his new signature Epiphone electric guitar, the Alex Lifeson Les Paul Axcess Standard, he finds himself in a rare solo spotlight — probably the most attention he’s faced since Rush retired from touring in 2015. “I stayed away from social media forever,” he tells SPIN. “I really wanted to protect my privacy and wasn’t really interested in doing all the things that are required because I’m generally a lazy person. But now with the Epiphone account, with the demand of creating an Instagram and my own website, I’m going to try to utilize those things an...
