KASTLE (Live) & XXXY
Friday, May 17 2013
Friday May 17th
Decibel & Shameless present
The live debut of…
KASTLE
Symbols, San Francisco
https://www.facebook.com/
https://soundcloud.com/
with very special guest
xxxy
https://soundcloud.com/
https://www.facebook.com/
Rinse / Orca / Halo Cyan
Doors at 9pm / 21+
Tickets $12 adv. available at: http://bit.ly/15ghOLx
1927 Events
1927 3rd Ave, Seattle
ABOUT KASTLE
Kastle’s forward-thinking music results from his long-time love of hip-hop and R&B, fused with the magnetizing effect that dubstep, garage and bass-heavy music has had on him. Last year, his track “Stay Forever” from the eponymous EP reached the iTunes Top 10 Best Electronic Songs of 2012, and he embarked on his highly successful ‘Stay Forever’ tour across North America, and into Australia and New Zealand. Kastle has garnished strong media attention from the likes of XLR8R, URB, MTV Hive and Fact Magazine along with plays on BBC Radio 1 and KCRW. His highly anticipated debut album KASTLE drops on April 23rd, followed by his first North America live tour.
The studio and touring dichotomy of an artist’s life is a perfect yin & yang for Kastle in both his production and outlook. His professional experience as an engineer puts forth clean, crisp production, but his love for the party provides a playful bass that eats a room. Altogether, the wide varieties of vocals – both originals and sampled – are a key element to Kastle’s sound. “I grew up on hip hop and R&B, and sampling is considered an art form,” he says. “It’s becoming more and more fun to dig through old records and find obscure samples.” He cites another unexpected influence -legendary French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard, who had once said that “it’s not where you take things from, it’s where you take them to.”
“Kastle pushes the kind of soulful, low-end-centered, forward-thinking dubstep tunes that could just as easily soundtrack a night out at the club as they could the lonely walk home afterwards.” – XLR8R
“Kastle hails from the US, and has been keeping us up to date with his various remixes and original productions for a little while now. One of our favourites is his remix of Cassie’s ‘Me & U’, where one of the best R’n’B songs of recent years gets warped into a bass-drenched cyber-pop epic reminiscent of early Joker and Bok Bok’s ‘Youth Blood’ remix.” – FACT Magazine
“The field recording of a playground that starts off “You Got the Love” fits the theme of Inner Child, a compilation whose proceeds go to benefit Atlanta’s Dream House for Kids, from which the track is taken, but is a bit less instep with the song itself. Kastle’s soulful number is equal parts mysterious, Burial-esque dubstep and classic piano house, but not the least bit childish or playful in any way. Both the poignant vocal melody and solid production work are trademarks of an artist that takes his work seriously. Regardless, the thoughtful, grooving sounds heard within “Love” are sure to stand out amongst the other contributed tracks on the philanthropic release.” – XLR8R
“…saunters along a crush-worthy progression and R&B perfection. It’s dubby and dancey and totally party, afterparty, after-afterparty appropriate.” – Culture Of Me
“Kastle looks poised to make his mark in the burgeoning North America scene and hold his own with any UK producers who claim rights to the future sound of garage music. “ – So Sincerious
“With a tracklisting which boasts taste, sufficient amounts of bass and interesting drum patterns – Kastle has set himself up perfectly for a big year in 2010. Not forgetting to mention, the productions are top notch.” – Hush House
“…a bassy trip to Sexytown. This is bass your whole family will love. There are plenty of remixes to which one could easily get their swerve on. From slow dubby beats to sped up amens, it’s all slathered in deep, sexy bass and mixed with precision. Packed with swagger, this mix is sure to be in heavy rotation for some time to come.” – Truculence
ABOUT XXXY
After the release of his first record, he took a break to tighten up his production. He came back in 2009 as xxxy which led to the releases of “Reflections ep” on the influential Manchester label Mindset and “Science Fiction/651” on Formant Recordings. By late 2009 he had begun to become more and more influenced by house music which had begun to take up a much larger section of his record collection.
2010 saw the release of a split of the very well received 12” on Infrasonics. Comprised of the Baltimore influenced “Blue Flashing Lights” and the Funky Roller “Know You” which was included in FACT magazine’s tunes of 2010 list.
Later in 2010 he released the critically acclaimed garage influenced ep “Every Step Forward” on Fortified Audio.
The January 2011 release of “You Always Start it/Ordinary Things” on Ten Thousand Yen increased xxxy’s burgeoning reputation with Pitchfork picking “ordinary things” as it’s best new tune of the day “What’s so special about “Ordinary Things” isn’t its parts, though, but how impeccably they are put together…This rush comes complete with a joyous “Whoo!” sample to let you know that, yeah, while you’re getting the chills, this is still body-moving music.”
2011 will see releases on Orca, Well Rounded, Infrasonics & All City together with Remixes for Tri Angle and the Count & Sinden.
As a DJ xxxy has produced well received mixes for FACT, BBQ & URB as well as playing dates all over the UK and Europe.