Entertainment, Get Out & About, Life in the Capital, Music, We Love Music

We Love Music: A Q&A with St. Lucia

st-lucia
It was 2010 and music virtuoso, producer, remixer and collaborator, Jean-Philip Grobler was stuck. The rock project he currently belabored on felt forced, unnatural; he turned to the past, looking for inspiration from Peter Gabriel, Fleetwood Mac, Madonna – potentially DC’s very own Thievery Corporation, for a jolt of inspiration. At this moment of stuckness, the young South African found both the inspiration he was looking for and birthed the idea for a new project that would become St. Lucia.

St. Lucia’s sound is distinct with a solid grounding in the best music from the 80s and 90s, with a constant freshness and an eye towards the future. Think a harmonious, fun mix of Cindy Lauper, Lionel Richie, Rick Astley, John Secada, and All Saints. Throughout my first listen to their first record, When The Night, I was consistently noting rifts, sounds and harmonies that were clearly inspired from previous artists, although I was hard pressed to get specific to the artist or their track. Their sound draws on the past, but evolves it, making it their own.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/19407183″ params=”color=ff6600&auto_play=false&show_artwork=true” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

St. Lucia will be at the BlackCat this Tuesday, and although the show is sold out, I highly recommend going the extra mile to snag a ticket because from my Q&A with Grobler it sounds like the band is going to BRING. IT.  Continue reading

Entertainment, Interviews, Music, We Love Music

Q&A with Paul Oakenfold

Paul Oakenfold
photo courtesy of MSOPR.

Paul Oakenfold is arguably the biggest dance music DJ and producer in the world. The closest thing to a household name that the hardcore dance world is likely to ever produce, Oakenfold has been a major force in electronic dance music for twenty years. Rising from a basement bar in Covent Garden at the end of the 80’s with an arsenal of Acid House and cross-genre Ibiza DJ stylings he went on to conquer the London nightclub scene and then the world. They simply do not make DJs bigger than Paul Oakenfold.

Oakenfold is bringing his Facelift Tour to the 9:30 Club on Tuesday November 23. He took some time out of his busy schedule to talk with me about his career and the current landscape of dance music.

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