Events

Popgun is super excited to have Kastle lay down some tracks that will make you want to dance non-stop all night long. Either that, or his R&B, bass heavy swag may want you to do other things, which is cool too. He's going to be at Glasslands on October 6th at 11:30pm, so be sure not to miss this one.

-KASTLE-
http://www.kastledub.com/

The popularity of bass-heavy dance music is spreading like wildfire across the world, with many producers crafting their own styles of dubstep, grime and garage. In the city of San Francisco, CA DJ/producer Kastle has cultivated his own style of bass-heavy beats with a soulful twist.

After teaching himself guitar and piano around the age of 12, Barrett Richards pooled his efforts towards electronic instrumentation about two years later. He began taking production as seriously as he did DJing during that time, and involved himself deep into the Northeast rave scene. It was no surprise that in time, though, personal growth and 14 years of production experience paired with a degree in audio engineering would breed a new sound. Kastle came to life at a pivotal moment after a big move from Boston back to his hometown of Pittsburgh in March 2009. After nearly a year of conceptualizing, he knew he was working on something special.

The name itself implies a fortress, a personal space that is used to cultivate a long-time love of hip-hop and R&B and fuse it with the magnetizing effect that dubstep, garage and bass-heavy music has had on Barrett and, really, the various communities of underground electronic music.

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."

- SLEEPYHEAD -
http://soundcloud.com/sleepyhead

Bay area producer Sleepyhead is 1/2 of the duo Sexytime when he performs with Mimosa.

-LAMIN FOFANA (DJ SET)
http://soundcloud.com/laminfofana

-SONKIN-
http://soundcloud.com/sonkin

Seclusiasis (Starkey/Dev79) foot-soldier Leon Sonkin has worked his way to becoming a strong DJ fixture in the northeastern bass community. Having played with the likes of Skream, Benga, Mrk1, Rusko, Noah D, Nero, NOISIA, Joe Nice, Chase & Status, Benny Page, 12th Planet, Conspirator, Trill Bass, the New Deal, MIMOSA, and the Disco Biscuits, along with a variety of world class electronic musicians, hip hop acts and bands, Sonkin is no stranger to the crowd. Playing a heavy role in bridging the gap between live bands and the dubstep/bass community, Sonkin has found himself gracing the main stage at Baltimore’s Starscape Festival, as well as Camp Bisco and Steez Promo’s Fall Massive. Sonkin continues to expand on his sound and is soon to press further into the world of production. His tracks have already drawn support from the likes of Joker, Starkey, Dev79, EPROM, Sleepyhead, Shiftee and others.