Missoula Chamberlin Rail Jam 2013 — The Artists
Chamberlin Rail Jam is hitting Missoula this weekend, and with it are four up-and-coming artists from the underground electronic music scene: Gramatik, Minnesota, ProtoHype and DCarls. Why should you be hyped up for these four electronic acts? Check out our profiles for each artist to find out.
Gramatik
Born Denis Jasarevic in 1984, Gramatik hails from the heavily-forested Eastern European land of Slovenia. He first demonstrated an interest in music at age 3, and he started making his own beats by the time he was 13 years old. With his philosophy of “freeing music by making music free,” Gramatik built a following in Europe through the power of free file sharing, and eventually he took his act stateside. Nowadays, he plays numerous festivals all around the U.S., such as Wanderlust, Camp Bisco, Electric Forest and much more. Gramatik grew up listening to blues, jazz, soul and funk, and those influences are all deeply embedded in his style.
Minnesota
Though his DJ handle may suggest otherwise, Minnesota doesn’t actually hail from the North Star state. Born Christian Bauhofer in Santa Cruz, Calif., Minnesota specializes in high-energy, bass-heavy dubstep. He has toured with the likes of Big Gigantic, Ghostland Observatory, Excision and Benny Benassi, and his music has been incorporated into the live sets of several notable DJs, such as Bassnectar and MartyParty.
“My goal is to make bass-heavy dubstep/glitch-hop music that'll get you dancing, but is not the same old, three-note transformer-step,” said Minnesota in his biography section on Vital Management's website. “I try to focus more on the melodic side of dubstep, and hopefully, make quality songwriting a more relevant factor in the genre.”
ProtoHype
ProtoHype is Max Pote, a 22-year-old from Tempe, Ariz. Since 2009, ProtoHype has been producing a unique brand of electronic music he refers to as “dub hop.” It is a blend of hip-hop vocals mixed with dubstep beats. That description hardly does his music justice, though - It needs to be heard to be fully understood and appreciated. (BTW, that’s what the video below is for!)
DCarls
Not a whole lot is known about DCarls’ identity, other than that his name is Dave and that he hails from Baltimore, Maryland. DCarls grew up playing guitar and piano before eventually discovering drum and bass music. He specializes in drum and bass and what he describes as “jazzy, glitchy, dubstep.”