House, Interviews | Lars Allertz: Sweden’s Next Big Thing
Posted by mimada on February 12, 2014
Photo by Fabian Wester
2013 has been the breakthrough year for Sweden’s new DJ/producer talent Lars Allertz. His hit track, “Make You Mine” has scored in the Top 10 of the Swedish iTunes chart, been aired on Swedish national radio, and played during his first arena gig at the Swedish electronic music festival, November Lights. As things are looking bright for the 21-year-old, our guest blogger Rebecca made a trip to Stockholm to talk to him about his progressing career.
It’s classic Swedish winter weather and the traffic is slow, just as it is every year. I never learn that the road workers seem to always forget how to handle the snow. My bus is late, and I’m late to my meeting with Lars Allertz. Shit.
After a ”refreshing” sprint in my not-so-sprint-friendly combat boots from the bus station to Uppsala’s central train station, I throw myself on the train to Stockholm. I arrive fifty minutes later, stressed out and therefore very nervous. But Lars Allertz greets me with the kindest approach, and I realize that his down to earth personality is forgiving, even for my stupid mistake to clean up the apartment after last night’s raging after-party instead of choosing the early bus.
Allertz suggests we take a short walk to his studio located in the prettiest and nicest area in Stockholm – Östermalm. It’s the kind of area where I, in my dreams, imagine myself buying the perfect turn of the century apartment when I, in the future, am ridiculously successful and perfect (fingers crossed).
During the walk we get into a relaxed conversation. Allertz tells me about the studio, how it’s in the same building as the DJ duo Nause, and that he in facts spends most of his time here “where the magic happens.”
Exclusive, Featured, Interviews | The Two Friends Coach Me Through A Kiss Cam With A Committed Woman, Finish A 50 Shades Of Grey Excerpt And More
Posted by Mel on January 14, 2014
The year was 2008. The month was September. It was a brisk Monday morning. The air was thin and the women were thick. A young Matt Halper emerges from his slumber to once again find sentience in his willy after almost a fortnight without. “Ya swooned me bro” he says as he looks across the room at the bottle of Vaseline he sometimes uses. After a quick shower and a thorough application of Old Spice body spray across his unimpressive body, he headed off to school. It was the first day of the school year and he had just moved from the great state of Wyoming to the northeastern region of Guatemala so he was a tad worried that there wouldn’t be any cute girls there, let alone white people. His slightly racist worries were soon cast aside however when on his way to school, he was kidnapped and held for ransom by a middle aged caucasian woman. She didn’t have a weapon or anything, she just simply overpowered him.
Days became weeks and the weeks peaked at three. On the third week of his capture there was a breakthrough. The woman who had intended to hold him for a ransom changed her mind when she realized he was not a very attractive guy so nobody would really care enough to pay a sizable fund for his release, so she just forgot about him. The unexpected demise of Matt Halper was seemingly inevitable at this point and after being trapped in a dark room for weeks, he had just about given up all hope. That is until he heard the undoing of the lock and the door abruptly open. “Here, take this and come with me” a mysterious hooded person said as they tossed him a small cylindrical thing. Matt and his saviour ran through the door only to be confronted by the woman, who was in fact Darth Vader. It was only then that he looked down and realized what it was he was holding. Matt drew his lightsaber and in tandem with the hooded man, began combat with the Sith Lord. They defeated him swiftly and got on the first flight back to America. They were sitting on the plane when Matt broke the silence, looked at his saviour and asked “who are you?”. “The name’s Eli, Eli Manning”.
And that’s the story of how Matt Halper and Eli Sones, known collectively as The Two Friends met. We had a chance to talk to them about mostly non-music related things and it got pretty heated (they insulted my sister but then said jk so I let it slide). Read on for the interview.
Exclusive, Featured, Interviews | Sandro Silva Talks Payback, Ghost Producing & More [FNT Exclusive]
Posted by Middy on December 12, 2013
Dutch phenom Sandro Silva has been on the scene since he was 15, soon breaking through with his release “Prom Night”. The mastermind behind the game-changing single “Epic” (he sheds light on it during the interview), Sandro Silva has proven he is not a one hit wonder, garnering a countless number of other well-received singles & remixes on labels like Mixmash, Spinnin’, and most recently, Revealed Recordings.
His most recent single, “Payback” hit the top ten of the Beatport main charts and has been a favorite of artists like Hardwell, Benny Benassi, Deniz Koyu and plenty more. We had the chance to chat with him about his most recent single to see what makes it different from other festival-styled tracks, ghost production, an accusation incorrectly thrown at him, and more. Read on for the interview and grab “Payback” here.
Exclusive, Interviews, Review | Wallpaper. Exclusive FNT Interview @ Fillmore SF 11/24
Posted by FilthyTaft on December 2, 2013
FNT had the honor of going to see Wallpaper. live, alongside 3OH!3 in San Francisco last Sunday night. We caught up with Wallpaper. after his set, and you can check out the interview we had with him above. The loud audio and the dark/festive lighting and setting perfectly reflect the mood of the night, so our apologies if it’s more going on than your normal interview, but I think Ricky Reed would be happier with this “hesh” setting than if it were in a quiet room in the back away from the party.
Although, after hearing Wallpaper.’s hit song Hesher, you may assume that all their music is very electronic based and therefore their concert would be more like a rave where a DJ plays loud music and everyone crowds together. However, Wallpaper. blew us away when their entire set was performed by a team of 4 – two drummers, one dancer/secondary vocalist, and of course, Ricky Reed himself. Besides showing us their awesome musical capabilities, they engaged the entire crowd using more than just music — but more of entertainment as a whole. There was awesome music being played, even with electronic songs like Hesher being perfectly recreated on the drums. There was also a whole lot of awesome dancing going on, and just a whole lot of good and energetic vibes that captured the audience as a whole. Hard to say I’ve really experienced anything like it before — but it was awesome, and we definitely look forward to seeing them perform next time they’re in the bay again.
P.S. Check out the awesome pic we got during his performance, and check it out when he instagrams it in the screenshot below.
Exclusive, Featured, Interviews | Showtek Talk The “Art” Of DJing, Terrible Shows, Basketball And More [FNT Exclusive]
Posted by Middy on November 26, 2013
In conjunction with our presenting their Showtek Essentials a few weeks back, we have an interview with Dutch masters, Sjoerd and Wouter Janssen, known to you as Showtek. Their move from Hardstyle to Showtek-styled electro house in the past few has been well chronicled, starting with productions alongside Tiësto and Marcel Woods, like “Maximal Crazy” and then really breaking out with their own collabs and originals like “Hell Yeah”, “How We Do”, “Cannonball” and most recently “Booyah“. I would argue that besides W&W, only Maarten Vorwerk (unwittingly, the most famous ghost producer out there) has helped sculpt the festival-oriented dance music landscape as much as Showtek. They do not waste a single production, and live bring that energy to you every night.
During our interview we cover everything DJing, which they say “Their mum could do it”, their productions, past and future, bad shows, their love for basketball and much more. Head past the break to get to know the Janssen brothers a little better and stream the remixes for “Booyah” while you read.
Hip-Hop, Interviews, Rap | Times New Roman talks music, aspirations, and what’s next with FNT
Posted by yabishcic on November 6, 2013
Before our interview, I honestly had no idea what to expect from Times New Roman. All I knew about him was from his chill, laidback music that I had been listening to as of recently on his SoundCloud and the couple of exchanges we had over some emails prior to the date. As soon as we got the ball rolling though, I knew it was going to be a one of those interviews that would take its natural course. Of course, I already had some preset questions that I wanted to get answered along the way, but as far as formal conversations go, this was not one of them. Times New Roman, formally known as William Bolton, was more than eager to share talks about life, girls, music, and more. Currently residing in Chestnut Hill, MA attending Boston College as a sophomore, William lives a healthy balance between goals and reality, but is more than focused on his career as Times New Roman to blend the two together. Our interview flowed smoothly as ever, but here are the main questions that everyone should know the answer to when it comes to Times New Roman, which include his major musical influences, his aspirations, and what’s next.
Exclusive, Featured, Interviews | Seven Lions On Taking Time Off From Touring, Upcoming Productions And More
Posted by Middy on November 6, 2013
There aren’t many guys who have created trends and styles in dance music today. Seven Lions’ patented brand of melodic dubstep has quickly become one of the go-to styles for a throng of copycats and established producers alike. After transitioning from metal to electronic music, Jeff Montalvo made his presence felt in a huge way with his Beatport competition winning remix of Above & Beyond’s “You Got To Go”, that would launch his career and open doors that were not even on possible for him to reach before.
We caught up with Seven Lions on his tour bus before he was slated to go on at Pier 94 on Halloween with Krewella, Gareth Emery, Candyland and Cash Cash. We chatted about his upcoming plans, including taking time off from touring next year, touring in general, releases he has coming up, music piracy and much more.