EDV #3: seangran, a Curator for the People
And a few blurbs about our favorite projects from the last few weeks.
This third issue of the EveryDejaVu newsletter is my favorite one yet (I kind of hope I say this every time), but before hopping into it, there’s some label news!
On October 7th, we’ll be introducing our newest artist, Dolly Ave. She is an LA-based singer who made her music debut with her single, “Birds.” Before working in music, she primarily worked as a photographer who has photographed the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Chance The Rapper, Migos, among others. I first met Dolly through a recommendation from my friend Ben when asking around for someone to do a music video in LA. That connection resulted in the video for “Comfort” by Satchy. Fast forward a couple of years, and we’re only a week and change away from her second single, “Noise,” a song inspired by the downfall of a former relationship and her journey towards closure. “Noise” will be accompanied with a music video (check out that cool still from the video below!) and you can pre-save the song now. There’s a lot more planned from EveryDejaVu and Dolly Ave in 2021.
On top of that, today is the 4 year anniversary of Open Your Optics To Optimism, the collaborative album by Blu and Fate. While the Blu fan boy in me could go on for days about this album, Miles Lamensky best described it: “On Open Your Optics to Optimism, LA's Blu and producer Fate buckle into a DeLorean, cruising back to a time before time in order that they might gain the knowledge necessary to exude such a genuine optimism. Faced with the absurdity and bluntness of such numbers as "4.6 billion years," it's hard to imagine a human conjuring any optimism at all. But Blu's calm and creative delivery, as well as experimentally-rooted lyricism act as the perfect guide across Fate's rhythmically cohesive and booming production.” To celebrate it, we have put up a pre-order of a limited edition cassette which features two bonus tracks, “UFO II” (featuring Choker and Khary) and “Alienterlude.” Orders should be going at towards the end of October.
Onto the newsletter!
seangran: Founder of Stay Cool, DJ, Twitch Streamer, a Curator for the People
seangran is a London-based curator for the people. I was trying to remember the first time we crossed paths and I think it was through his writing at Artistic Manifesto (RIP), where I was also doing a few posts here and there. Around that time he reached out to me to do a two-part guest mix for EveryDejaVu called Word Up! that encapsulated artists and sounds that we were covering as a blog and label (at the time, we had just done a couple of compilation tapes). Since then, I’ve seen him showcase artists in the form of many radio shows, compilation albums, and lately, his Twitch channel. I caught up with him through Twitter DMs and Discord about his last few months on Twitch, the closing of Ace Hotel, and Stay Cool.
Snagged this beautiful picture off of seangran’s website.
When did you first think to bring your DJing to Twitch?
When lock down started I found a way to broadcast custom videos to Instagram while doing live DJ mixing. Naturally, IG as a platform leaves a lot to be desired as it takes up a person’s phone screen, has a messy UI and so forth, so I wanted to find a better option. I’d been following Twitch since the days of Justin.tv as I’d been a lifelong gamer and finally decided to attempt streaming on there with my old MacBook, especially as a few DJ homies were also attempting the move.
As a lifelong gamer, what game or games did that start with and what are you playing nowadays?
Started with the NES and Super Mario Bros, Duck Hunt, Bugs Bunny’s Birthday Blowout and some others. Nowadays I’m playing a healthy mix of Fall Guys, Rocket League, Spelunky 2 and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2, a series I hold close to my heart since the third entry was my first real portal into music discovery.
Did you have any doubts or fears getting into streaming?
Honestly I didn’t have any doubts. When it comes to starting something new as I’ve often done at this point the journey is the challenge but also the fun part. If anything I didn’t expect it to go as well as it has!
What's something that you wish you know before getting into Twitch and/or something you would advise someone starting out on Twitch?
Hmm, that’s a tough one. I would just say that consistency is key, it’s normal to have a core community that will stick around no matter what but if you disappear for a week even if it’s because you’re sick or something some of those more fringe members of your community will be likely to frequent your stream less.
Which streamers have you been tuning into lately?
Complexion aka The Future Beats Show captain is always gonna be someone I tune into. DJ-wise all of the homies from SoyEllaElla and 9thSage to Habibeats, Dwaisounds, stankpalmer and of course the aforementioned AV8Musiq are always gonna be channels I frequent. Beyond that Knxwledge, Soulection and Kennybeats are a must for music, but there are also a few walking tour streamers that I like to put on, especially if they’re walking around Japan for the nostalgia.
You were just a part of a 24 hour stream festival called Raid The Polls that supported raising awareness for voter rights. Can you tell me more about that? How did that go?
/RAID THE POLLS was an amazing success, and is the first real streamathon that I’ve been involved in, shouts to Chris aka AV8Musiq for getting me involved. Despite being outside of the US presidential elections have a big effect on the rest of the world, especially in the UK for various reasons, so the cause was close to my heart for reasons involving the rest of the world as well as America. Being able to join some of the most talented DJs and artists in the project was amazing, and seeing that we were able to raise $5000 for Voteriders made all of us feel so great about it. I’m already looking forward to the next one!
In terms of tapping into this community, you’ve had a Discord set up for Stay Cool for some time now. How has that helped you grow closer to the community that follows you and Stay Cool in the loop of what you’re doing?
The Discord is relatively new, and got made around the 4th month of my twitch channel I think? I spent a lot of time getting the look right, finding a bot that could use the commands I’d written from Twitch, and more but the usage has been really surprising. Even when I’ve not streamed due to being sick or busy it’s stayed active and my followers look forward to our pool party chats, where discussions carry over from the Twitch stream or new ones are born. I have a lot more plans for it, but it’s still early days.
From afar, I can tell Ace Hotel meant a lot to you and Stay Cool. Can you tell me what the closing of it meant to you, Stay Cool, and the local scene?
The closing of Ace Hotel London as you’ve suggested will have a big effect in every way. For me beyond the incredible nights I attended and planned both as a regular attendee in 2017 and the booker in 2019 the real thing I’ll be losing is an incredible, big group of people that (for the most part) got along like a house on fire. There were so many amazing people across the departments, and to know that many of them as foreigners won’t even remain in the UK is a real shame.
To Stay Cool, Ace Hotel provided a home for collaborative events, and having that creative control to do collaborations with my own brand is something I’ve ever experienced before. The loss of the lobby, where DJs played nightly and curated the unique vibe of the space, and the club Miranda downstairs is bigger than many outside of the city can realize.
To London, especially Shoreditch, Ace was a key part of the revitalization of the area when it debuted in 2013 and it’s loss as one of many venues in Shoreditch closing means that when COVID does pass and people are looking for nightlife options they’re going to be facing a city that has changed greatly. At the same time with death comes rebirth so I’m sure there’ll be new and fresh options we have yet to discover.
It's been apparent over the years I’ve known you that you genuinely enjoy showcasing new artists and music you enjoy. Through Stay Cool, you released the 3-part compilation, Altogether, in 2018 and Transitions in 2019 totaling over 100 tracks. How was it like bringing all of these artists together for these projects? Are there plans for another compilation coming from Stay Cool in the future?
I started work on a charity compilation last year but decided to wait for this year so that it could be done right. It’s still expected to drop in December, but due to some significant (and mostly positive) life changes that have happened there’s a small chance I’ll need to delay it again. I probably could’ve dropped it sooner but when it comes to charity I take things very seriously. Beyond that we’ll see what awaits Stay Cool next year as the journey has already taken me so many places that I didn’t expect. *
In Rotation
ve·loc·i·ty by H31R (Maassai & JWords)
I wrote a small blurb about JWords’ project dancepackvol.2 for the first newsletter I sent out and I remembering ended it on a note that I was excited for this project based off of a JWords tweet saying the project “from beginning to end is so crazy.” Two months later, it was released on September’s Bandcamp Friday and it delivered. The Brooklyn rapper takes on twelve beats from JWords that dances along the spectrum of electronic and hip-hop production throughout. There’s an array of flows in Maassai’s repertoire that she matches up perfectly with JWords’ synthesizers and sample flips that makes for a really engaging listen for the entirety of the run time at a little over 30 minutes.
Strawberries by Grady
This is my safe space to shamelessly plug anything EveryDejaVu related, but regardless of the fact that Grady has contributed to our compilations and we released one of his projects a few years back, I really wanted to share this album. Grady is a producer and multi instrumentalist based out of Seattle (at least last time I checked…) who masterfully blends sounds of hip-hop, jazz, indie rock and more. Impressively, Grady channels these sounds on his new project, Strawberries, in under ten minutes. In that short span of time, he lets his music breathe and build without a worry of time. Luscious synthesizers warp with clean guitar chords on songs like “Habit,” while he lets that same guitar show its grungy face on “In The Meantime.”
High End Theory by Ricky Felix
Last month, I interviewed Jiles for the newsletter and we spoke about Van Buren Records so it only feels right to include the debut project from the man behind a lot of the production for the Brockton collective. Ricky Felix brings a star-studded local feature list including Lord Felix, Saint Lyor, Jiles, Luke Bar$, and Kadeem to name a few. But Ricky Felix is the star here and allows his nocturnal, flowing, hard-knocking production to speak for itself. The assembly of High End Theory is top notch. Outside of the songs with features (of which they end on “Weird,” which feels like a party with five features), there’s a few standalone instrumentals that hold their own weight. “Leave You (I’ll Be Back)” closes out the project with perfection with the feeling of a triumphant goodbye in the form of airy strings and sharp percussion.
“Sapphire” by Eric Solitude
After continuously playing his track “Kymco” over the past year, I figured it was time to listen to dig deeper into Eric Solitude. Luckily, he just released his latest single called “Sapphire.” The track comes equipped with soothing synths and drawn-out rolling drums (and hums by the very talented Phoenix James) that make for a perfect late summer soundscape for Eric Solitude to sing about a love that makes him feel alive. The song also comes along with a “moving” video, not to be mistaken for a music video.