DJLarge

RaeCola Goes Bezerk: L.A.-based, Chicago-born tech-house twins RaeCola have had music in their lives since day one.

“Our parents always had funk and Motown playing in the house, and we had family members very involved in jazz and classical music,” they say. “The memories of going to jazz shows for our grandpa and uncle influenced us so much. We loved the hypnotic, contagious beats and the feeling of just letting go no matter the surprises and feeling that would come with. While that grew our interest, we could never forget the first time we heard juke. We would go to skate parties at our local rink; in the back room they’d play ghetto house and juke. We would sneak back there and instantly, we fell in love. There were girls dancing on the floor, people footworking in the middle, and everyone so carefree in expression. We remember having this pink boombox and we would play juke, cool new hip hop, R&B and anything else we were into at the time. Eventually we started making CDs with music we downloaded on Limewire for us and our friends.”

“Years later, we snuck into a club at 17 and once again were obsessed with the feeling,” they add. “Later on, we went to a DJ open deck and learned how to spin. The very next day we brought a DJ setup. To be honest, we were bedroom DJs for a while, working 9-5 while on a ramen diet but it was so worth it. We quit our jobs soon after to pursue music full time. The rest will be history.”

The two artists have spent the last few years refining their sound.

“Starting out DJing, we played a lot of hip hop, trap, R&B, and funk,” they say. “You can still feel those influences in our sound today with remixes of those original genres, hard-hitting drums, and groovy baselines. We also play a lot of the Chicago ghetto house that we grew up with, along with West Coast tech house – encouraging listeners to let loose, be carefree, and enjoy the moment. We do incorporate a lot of unconventional sounds and genres that are still danceable and hypnotic. Nothing is better than dropping some old school dub between some slappin’ house.”

They feel that this is an exciting time for electronic music in L.A.

“L.A. has brought out some really talented artists and there’s a really cool underground warehouse scene here,” they say. “We love to go see the more experimental DJs and learn a lot from hearing new sounds. There are certain venues that you can just tell people aren’t there for the music, which is fine. We love to party as much as the next girl, but it can diminish the quality of music played. You can usually tell from the ‘whoop whoops’ over generic beats. There definitely is something that hits different when going to a house show in Chicago, but we’ve grown to appreciate each city’s pros over any cons. At the end of the day, being brought together with music is something the world needs more than anything.”

RaeCola’s latest release is the Bezerk EP.

“We made these songs at home, just us two, but we came up with the idea in Denver,” they say. “We played a show and couldn’t sleep so we sat up writing lyrics. We came up with the lyrics for Bezerk around 5 a.m. It originally was a whole 16 bar hook, but we decided to trim it down to our favorite part which was so catchy, ‘Let’s go bezerk, eat it like dessert.’ The song embodies a lot of our West Coast house experience, but we wanted to also bring it back home so we made a juke edit with vocal chops of our original vocal.”

Looking ahead, they have plenty planned for the second half of 2022.

“We recently released with Fantastic Voyage this month for Justin Jay’s compilation, Now That’s What I Call Bootlegs,” they say. “On the compilation we released a remix of a song we grew up with ‘Double Dutch Bus’ by Frankie Smith. We’re also playing Dirtybird Campout for the first time in October. Until then, catch us at your local party or on the dance floor.”

RaeCola Goes Bezerk: RaeCola’s Bezerk EP is out now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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