With the vast growth of digital streaming platforms, new producers and fresh content seem to be popping up by the mere minute, creating a cut-throat environment that can often times lead to prominent talent to be swept under the rug in the chaos. Composed of talented young names such as Moore Kismet, AKIRA, josh cassidy, grove, and GLASSPVCK, the newly established Don’t Sleep Collective aims to provide a nurturing platform for bright new talent to find their foothold in the scene.
The debut EP from the Don’t Sleep crew titled Thxrsty furnished my first introduction to the sensational 14-year old producer Maahirbr, who’s style blends throwback trap builds with heavy hitting vocal leads, weaving industrial influence into his drops in a manner that will make you want to get up and throw things around.
We were thrilled to have the opportunity to catch up with Omar Davis (Moore Kismet), Tanner Sagle (TUSK), and Tristan Loar (Sadboii);the brilliant minds behind the Don’t Sleep project to learn a little bit more about their vision for the collective, Thxrsty from their eyes & ears, and a brief peek at what is in store for the crew in 2019.
Be sure to check out the interview below as Maahirbr boggles your mind with his fusion style of hybrid trap!
The project wastes no time kicking into high gear, a gentle piano melody masks a robotic vocal loop in the intro of ‘Hxsh’. Muffled pattern of drums grows steadily in the distance as the cadence of the tune increases. A perfectly placed pre-drop vocal unleashes a fury of low bass hits and echoing metallic notes, which provides an immense amount of sonic depth to the track.
A haunting robotic chatter presents the opening for ‘Sxrxns’, a long drawn out pitch bend seamlessly transforms the droid-like noise into an ominous siren packed with a tight steel snare drum. Building hastily from the background a hydraulic riser catapults the track into a full-fledged invasion of barbaric synth thrusts and grungy bass breakdowns.
A determined melody of strings provides an unsuspecting introduction for ‘Plxytxmx’. Out of nowhere, a rampage of drums and exquisitely timed beat breaks launch the song into a groovy rhythm of bass swells and commanding horns. The string introduction circles back, this time backed with a hopeful vocal loop which hastens rapidly unleashing a completely unsuspecting second drop of high-pitched synth shrieks and riveting industrial fills. Needless to say, playtime is over by the time this track is through.
What was the main vision in mind when Don’t Sleep was founded?
Tanner: There are a lot of new faces in the music scene that we think deserve to not be slept on. Thus the name and philosophy of Don’t Sleep exists. Our main vision is to showcase new and incredible talent.
Did you meet and know each other prior to producing music, or was the majority of your relationship built upon working and collaborating with one another as artists?
Omar: I found out about Tristan and Tanner (the co-founders) via Tristan DM’ing me saying that he’d show my music to Virtual Riot in a greenroom. He introduced me to Tanner and from there, we began to talk about opening Don’t Sleep.
What are you looking for most with submissions to the collective and potential artists to join the ranks?
Tristan: For submissions, we’re most excited to hear hidden bangers coming from unknown artists and tracks with lots of progression and unique sound design. For potential artists to join, we’re looking for artists with a unique sound in the general genre of hybrid-trap.
Tell me a bit about discovering Maahirbr and what led to Thxrsty becoming the debut official EP release for the collective?
Tanner: Maahirbr sent us the Thrxsty EP as a demo and we saw a lot of potential. However there were a few kinks to work out before we considered a release, with a little guidance from Tristan and myself (with us knowing what we want to put out and a standard of quality that we hold all of our releases to), Maahirbr sent us what is now the final product.
From each of your perspectives, what did you find most impressive from a production standpoint in Thxrsty more specifically?
Omar: What I was the most impressed with was the overall arrangement and great quality of each track. The sound design is also insane, just again proving that talent shines through no matter what age you may be.
Tristan: I think the most impressive thing was his ability to blend genres in tracks throughout the EP and still have them seem very cohesive. Same with the project in general, all tracks actually feel like they all belong on the EP.
Tanner: I’m a huge fan of arrangement and progression in trap, and Maahirbr did a fantastic job making sure his tracks flowed well.
We’ve heard rumors that the submissions are officially open for the first Don’t Sleep collective compilation sometime in the spring. What advice do you have for young producers that might be looking to submit tracks for this?
Tanner: The rumors are true and we are accepting submissions for a compilation which will actually be coming out in the summer, and we already have some trap heavyweights confirmed to be making tracks for it that we’ll keep under wraps for right now. Submissions will close in the spring. Our advice for young producers is to just really give it your all. We love to show off new faces and new talent and make potential into reality. That said we are really looking for individuality as well, so doing your best to stand out from the crowd is really important.
Aside from the debut compilation, what else can fans expect to see from Don’t Sleep in 2019?
Omar: Our primary goal for the label this year is to give the artists whose tracks we release a good home and get the larger artists’ attention on these newcomers who make incredible tunes. We also have a couple more EP release plans within the coming months (yes, Maahirbr’s EP was not our only one), so we are looking forward to finalizing those and getting them out to the public.
