Chicago based duo of destruction, Elevatd, comprised of members Dennis Castelan and Chris Clingingsmith, have been grabbing the world of excessively heavy bass music by the balls lately. Their gritty, grimey, hard-hitting “smack you so hard you run home crying to your mama” type sound has been making heads turn so quick they’ve been billed from several chiropractors. Their freshman release on Buygore, ‘Decimation’ has already amassed over 22 thousand plays after being released just 20 days ago.
Riding this tidal wave of momentum, these midwest boys took some time to sit down with us and talk about their beginnings, journeys, passions, and tastes, along with putting together a guest mix so nutty squirrels have started hoarding speakers playing it. The mix includes a mind-boggling 18 unreleased songs from the duo (no, I promise that isn’t a typo).
Step right up to this veritable beat buffet and let your face automatically contort into all sorts of hideous expressions as the bass takes control. If you’re looking for something fresh to add into your weekly rotation or something to motivate your workouts to keep that summer body in peak condition, look no further! Check out the guest mix and interview for yourself below!
Tell us a little about yourselves
We are ELEVATD from Chicago, Dennis Castelan & Chris Clingingsmith. Just trying to make music that will ELEVATE yourself, & your mind.
Give us a rundown of your musical journey so far.
The “ELEVATD” project itself is going to hit two years in November. We both came from different projects in the past, but we found working together our skills complemented each other perfectly & both had the same vision. As far as the journey since then, it’s been exactly the metaphorical roller-coaster you’d expect. Hitting the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, but here we are, so cheers to that.
Who were your biggest inspirations growing up?
Chris: Coming from a metal screamo background my first musical inspiration that drove me to start making music was Avenged Sevenfold. I like to think you can hear some of the inspiration in some of our tunes with epic breaks and orchestral aspects. As far as my biggest Electronic inspiration, would be RL Grime, he was one of the first shows I ever went to and constantly puts on the best performance every time I’ve seen him since .
Dennis: Growing up I spent a lot of time listening to music, tons of different kinds of music. One of my earliest memories is collecting all the Tapes/CD’s my parents had and throwing them all on randomly on their CD player. My dad listened to all the classic Hip-Hop & Rap artists, he always said it’s about the BASS. My mom was huge on freestyle, Spanish, & early 90’s dance music. But some of my biggest inspirations growing up have to be Mac Miller, System of the Down, & Kid Cudi.
Where does the name ‘Elevatd’ come from?
We want this project and our music to be an outlet for people to ELEVATD themselves from all the negativity that surrounds this world.
What sound have you been really trying to hone in on as of late?
It honestly just depends on whatever we are feeling that day, our main focus is to not define ourselves.
Walk us through the guest mix you’ve prepared for us today! What was your overall theme? And how did you balance the flow?
Well it couldn’t have come at a better time to tell you the truth. Over the past year we’ve made so much music that no one has heard and would’ve probably never heard if it wasn’t for this mix. We made a bunch of edit’s specifically for this mix & just dumped as many ID’s as we could into it ;)
What producers or labels do you feel are pushing the boundaries of sound the furthest recently?
Never Say Die that label always puts out consistent quality tunes & spotlights, some of the heaviest music in the industry. We just released a song on Buygore with our boy Dogma named Decimation and they all around crush it. We really like all the stuff from Jadū Dala, WEDIDIT COLLECTIVE, Wakaan, Elysian Records, Quality Goods Records, & Deadbeats all quality stuff. As far as artists go listen to this mix, we added tons of music we love from all of our friends.
Besides electronic music, what other types of music and artists do you guys listen to in your free time?
Chris: Anything that’s good lol, anything that makes you feel a proper amount of emotion and is produced well.
Dennis: Mac Miller he’s one of my idols! Kid Cudi as well they are always on repeat.
Since you guys are from Chicago, what’s your favorite food specific to the city?
Chris: Any Italian cuisine.
Dennis: If your not from Chicago you gotta hit up Portillo’s but if not Big n’ Litte’s, Lazo’s Tacos, or Buffalo Joe’s they got the best wings in the city!
Do you have anything big coming in the last 4 months of 2019 you’d like to talk about?
We’re playing North Coast Music Festival August 30th. But mainly we are just ready to get all this music into your ears ;).
Tracklist
- ELEVATD – RISE FROM THE DEAD *
- ELEVATD – LET’S GET ELEVATD
- KOMPANY X ELEVATD – SEETHING CRICKETS * (ELEVATD EDIT)
- ELEVATD – U NO EYE *
- ATLiens – FUCK THAT
- NLE CHOPPA X EPTIC X BREAUX X WILL WYLIN X ELEVATD – SHOTTA END SLUDGE EM * (ELEVATD EDIT)
- THIRTY RACK X Boombox Cartel X LUMBERJVCK X TYNAN & Khaos – XAN MAN Dem Fraid (ELEVATD EDIT)
- Dion Timmer X G-REX X ELEVATD – Tell You Why G A T * (ELEVATD EDIT)
- ELEVATD – DRIP *
- Tove Lo vs. Tiesto & Mesto X VERCU – Stay High LIKE A G * (ELEVATD EDIT)
- FISHER – LOSING IT (ELEVATD REMIX)*
- ELEVATD – GAD DAM *
- Kedzie x JACKNIFE – Neutron
- Badrapper – 911
- J Balvin, Willy William X ELEVATD X DYNVMIC – Mi Gente ID * (ELEVATD EDIT)
- Mastadon – SHIT (STUCA Edit)
- COMETHAZINE – WALK (ELEVATD REMIX)
- Hekler & Gladez – Sonic Boom
- SNOOF X ELEVATD – This Will Never End
- SNOOFX PLSMA – BLADES
- JOYRYDE X FREDDIE GIBBS X MUST DIE! – DAMN CHAOS (ELEVATD EDIT)
- DOGMA X ELEVATD – DECIMATION
- ELEVATD X BENJI – FALLOUT *
- NOT LOUD ENOUGH – Arsenal *
- DOWNLINK X PEEKABOO & G-REX X HEKLER & GLADEZ X ELEVATD – BABA 404 HOTEL SINNER * (ELEVATD EDIT)
- Trampa X L.U.X – Rocket Fuel Silence (ELEVATD EDIT)
- ELEVATD – @c1D *
- Badrapper & Leotrix – Yippee Ki Yay
- Svdden Death X ELEVATD – BEHEMOTH M@KE YOU W@NN@ * (ELEVATD EDIT)
- Gladez – Hardwired
- ELEVATD – BAD NEWS *
- Josh Cassidy – Hideout
- Post Malone X eugene – Better Now feel it (ELEVATD EDIT)
- NXSTY & K-NINE X ELEVATD – PAIMON X Corrupted Mindz *
- ELEVATD – MF FIRE *
- ELEVATD – SWEET DREAMZ *
- The Ronettes – Be My Baby
* UNRELEASED TRACKS
