PANTyRAiD Barges Into the Bedroom With Sensual Jam “If I Stay”
Try not to get too attached to your undies, because PANTyRAiD is about to barge into the bedroom with some freshly formed work. Per usual, the West Coast bass duo—composed of Glitch Mob’s Ooah and MartyParty—turns loose some of the most sexified beats known to mankind, which will make you want to drop trou without the need of getting all wined and dined beforehand.
Afterglow is the third full-length forged by the hands of these two studio seductionists, which sees them operating in their usual freaky-deaky ways. Except there’s a noticeable growth spurt to be heard across the 10-track pack, as their brand of glitch-tinged goodness glows under a more refined and intimate light. One of the most sensual jams from the LP is “If I Stay,” which gets its first tumble on Insomniac today, and is a perfect portrayal of their ability to flirt with desire as much as they do the dancefloor.
With the album slated to rock shelves tomorrow and a 17-stop tour already underway, we pinned down PANTyRAiD to get the full scoop on the project’s current happenings.
It’s been roughly three years since the last PANTyRAiD album dropped. What developments, personal and/or artistic, have you undergone since then, and how have they been applied to your new LP?
This is our third album, and like The Sauce and Pillowtalk, it speaks of our present lives. We strive to be original and to push the envelope of electronic music, making it something for the dancefloor yet something to live by—to capture time and feelings and to translate those feelings timelessly into the lives of our fans. We both went through personal metamorphoses during the writing process, through the evolution of the album, and continued to blossom to its completion, and we definitely put those soulful, loving feelings into the songs. We are both very similar guys, and our music illustrates that synergy and desire to express both sexuality, longing, love and excitement through our medium, which is music.
Although the album accomplishes the same transcendence of genres, it has a sort of matured nature compared to your previous material. What headspace did you approach the album with, and has the overall message of your output changed since the last release?
Thank you. Yes, we are constantly maturing, learning, digesting, experimenting and evolving our sound. For this album, we started with an entirely new toolkit, drums, and tempos. We wanted to express the PANTyRAiD emotion with an entirely new process, and the result is a very unique album—each song standing alone, different from the last two, yet undeniably PANTyRAiD. Our message is and has always been to celebrate life, its constant change, its emotions, ups and downs, and its beauty, through our music. Our music changes, but it always remains sexy, seductive, classy and rhythmic. We make sexy dance music; this is our latest edition.
Did you reach a point where you knew for a fact the album was 100 percent complete, or do you still listen to any of the tracks and feel an itch to tweak them?
The process starts with sketching, then refining, then selecting and abandoning some, so we start with many and end with those that last the test of time. Nothing in art is ever 100 percent finished, and we accept that, but with patience and sufficient breaks from the songs, one learns what is good, what is fresh, and what is meant to be. This is the process of writing albums—it is a voyage we take together, and the result is a set of songs we both feel are as close to perfect as we can achieve. This is one of the beauties of collaboration: if one person thinks something is good or done, it is never as sure as two people thinking the same thing.
Let’s rap about “If I Stay” for a second. In your mind, where does this song rank compared to other featured cuts, and what makes it stand out from the package?
We feel “If I Stay” is a massive, groundbreaking sound. When we developed it, we actually struggled to find its way. But like all great art, one day it clicked, and once we saw where it was going, it became a monster—a truly sexy dance track, very PANTyRAiD. Movements in the seduction of pretty, sensual tension, and down-and-dirty bassline grind, the ride is truly intense, just like life itself.
The album tour kicked off during weekend two at Coachella. Which tracks from the album did you give a go to, and how well did they go over with the crowd?
We played most of the album in our Coachella set, as it was the first time both of us heard it loud on a big system together. It was a test drive and went really well. We formulated our tour set from that experience.
At the beginning, you both generally avoided the thought of a full-fledged tour—to make sure your work retained its magic, so to speak. What eventually allowed you to move past those concerns and embark on a 17-stop run like your current one?
Our intention was to take the album on the road as a reconnection with our fans and to play intense club nights in the major markets. We were not sure how it would go, as we had not put anything out since Pillowtalk, but the demand was overwhelming, and without releasing the music, we landed up with quite a run. Once the music is out and we have played this run, we will design a second run to make sure we catch up with all our beloved fans. A European run is also something we are discussing with excitement.
Your output has always seemed to resonate deeply within transformational circles, with a few festivals in that realm already down in the books. Why do you think the aforementioned community has latched on to your music so strongly?
One cannot question the whys of music too deeply. It’s all about how it starts; we began our journey at Lightning in a Bottle in L.A. back in 2008, so we made our first mark on that crowd, and that’s what snowballed us… We met and became friends on the festival circuit, and that is where our circle of friends is. I guess we seeded into our own community. We love taking our story, our music, our feelings and sound, and our vulnerability into other communities and welcome that challenge.
How would you define your primary demographic?
Enlightened souls. Conscious beings. The sexy people. The hedonists. The lovers. Those that love to really dance. We are spiritually destined to shine this thoughtful, sexy, playful energy onto all that are ready to accept it—that is probably the best definition. 🙂
Preorder PANTyRAiD’s Afterglow LP here.
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