Gosteffects

Origin: None

Gosteffects serves up a witch’s brew of club anthems, dutchy tech house grooves, dubstep sensibilities and big kick drums ready for the floor. After a preview of his debut EP hit #1 on the Hype Machine Twitter Charts, his hotly anticipated release, “Kick The Bass,” hit the top 5 on Beatport’s Electro House releases chart and welcomed massive blog buzz. The first single “Slave To The Sweat,” is a mesh of electronic percussive elements, unconventional hover synth splicing, and mechanized vocals, conjuring up visions of sinful bodies packing a hot and sweaty dance floor. His debut EP tracks “Slave to the Sweat,” “Tear The Club Up,” “Kick The Bass,” “House of God,” and “Yeah!” were playlisted by some of the biggest names in electronic music including; Fatboy Slim’s official beatport top 10 beach boutique 2012, Benni Benassi’s EDC & Ibiza essential Cream live mixes, Laidback Luke’s radio and live sets, and Steve Aoki’s Sirius FM radio. Gosteffects is currently gearing up for the release of his sophomore EP. In between working on new originals he has completed official remixes for Duran Duran, Shiny Toy Guns, Icky Blossoms, and Ladytron.

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My relationship with music started at a very young age. I was raised in a Roman Catholic household in a small mid-America town of only 230 people. My Italian grandmother had studied to become a nun before she decided she wanted to get married and have a family. I spent many Sundays at a small church listening to her play the organ during mass. It was a musical and visual impression that has lasted with me throughout all these years. One summer, my family took a trip to Italy. We traveled around looking at cathedrals and religious art. During that time, I discovered industrial and electronic music, becoming consumed by the desire to understand how their sonic pallets were created. When I got back home, I got my first job at the age 13 to save up money to buy a Kurzwiel keyboard. Growing up in Oklahoma there wasn’t too much to do in terms of dance music culture, it had to be created from the ground up. Seven years ago, a group of friends and I took it upon ourselves to start a night where we could play the music we wanted to hear. Our party, ROBOTIC, has continued growing each year. I still return to OKC from NYC on a monthly basis to play. As I was at Nocturnal Wonderland this past Saturday, I stood in the crowd and looked around and watched the excitement, the love, the passion, and the pure happiness the music was bringing to the audience. The look on everyone’s faces that night was a stark reminder why I create music and throw events. If I can bring others joy through music the way that music has given me joy, there would be no greater gift.

Interview

Home Town: Oklahoma City, OK
Currently Living: New York, NY
Origin Of Name: The name Gosteffects emerged when a friend was taking photos of me and said he was trying to get some “ghost effects” with the lighting. I felt those words accurately described both the imagery and musicality of the new material I was working on at the time. I combined the two words to make a title out of it, and Gosteffects was born.
Weapon of Choice: Knowledge
Source of Power: Since moving to Soho in NYC, I have been surrounded and inspired by some elements I’ve been exposed to in the fashion world. I look for inspiration in designers such as Rick Owens or Ann Demeulemeester. I then try to translate some of the visual aesthetic into something musical.

Was there one particular moment in the recording or mixing process for your Discovery Project entry that made you feel like you were creating something pretty damn special?
I wouldn’t really say there was a particular moment I felt like that. I was just doing what I do. I just try to be the artist I am, and hope it resonates with others. Luckily in this case, it did.

What’s the biggest misconception about being a DJ?
I think people get the idea that DJs are big party animals since they are performing in a nightlife environment. That isn’t always the case. Producing music and creating art is intensive work. It takes extreme dedication and discipline. If you want art to be great, it has to become a complete and absolute obsession.

What is your ultimate career dream?
Collaborating with artists I love and headlining Insomniac events of course!

Do you have a list of people you’d like to collaborate with in the future?
There are a lot of artists I would like to collaborate with. Benny Benassi, Laidback Luke, and Fatboy Slim have played my tracks out. I would love to work with any of those guys. I would like to collaborate with some fashion/costume designers to create a theatrical performance for my live show.

How important is it for you to experiment and take on the risk of failure?
My whole new EP is based upon that concept. I’ve actually been kind of put off by the homogenization of dance music in the last couple years. Everything has started to sound the same because everyone is using the same tools such has NI Massive, Sylenth, and sample packs. I made a conscious decision to try to develop my own sound for this EP. You just have to hope it is similar enough to what is going on in music at the moment so that people will “get it,” but different enough that people find it unique. It is a fine line to walk.

What’s the most important piece of gear in your studio?
Macbook Pro. I pretty much work all in the box. I’ve recently made friends with a collector of vintage and modular synthesizers. My next EP is going to be made with analog synths. I want to start using tools that other producers are not using. I find that when I play with modular synthesizers, I have a much different creative process and therefore a much different outcome. For instance, I don’t necessarily use step sequencers in the software world but I love them in the analog domain.

If we pressed Shuffle on your iPod while you went to the bathroom, what would you be embarrassed to come back to us listening to?
Nothing, I don’t have any music on my phone. When I’m out and about I enjoy observing the sounds of the ordinary world.

What sound or noise do you love?
Lately I’ve been synthesizing sounds from audio of vocals. That’s one of my new favorite things. It is my way of giving inherently digitized sounding music a subliminal human quality that is subconsciously felt.

What advice would you offer someone thinking about entering the Discovery Project competition?
Go for it! There really isn’t any reason not to.

Winning Track