I
f you want to distract Derek Vincent Smith, better known by his stage name Pretty Lights, then ask him a question about music. Like a student trying to distract their instructor during the
last half of class, this should buy you about five to fifteen minutes of explanation. He sounds like a music history professor as he rambles on making use of a wide vocabulary, except for the hip-hop slang tossed in throughout his sentences. Everything he creates has a special meaning and a significance that is the mark of an authentic artist. The interesting thing is that he dropped out of college during his freshman year to concentrate on music. Maybe it’s because he spends most of his time hanging out with other musicians and creative types.
Pretty Lights has garnered a monumental following since he released debut album ‘Take Up Your Precious Time’ in 2006, including fans from all over the musical spectrum. It’s partly because he started out playing festivals on the jam band circuit of Colorado, where his musical productions appealed to a community of reggae fans and Deadheads. “It came out of this live jamtronica scene. Not that I came out of that, but that was the scene that was happening where I lived,” Smith explains. “Those were my first fans. Those were the first people who really started loving my music and being like, ‘Whoa, this is really different than what we listen to but we love it.’ They didn’t know EDM. They didn’t know DJs. But they heard what I was doing and that was new to
their ears.” At the same time the music was something different. It had an electronic sound that could be appealing to ravers as well. In 2009 Pretty Lights secured his place in the burgeoning EDM scene of North America when he headlined at EDC and started his own record label, Pretty Lights Music. But according to Smith his music is not electronica, its hip-hop.
“When I headlined EDC that was a big vouch for me. I got some clout and the raver scene started getting into my music. That was two massive scenes of people who were getting into my music even though, like I’ve said a few times, it’s completely rooted in hip-hop. Finally, now I’m started to get offers to headline and play high bills at hip-hop festivals, which is a crazy thing. Like at Rock the Bells in New York City [October 4-5], I’m one of the headliners. The fact that I’m a producer that is mostly known in the EDM scene but am headlining a hip hop festival, it’s pretty fucking crazy. It’s awesome that the music is being embraced by the hip-hop community, the electronic community, and the jam band community even. I feel like the music appeals to people who like all types of musical genres because the variety is there. Not just from song to song, but with different styles.”
Many people are dubious when they find out that all of Pretty Lights music is available as a free download on the Pretty Lights website. This might be part of why he has so many fans, because anyone with an Internet connection can afford his music. Derek has been quoted in other interviews saying that he does not need to sell his music because he can afford to pay his rent
with the money that he makes from touring - take that Lars Ulrich! Fans have a choice to make a donation via PayPal or pay for the albums on iTunes. But all you have to do is click a button to download an album or EP in its entirety from his website. It is the same for the music of any other artists signed to his roster, a handful of carefully selected musicians that include Break Science, Eliot Lipp, Gramatik, Michael Menert, Paul Basic and SuperVision.
It is a tight knit crew of homies, “Kind of like the Wu Tang Clan of white boy producers from Brooklyn and Colorado,” according to Smith. He was already becoming successful in the music industry when he founded Pretty Lights Music in the summer of 2009 but he wanted a platform to premier other talented artists. “The first one was Michael Menert. He went from working a 40 hour a week, 9 to 5, to touring the country as a producer within two weeks, because the album came out on PLM and people just found out about it quicker. My motto is to ‘keep it crew and keep it fresh’. If one of my homies comes to me with a record that’s not the hot shit, then I won’t put it out. Because it’s really about quality over quantity.”
If you are one of those naysayers who are convinced that all DJs do is press play, then you should check out Pretty Lights. This fall, he will be traveling across North America and the UK with a five-piece band and a “super computer” set up that will allow him to deconstruct and remix live music as it is played. It is a feat that has never been accomplished before.
“I’m using a full analog rack with a mixer and
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