The day has finally come: New York is getting a wave music showcase. This Friday, April 14th, NYC is getting emotional with Skeler and barnacle boi, as part of their US headline tour. Supporting them on this stop is local wave music champion, Noah B, and vibe.digital stars, KTrek and Djedi.
While this massive tour also features Brothel as a headliner at many of the stops, he will not be playing in NYC this time around. However, Freshly announced is the addition of a special opening set by the one-and-only SBU. This is certainly going to be a night for the history books.
Read on to get to know all the artists on this lineup. You will also find more information about wave in NYC, some interview content with Noah B… as well as the answer to that age-old question, “where’s Skeler?!”
Yes, It’s Real: a Wave Music Showcase in NYC!
While New York City might not come to mind as an international hotspot for wave music today, that wasn’t always the case. In the early days of wave, upstate New York–and NYC–played a pivotal role in many ways, as it was home to many of our foundational artists, like JessAudrey, Just Connor, and of course, Noah B.
Some might even go as far as to say NYC is right up there with London as one of the birthplaces of wave, as some of the earliest wave shows occurred right here in The Big Apple.
In a forthcoming exclusive interview with Noah B, the artist explains some of this history…
Noah B on those early wave days:
“I’ve been making what you would call wave music since, like, 2011, 2012. I never knew anybody else who was interested in it, or made anything like it.
And in 2013, through SoundCloud, and all that, I found Klimeks‘ music. Then, something just immediately clicked in me, and I was like, ‘there are other people out there who feel the same way I do, who want to create sounds that convey the same emotions that I’m trying to convey!?’
And through that, I just started exploring and finding more and more artists, and then I realized, like, okay, there could be–you know, this was before there even was a community–but I realized, there really could be a community for this.”
– Noah B
That community was closer than Noah thought–practically in his own backyard.
In 2016, wave music found its home in dive bars in the Hudson Valley region of New York, before migrating down to The Big Apple, and beyond.
Back in 2017, I played a show at Baby’s All Right in Brooklyn, with Plastician, Just Connor, JessAudrey, and a couple other people. That was like, the first time we had, you know, a ‘real’ wave show in New York City, where it was like, a packed room full of people enjoying the music.
And that was a super pivotal moment.
I mean, before that, if I get into a little bit of the backstory… there was like, this little underground venue in Manhattan that we were playing at called Babycastles. It was like an art gallery kind of space. And they were letting us, you know, throw shows together. And they weren’t, like huge, or anything– there was maybe like 50, 60 people at the most, or whatever.
But at one of those events, me and Connor were there.
And we see this guy standing in the back and he’s got a wavemob shirt on.
And Connor’s like, ‘We got to go up to him and talk to him!’
And, you know, see who he is, why he’s here and all that stuff.
So, we go up to him, and start talking to him, and this was our first introduction to Fyoomz.
At the time, Fyoomz was living in New York, and he just was expressing how much he loved the music, how much he really dug what was what the scene was doing, and all this stuff–
And honestly, I think that moment was the catalyst for so many things that happened afterwards, like the formation of vibe.digital, and all of that.
Forming the community was very much so about just like, connecting with the people [who also love it].
And it’s still, to this day–it’s all about just connecting with the people who love this music.
And it’s just– Fyoomz had the passion, and Connor always had the passion for it, and everybody who I would meet, has this passion for it–
And it’s just, you know, we never expected that it would turn into, you know, what it turned into.”
– Noah B
In 2023, Wave Returns to NYC: ft. Skeler & Friends
Get to know all the artists coming to The Meadows:
From KTrek to Skeler, find out everything you wanna know about the wave artists coming to NYC on Friday, below. Get your tickets to the show here.
SBU
Get to know SBU by watching this video made by KaleidoMedia:
KTrek
“After an explosive first year of launching his musical project, KTrek has harnessed a balance between organic intensity and lush basses. It is of little surprise that his sound is likened most to NERO, as well as both skeler and Juche, who have both supported/mentored his work in the past. KTrek has created 13 tracks, mixing atmospheres between Trap, Wave, and Cyberpunk, all with euphoric in-house vocals for each release. It’s the connection between these four elements that create intense soundscapes that leave you flying towards the future. Tracks like “Omsaya” (released by Trap Nation) give rise to intense emotional overtones, while releases like “exoh” released by Night Mode) evoke powerful organic spaces.”
Djedi (B2B Noah B)
Connect with Djedi:
“With over 12+ years of experience throwing down at clubs and festivals worldwide, Djedi has become a crux of the wave scene, touring with the likes of Deadcrow, Skeler, and operating the wave label and talent agency known as vibe.digital.”
“Since [the founding of vibe.digital in 2018], he has been at the forefront of bringing the underground genre of “Wave” to the United States via label releases, live events, and touring his roster nationally and internationally. With an ear for under represented high-level talent, Brett [will] continue his work [at Kompass], supporting artists he believes in and bringing them to new heights.”
(c) HE//, Kompass MG
Noah B (B2B Djedi)
“Noah B, one of New York’s many niche talents, dropped his first album ‘2 0 8 0 8’ back in 2014. The debut received praise from underground electronic fans globally and propelled him to fame on digital platforms such as Soundcloud and Bandcamp. In 2016, Noah B’s mark on the downtempo scene became even more momentous, with the release of his ‘Night’s Edge’ E.P. on the seminal Terrorhythm recordings.
Polished and unapologetically glacial, Noah’s optimistic style evades categorization but has been closely linked to the emerging Wave movement. His latest release, ‘South Hills’, demonstrates the breadth of his ability to craft sensitive soundscapes.”
Barnacle Boi
“Ian Oliver (professionally known as barnacle boi) is an American record producer, DJ, vocalist, and visual artist based on the East Coast. barnacle boi developed his production style during his few years living in Denver, Colorado and has stuck with it ever since. He is known for his original work, as well as his production for artists such as Bones (TeamSESH), Holly Stell, Madi Larson, and more. He has received support and recognition from Alice Glass (former frontwoman of the well-known electronic duo “Crystal Castles”), Finn Wolfhard of the Netflix series “Stranger Things”, and various other musicians/public figures. Many of barnacle boi’s releases have included remixes of early 90’s/2000’s classic hits such as “All The Things She Said” by tAtU, “Youth of the Nation” by POD, “Crawling” by Linkin Park, “I Miss You” by Blink 182, and more. His style is best described as emotional, yet bass-heavy,”
Skeler
“Skeler has been at the forefront of developing the wave scene for years. Re-defining the genre with every track, Skeler combines dubstep and trance influences to create energetic and hard-hitting wave music like no other. Skeler’s influence has not gone unnoticed, with nods from artists like RL Grime and Dillon Francis playing his music at huge festivals like EDC.
Over the past year Skeler has released with various platforms including Liquid Ritual, vibe.digital, FOMH, YUME, the_accidental_poet, Bass Nation with plays numbering in the tens of millions.”
all assets (c) vibe.digital unless otherwise stated.
The North American Wave Tour of 2023: all dates.
Find your local barnacle boi x brothel x skeler show below.
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