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Upfront: Promnite

Power of the Snake Charmer

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Promnite has the uncanny ability to compose the perfect beat for just about any vibe. Whether it’s a club banger, hard trap sounds, or a breezy R&B-influenced track, Prom can pull from his diverse pool of inspiration to turn out just the right jam. This is evidenced further in his latest release, the Snake Charmer EP which dropped just a matter of days ago and is the ideal mix of sonic light and dark. We delve a little deeper and caught the beatmaker for a few quick questions about his latest project.


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Hi Promnite. Congratulations on the release of the Snake Charmer EP. Is the music a culmination of your music career or the result of your exact thoughts and influences during the recording?

Thanks! It took me forever to finish lol. I believe the Snake Charmer EP is more a passion project than anything else and I wanted my first EP to consist of real emotion. It took some time to build a narrative through each song and create that world for myself which ultimately is Snake Charmer. I’d say it is my most honest work to date.

You’ve signed to Fool’s Gold, who also host a wealth of virtuosic producers. Was sharing a label with so many influential electronic artists a big reason for joining the team?

I love the Fool’s Gold roster and have a crazy deep respect for A-Trak, who cares so much more about the craft and aesthetic more than anything else. I don’t think the artists on the Fool’s Gold roster were the reason for me signing to FG more so than their team being ultra supportive of me and wanting to help get my vision out, because to me, that comes first.

Why the mish-mash of house music and hip-hop? Are they two styles you’ve always been equally endeared towards and thus could never practice one without the other?

I think being born and raised a New Yorker, the two things I’ve always loved have been house and hip-hop (as NY is very much driven by those two sounds). I’ll admit I make hip-hop because it’s what I love, but I don’t necessarily want to play it live. Where as with house, I make it because that’s what I love to listen to in the club. The two genres aren’t mutually exclusive to me although in the future I’m going deeper into the house world.

I apologise for the clichéd question but which artists were your biggest influences growing up? And who are your biggest influences at this stage in your career?

Ahh, I listened to so much different shit growing up, I was pretty much a skate punk in my teens which I believe exposed me to everything. Anything from Minor Threat and Bad Brains to MF Doom, Todd Terry, Kevin Sanderson… you could name it and it was probably on my iPod. These days I don’t think I really have a huge influence I draw from, but I would definitely say my close friends that make music influence me to be the best I can be.

On the new EP you work with Mark Johns, Denzel Curry, and fellow Fool’s Gold rapper LaDonnis. Does collaborating with so many equally talented artists allow you to be more creative and experimental when recording?

Absolutely. Every artist I chose for my record has something very unique or shares a quality with me that allowed my narrative to be projected perfectly. The whole project has vocal features and touches on topics or feelings that mean something to me, or meant something to me at the time. They all brought something new and different to the table so I’m happy the music portrays this so well.

You’ve been recording music for some years now. What can long-term fans expect – anything surprising and/or refreshing on this new EP?

I think long term fans will finally get an honest project outside of what I’m known for which is mostly club/house tracks or beats. For the most part, this one is mostly a listening project. I wanted to bring my fans into my world for a second instead of delivering a project that’s meant for the club, so hopefully my message is conveyed properly :)

 

Snake Charmer is out now.

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