This past Saturday, I Love Neon and Moto Made managed to whisk up Soulection’s new star, Sam Gellaitry and bring him to Montreal. The event was held at Newspeak, a popular venue for DJ shows like this, and Sam Gellaitry headlined the show after DJs such as Dead Horse Beats, Grand Buda, and Noo-Bap. The show was sold out online with 50 ticket available at the door, and my friends and I were lucky to see Sam Gellaitry in all of his glory!
Although it was cut down by an hour due to daylight savings, the show did not lack enthusiasm or depth compared to any other shows. I interviewed my friend, Wole Obayomi who is familiar with and a fan of Soulection Record’s music, to get a more comprehensive review of the show.
Who is Sam Gellaitry?
Sam Gellaitry is a 18 year old DJ/producer from Stirling, Scotland. He is an up-and-coming artist with a promising future — he just realeased his offical debut EP on the L.A. label/collective Soulection Records this February, and has already garnered a great pool of enthusiastic fans with over 125,000 followers on Soundcloud. His background is certainly something we haven’t seen before. His father is a bagpipe maker, “which might go some way to explain his deft handling of a menagerie of percussive sounds on “Temple,” the first single from his Short Stories EP,” as described by Fader, a popular music and media magazine. Sam G’s usual music genre can be described as a mixture of future bass with extensive vocals, and a little mix UK influenced house, of course. Soulection describes Sam G’s first EP as “uptempo house, UK-garage, heavy bass, hip hop and soul.” (Check it out here!)
Being a fan of his music, we have been listening to his music on Soundcloud, and had high expectations for the show.
The Venue – Newspeak
Newspeak is not very big in its size, but bumping into strangers and having drinks spilled on you is usually not an issue that you have to worry about. However, since Sam Gellatiry’s show generated such a huge audience with many excited fans, the dancefloor was slightly overcrowded to an uncomfortable level; but what’s an electronic music show without friendly strangers and that guy who is a little bit too excited?
There weren’t any special visual or lighting effects, but that allowed us to focus solely on the music and enjoy the experience without any distractions. Overall, it is a very good venue to be at with your close friends. The dance floor is not anything compared to other venues like Belmont’s, but that is what makes Newspeak such an intimate setting for your friends and for the DJ and his fans. Whenever the bass dropped, you could physically feel it through the speakers, the atmosphere, the floor, and of course, the crowd.
Photo by PartywithSylvain
The Show and the Music
Although I was a bit too unfamiliar with the music to be able to identify the songs, my interviewee, Wole, was able to give me some background on the music for this review. After a short wait in the line, we entered the club at around 11PM with only a handful of people present. Grand Buda was playing bumpy music with fast kicks (lots of high hats), giving off the vibe of Jersey-House music. This was followed by heavier, more familiar rap-and trap-based music, achieving a great mixture of genres. This drew in many more audience members, and by 12 AM, the dance floor was packed with people, all excited by the music and to see Sam Gellaitry. Initially, we were up at the front, but by the time Sam Gellatiry was on, the crowd was bustling with an overwhelming number of excited fans.
At one point, Da-P (another DJ/producer from Sam Gellatiry’s record label Soulection) showed up and walked through the crowd, just casually enjoying the music and the scene among fans, and with the other DJs on stage. For us, it was a hint that Sam Gellaitry was about to go on shortly after.
Throughout his set, Sam Gellatiry played some Young Thug, namely “Pull Up on a Kid,” which was, again, unexpected, but fit into the show very well. Young Thug’s vibes mixed in well with the tone of the rest of Sam Gellaitry’s music given that it has some trap influences, along with intense drum and bass. In general, heavy “808 kicks” (bassy kick sounds from the Roland 808 Drum Kit, known for its tremendous low-end and sub-woofer-rocking frequencies and the integral part it has played in hip hop music) were used, along with Sam G’s signature, intense drops. At the same time, the crowd could definitely feel the overall house influence, making the dance highly “danceable.”
One of the last songs he played was “Long Distance,” which is one of his most well-known songs with over 2 million plays and 65,000 reposts on Soundcloud, a great way to wrap up the show in all of its glory.
Personal Input from Wole Obayomi
Averie Hah from Her Campus McGill: Wole, what do you think of Sam Gellaitry now that we’ve seen him?
Wole Obayomi: Personally, I’ve always been a fan of Soulection records, having seen Da-P at Belmont and listening to their radio channel on Soundcloud. For me, it was unexpected of Soulection Records to pick up Sam Gellatiry, given that he is very young, and I didn’t really know what to expect of him from his partnership with Soulection, a record label that is more futuristic (not as “pop” influenced, or heavily invested in trap- or rap-influenced components).
But after joining Soulection, he has proven his ability to create music that is more reflective of Soulection’s movement towards something more futuristic and unsuaul, all while maintaining his own style of music that is house-and trap-influenced, constructed with heavy drops and beats that create an intricate balance of sharp kicks and melodic groove.
Sam Gellaitry is someone who encapsulates all of the futuristic components, 808 effects, and even house. His ability to incorporate all these components into a single track was impressive for me.
I feel that what Sam Gellaitry is doing, is some sort of a harmonic fuse, or an evolution of a few genres. Taking previously popular songs and successfully fusing them with the producer’s own characteristics like heavy bass, and tropical elements is an exciting, new direction of music, I find, and Sam Gellaitry seems to have mastered this art. Overall, I find that Sam Gellaitry is a very talented and promising producer, and I’m excited to see his growth and evolution in the future.
Sources:
https://soundcloud.com/samgellaitry
http://www.thefader.com/2015/01/27/sam-gellaitry-temple