Holt Harmon and J. Parker Cohen are getting on a plane to Los Angeles tomorrow. Thankfully, it’s an easy flight from Phoenix, Arizona, and it’s one of their last flights of the year. As the owners and lead managers of Metatone Management, these guys have done a lot of flying in 2022. A lot. Over the past 12 months, they’ve hit the road almost weekly to far-flung global destinations like Manchester, Ibiza, Miami, and Hawaii, supporting their clients John Summit, Ranger Trucco, Kyle Walker, and Deeper Purpose, among others.



Now they’re getting on the plane to Los Angeles to support Summit as he plays at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, opening for Kaskade and deadmau5’s first headlining show as their new collaborative project Kx5, and that is just one of many monumental moments for the Metatone roster in 2022.



With their work ethic, industry know-how, and passion for the music and the artists they work with, Harmon and Cohen have found the secret sauce as managers to guide their clients to their dreams, and that begins with an understanding that they are not the artists.



“[As a manager] your job is not to be the artist or decide things for the artist. Your biggest job as a manager ultimately is to be a catalyst for what the artist wants to achieve,” says Harmon to Gray Area over Zoom. “You should have the connections, you should have the resources and if you don’t, you should go out of your way to build those things so they can get to the place of it being all about the music.”



“If you can view an artist as a business, if the artist is the CEO, the manager is the COO because we’re helping set up all the operations,” Cohen adds. “We’re here to make sure that all of our artists’ careers are running as smoothly and efficiently as possible, and that sometimes means wearing multiple hats.”



Becoming a quasi-expert in several music industry sectors, including event production, A&R, marketing, and talent buying, is pivotal to their role because artists do so much more than write and play music. Harmon and Cohen became familiar with a universal approach to the music industry in their early professional years. Cohen worked for an event company in Scottsdale, Arizona, called Steve LeVine Entertainment which boasted clients like the Pheonix Suns and Hakkasan Nightclub. Harmon worked for a record label called Audiophile Music Group out of Dallas, Texas, which released early music from Franky Wah, Westend, Black V Neck, and John Summit. What neither of their roles allowed them to do in that early phase, though, was engage in their true calling: working directly with artists.



“We both saw the idea of growing talent as where our passion lies. Working with talented people and helping them see their dreams,” Harmon says. “We love working with people who have huge goals and maybe don’t have it all figured out, but have all the pieces.”



Many of Harmon and Cohen’s clients have worked with them since their careers began. Metatone Management became a business in March of 2018, and both Kyle Walker and John Summit have been with them since late 2018. Freak On has been with them since the beginning of 2020. All remained clients through the pandemic.



And as these artists’ careers grow, Harmon and Cohen are always learning more about how they can catalyze those pieces coming together.



First and foremost is communication. As their clients move between all the operations of the industry, Harmon and Cohen maintain a logistical framework that ensures all the pieces come together seamlessly while representing their client’s interests respectfully and professionally.



“Whenever strangers ask me what I do for a living, I basically just boil it down and say ‘Essentially I just talk all day long.’ I talk to people 24/7. Whether it’s our artists, or Holt, or our agents, or promoters, I’m just talking constantly,” Cohen says.



“Honestly, the best artist managers, they’re always available,” says Harmon. “That’s really what it is at the end of the day, you’re the ultimate middle man. You are where people come to look for answers on the artist side.”



As with any professional role, two of the most common answers they give are “yes” and “no.” The latter is a particularly powerful part of the vocabulary they use with their artists. At this advanced stage in their careers as artist managers, Harmon and Cohen are well-versed in the industry. As such, in working with artists who may not have it all figured out just yet, they have knowledge their artists may not. It’s their job to express their disagreement when appropriate.



“You’re a catalyst, but you’re not a yes man,” Harmon says.



“You have to have that trust between each other, and we’d like to think that all of our artists trust us enough to ask for our opinion,” says Cohen. “If it’s something that an artist feels very strongly about and we disagree then we have to figure out a way to communicate that effectively. It’s really about being able to share that vision and be on the same page and be able to communicate to get to the end result.”



This idea goes back to how they’ve curated their roster. Harmon and Cohen are fans of every artist they manage and want them to reach and exceed their goals. When working with a new artist, they often start the conversation at that end result and work backward.



“One of the ways that we like to communicate with each of our artists, and we honestly have done this since day one, is by reverse engineering,” Cohen says. “What I mean by that is you figure out where it is that you want to go, and then you work your way backward and reverse engineer what needs to be done to get to that point.”



This is a method Harmon and Cohen apply across their entire roster regardless of where an artist is in their individual journey.



It doesn’t matter that John Summit is at the point where he can play any festival in the world while other artists like Kyle Walker and Ranger Trucco are still working to that point. Harmon and Cohen know where these artists want to end up, and they throw their total effort into catalyzing the right opportunities.



“Ultimately your approach does not change,” Harmon says. “The mentality you’re coming at it with may change based on your level of experience, but everybody that you’re working with would hope that you’re constantly growing and becoming more experienced by the day.”



“It’s enjoyable to take a project from nothing to something and then from something to ‘Holy shit look how many tickets we just sold.’ There’s levels to this and the whole journey of it has been very enjoyable and equally challenging,” Cohen says.



In serving as managers to some of the fastest-growing artists in this newfound explosion of house music, Harmon and Cohen have gained immense, direct, professional experience on this journey.



They remark that the agents and record labels executives they work with have said they’ve handled as much in 18 months following the pandemic as many managers do in ten years. And watching their artist play the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is another golden goal moment for their team.



According to Pollstar, the Kx5 show at the Coliseum was the largest single-day concert headlined by an electronic artist ever in North America. John Summit was on that bill, and that was an opportunity Harmon and Cohen catalyzed for him.



Now that he’s had a taste, in 2023, Summit may add headlining the Coliseum to his list of goals. If that is the case, the world will know because the world will see it happen with the help of his team at Metatone Management.


Industry Spotlight: Metatone Management

LA-based DJ and producer Kyle Walker is known for his unique approach to house music, his love of turtlenecks, and anything pug related. Easily able to segue from complex melodies to harder-hitting styles, Kyle always seems to be pushing the proverbial envelope.



Kyle has made his music known with releases on big-name labels as well as by playing some of the most in-demand festivals. Yet when he first dabbled in production, house music wasn’t even on his radar. It wasn’t until he heard Disclosure's album Settle that he discovered a newfound love for the genre.



Luckily, Kyle’s early releases didn’t box him into one genre of music, allowing him to blend his grittiness with more melodies to yield what is now known as the Kyle Walker style. What does that sound like, you might ask? Take a listen to the songs below to familiarize yourself with an artist taking the house scene by storm.



1. “Claude VonDeeper”





This is the song that started it all. In 2016, Kyle entered and won Insomniac’s Discovery Project, which earned him a timeslot at EDC Las Vegas. “Claude VonDeeper '' pays homage to Dirtybird’s head honcho with its dirty bass and futuristic tech house sound. What an introduction for Kyle Walker.



2. “Dark Room Perfume”





“Dark Room Perfume” as a whole is perfection. Sampling Kendrick Lamar’s “Poetic Justice,” this song is a G house banger with noticeable rap influences. From the intro to the bass to the drop, each element does its part to tie the whole song together. It’s totally dancefloor ready, so be prepared to get down and dirty with it.



3. “Panic”





In 2018, Kyle released “Panic,” a low-key song off of his Cruel Intentions EP. This time there are no lyrics, yet the song still bumps and has an awesome groove. It almost sounds like a hymn, and if these are the kind of songs that’ll be played in church, then sign us up! Released on Insomniac’s In / Rotation label, “Panic” helped propel Kyle Walker forward by landing bookings at big festivals like Nocturnal Wonderland.



4. “Movement”





“Movement,” released on Steve Aoki’s imprint Dim Mak, was Kyle’s way of honoring what originally made him fall in love with house. Stripping down the vocals and laying them over a pulsating house beat, he really takes it back to where it all started for him.



5. “Midnight Dancer”





In 2021, Kyle released his track “Midnight Dancer” on the London label Another Rhythm. The song is a tropical groove full of soul, and it features tons of horns as well as a banging tech house beat. Adding to the overall vibe are the call and response-style lyrics and extra percussion, which make the track as a whole super infectious and danceable.



6. “Háblame”





“Háblame” sees Kyle continue to explore his more tropical, Latin-infused style. Featuring catchy lyrics, guitar riffs, and the ubiquitous percussion you usually hear in this type of music, “Háblame” is the perfect, high-energy tech house summer song. It’s totally addictive and you won’t be able to stop listening to it.

6 Tracks by Kyle Walker that Everyone Should Know

Kyle Walker has been relentlessly making a name for himself over the past seven years. These days, the Los Angeles DJ and producer plays the biggest dance music stages in North America and releases to some of the most celebrated labels. 



Fans may recognize his hit track “Strut,” a snappy tech house remix of “Pon de Replay” by Rihanna. Walker loves merging the underground and pop culture in this way, a mindset he sees reflected in his modern success.





Walker certainly appreciates how well he has been received in the underground circuit of dance music. He doesn’t necessarily want to limit himself to the relatively narrow definition of “underground artist," however.



“The underground has a ceiling that's so much lower than if you open up your musical palette,” Walker said in his Spotlight interview with Gray Area. “There's so much more to see than just the underground.”




Dance music fans carry on a longstanding trend of dismissing anything that achieves mainstream success. While gatekeeping within subcultures isn’t uncommon, Walker sees it as limiting to a thriving community. He foresees a wave of house music producers working on high-profile albums à la Drake and Beyoncé in 2022. His logic is that more house fans means more house music, which he argues is great for everybody.



“It's definitely headed to the Top 40 charts, like Billboard and such,” he said. “It's definitely a good thing for everyone, even the underground. It's a good thing that more ears are going to be on the scene, more eyes, more everything.”



Walker also says he’d love to produce more hip-hop music. He cites Kenny Beats as an inspiration, but says he’s open to anything that feels fun and natural to him. “Even if it was like a house beat or something, like the new Drake album, for instance, it'd be cool to put some hip-hop lyrics or add more influence like that into a house song,” he says.



Wherever he chooses to take his music next, it looks as though Kyle Walker won’t let a glass ceiling stop him anytime soon.



Kyle Walker Says the Underground has a Ceiling

In an ever-competitive house music landscape, it has become increasingly hard to stand out as a new act. Every month there seems to be a new artist-driven label, or a hot new act hogging the headlines. Below the surface, there are hundreds of rising DJs working tirelessly to catch a break and get their tracks heard.



Kyle Walker exemplifies the grind and hustle it can take for a DJ to simply reach the stage at a large-scale event. After first trying his hand at music production at the age of 13, Kyle toyed with FL Studio for years, experimenting with bass music until hearing Disclosure’s iconic album Settle and pivoting to house.



In 2016 he broke out with his homage to Claude VonStroke titled “Claude VonDeeper,” a funky tech house thumper that was selected as a winner of Insomniac’s Discovery Project. He was subsequently booked on a handful of Insomniac festivals and worked hard to maintain his momentum, subsequently releasing on Jauz’s Bite This! label before the pandemic shut down nightlife. He returned with a bang, releasing a monster EP titled Zilla on Lee Foss’ Repopulate Mars label. The effort garnered critical acclaim and helped him avoid any sort of EDM label from his previous music.



Now, as a true player in the underground scene, Kyle Walker is working hard to stay fresh and continue finding new inspiration. As a relative newcomer himself, it's important to listen to and stay in tune with other upcoming artists. For Kyle, the two acts he feels are making the biggest impact on the scene, and his own music at the moment are ANOTR and Joy Anonymous.





Dutch duo ANOTR have made waves relatively early in their career. Despite coming onto the scene somewhat recently, they have already played in Ibiza and at Amsterdam Dance Event. As noted by Kyle Walker, ANOTR keep their sounds fresh, not adhering too rigidly to the confines of house music.





On the opposite end of the spectrum, Joy Anonymous are another duo that have made a name for themselves through community building. The duo was formed around holding “meetings” for their fans in which they crafted a uniquely immersive live show. They started playing free shows during the lockdown, drawing hundreds of people to their spontaneous live performances.



“I think it’s just the feeling of a bunch of people trying to express themselves," say the duo. "It’s not about [us], it’s about the people there.” Although their music does not stay strictly in the realm of four-on-the-floor house music, it still inspires Kyle Walker and is part of the reason why he has been able to maintain a diverse discography.

Kyle Walker Says to Keep an Eye on These Two House Groups

There is an understated authenticity to Kyle Walker’s Instagram profile. Amidst snaps of noodle slurping and Crunchwrap Supremes, the Los Angeles native chronicles his whirlwind life as a successful DJ and producer. 



Although he currently plays the biggest dance music stages in the United States and releases on some of the biggest labels (Repopulate Mars and Bite this!, among others) he still manages to keep his street cred as an “underground” artist. It’s an asset that is not lost on Walker, and one he attributes to his social media persona.





Back in the early 2010s, the term “EDM” took on a derogatory connotation. While it simply stands for "electronic dance music," those engrained in the culture would tell you it refers to euphoric pop-house drivel churned out for radio stations and ecstasy-addled kids. Those looking to become “real” makers of house music often avoid getting bagged with the label of EDM.



“There's nothing wrong with it; there's a bunch of great EDM,” Walker says. “But for some reason, I just feel like I never got branded with that label of ‘EDM act.’ And I think part of that is because of social media. The way you portray yourself on social media can have a huge influence on how people perceive your music.”



While Walker admits he struggles with social media at times, he can’t deny it's a “necessary evil.” He admits that his cheekily low-key social media profiles contributed to his successful releases with labels like Glasgow Underground and Toolroom.





“It's like 60/40 of social media to music,” he says. “If you have a great social media but the music's not totally there, you can still have a very successful career in a way that kind of helps you not have that stigma attached to you.”

Kyle Walker Says Social Media is up to 60% of Music Industry Success

Whether you love or hate to see it, there’s no denying that 2022 marked a period of significant commercial interest in house music.



The genre has had its fair share of moments in the mainstream spotlight since it coalesced in the gay, Black, and Latino nightlife communities of Chicago in the ‘80s, to be sure. Crystal Waters’ 1994 classic “100% Pure Love” hit #11 on the “Billboard Hot 100,” and #1 on the publication's “Dance Club Songs” chart. More recently, FISHER’s 2018 tech house track “Losing It” topped the latter.



2022 saw notable pop superstars join the party. Within weeks of one another, Drake and Beyoncé each dropped albums that included numerous house-inspired songs. The former artist tapped producers like Black Coffee, &ME, and Klahr for his effort. The latter enlisted dance music acts like Honey Dijon and Nile Rodgers for hers.



Some argue that these influences will only dilute house, which has already arguably suffered from recurring identity crises as each new generation of talent offers its own interpretation of the genre. Others are more optimistic, projecting that the increased attention will trickle down into opportunities for artists at every level.



We here at Gray Area decided to gather the opinions of house artists themselves. Some are elder statesmen who helped guide the course of the style early on. Others are up-and-coming acts who represent the future of the genre. Read on what they have to say about the matter and arrive at your own conclusions.



1. Todd Terry







Todd Terry’s career extends back to house music’s genesis in the 1980s. He’s in favor of mainstream house music hits as long as artists bring original ideas to the table.



“We need a Robin S. We need a Crystal Waters. We need a Snap! - ‘I Got The Power,'” he told Gray Area during our Spotlight interview. “We need something that helps us a little bit here, makes us come to the dance floor. We need to get something out there to mix it up a little bit.”



"Break some new records,” he went on. “Stop catering to the same piano sound all the time. We got enough piano records. Okay, you guys found the piano in the last three years. Good job. There's other shit.”



2. East End Dubs





East End Dubs is a name that has grown more and more ubiquitous among London house fans over the past decade. In his Gray Area Spotlight interview, the “bRave” producer expressed optimism that house-inspired tracks in the mainstream could offer new fans a point of entry leading to the underground.



“Recently, people have said, ‘Oh, this is going to bring uneducated people into the scene.’ For me, I think people can start with Beyoncé or Drake and then fall in love with house music,” speculates East End Dubs, who also praised the tracks by the aforementioned artists. “It's a beautiful thing. Why not? House is something that we share together, so I don't mind people getting to know our music that way and then going a little more underground to discover us.”



3. SYREETA





SYREETA stands out as a more recent house music artist who still represents the queer, Black, underground roots of the genre well. She nonetheless believes that her world can coexist with the mainstream.



“There's no judgment on this,” she said during Gray Area’s Spotlight interview. “House music started underground, and it will always be to me. It hits everybody’s souls differently and is inspired in different ways, so each artist will have their own stamp on what they have taken away from it, whether it be more on the commercial side or more underground. Not everybody has to like it. People will move with what they prefer.”



4. Iglesias





Fast-rising UK house DJ and producer Iglesias also posits that commercial interest in house has little bearing on what he does. In his Gray Area Spotlight interview, he pointed out that most consumers of those releases likely don’t even associate it with house music.



“I don't really care, to be fair," he said. "What they're doing is not what we're doing, let's put it that way. They're making commercial stuff. Who they're appealing to, I don't even think that person would even know that that's a house beat or whatever. They would just be like, 'Oh, it's another Drake track.' Do you see what I mean? So it never really fascinates me that much because I don't feel like they're stepping on our toes. What we're doing is way cooler than what they're doing."



5. Harry Romero





During his Gray Area Spotlight interview, longtime NYC DJ and producer Harry Romero expressed optimism about house music’s popularity in the past few years. He did, however, have choice words about how the EDM movement impacted the culture over a decade ago.



“I hate to say it, but that EDM thing really threw us all through a curveball. We were like, ‘What the hell is this?’ he said. “The mechanisms changed. The way of doing business changed. The EDM thing really commercialized the industry, and for them to claim that they were house music was just strange."


"The reality is that it became a business," Harry went on. "It was pop music all of a sudden. A lot of people steered away from what they loved, which was the roots of house music. I understand evolution. I’m not mad at technology or the times. What I at least try to do is scratch my head and figure out how to put my own twist on it.”



6. ACRAZE





ACRAZE is enjoying an enviable breakthrough as an artist thanks to recent covers like “Do It To It” and “Believe.” With his recent good fortune, it perhaps comes as little surprise that he sees the genre’s recent popularity as a good thing.



“I think it's cool, man. I think seeing new faces in the industry is just special,” he said during Gray Area’s Spotlight interview. “Massive artists like Beyoncé and Drake getting into house music only helps the genre explode even more. I guess it becomes more commercialized, but now there’s also a bigger goal for artists. Drake’s in house music—it's my dream to even collab with him. Now I know, there's a chance. I didn't even know he was into that shit. Beyoncé too, like, that's so sick.”



“Some people will think differently and say, ‘They don't know anything about the music, the culture,’ he went on. “I think people read way too deeply into those kinds of things. If people are putting out good music and pushing the genre, I think that's what matters, you know?”



7. Shermanology





Dutch-Caribbean outfit Shermanology are also enticed by the prospect of working with more commercially successful acts. In their Gray Area Spotlight interview, the brother-sister duo named one hip-hop artist in particular.



“What we wanna do in the near future is collaborate with artists you wouldn’t expect us to collaborate with,” said Dorothy. “For example, if I could dream big I’d say Anderson .Paak. That would be someone who would excite me.”



Andy added, “I wanna work with people who may have said, ‘I will never do a house record,’ and get them to do a house record. Just mix and blend different genres.”



8. Tim Green:





Count longtime DJ and producer Tim Green among the artists who feel Beyoncé and Drake’s interest in house music has no bearing on the underground. Why? Because he doesn’t consider it house.



“I literally couldn't care,” he said in his Gray Area Spotlight interview. “You can call a car a tree if you want, and that's your prerogative, but each to their own opinion. When you start to get down to the finer details of what something is, who knows—and really, who cares? It doesn't matter.”



“I understand, of course, the negative connotations that it kind of has, and it's not right,” Tim continued. "But for the people that know the kind of music that they're into and want to listen to, I think that's enough.”



9. Kyle Walker





Breakthrough tech house artist Kyle Walker, on the other hand, does think mainstream artists dabbling in house will affect the underground—but in a good way.



“[House music is] definitely headed to the top 40 chart, I would say, like Billboard and such,” he said during Gray Area’s Spotlight interview. “I could see more dance records being in the top 10, even. It's definitely a good thing for everyone—even the underground. It's a good thing that more ears and eyes are gonna be on the scene. I just think everyone's gonna start with this wave of just having house music producers come onto their albums, which in turn is just going to create more house music fans.”



10. LOVRA





Rounding out this list is the perspective of LOVRA. The German DJ and producer agrees that the increase in attention to house music has created new opportunities for artists.



“It's super interesting, but it also shows that the people understand this music right now,” she said during Gray Area’s Spotlight interview. “They're more open to it. Back in the day, sometimes you couldn’t play in a club because it was too commercial or you were too underground. But now, I feel like the people and the club promoters are way more open to trying it out a little bit more, and this is a good thing.”





10 House Artists Weigh in on the Genre's Recent Mainstream Popularity

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Kyle Walker

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“I just feel like I'm so scatterbrained all the time,” Los Angeles artist Kyle Walker says of his creative direction in the studio.

“For ‘All You Need,’ for example, I was listening to Jaden Thompson and the UK sound, and getting inspired through that,” he explains. “And then for ‘Strut’ I was super into the Solid Grooves style right then, so I decided to like try and work on something like that.”

Kyle’s distinctive sound signature still manages to shine through in both of these singles. His percussion is methodical. His arrangements are inventive. It is this tightrope walk between paying homage and reinventing the wheel that has landed him on key tech house labels like Toolroom and Glasgow Underground.

Once upon a time, though, house music fell far outside Kyle Walker’s creative musings. He first started dabbling in music production at age 13, eventually learning his way around FL Studio (which remains his DAW of choice to this day).

Skrillex was one of the first artists who inspired him to pursue electronic music; some of Kyle’s earliest productions remain uploaded to SoundCloud under a dubstep moniker he refuses to disclose. Then, he heard Disclosure’s 

. Still his favorite house album to this day, the 2013 effort rerouted his creative course and destined him for a career in the time-tested genre.

Three years later, Kyle Walker’s tech house single “Claude VonDeeper”—a reference to Dirtybird boss Claude VonStroke—was selected as one of one of the winners of 

. This landed him on stages at some of the West Coast promotional juggernaut’s landmark events, where he honed his craft as a DJ.

Another significant step up came with his first release on Jauz’s Bite This! label: a collaboration with LondonBridge titled “Infection.” "I forget where I first met Sam, but I just started emailing him music," Kyle says. "I emailed a lot of people, actually; I think I emailed damn near 50 to 100 people my music that was coming out. Sam was generous and nice enough to actually check it out. He had an ear for it, I guess, and really liked it. He helped put me onto one of my first festival plays and was always really awesome with feedback. Then, he was starting his Bite This! label, and he wanted me to be one of the first dudes on it—which I was happy to do."



He followed it up with “Panic” via Insomniac’s In / Rotation imprint. “That helped put me on the lineup of events like Nocturnal Wonderland,” he says, “which got me in front of a lot of people.”

The COVID pandemic could have derailed Kyle’s momentum—it signaled an abrupt halt for nightlife at large, after all. It was during this time off that he instead doubled down on music production. In the end, he came out better for it.

“I was working at the time in the pharmacy at CVS and at Starbucks as well as doing Postmates,” he says. “Then I'd come home and work on music all night, and then I’d go back and repeat the cycle.”

Kyle describes this as a time in which he was able to “reset my production brain” and deliver music that wasn’t totally dancefloor centric. "I sat down to write songs that weren't totally club driven, because clubs weren't around," he says. "So I worked on the melodic side of production and really figured out how to write a song as a whole—not just a club track or a DJ tool—like, actual songs."

In August 2021, shortly after nightlife resumed, he released the three-track EP 

 on Lee Foss’ Repopulate Mars record label. This cosign put him on the radar of underground house music tastemakers.

Kyle Walker’s early releases on Bite This! and Dim Mak Records don’t appear to have pigeonholed him as an EDM artist in the eyes of labels like Toolroom and Glasgow Underground. “I feel like there should have been [a stigma], but there never was, I don't know why,” he says. I don't know what I did to pivot around the EDM label—which there's nothing wrong with; there's a bunch of great EDM—but for some reason, I never was. I was always kind of like, underground.”

"It's definitely something I didn't see ever happening," he says. It's so weird that I started way, way back making dubstep and then switching then to bass house and now I'm into the more techy style of house. Even when I was working on music like that, I always saw these labels releasing such cool like house music, but I never really thought getting on these labels would ever be something that I would do. But now here we are. So I guess if you just keep working at it, it’s eventually gonna happen."


As far as house music itself is concerned, Kyle suspects that the genre is “definitely headed to the top 40 charts.” If he’s right, it’s as good a time as any for a producer such as himself to emerge as a fixture of the worldwide house community.

Gray Area Interview: Kyle Walker

His percussion is methodical. His arrangements are inventive. It is this tightrope walk between paying homage and reinventing the wheel that has landed Kyle Walker on key tech house labels like Toolroom and Glasgow Underground.

Read the full Spotlight: https://grayarea.co/artists/kyle-walker/spotlight

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#grayarea #kylewalker #housemusic

“I just feel like I'm so scatterbrained all the time,” Los Angeles artist Kyle Walker says of his creative direction in the studio.



“For ‘All You Need,’ for example, I was listening to Jaden Thompson and the UK sound, and getting inspired through that,” he explains. “And then for ‘Strut’ I was super into the Solid Grooves style right then, so I decided to like try and work on something like that.”





Kyle’s distinctive sound signature still manages to shine through in both of these singles. His percussion is methodical. His arrangements are inventive. It is this tightrope walk between paying homage and reinventing the wheel that has landed him on key tech house labels like Toolroom and Glasgow Underground.



Once upon a time, though, house music fell far outside Kyle Walker’s creative musings. He first started dabbling in music production at age 13, eventually learning his way around FL Studio (which remains his DAW of choice to this day).



Skrillex was one of the first artists who inspired him to pursue electronic music; some of Kyle’s earliest productions remain uploaded to SoundCloud under a dubstep moniker he refuses to disclose. Then, he heard Disclosure’s Settle. Still his favorite house album to this day, the 2013 effort rerouted his creative course and destined him for a career in the time-tested genre.



Three years later, Kyle Walker’s tech house single “Claude VonDeeper”—a reference to Dirtybird boss Claude VonStroke—was selected as one of one of the winners of Insomniac’s 2016 Discovery Project. This landed him on stages at some of the West Coast promotional juggernaut’s landmark events, where he honed his craft as a DJ.





Another significant step up came with his first release on Jauz’s Bite This! label: a collaboration with LondonBridge titled “Infection.” "I forget where I first met Sam, but I just started emailing him music," Kyle says. "I emailed a lot of people, actually; I think I emailed damn near 50 to 100 people my music that was coming out. Sam was generous and nice enough to actually check it out. He had an ear for it, I guess, and really liked it. He helped put me onto one of my first festival plays and was always really awesome with feedback. Then, he was starting his Bite This! label, and he wanted me to be one of the first dudes on it—which I was happy to do."



He followed it up with “Panic” via Insomniac’s In / Rotation imprint. “That helped put me on the lineup of events like Nocturnal Wonderland,” he says, “which got me in front of a lot of people.”



The COVID pandemic could have derailed Kyle’s momentum—it signaled an abrupt halt for nightlife at large, after all. It was during this time off that he instead doubled down on music production. In the end, he came out better for it.



“I was working at the time in the pharmacy at CVS and at Starbucks as well as doing Postmates,” he says. “Then I'd come home and work on music all night, and then I’d go back and repeat the cycle.”



Kyle describes this as a time in which he was able to “reset my production brain” and deliver music that wasn’t totally dancefloor centric. "I sat down to write songs that weren't totally club driven, because clubs weren't around," he says. "So I worked on the melodic side of production and really figured out how to write a song as a whole—not just a club track or a DJ tool—like, actual songs."

In August 2021, shortly after nightlife resumed, he released the three-track EP Zilla on Lee Foss’ Repopulate Mars record label. This cosign put him on the radar of underground house music tastemakers.





Kyle Walker’s early releases on Bite This! and Dim Mak Records don’t appear to have pigeonholed him as an EDM artist in the eyes of labels like Toolroom and Glasgow Underground. “I feel like there should have been [a stigma], but there never was, I don't know why,” he says. I don't know what I did to pivot around the EDM label—which there's nothing wrong with; there's a bunch of great EDM—but for some reason, I never was. I was always kind of like, underground.”



"It's definitely something I didn't see ever happening," he says. It's so weird that I started way, way back making dubstep and then switching then to bass house and now I'm into the more techy style of house. Even when I was working on music like that, I always saw these labels releasing such cool like house music, but I never really thought getting on these labels would ever be something that I would do. But now here we are. So I guess if you just keep working at it, it’s eventually gonna happen."


As far as house music itself is concerned, Kyle suspects that the genre is “definitely headed to the top 40 charts.” If he’s right, it’s as good a time as any for a producer such as himself to emerge as a fixture of the worldwide house community.



