10 Rising Black Artists You Should Know

We Asked These Artists What They Were Thankful For in 2021

United States

Life On Planets

Music has always moved Baltimore-born multi-hyphenate 

—aka Phil Celeste. His smooth, soulful house sways and sings with the sounds of a lifetime of musical influences that range from jazz and the blues to pop-punk and hip hop. 

When he opens his mouth to sing, his buttery voice is slick with the memory of a youngster singing to James Brown in his grandmother's living room. His silky clustered chords are thick with his father's jazz and funk influences. And his pensive, poetic lyrics are awash with his gentle, reflective spirit. His music is at once meditative and moving, thoughtful and exciting.

Lubelski & Claude Von Stroke feat. Life On Planets - Ice Cream Cone

Join Lubelski, Life on Planets and Claude VonStroke Tuesday at 6pm PT for the official premiere of the Ice Cream Cone music video!

Ice Cream Cone - Lubelski & Claude VonStroke ft Life on Planets - Out Now on Dirtybird Records
https://dirtybird.fanlink.to/icecreamcone

Lubelski's 'Happy Accidents' Album out November 12
https://dirtybird.fanlink.to/happyaccidents

Credits:

Ice Cream Boys
Lubelski 
Life on Planets

Ice Cream Boss
Claude VonStroke

Director 
Pedro Martinez 

Executive Producers 
Jonathan McDonald
Maxfield Frieser

Producer
Enya Kollek

Ice Cream Lovers
Journey Davis
Lokii Reis da Silva
Hannah Abeel
Kye Popham
Jane Zogbi 
Sofia Dresch

----

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🔹 SOUNDCLOUD - https://soundcloud.com/dirtybirdrecords/
🔹 TWITCH - https://www.twitch.tv/dirtybird

Lubelski & Claude VonStroke feat. Life on Planets - Ice Cream Cone (Music Video) [DIRTYBIRD]

" in 2014, he's pushed a sound that fuses his indie sensibilities with an innate rhythmic sensibility. His releases on 

, and Kitsuné have earned the raconteur tens of millions of streams and performances of his hybrid live and DJ sets in far-flung festivals and lauded clubs.

Growing up in Baltimore, he had a brilliant patchwork of musical influences to draw from. He fondly remembers listening to old funk cassettes at his grandmother's house and dancing his heart out with his cousins to Destiny's Child. His father—one of his fiercest musical influences— exposed him to jazz titans like Benny Goodman and John Coltrane.

Lubelski's 'Happy Accidents' LP Explores Improvisation and Modular Synthesis

"My dad was also a DJ. So he had his mixes of P. Funk [and] Steve Arrington, all kinds of stuff. He would have sped up versions and different mixes… that really inspired me and helped me find my way when it came to what I wanted to dig for and what I wanted out of music."

He picked up the clarinet and sax early in life, and in high school, discovered a love for singing in high school in an unexpected way.

"I would always ride the bus and hang out with kids that were listening to pop punk. I had a homeboy, one of my best friends who played guitar in some emo bands."

Life on Planets - Gray Area Spotlight Mix

That friend introduced him to bands like Fall Out Boy, Blood Brothers, and Panic At The Disco. He remembers singing in the same intense falsetto as their lead singers. 

"My mom would come downstairs at one or two in the morning and be like, 'What the hell are you singing? What are you listening to?'"

Around the same time, he was gifted a guitar by his high school sweetheart's sister. At first, it seemed like a prop; he wasn't sure what to do with it. But the more he spent time with it, the more it inspired him to experiment with new forms of expression.

"That summer, I just started playing the guitar and riffing. I was like, I want to tell some stories with this music. And so I started writing a concept album."

And that's when his confessional and surreal lyrical style began to develop.

"I'm thinking about this dream I had where there is this girl who would sing. And when she sang, it was like gravity disappeared. And so, I was trying to put that dream into these lyrics. And, I guess that was my first song."

Drawing inspiration from the subconscious world has become part of his process. It's a way to process and recontextualize past experiences.

Become a Gray Area member for access to exclusive perks!

"There's a concept called recapitulation, where you take an old memory—because we tend to have a lot of stuff that's stuck in these old rivalries, whether it's fear or embarrassment, or love lost, and you're still pining over it," he explains.

"And so I was like, Oh, maybe I can use this concept and put it into lyrics and review everything that went into the relationship, everything that happened, everything that I felt, and tried to get the truth out of it and try to just pull the energy back out of it so I can stop obsessing about it and have it out into the universe, just release."

He attended art school in Baltimore and began to immerse himself in the eclectic Baltimore scene; his sonic palette expanded to include the patchwork of underground sounds thumping from lofts and warehouses.

Moody Jones, Life On Planets - Gold Action

https://instagram.com/moodyjones
https://linktr.ee/followLOP
Vocals, Lyrics & Production by Life on Planets

Bought A Lamp In Istanbul 
Rubbing On It Like A Fool
Got A Genie Im Like Woo
Ima Make That Belly Full
Lotta Smoke Fill Up The Room
Show Me Posters Coming Soon
Crystal Ball Just Like A Moon 
She Got Me In Involved, Need Some Treasures For My Tomb

Take Me To Another Land
Clouds Is Purple Like Japan 
Palms Is Itchy Feel My Hands 
Money Waiting See The Bands
Castle All Up In The Sky 
Is It Real Or Just A Lie
She Want Me To Be Her Guy 
Say A Prayer For Mine
We Gon’ Rob This Place Tonight

I Ain't Aladdin 
I Got That Flying Carpet Tho
Roll Wit’ The Baddest
We Always Above Traffic 
We In The Palace 
Let's Make Some Magic 
Take All They Assets
Need That Gold Action

Meet Her Friends And Family
Tell Them We Gon’ Get Married
They Some Devils Evil Peeps
We Gon’ End Them No More Seeds
Turn That Thing On To The Side 
Sparks Be Flying As We Grind
With A Snake Them Hands Is Tied Up
Pop The Lock Fo’ Me
Safe Is Open Time To Ride

Whistle, Whistle While I Loot
I'm About To Take A Parachute
We So, We So, We So Cool
Making Moves Wit That Attitude
Dream Of Jeannie Monday Mood
Wishy Washy But I'm Smooth
Pop That Bob That Head She Do 
Make All Of My Wish Come Tru

I Ain't Aladdin 
I Got That Flying Carpet Tho
Roll Wit The Baddest
And We Always Above Traffic 
We In The Palace 
Let's Make Some Magic 
Take All They Assets
I Need That Gold Action

Moody Jones & Life On Planets - Gold Action (Official Audio)

"It's always been very eclectic in Baltimore. I remember I saw 

 before he popped off. I would see Abdu Ali at the same concert [with] a noise guy with all these different little machines. And then another indie rock band and another experimental band.

"So you have hip hop, you've got punk, you've got house, you've got BMore club and all this stuff, contained in the same venue. So, I think when it came to making music, I was just like, there shouldn't be any boundary or limit to just sticking to one genre or having one sound that sounds the same as what's come before."

Even with the rich tapestry of musical influences he was afforded, he still didn't adequately contextualize dance music. Not until a friend gave him the movie 

the 2001 documentary that chronicles the history of house music.

He realized that dance music's history was just as storied and complex as jazz, R&B, hip hop, and rock.

"I was like, Oh, this is this is black music, you know, this is a black tradition. And, you know, it's obviously become interpreted in many lenses and made its way around the world. But this is important to really keep keep that tradition alive."

Life On Planets - Live at Mixmag x Superdry

Crew Love's sultry crooner takes the stage at our Superdry extravaganza in Brooklyn.

Follow Life on Planets: https://www.facebook.com/livinglifeonplanets/
Follow Superdry: https://www.facebook.com/Superdry

LIFE ON PLANETS (Live) at Mixmag X Superdry Brooklyn

And so began another period of transition and education for Celeste.

"My homie would take me around to famous Baltimore spots, like 

. [He'd] take me to some of like the OG spots, where it's not like, 20 year olds, everybody's like, 40. And dancing, getting down, really 

. And I was just like, damn, this is everything I wanted in a party, you know, to really dance and express myself."

And the more he's experienced dance music around the world as a touring DJ and musician, the more it's solidified what he learned about himself through his early exposure to those OG spots.

After traveling the world and creating peak experiences on the dancefloor, understanding the unbridled joy of the non-stop thump of a kick drum, he finds himself coming home to see bands play and wondering, "Why does the music got to stop in between? Just keep the party going, just keep the beat alive."

And as he looks forward, he's confident that music can't continue to move people physically and emotionally.

"At the end of the day for people who are going through the struggle, you know, we get together, we convene, and we support each other. And music can be therapy. There's been moments on the decks where we just see people in tears just having a beautiful moment or a beautiful revelation. I've been in other cities, and I don't speak the language but we're dancing together and were just happy, [we] just let it out." 

Gray Area Spotlight: Life On Planets

Music has always moved Baltimore-born multi-hyphenate Life On Planets—aka Phil Celeste. His smooth, soulful house sways and sings with the sounds of a lifetime of musical influences that range from jazz and the blues to pop-punk and hip hop.

Read the full Spotlight: https://grayarea.co/artists/life-on-planets

Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro
04:40 - How he came up with his name
07:36 - Childhood music
11:24 - Baltimore scene
14:16 - Interpreting dreams into songs
16:22 - Discovering dance music
19:36 - Cornel West and Seth Troxler inspirations
23:40 - Speed Round

▪️Follow Life on Planets▪️
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/lifeonplanets/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/lifeonplanetsss
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/livinglifeonplanets
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/artist/2EtksajEPOMDkyVKMZi1eO?si=NEcTEsg9SOaMXpgYPROBgg
Soundcloud - https://soundcloud.com/life-on-planets
Beatport - https://www.beatport.com/artist/life-on-planets/380949

Connect with Gray Area:
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/entergrayarea/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/enterGrayArea
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/entergrayarea
TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@entergrayarea
Spotify - https://spoti.fi/3nGJIfQ
Website - https://grayarea.co

Gray Area's mission is to build a bigger house music community in North America by helping fans discover exciting house music artists, event brands and festivals that are new to them. 

#grayarea #lifeonplanets #housemusic

Gray Area Spotlight: Life on Planets

Music has always moved Baltimore-born multi-hyphenate Life On Planets—aka Phil Celeste. His smooth, soulful house sways and sings with the sounds of a lifetime of musical influences that range from jazz and the blues to pop-punk and hip hop. 

When he opens his mouth to sing, his buttery voice is slick with the memory of a youngster singing to James Brown in his grandmother's living room. His silky clustered chords are thick with his father's jazz and funk influences. And his pensive, poetic lyrics are awash with his gentle, reflective spirit. His music is at once meditative and moving, thoughtful and exciting.

Since his debut single "Apollo" in 2014, he's pushed a sound that fuses his indie sensibilities with an innate rhythmic sensibility. His releases on Wolf + Lamb, Dirtybird, and Kitsuné have earned the raconteur tens of millions of streams and performances of his hybrid live and DJ sets in far-flung festivals and lauded clubs.

Growing up in Baltimore, he had a brilliant patchwork of musical influences to draw from. He fondly remembers listening to old funk cassettes at his grandmother's house and dancing his heart out with his cousins to Destiny's Child. His father—one of his fiercest musical influences— exposed him to jazz titans like Benny Goodman and John Coltrane.



READ THIS NEXT: Lubelski's 'Happy Accidents' LP Explores Improvisation and Modular Synthesis



"My dad was also a DJ. So he had his mixes of P. Funk [and] Steve Arrington, all kinds of stuff. He would have sped up versions and different mixes… that really inspired me and helped me find my way when it came to what I wanted to dig for and what I wanted out of music."

He picked up the clarinet and sax early in life, and in high school, discovered a love for singing in high school in an unexpected way.

"I would always ride the bus and hang out with kids that were listening to pop punk. I had a homeboy, one of my best friends who played guitar in some emo bands."

That friend introduced him to bands like Fall Out Boy, Blood Brothers, and Panic At The Disco. He remembers singing in the same intense falsetto as their lead singers. 

"My mom would come downstairs at one or two in the morning and be like, 'What the hell are you singing? What are you listening to?'"

Around the same time, he was gifted a guitar by his high school sweetheart's sister. At first, it seemed like a prop; he wasn't sure what to do with it. But the more he spent time with it, the more it inspired him to experiment with new forms of expression.

"That summer, I just started playing the guitar and riffing. I was like, I want to tell some stories with this music. And so I started writing a concept album."

And that's when his confessional and surreal lyrical style began to develop.

"I'm thinking about this dream I had where there is this girl who would sing. And when she sang, it was like gravity disappeared. And so, I was trying to put that dream into these lyrics. And, I guess that was my first song."

Drawing inspiration from the subconscious world has become part of his process. It's a way to process and recontextualize past experiences.



Become a Gray Area member for access to exclusive perks!



"There's a concept called recapitulation, where you take an old memory—because we tend to have a lot of stuff that's stuck in these old rivalries, whether it's fear or embarrassment, or love lost, and you're still pining over it," he explains.

"And so I was like, Oh, maybe I can use this concept and put it into lyrics and review everything that went into the relationship, everything that happened, everything that I felt, and tried to get the truth out of it and try to just pull the energy back out of it so I can stop obsessing about it and have it out into the universe, just release."

He attended art school in Baltimore and began to immerse himself in the eclectic Baltimore scene; his sonic palette expanded to include the patchwork of underground sounds thumping from lofts and warehouses.

"It's always been very eclectic in Baltimore. I remember I saw Abdu Ali before he popped off. I would see Abdu Ali at the same concert [with] a noise guy with all these different little machines. And then another indie rock band and another experimental band.

"So you have hip hop, you've got punk, you've got house, you've got BMore club and all this stuff, contained in the same venue. So, I think when it came to making music, I was just like, there shouldn't be any boundary or limit to just sticking to one genre or having one sound that sounds the same as what's come before."

Even with the rich tapestry of musical influences he was afforded, he still didn't adequately contextualize dance music. Not until a friend gave him the movie Pump Up The Volume, the 2001 documentary that chronicles the history of house music. He realized that dance music's history was just as storied and complex as jazz, R&B, hip hop, and rock.

"I was like, Oh, this is this is black music, you know, this is a black tradition. And, you know, it's obviously become interpreted in many lenses and made its way around the world. But this is important to really keep keep that tradition alive."

And so began another period of transition and education for Celeste.

"My homie would take me around to famous Baltimore spots, like the Paradox. [He'd] take me to some of like the OG spots, where it's not like, 20 year olds, everybody's like, 40. And dancing, getting down, really dancing. And I was just like, damn, this is everything I wanted in a party, you know, to really dance and express myself."

And the more he's experienced dance music around the world as a touring DJ and musician, the more it's solidified what he learned about himself through his early exposure to those OG spots.

After traveling the world and creating peak experiences on the dancefloor, understanding the unbridled joy of the non-stop thump of a kick drum, he finds himself coming home to see bands play and wondering, "Why does the music got to stop in between? Just keep the party going, just keep the beat alive."

And as he looks forward, he's confident that music can't continue to move people physically and emotionally.

"At the end of the day for people who are going through the struggle, you know, we get together, we convene, and we support each other. And music can be therapy. There's been moments on the decks where we just see people in tears just having a beautiful moment or a beautiful revelation. I've been in other cities, and I don't speak the language but we're dancing together and were just happy, [we] just let it out." 



Life On Planets

Articles

Ana Monroy Yglesias

Alexander Dias