“I like hard rock, jazz, classical and I like to dance. I like the mindless Techno stuff when I am dancing, but I also wanted to bring something to the table that one can listen to while one is not on the dance floor.”

Source: World News

World News, April 7, 2017 by Elche

G.H, Hat is an up and coming EDM, Piano and Pop artist. Starting his career in 2016, G.H.’s first two EDM songs charted on Soundclouds Top 50 Trip Hop charts as well as G.H. has had several songs that have been selected for Spotify’s Discover Weekly Playlist. His first EDM song ever “Primal” charted on Soundcloud for over 14 weeks with his highest position being #10.

Reviewers have picked up on his unique EDM music which is “listenable” as well as “danceable” with comments like:

“There’s a misconception that EDM – electronic dance music – should be mindless. As long as it gets people moving on the dance floor, it works, right? Wrong. EDM, like any other music genre, is best approached in a compelling, artistic way. It shouldn’t be a slog through trope-driven production. ‘Primal’ is an excellent example of a EDM production gone right. Its varied musical styles are actually compelling to dig into; you don’t necessarily have to be on the dance floor to enjoy them.”

“G.H. Hat is an exemplary master of subtlety on “Primal” – my only hope & worry is that the effort here doesn’t go unnoticed. With everything flowing together as smoothly as it does and that one constant main-line pulsing away, I do hope that people notice the amount of added electro-elements are layering into the music as it plays – because G.H. has done a superb job of making the menace, danger & mayhem come to the surface perfectly in moments throughout “Primal.”

“This is the kind of track that stands out boldly from it’s peers in terms of how effectively the vast, creative input fuses with the professional and stylish output.

There’s a freshness to the sound, part of this is the undeniable experimentation featured throughout – at no point is the track predictable or a victim to complacency. And yet, at the same time as this, there’s a soothing feeling of repetitiveness; a hypnotic ambiance unfolds as you listen – just as you hope it would when seeking out new trip-hop or electronica to rhythmically mellow the day away.”

I agree. G.H. Hat is creating a unique direction for instrumental EDM music – less boring, more listenable, and more danceable – thus I sought him out for an interview.

A: You have a rather unique grungy EDM sound, very rhythmical yet very melodic.

A lot of people in the EDM space – and I mean a lot – have this copy cat mindless dance music, that you can dance to but that is about all it’s good for. Your songs have a quality about them that is also appealing at those moments we don’t want to dance but just wants to listen.

GH: Yes, I’ve been told that before.

A: What is your genre?

GH: Well that’s a good question. My genre is me, it’s new. Let’s call it Genre H. I like hard rock, jazz, classical and I like to dance. I like the mindless Techno stuff when I am dancing, but I also wanted to bring something to the table that one can listen to while one is not on the dance floor. The great rock performance bands in the 60 and 70s use to have these “instrumental” “interludes” that would go on for 5, 10 or even 15 minutes – like “In A Gadda Da Vida” by Iron Butterfly – comes to mind or “Light My Fire” by the Doors or “A Whole Lotta Love” by Led Zeppelin – heavy rock instrumental interludes…They used all kinds of different instruments … keyboards, drums, guitars to rock out to. Whether chill or hard, the interludes were not mindless, they were both rhythmic and melodic You could certainly dance to it, but you could also enjoy “listening” to it. That is sort of my influence, but I have kind of EDM’d it….and taken away the vocals.

A: Interesting. Wow…yeah I can see it now that you mention it. But I never would have guessed that was your influence.

GH: So now you know (laughs).

A: Yes. Now, what about the vocals? Do you have any plans for non-instrumentals?

GH: Yeah, I am going through a collaboration phase right now. I will be releasing my first vocal song “I Got A Problem (I Wonder…) featuring Mickey Shiloh, an absolutely wonderful singer/writer, shortly. And more collaborations will follow.

A: I was fortunate enough to get a preview of this song earlier. Definitely hot! You and Mickey are a good combo. I think you will have a real winner with this one.

GH: Thank you!

A: Now I notice besides EDM you do a lot of classical remixes and work. Are you classically trained?

GH: No not at all, but I think Classical music is a good training ground for any musician. Again I point to the history or rock and from the late 60s to the 80s rock music got progressively more and more “classical” and “instrumental. Evolving from the “ instrumental interludes” of the 60s as mentioned previously. That evolved into a sort of classical rock with songs like “Roundabout” by Yes into bands like Queen, Kansas, Styx. Most of that fell apart by the mid eighties but you can still see its influence today in bands like MUSE who have a little bit of classical flavor.

So to make a long winded answer even longer, I think that classical music is a great training ground for whatever you want to do. EDM, Pop, Rap, Hip Hop, Rock, Jazz, or Country.

A: Well if you are not classically trained have you had any music training? How were you able to tackle classical music without training?

GH: Well I have had training – just not classical training. I have had both singing and music notation and composition training. But most of all, music is about listening. You don’t have to be “School” trained as much as trained in basics and trained how to listen. You don’t have to be trained how to read and write music (music notation) in order to write good music, but no matter how good you are, you will be better if you learn to read and right music. It is an advantage.

A: So, in your opinion, has EDM introduced “mindlessness”?

GH: No not at all, and perhaps EDM can lead to another renaissance of instrG. H. Hatumental music as we had in the 70s and 80s. Mindlessness is introduced by music execs who, fearful for their jobs, only want to do what worked before. This is what creates the “copy cat” mode although the greatest artists have always been different than those before them and have introduced a “new” sound. “Mindlessness” was also introduced by MTV in the mid 80s when suddenly the “visual” was more important than the “music” – historically musical sophistication went down from there – at least “classically” and instrumentally speaking. Although bands like Queen survived and MUSE is the modern day holdover of “classical” influence.

A: I have heard a couple of your Piano Songs, -quite nice, actually. Piano Jam (An Ode To Kygo) and Piano Jam 2 (An Ode To Kygo) on Spotify. Why an “Ode To Kygo”?

GH: Well actually the title is kind of a joke – a circumstantial pun, I couldn’t resist. “Kygo” has a different meaning if you look it up in the Urban Dictionary – it is actually slang for making a late night run for some KFC. Well it just so happened when we were working on these songs that is exactly what we did, and they happened to be “Piano” songs – and of course Kygo, the artist, is famous for his Piano Jams — so what else could I possibly call them.

A: Funny! Well your “Piano Jams” and EDM instrumentals are certainly first rate, we are certainly looking forward to vocal collaborations – All quality music.

GH: Thank you!