Hopefully by now you’ve heard of Jeff Montalvo,
better known to the world as Seven Lions.
In short, the 25 y/o Cali native is a drummer who experienced his first rave in 2007. He was inspired to produce trance, but the half-speed-driven beats of dubstep were his true calling. Combining melodic synths with heavy beats, Montalvo ended up winning an Above & Beyond remix competition for ‘You Got to Go’ from their Group Therapy album. It sat at #2 on the Beatport dubstep charts for 6 weeks. #1 happened to be a remix of this song called Levels by this guy named Skrillex.
Seven Lions has remixed trance heavyweights like Above & Beyond (multiple times) as well as Paul van Dyk and Tritonal. As expected, trance snobs are beside themselves. How do they explain their coveted DJs signing off on dubstep remixes. It’s actually quite simple – good music is good music!
His PR firm calls his style “dreamstep…” as if dance music needs another sub-genre lol. It’s dubstep. We’re cool with throwing the term ‘melodic’ in front if you like. Though that PvD remix was a bit more electro-influenced. Either way, Seven Lions is dope. His debut EP entitled Days to Come dropped 10/16 on that guy Skrillex’s OWSLA label.
LISTEN to the whole EP at soundcloud.com/seven-lions | BUY on Beatport or iTunes