Stay informed on our latest news!

A little over a week ago, at an unclaimed sixth-floor non-venue on Broadway in Chinatown, the uncannily-honest stripped-down pop musician Grace Ives played a raucous set to celebrate the release of her sophomore LP Janky Star. In the time since the album’s introduction to worldwide audiences, life for her, much like the other week's concert-qua-party, has grown to be in equal part undeniably triumphant and endearingly-unkempt: while Pitchfork is crowning her record “Best New Music” and the days are counting down to her first headlining tour, piles of laundry are growing in her room, and her bouts with cutting boards are unfurling into sloppy existential crises.

But for the moment, beyond major magazine features or sold-out shows, Ives is most stoked on the fact that people know the lyrics to her songs. We’re seated in opposite couches of her dimly-lit Brooklyn brownstone, and while impending nightfall threatens to break up throngs of cultured 20-something year olds outside, her two cats, Ichabod and Jupiter, are quasi-contemptuously eyeing each other on a faded rug leading up to the dinner table. “So many people were singing songs that literally came out a week ago,” she says, fading sunlight from a narrow window illuminating one side of her face, and an antique yellow overhead light fixture battling for dominance over the other. “In the past, at shows, it would just be maybe two or three people singing along. But last night, it just felt very… excited.”

There were also shows where no one sang along at all. One of Ives’ first serious performances came in support of her debut album 2nd, and in the grandiose-yet-humble stage area of C’mon Everybody, a Brooklyn event space and bar, not a single person had arrived to see her play her set. In the same spunky, down-to-earth spirit that has grown to characterize her artistic appeal up to now, she did wind up trooping through her entire performance — besides the room’s four walls, her only “audience” the entire time was a curious couple that walked in and walked right back out — which, even though it’s great material for an inspirational scene in a biopic, should one someday be made of her, accomplished little in the grand scheme of album promotion. But for Ives, the agenda may never have been so much for run-of-the-mill self-promo as it was for cathartic self-reflection. Promoting herself, both in conversation and on her social media platforms, comes across as a necessary evil: her pre-release spree of promotional Instagram posts featured two selfies in effortlessly-random spots, each captioned with the same formulaic “in (location) thinking about my album that comes out on friday.” The joy in Ives’ art is rooted more in an extraordinary vulnerability, one that shies away from sensationalist stages separating artist from audience, and basks in not only not knowing what’s going on, but laughing about it, too. It’s what made the show so special to her — there wasn’t any toilet paper in the bathroom, and at times, it felt as if the vacant, barely-structurally-sound venue was going to fall in on itself, but the prospect of an even playing field far outlasted the need for a glamorous coronation. “It was the perfect place,” she says, because “we’ve all never been here before.”

Released via the New York indie label True Panther Records, Janky Star sees Ives package a funny record of herself in rustling, minimalistic soundscapes described by Pitchfork as “pop music made from the inside of a maraca.” “Cut my hours back, well I guess I'll walk it off,” she sings lightheartedly of the grueling odd-job hustle that foregrounded her new peak in “Loose.” “I come home to an empty talk / I bring the bed bugs back.” Musically, the album manages to be markedly modest in light of Ives’ far more expansive background — an acoustic guitar leaning against a nearby wall is a convenient hint towards her longtime prowess as an instrumentalist, and on top of that, she was churning out awkward melodies via laptop software long before she was performing, let alone to rooms full of people who knew all the lyrics to her week-old songs. On Janky Star, though, the sounds are far from those of big-band anthems or tech-savvy ravers. “Lazy Day,” for instance, boasts a sonic backdrop not far removed from a grown-up’s version of a kids’ wind-up toy, droning forth between two wistful chords that alternate with one-another amidst click-tracky drum hits. As much as it’s stripped down, it's an ethos that waxes maximal — much like the musician herself, the music isn’t trying to be something it isn’t, and the fact that it’s hilariously honest with itself is part of what makes it so good.

The tongue-in-cheek sarcasm, often crossing over into equally tongue-in-cheek self-deprecation, is a quality Ives embraces beyond music. “To go a whole day without laughing is crazy,” she says. “To watch a whole movie without laughing is crazy. To listen to a whole album without laughing is crazy. [...] You’ll see red carpet interviews of actors who take themselves so seriously, and I think they’re so fucking weird. Like, if you would just laugh… We just saw you for two hours on screen pretending to be Elvis Presley.” Part of Ives’ musical ethos hinges on taking herself with a grain of salt, but before it was woven into the fabric of her critic’s-pick albums, it was a preemptive defense mechanism to ward off smart-mouthed classmates before they could make any wisecracks at her expense. Today, it nests comfortably in her craft as the chief instrument of artist-audience barrier-breaking. Yet at the other end of the spectrum, it may also be an undermining agent for her immense talent: sometimes, when she isn’t careful, the risk presents itself for her to diminish herself in the name of humility.

With a well-received album out, a newfangled litany of people who know the lyrics to her songs, and a headlining international tour coming up, it’s a balance she’ll have the rest of the foreseeable future to strike. For now, though, when she shows me the weirdest tattoo she has — an indiscernible frog-thing hoisting an unknown object, all captured in thick, enigmatically-squiggly ink — it seems like she’s well on her way.

“I don’t know what it is,” she says, between laughs. “It’s, like, a fucking platypus- a frog-horse holding hearts? I think that’s definitely the weirdest.”

The namesake of Janky Star is a tattoo given to her by a friend years ago. Between it, the unknown amphibian, and an army of other funny ones that populate her limbs, she doesn’t plan on getting any removed.

The 22 year-old Crown Heights native 26AR is active in New York's relatively new drill scene, becoming a key player who's climbing straight to the top with his latest release.

Curating his sound through a mixture of collaborations with artists like Rob49 and PGF Nuk and a fresh energy, 26AR is today’s New York.

Quicklying swerving into his own lane, the Brooklyn born rapper established a unique voice early on. Since his stint in jail, he curated a clear vision and plan to take his sound to worldwide charts.

Almost two years after his debut Drench Em, his sophomore album is the next step in cementing 26AR’s pedestal in game. Referencing his past, present and future in the project, he pulls from his life and unique lyricism to build a road to success, and we're here for the ride.

Tell us a little about your latest drop Flyest Oota. What’s different about this compared to your past projects?

Drench Em was my introduction into the game — a lot of those songs were written in jail. Flyest Oota is a level up because I was in a different mindset when it was coming together. I recorded most of it in LA so it has a different feel to it.

Which track off the album is your favorite so far? Why?

'Money Hungry' is my favorite track right now because it’s different from my old stuff. Everyone is going to notice the change in my flow and beat selection with this song.

What do you think makes your sound uniquely 26AR?

I don’t be yelling and shit. A lot of other rappers in New York talk crazy and have a lot of energy — I just do me.

Who in your life inspires you the most?

What do you think is distinctive about the New York sound?

We give the people something to dance to for real. Our lingo is just different and people flock to that.

What's it like collaborating with Rob49 and PGF Nuk? 

Amazing. All three of us are on the same vibe, so I fuck with them.

How has the music from your youth inspired your music today? 

I grew up listening to what my Pops played in the house: a lot of Jay-Z, Nas, Beanie Siegel — real rap sh*t. I learned about lyricism early so people might hear that in my music.

You're already making a mark on the scene in a short amount of time, what do you see in your career's future? 

I had a plan from the time I was locked up. I’m going to take it as far as I can. I see myself having the number one song in the world. We’re global with it.

Do you have any plans to celebrate the drop? 

We’re going to party of course but we’re still working. Still have to make a lot of things happen.

While the thick summer air almost swallows us whole, Peach Tree Rascals cut through with their breezy anthems. They remind us to not take life too seriously, and make time to dance.

A brotherhood in their own right, the group first met in high school, where they took up music making and producing in a backyard shed outside of San Jose, California. Comprised of producer/mixer, Dom Pizano, singers Isaac Pech, Tarrek Abdel-Khaliq, Joseph Barros and creative director, Jorge Olazaba, PTR is familiar love in its purest form. Putting their own egos aside, the group learned to work with one another and take each other’s criticism — all while going viral.

The self-taugh musical collective has racked up millions of streams on every track that’s released — with their latest single "Let U Go" to get you up on your feet and having you playing it back on repeat. In what the group properly describes their own sound as “Rascal Pop,” they invite you on a sonic journey in their forthcoming EP release entitled Does A Fish Know It’s Wet? set to release today.

We were grateful to get some of their time, and enter the sun-soaked world they've built. In an exclusive interview with office, the guys chatted to us from their Norwegian hotel room, hours before they went off to catch Thor in theaters. 

First off, where are all of you guys? How has tour been?

TARREK– Good. We are in Norway right now. This is our first time in Europe, we're doing a European tour, a bunch of festivals. Today we have an off day and we just spent most of the day just relaxing and getting to know the city... It's been amazing. Just to see different people and how much better Europe is. Where we are and how clean the streets are.

Where have you played so far?

TARREK– We've played in France. That one is probably one of my favorites and the best crowd, most energetic. And then Finland, Belgium, London. We did our headline show in London, every other show has been festivals. But London was our first headline, like, overseas headlining show, which was a beautiful experience to have people from a whole other country singing all the words to the songs.

JOSEPH– It's a different energy when it's your own headline show. Compared to festivals, because those fans are coming just to see us and like they know the songs word for word. It's all love.

Your latest single "Let U Go" was just released. How did the song come to be? I feel like it's gonna be everyone's go-to summer song.

TARREK– We hope so. This song and this project titled "Does A Fish Know It's Wet?" comes out July 22. It's pretty much us trying to make the biggest songs we've ever made and something that really pops off. Because when you discovered us in 2018, and for those first few years of our career, it was just us.

I don't know if you know our story, but we all met in high school and we just started, we're all self taught. We had no connections. We were all just in a shed in Dom's backyard that barely fit us in there and it was like that for years. Releasing and producing our own stuff. After "Mariposa" had the success it did, it was when we were put into this industry. We signed a label deal, have managers, tour managers, booking, all that stuff. So it became more of a business and we have more people behind us. So when that business aspect and the industry aspect became a thing, they started to look at it more as statistics and numbers- you know how the story goes with that. This project is us feeling that pressure of the business trying to chase the numbers of "Mariposa," and us trying to do our thing with it at the same time. So if you ask us what genre this project is, we're going to say, "Rascal Pop" because it's pop music. We're trying to make it pop off, hit the radio, and hit the charts, but we tried to do it in our own way and add our own flair to it. And we're very excited about that.

How would you say that you guys find the balance between having a management team versus staying true to who you guys are?

ISAAC– It took a little while to find a balance at first, like everybody's words and opinions meant too much to us. And after a while of just being stressed out because of what other people expect or what other people think you should do, you kind of have to force yourself to form a balance or else you're gonna go fucking insane. So after a while, we were kind of able to set in our opinion amongst us, and kind of roll with that, as opposed to everybody listening to outside voices, and everyone kind of being scattered. Now it's more like a formulated group effort, which was a process but we're there.

TARREK– It makes it a lot easier because we've all been living with each other and we've been friends for a long time. So no matter how many other people there are in Peach Tree Rascals now in terms of label and management, the core group is always here together. As long as we all feel the same way, it does not matter what anyone else says. We can always put our foot down and make our opinions the number one.

What would you want your listeners to take away from the EP?

TARREK– I think this project is something that you can kind of just listen to in any setting in terms of summer, having fun with your friends, just a free democracy. I think just having fun with your friends and living life. That's the kind of feeling this project is.

JORGE– Yeah, I guess for this one we just want people to enjoy themselves because things in the world aren't the greatest right now. We want this music to be an escape from reality, I guess.

Would you guys say that, that sort of like the ethos behind Peach Tree Rascals? Just like being carefree, dancing a little bit, and escaping from reality?

TARREK– I would think so. A lot of people over the years have said we've had very uplifting and bright music. But if you listen to the lyrics, it could be a little bit more sad, if you really like look into it. That's just our way of taking our experiences, those hard times in our lives, and trying to make it more uplifting and more optimistic.

Talk me through your music making process.

TARREK– ...A big part of our process is we try to put our egos completely aside. We try to be very honest with each other. And so if, for example, if I have an idea for a melody, I'll share it with the guys and like Dom would be like, "It's all right, it could be better." Then we go back and keep writing. I don't let it hurt my feelings. I don't let it stop me from trying to create.

DOM– Whenever I give feedback, I try to have not to just say, "Hey, this could be better," but I'll also try to throw in how it can be better.

And you guys were saying earlier that you all met when you were younger, and have been doing this for years. So do you think having that initial level of comfort with one another helps in this?

TARREK– 100%. They're all my best friends at the end of the day. I remember in the very beginning it took some getting used to because like I was just starting out with making music. I was going through that process of Dom being like, "No, that that idea sucks." You gotta keep trying to come up with something better. That criticism at first took me a while to be like, "Okay, I understand what's happening." For other people, it could make them want to stop and make them want to quit. But we all want the same thing, which is to make the best music and the best product.

I kind of want to bring this back to your early days of when you were first starting out and meeting each other. Is there a specific story or time where you were all like, "Hey, let's start a band."

TARREK– It honestly came together, like it just happened. I like to say it was more of a domino effect. Isaac has been making music since he was 12 years old. Dom and Joseph have been friends since freshman year of high school and we didn't meet Isaac until our junior year of high school. He was the first person in our group of friends that was actively writing, recording, and releasing music. He was dropping music videos on YouTube, songs on SoundCloud, burning CDs and passing them out at school. Having someone like that in your group of friends was very inspiring.

ISAAC– I changed their life.

JOSEPH– It really opened the door for our creativity.

TARREK– Like it didn't start right away with us like, "Alright, we're all gonna go and start making music after seeing Isaac do that." After school we'd be smoking and freestyling, like me and Isaac. Then I would go over to his house and the studio was his room. We would just record stuff over YouTube beats and release them on SoundCloud.

DOM– Honestly seeing Tarrek's improvement from when he started to a few months, honestly, that was inspiring too.

TARREK– Then after, me and Isaac were going through that process, Joseph every once in a while, would pop his head in.

JOSEPH– They would consistently ask me, but I would just be so hesitant because I was so self conscious about singing and music.

TARREK– But we knew he could play guitar a little bit and we knew he had a beautiful voice. I just remember hanging out with him after school and no matter where we were, and no matter where we were going, he would just be singing freely. He always had a beautiful voice so we would always try to push him to come and sing a hook for us or something.

JOSEPH– I think for me when I went all into music, we were like drunk at our friend's party. And Dom was just like, "You could be one of the greatest musicians and by adding to this group we could just dominate the entire world." I went home that night, and I really thought about it. And the next day I went all in.

TARREK– That brings me back to the domino effect. It was after high school when Dom started producing and in the first couple years of college, Dom was like, "I don't know what the fuck I'm gonna do with my life." He's the mastermind behind Peach Tree Rascals, Isaac's the mastermind behind the inspiration for all of us to want to even start making music. Dom going into producing was all self taught. So seeing him work for years, literally day and night, 60, 70, 80 hours a week, just trying to get better at production was the game changer for us. He was the first person to ever tell me and Isaac, "Oh, this melody could be better, this flow could be better." Because when it was just us, we would just go with whatever.

When was sort of a breakthrough moment for you guys where you felt yourself taking it to the next level?

ISAAC– On the music side, I fell asleep and they kept working on music. And they were working on "Violet." I woke up and I was kind of irritated because the music was hella loud. Then it was the bridge of "Violet" and it was crazy. It sounded like something produced by, like, Kanye West or something. I was half asleep and I was like, "Whoa, we can do this." And then I went back to sleep with a smile on my face. On the career side of things. It was the first time we made an editorial playlist on Spotify, because I used to be in charge of doing all the email shit and learning how to promote music in an efficient way. I think it was our third song, "Water" that made Mellow Bars on Spotify. I ran around the house. It was crazy.

I'm excited to see what else you guys do. Is there anything else that you guys want to let people know?

TARREK– Despite whatever you're going through, despite whatever is going on in the world, try to protect your energy and focus on what's right in front of you. And the people around you that love you and care about you.

Festivals typically follow a formula: fans from all over the place, most of them fucked up in some way, exhibiting extreme hedonism and bouncing around from stage to stage in pursuit of their favorite artists.

Boiler Room New York this year was like that — but in deep Bushwick, set at Avant Gardner, a series of industrial buildings laid out like a giant trap house, from 6pm-4am on a Saturday night. So you can imagine the hedonism was on high, and in this case, the artists were as much a part of it as the fans. And with the lineup Boiler Room had laid out, these artists were the sort to be down for that mission: Anonymous Club, Bladee, Boy Harsher, Ecco2k, Navy Blue, the list of underground legends goes on. As for the fans, they weren't just regular festival-goers, they were Boiler Room heads — intent on celebrating the ecstasy of live music — figuratively, and otherwise...

The center hall featured a classic roofless dome with an elevated stage, facing a pit in the shadow of a massive screen, which projected wild light shows the likes of Bladee and Ecco2k embraced, during their epic back-to-back performances, sandwiched by a surprise duet. The right-most hall featured a stage below the elevated VIP platform, which allowed for hyped, while intimate DJ and live performances including that of the young, rising star BKtheRula. The left-most hall had the energy of a classic warehouse rave — a packed, sweaty, dark space where, of course, Anonymous Club dominated the entire night after their couture show earlier in the day. Performances from Babyxosa, Ayegy, Izzy Spears, and Eartheater electrified a feral and hungry crowd and continually inspired some to rush the stage and rave with the artists all the way up until four in the morning.

The festival was a great success in bringing together the most dedicated fans of the underground. To pay the experience the highest of compliments, at least in this subculture — it felt a little like London.

Please confirm that you are at least 18 years old.