Mid Coast Vol. 16; ARTIST SPOTLIGHTS: DizzyRandoms, Tre, 0pticbox
Mid Coast hosted their sixteenth edition at The Cooperage on Friday night featuring artists DizzyRandoms, Tre, and 0pticbox. They supported Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression (MAARPR), an organization that works with families of victims of police crimes to put an end to police misconduct, prison profiteering, political racism and economic injustice through organizing around the passage of legislation known as the Civilian Police Accountability Council (CPAC).
DizzyRandoms is a hip hop artist, producer and DJ who’s been making music since he was a teenager. His sets find him alternating between rapping and DJing; originally, he was known as DJ Dizzy D before becoming DizzyRandoms. Some of his biggest influences are MF Doom and Madlib, Flying Lotus, Pete Rock, 9th Wonder, and DJ Premier.
He explained, “It really all started when I was fourteen; that’s when I bought my first USB keyboard, and from there I was messing with GarageBand and loops. I was always into hip hop so the production and sampling was always there. It wasn’t until I turned eighteen when I really honed in on my skills in Ableton, which is the software that I use to make my music today.”
His most recent release is his “It’s In U” EP that dropped back in April; it consists of one six and a half-minute song that constantly shifts in mood from a screwed version of “The Real Slim Shady” to Chris Rock getting slapped. “That one was made on a whim,” Randoms said. “I wanted to see how I could make a lot of sounds in a short, compacted piece. I know that sounds crazy, but I did it.”
On what he’s working on now, Randoms shared, “I’ve got like three different projects in the works; I’m working on my debut album “Static Anecdotes” which should be out sometime hopefully by the end of the year. Then I have a collaboration with my friend Tre Johnson, a rapper from Chicago; we did a show a few months ago at Cactus Club to promote our new project, which is “ADHD” and that’s coming out by the end of the year too. And then I have another one with Steph from Mood Migration called “Nocturnals Forever.””
Tre is a hip hop artist who’s been making music since college. His biggest influences have been Kanye West, Travis Scott and Big Sean; his music often goes for a darker 808 vibe and personal subject matter.
He recalled, “As a kid, I always loved music. I started with SoundCloud releases, doing like three, four or five tracks a year. Then I started taking it more seriously when I realized it was actually what I wanted to do.”
In November of last year Tre released his debut EP “4 the Fall.” “I really didn’t roll it out like I wanted to,” he said. “A lot of the music there got slept on but here I am networking and marketing as the first step in getting exposure.”
Now, he’s gearing up to drop his next project “Rockstar Loner”; on Friday, he performed six tracks that will be on it. “Really in the title you can tell the vibe of the project. It’s got a rap-rock genre and is coming from a place of anger and loneliness, trying to find love but at the same time trying to stay focused on what your dreams are.”
0pticbox is an electronic producer and DJ known for performing with a TV on his head. His music ranges from danceable bass to aggressive riddim to trap; he designs his sets to take you on a cosmic journey through all of the above. Some of his biggest influences have been Liquid Stranger, Griz, and Slushii.
He’s has been making music since high school. 0pticbox explained, “I’d do little mixes here and there in my garage when I was like sixteen with my brothers. After practicing and watching videos online, I knew that I have to do this full-time. You find your sound and you find your niche, and then you just feed into that through exposing it to as many people as possible. 0pticbox was my finsta (laughs). Marshmello and Bear Grillz were popping off at the time, which were kind of inspirations for where having the TV as my own thing came from.”
His most recent single “ET” dropped in March on Lost Space Records. “I was working on that for like two years during the pandemic,” 0pticbox said. “I wanted to go towards the idea of what I’m going to build with the whole brand, and “ET” was that first step. I want to do storytelling with the music and eventually have cool visuals in the background, like you’re watching TV but bopping and dancing your heart out.”
0pticbox will be playing at The Rave for New Year’s.
