NXTSTYLE’s 2020 New Music Guide: Cashae
We’ve been fans of Cashae since the release of their 2018 collaborative single “Need To Know” with Tep No. Fast forward to 2019 as the Producer/DJ duo consisting of Alex Abomb and Joseph Michael released their EP 88:88 which includes one of our favorites of the year “Warmth” featuring Helen Tess. Take a look at our interview with the guys to find out more about the EP, who they’d love to work with and more!
An interview with CASHAE
Alex: We’ve known Tess for a long time and we always wanted to collab. She came to our studio with some initial song ideas. The first song we produced was one she had written about soulmates called “Twin Flame”. We wanted to make it a synthy, dark bassy record, different from our last releases to show a little more mood and feel.
We named the EP 88:88 because the number kept following us during the time we were making the studio. We had a intro song called “88 Grand”. In our studio, we had an 8th Street sign and the door sign from our first studio – #8. The average of Joe and I’s birth years is 88. Joe has 8 people in his family. Our manager won money on an ‘88’ themed slot machine. The power went out, and the clock said 88:88. We looked up the angel number and learned seeing 88 is a powerful vibration telling of achievements, success, striving forward, progress and attainment. The number 8 is considered to be the luckiest number in Chinese culture.
Alex: I want fans to take away how sonically we’re different from other artists and producers. The way we merge styles and genres is a reflection of our lived experiences. We want to take people on like rides — a journey that goes from high to low like riding a wave.
Joe: Oh boy, we have a ton of awesome stuff planned for 2020. We’re been working on a ton of new high energy music that I honestly cannot wait to share with the fans. Tour and shows are definitely in our sights. Be prepared to see us on the road in 2020! Looking to head to Europe too. As far as plugs go, all I gotta say is this, ‘47’….you’ll know what i mean by that soon enough haha
Alex: Bad Bunny and J Balvin’s entire Oasis album. (Shout out to the homie Albert Hype.) Listening to a lot of Nitti Gritti. Lizzo is insanely talented. Got the new Roddy Ricch on repeat. Pop Smoke. All of Selena Gomez’ new songs are incredible.
Joe: Camila Cabello, Bad Bunny, Nitti Gritti, Diplo, Cheat Codes. As producers we really look up to those guys and admire their work. Between our Latin/pop roots and their heavy EDM influences music I think we could really make a banger. Camila Cabello has the voice of an angel and she’s been on our list of singers that we’ve wanted to work with for many years. And she’s from our hood. We’ve been fans of Bad since before he really blew up. Being that Alex is form PR and I am from Cuba, it would be such an amazing thing to collaborate with Bad. I’m really excited to hear what that could sound like.
Alex: Also Post Malone. It would be amazing because the way he writes his songs has that old school real songwriting feel, mixed with a little trap and punk rock, which are my biggest influences as well. Not to mention his voice is amazing. I love the way he sounds— and the release party would be off the chain haha
Joe: Honestly, music is everything to me. I sometimes wonder if I would even still be here if it wasn’t for music. Growing up I was heavily involved in music from a very young age. My grandmother (a classical violinist) would take me to music lessons and then come home and tell my parents that I had a gift for music that needed to be perused. Emotionally, music grounds me.
Alex: Music to me is our universal language. It’s where people interpret life, love, pain, sacrifice, celebration and all the deepest emotions humans feel. Music makes it so everyone can relate and heal. Imagine a world without music – It would be like a movie with no score.
The more I grow as a person, the more I seek out different sounds with more emotion. Having grown up in Puerto Rico, reggae is HUGE (especially in the 90’s when Reggeton was underground). That music is some of the purest in earth. The struggle, beauty, pain of the Jamaican people is long documented in text books, but if you really want to learn from the people, you should listen to Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer, Greg Issacs, Bob Marley. They tell the real story. That is music to me. It’s like taking a camera and documenting people’s emotions live and direct. It teleports you to the writer or musician’s purpose for writing the song you’re listening to.
Joe: “There is hope I every situation
In all this pain I’m facing
For every generation there is hope
There is hope I every situation
My hope, my hope, my hope, hey
My hope my hope, your my world
In all this pain I’m facing
There is hope for every generation
There is hope, there is hope”
These are lyrics from a remix we made of Emily Brimlow’s song ‘Hope’. Around the time we were working on this remix my family got the news that my younger sister was diagnosed with stage 4 Hodgkin’s lymphoma (a form of cancer). I remember this was one of the most trying and darkest times for my family and myself. I would cry myself to sleep and wake up with tears in my eyes, but then we were given the opportunity to work on this remix. I will never forget being in the studio and just being in awe at the timing and the simple little reminder in Emily’s lyrics that no matter what the situation, the trials or tribulations; there is ALWAYS HOPE.
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