1. Lauv -New York-based singer/songwriter Ari Leff, aka Lauv, makes yearning, electronic-based, R&B-influenced pop. Regarding himself foremost as a storyteller, in addition to a producer and musician, he’s known for his catchy tunes about heartbreak, loneliness, and the complexities of growing up. He broke through with his 2017 worldwide hit “I Like Me Better,” which was included on I Met You When I Was 18, a playlist of his early singles. His 2020 full-length debut, How I’m Feeling, featured guests like Troye Sivan, BTS, and Alessia Cara and reached the Top 20 in several countries. His 2022 single “26” arrived in advance of his second album, All 4 Nothing.
Interested in music from a young age, the San Francisco-born Leff took piano and viola lessons as a child before picking up the guitar around age 11. During high school, he played in several bands and studied jazz before discovering electronic music production. However, it was while attending NYU as a music tech major in 2014 that a bad breakup found him on his own and digging deep into his writing and recording process. Out of this period came the song “The Other,” co-written with songwriter/instrumentalist Michael Matosic. Released under Leff’s stage name Lauv (inspired by the Latvian “lauve,” or lion), the song went viral after gaining blog attention and peaked at number three on blog aggregator Hype Machine. In 2015, he returned with his debut EP, Lost in the Light, which featured “The Other.”
Recently, Lauv welcomed in the new year on December 31 with the uplifting single “2021.” He then guested on DallasK’s single “Try Again.” In January of 2022, he announced the completion of his second album and released the single “26.” All 4 Nothing arrived in August.
2. Nancy Whang – is among the few who can lay claim to being a key figure in the heady early days of the rise of DFA Records, and her DJ sets remain faithful to the post-punk party aesthetic upon which DFA was founded. Nancy’s contributions on early 12″‘s by LCD Soundsystem and The Juan MacLean quickly lead to her full-time involvement as a permanent member in each of those bands. Shortly after, guest appearances on Soulwax’s seminal track ‘E Talking’ and Munk’s ‘Kick Out The Chairs’ solidified her place as a highly sought after vocalist in the burgeoning alternative dance music scene. It was this auspicious debut upon which Nancy has since built an electrifying career as a touring and recording member of LCD Soundsystem.
Logging years of touring miles, Nancy was instrumental in establishing LCD as one of the decade’s most exciting live bands, headlining some of the greatest festivals worldwide in addition to endless club gigs. As if that were not enough, in LCD’s downtime Nancy also fronted DFA act The Juan MacLean, again setting off on rigorous touring schedules of both festivals and clubs across the globe.
Her appearance on The Juan MacLean’s massive dance hit ‘Happy House’ once again solidified her place as a sort of hitmaking voice of underground dance music. Of course, all of this live band action is only half of the DFA equation; DJ’ing has always been equally prominent. Like James Murphy, Juan MacLean, Holy Ghost, Shit Robot, Eric Duncan and other members of the DFA collective, Nancy found herself honing her skills as a DJ at various afterparties and special events.
While many of her peers at DFA ventured out into the world of late night club-friendly dj’ing, Nancy has stayed firmly rooted in the eclecticism of what could now be considered the defining style of DFA. Her sets have an emphasis on fun, an echoing of the glory days of the NYC scene of the 80’s in which disco, proto-house, postpunk, noise, electro, and latin influences all conspire to keep things interesting. No loopy late-night darkness here.
Nancy’s sets might feature dance party friendly tracks by Liquid Liquid, Deee-Lite, Nu Shooz, Annie, Sexual Harassment, Frankie Knuckles, Kraftwerk, Lipps Inc., and of course the newest and classic tracks from her own DFA label.
3. I-Lin Tsai – Just off her West Coast Concert Tour 2022, Concert Musician I-Lin Tsai is, “re-engineering pop music into classical forms” and taking the “tradition of great artists…and carrying it forward” (New York Weekly). As a pianist and designer of digital music and art, she has delivered concert experiences across Asia, Europe, and the United States.
I-Lin Tsai was born in Tainan, Taiwan and began studying piano and violin at age seven. Today, based in the US, she’s captivated audiences with her approach to designing programs that feature music from Chinese Pop (C-Pop) arrangements to classical music composers like Debussy, Chopin, Bartok and Ravel. “She’s bringing the technical depth of a trained classical pianist to the catchy melodies and hypnotic harmonies of pop music…it’s exactly what classical music audiences are looking for – a renaissance.” (London Daily Post)
Along with being an active concert artist, she enjoys composing immensely. She is currently a composer for Diaghilev, a subsidiary of Oclef, Inc. As a project manager in the composer collective she has composed music for animated shows by producers and directors from Disney, Netflix and TCL. Also in her role as a Professor of Stage One Piano at Oclef School, she helps students to learn music by arranging pieces, developing curricula and by doing regular coachings.
I-Lin Tsai received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Penn State University under Dr. Christopher Guzman. She studied with Prof. Eteri Andjaparidze at New York University with the dual degree program (Master of Music and Advanced Certificate in Piano Performance and Pedagogy). I-Lin furthered her education at Oberlin Conservatory of Music under the tutelage of Prof. Peter Takács, where she earned her Bachelor of Music degree
Now living in San Jose, California, I-Lin loves swimming, traveling and playing with her lizards and cat. When she’s not at the piano, her hobbies include creating digital art, listening to music by JJ Lin and playing League of Legends. She’s forever grateful for all the encouragement and help that she’s received from her beautiful mother, loving father and supportive brother that allowed her to pursue her passion for music all over the world.
