Salva

Paul Salva’s magpie production style is primarily positioned between hip-hop and EDM, although his overall approach incorporates many other genres. Salva spent his formative years in Chicago, but by 2000 — after turning 18 — he had moved on to Miami. During his time there, he began to DJ in local clubs, where he absorbed the Miami bass scene that led to the start of his own label, Frite Nite. Taking the label with him, he eventually moved to San Francisco, where he recorded his debut full-length, 2011′s Complex Housing, affirming his pick’n’mix approach to bass subgenres. Later the same year he was accepted into the Red Bull Music Academy’s workshop event in Madrid, earning the title of RBMA Alumnus. The producer had a breakout year in 2012, stemming from his rework of Kanye West’s “Mercy” alongside RL Grime; the track blew up online, leading to a number of festival appearances and radio shows, including a stint hosting In New DJs We Trust on BBC Radio 1. As Salva’s rise continued, he relocated to L.A., having to put his label on the back burner due to increased demand for live shows and remix duties. Over the next two years Salva went on to release an EP, 2013′s Odd Furniture, and a feature-heavy mixtape, Peacemaker, the latter of which included appearances from Kurupt, E-40, ScHoolboy Q, Bad Lucc, Ballout, Freddie Gibbs, and Problem. After the mixtape, Salva put aside his own productions, although he continued to produce for a variety of other artists in the meantime. He returned to his own music in 2017, releasing an open-source beat tape called Clips; the release was conceptually ambitious, in that he gave free access to the stems and encouraged fans to produce bootleg remixes. ~ Liam Martin