Baeb Rxxth

Sliding in, making hits, and breaking records are all qualities that ‘baeb rxxth’ aims to have in common with its namesake. Synthy, spunky, trap-pop co-producers Devon Craig Johnson and Nasimiyu Murumba met in 2013 in New York at one of Devon’s long-held Chinatown dance parties, and the two instantly started nerding out about hip hop, songwriting, and production gear.

“I think of us as a production team. We’re side-by-side on drum machines, samplers, and synth bass keyboards, building these big fun, sound houses to shelter what had begun as just my weird little singer/songwriter piano demos,” notes Nasimiyu, whose solo project, Dirt, won acclaim from Vogue, NYLON, Afropunk, SPIN, OkayAfrica, and Interview magazine in 2014.

The “sound house” that they’ve built for their debut OMW EP, due in November, includes the sassy home-run single, “Gutter,” and wields a unique hybrid of Nasimiyu’s organic, vocal-harmony-laden, found-sound-sampling loyalties, mixed with Devon’s aptitude for dancey, audacious, and trap-happy fearlessness.

The band’s vibe draws inspiration from the radical underground subcultures that have fueled NYC, Nola, and Cali’s creative vibrance – vogueing, hip hop, bounce music, synth pop, and the hyphy movement.

‘baeb rxxth’ are two multi-instrumentalists with widely varied musical backgrounds — Devon has played guitar for different jazz ensembles, bass guitar/drums for rock bands, works as a remixer/dj, and is currently the keyboardist for New York indie band Modern Merchant and the producer for artist Emily Danger.

Nasimiyu is a pianist, drummer, composer, producer, dancer, and writer, who spent the last year touring the country as the drummer for a surf-punk band, directing a 5-piece indie brass band, creating several DIY short films, songwriting for different pop artists, as well as creating an acoustic piano cover of an entire rap album (it’s crazy good, too — soundcloud.com/nasimiyu). Their multi-instrumentalism and genre-juggling lends itself well to their colorful, teched-out plate-spinning-act of a live show.

The band’s sound makes nods toward Sylvan Esso, Little Dragon, Drake, M.I.A., Chvrches, Major Lazer, ASTR, Solange, Santigold, and SBTRKT, but with a girly, silly swag all its own.