Pursuit Grooves - Foxtrot Mannerisms

Pursuit Grooves - Start Somethin

Vanese Smith aka Pursuit Grooves is an electronic music producer, vocalist and live performance artist living in Brooklyn, New York. ‘Foxtrot Mannerisms’ is her first release on Tectonic, seeing the Bristol label stepping sideways to explore genres different, yet related, to the dubstep it’s famous for.

‘Foxtrot Mannerisms’ is a mix of hip hop, house and dubstep rhythms, and the title comes from Vanese’s obsession with dance competition TV shows. The focus is on production but as usual she’s delivered a few rhymes and vocals when inspired to do so. The older Pursuit Grooves productions are slower, more downtempo, but as a result of doing more live performances this past year recent productions have sped up - most of this album was recorded within the last 6-8 months. Vanese likes to dance which shines through in the trippy drum patterns and deep bass lines. The album reflects her personality of having fun, making the most of life and following your passions.

Raised in the Washington, DC area Vanese attended a performing arts school where she excelled in film and theatre all the while taking an extreme interest in music production. Armed with an analogue four-track cassette recorder, drum machine and years of studying her grandmother and aunt on the piano, she began her first productions at the age of sixteen and never looked back. Though she majored in film at Vassar College, after earning her degree she moved to New York City to work at a number of recording studios and record labels. A demo in the right hands landed her track ‘Push Up’ on the ‘Beat Dimensions’ compilation on Dutch label Rush Hour alongside some of the brightest up and coming electronic artists around the world. That was later followed by three mostly instrumental albums on her own What Rules label; ‘Fun Like Passion’, ‘Wild Art Forestry’, ‘And Sustainable Movements For A New Age’, the later available as a free download with titles focused on responsible consumer, health and agricultural practices.

Vanese was accepted into the 2008 class of the highly selective and all expenses paid Redbull Music Academy in Barcelona, Spain which resulted in her track ‘Renew’ featuring the legendary Motown guitarist Dennis Coffey being featured on the RBMA compilation.

The future looks extremely bright as 2010 brings an audiobook/podcast series about young creative professionals, a new group theatrical music installation based on myths and fables and the continuing success of monthly music podcast Nodding Grand, which reaches a subscriber base of over 34,000 listeners. Vanese aims to push herself with each new project, exploring the depths and moods of sound.

myspace.com/vjsmith