Dark Disco | Kastle Forever Tour & Special Guests

Kastle's forward-thinking music results from his long-time love of hip-hop and R&B, fused with the magnetizing effect that garage, house, dubstep and bass-heavy music has had on him. He recently dropped his highly anticipated debut album KASTLE, which climbed the iTunes Top 10 Electronic albums and was named #13 on Billboards's Top 20 Electronic Albums of the Year. Kastle's track "Stay Forever" from the eponymous EP reached the iTunes Top 10 Best Electronic Songs of 2012, and he embarked on his highly successful 'Stay Forever' tour across North America, and into Australia and New Zealand.Kastle has garnished strong media attention from the likes of Billboard Magazine XLR8R, Resident Advisor, URB and Fact Magazine along with plays onBBC Radio 1 and KCRW.
After teaching himself guitar and piano around the age of 12, Barrett Richards pooled his efforts towards electronic instrumentation about two years later. He began taking production as seriously as he did DJing during that time, and involved himself deep into the Northeast rave scene. It was no surprise that in time, though, personal growth and 14 years of production experience paired with a degree in audio engineering would breed a new sound. Kastle came to life at a pivotal moment after a big move from Boston back to his hometown of Pittsburgh in March 2009. After nearly a year of conceptualizing, he knew he was working on something special.

The name itself implies a fortress, a personal space that is used to cultivate a long-time love of hip-hop and R&B and fuse it with the magnetizing effect that dubstep, garage and bass-heavy music has had on Barrett and, really, the various communities of underground electronic music.

The studio and touring dichotomy of an artist's life is a perfect yin & yang for Kastle in both his production and outlook. His professional experience as an engineer puts forth clean, crisp production, but his love for the party provides a playful bass that eats a room. Altogether, the wide varieties of vocals - both originals and sampled - are a key element to Kastle's sound. "I grew up on hip hop and R&B, and sampling is considered an art form," he says. "It's becoming more and more fun to dig through old records and find obscure samples." He cites another unexpected influence -legendary French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard, who had once said that "it's not where you take things from, it's where you take them to."