Queen City-based producer and artist Alex Stallings, who goes by Stallitix as one-half of the Patterns of Chaos rap duo, launched his new Cincinnati music exploration and DJ showcase series last month in hopes of creating a safe space for local artists and music lovers. He’s calling it Warmth, for the feeling he hopes to foster with each event.
“Warmth has always been a feeling I’ve wanted [to promote], to make people to feel welcomed, and for people to feel that with other creatives,” he tells Audiofemme. An Instagram recap of the event put it succinctly with an Anna Sewell quote: “It’s good people that make good places.”
The inaugural boogie went down successfully at Walnut Hills’ Sideways 8 Studios in late December, with DJs Prymtime, Rah D. and Mr. Fantastic at the decks. The music spanned across R&B, house and hip hop genres, giving DJs the space to fine-tune the vibe and giving fans the chance to dance and socialize in a setting unique to the typical club or bar experience.
“There’s a void for people who want to dance, for music lovers, and for DJs who want to share music,” Stallings says. “[Warmth] is a music exploration series of Black music: house music, hip hop, rhythm & blues and soul music. We want to explore all of that. Like with house music especially, lots of people think it’s made by Europeans. But actually, it was started by Black DJs in Detroit and Chicago. So, we want to get into the significance and the history of that and more.”
This approach puts DJs in a more curatorial role, rather than relegating them to spinning records solely to fill dancefloors. “We want to allow DJs to flip and play the songs that they want to play, [umlike] being in a club or bar and being annoyed by people who request [songs],” Stallings explains. “There’s a line between artists and entertainers – this is definitely for artists.”
And Warmth has another important mission as well. “I wanted to create a safe place for people to come and dance and enjoy themselves,” Stallings adds. “The vision is to make a safe space for BIPOC, women and artists in general, because Cincinnati sometimes has an exploitative culture when it comes to artists.”
After the first successful installment, Stallings says he plans to hold the events either bi-monthly or quarterly and showcase talent from Cincinnati and beyond. “Cincinnati is a very big music town. There’s a lot of people who love music and a lot of them are transplants,” he says. “Prymtime is from Louisville; Rah D. is from Detroit. So, they bring their own little flair to the city.”
“Everyone who came out said they loved it. Everyone and said it was needed in Cincinnati,” he continues. “You’re not just going [to Warmth] for a drink [or to party]; the main reason you’re going there is for the music, which I think is needed… I went to this big function in Indianapolis that was a party catered to artists and DJs. It was a gathering of artists and influencers, mostly Black people, and that’s when I thought, we need to do something like that here.”
On his own artistic front, Patterns of Chaos’ latest full-length project, Chaotic Good, just hit streaming platforms last week. The nine-track album, which was over two years in the making, features Cincinnati artists like Aziza Love, GrandAce, JayBee Lamahj, Roberto and more.
Follow Warmth on Instagram for ongoing updates.
