GRIZ

Hailing from Michigan, electronic music producer and multi-instrumentalist GRiZ has built a devoted concert audience that fills major festival stages and his own sold-out headline runs. He describes his output as “future funk,” a glitch-infused, high-energy style that fuses booming dubstep basslines with jazz, hip-hop, and soul ingredients. Onstage he directs a 15-piece ensemble and delivers intense improvised saxophone solos. His first release, the 2011 album End of the World Party, was followed by increasingly ambitious and radio-friendly projects that added more live instrumentation plus prominent guest rappers and vocalists; Say It Loud (2015) included Talib Kweli and Ivan Neville, while Ride Waves (2019) brought in Snoop Dogg and Bootsy Collins. Shifting toward heavier bass textures, he issued several EPs and mixtapes before unveiling the 2021 full-length Rainbow Brain.

Grant Kwiecinski was born in Southfield, Michigan, in 1990. He took up alto saxophone and piano in childhood, then left Michigan State University to focus on music full-time. End of the World Party appeared on Mochipet’s Daly City imprint in 2011; its sample-driven downtempo cuts quickly gained traction online. The saxophonist soon opened for touring electronic acts including Bassnectar and Pretty Lights, which paved the way for his own headlining success. His second album, the self-released Mad Liberation, surfaced in 2012 and was followed by the socially conscious Rebel Era in 2013. Say It Loud, his 2015 fourth album, expanded the live-instrument presence and leaned into vintage funk while staying current, with vocal contributions from Talib Kweli, Ivan Neville, and iDA HAWK among others.

GRiZ continued the organic-funk direction on his fifth album, Good Will Prevail (2016). Guest spots from Eric Krasno, Big Gigantic, Muzzy Bear, and additional artists helped the record reach the Billboard 200 for the first time. A remix edition titled Good Will Continue arrived in summer 2017, and September brought Chasing the Golden Hour, Pt. 2, the follow-up to his 2015 mixtape. In April 2019 he delivered his sixth album, Ride Waves, featuring Snoop Dogg, Wiz Khalifa, Bootsy Collins, and further collaborators. He subsequently launched a series of Bangers EPs that highlighted the deeper, dubstep-leaning side of his sound. The mixtape Chasing the Golden Hour, Pt. 3 arrived in 2020, and the 23-track Rainbow Brain, honoring his bass-music influences, followed in 2021. He teamed with Subtronics on the single “Griztronics II (Another Level),” then released “Color of Your Soul” with CloZee and “Open Your Mind” with Big Gigantic in 2022.