Keeping on the Grind ...

Walking up from the street it looks like any other house in middle class suburbia. Freshly painted aluminum siding, red window shutters, a well landscaped yard and a cement goose lawn ornament guarding the front stoop. Most of us grew up in houses very similar. There are millions just like it all over the United States; nearly identical in every way except one. The house I was about to enter has a fully functioning recording studio. Music is created/perfected here almost daily. Local Ohio music growing grass-roots and germinating in the burbs.

A few years back, up and coming Columbus music producer Steezo convinced his parents to convert part of their home into Steezo Productions. With a lot of hard work and money he put up all himself he got things off the ground. The un-spectacular, quite average looking home in the northeast suburb of Gahanna is actually on par with anything else going in Franklin County.

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Brody Ryan steps into the booth to lay some backing vocals, the finishing touches on his latest self-released record Farawaygone. It's the second he's done with Steezo and it builds on the foundation the team laid with an EP last winter. Both are a wonderful hodge-podge of sounds, influences and song samples that Ryan weaves into potential radio gold. Remixes of Biggie Smalls, Miike Snow, Basement Jaxx and Sigur Rose to name a few. The 20 track new release also has extensive originals and very little filler.

"It's about establishing a unique sound," he explained after finishing his takes. "I don't want to be classified as any specific type or artist. I want the freedom to explore."

When Steezo finishes the final mixing, we burn some Strawberry Kush and listen to the album top to bottom. After warding off haters in the intro he opens with a remix of Susanne Vega's Tom's Dinner that will stick in your head for the next three weeks. Waiter, one of the more light-hearted songs, is about Ryan's day job, waiting tables at a burger joint. Anyone who's spent any time in food service (myself included) will appreciate it. He digs a little deeper on Kool Beanz which is a new version of an old song he did with a friend who has since been locked up. Little else but the song can be salvaged between the two.

"He made some very bad decisions, even hurt some people," Ryan said. "I just had to move on and do things on my own. It was the only choice I had really. I try to just focus on the positives in my life."

His good vibes are never stronger then on the club banger Body So Cold which has generated some local buzz and gotten hits on the website SoundCloud. His party song Friends and Weekends reminds me of a simpler time in college when drinking was pretty much all we did. ("Eatin' all the peaches out the hairy buff tubes/ it's the weekend and I'll be with all my friends/ we'll party and get drunk/ we'll live it up and have some fun/ the party ain't over until we're all sober"). When all is said and done his Dubstep inspired remix of Bombay Bicycle Clubs' Always Like This was my favorite. He's able to blend his voice and the original vocals almost seamlessly. The haunting echo and the very in vogue wobble-bass will be sure to grab people's attention.

With each effort, he continues to improve as an artist and Farawaygone is no exception. The latest in an evolution of his ever expanding sound. He's proof that it doesn't take much to get your dreams off the ground. Set goals, put in the hard work and be persistent; keep on the grind. There are diamonds in the rough, like Steezo Productions, everywhere. You just have to look. Lucky for everyone Brody Ryan found his and it's just begun to shine.

-J.R.