When you think of music cities

Cities that have a distinct knowledge for the music and the parties, many will come to mind, especially in the United States. Atlanta is definitely one of those cities, but it may not be known for progressive music. That is about to change as Chris Orosco better known as Reliquary is making his name and brand in the ATL. As a DJ, producer and A&R, Reliquary is making his sound known. With a growing fan base, his soothing progressive sounds will be a welcome back once Georgia and the rest of the world fully reopens.

Keep your eye on this artist, he is definitely one to watch in 2021.

Thank you for taking the time to sit with me today. How have you been getting by during quarantine?  With the holiday season how did you and your family adjust?

Of course! Thanks so much for having me! I’ve been getting by alright. It’s been really tough not being able to go out to shows or see many friends but it’s also been nice to have more time to focus on my music and doing some live streams. Streaming is relatively new for me so that’s a pretty cool new skill to be learning as well.

For the holidays we didn’t do much. Normally my wife Lucy and I go up to Pennsylvania to visit her family for Christmas but this year we just stayed in and stayed local. We had a socially distanced dinner with some of my immediate family on Thanksgiving and Christmas but that was pretty much it. It definitely wasn’t the most exciting holiday season this year, ha-ha.

End of the World recently had the remixes released. What are your thoughts on how they sound from the original?

Yeah! I’m so glad to have my remix included with that release too! I love the moody progressive vibe and groove of the original but I really dig the remixes! I think they both fit in their own unique space in the context of a DJ set and was glad to hear some versions with a little more energy. I’ve been a huge fan of the Collide The Sky project so I was really excited when I found out that they were doing one. They really delivered with the cinematic progressive sound that’s become their trademark. I’m also really happy with the way mine came out, especially with the way all of the dark drive and atmosphere came together. I feel like I pushed my creativity quite a bit with it and tried to take some risks with the sound and arrangement, hopefully listeners feel it paid off, ha-ha.

With Covid-19, you had to adjust to online streaming. What was the biggest challenge for you in this new platform? Do you think you will continue to stream once night life is open again?

Yeah, it was a bit overwhelming to figure it all out at first. I think the hardest part was figuring out how to get everything set up to run smoothly. A lot of people might be surprised how tough and confusing it can be to route all the audio signals properly! Another thing that’s tough is doing the actual performance.

In the end you’re just in your room listening to and playing music to yourself. It takes some adjustment to really get into it and put on a decent show all while still being engaging and interacting with the chat. It was worth figuring out though. I was definitely skeptical of the viability of doing live DJ streams as a way to interact with friends and fans but I have really enjoyed my time on Twitch this year; both as a fan and a performer.

‘Individual Identity’ has had some very consistent releases in 2020.  What is your exact role at ‘Individual Identity’? What is your goal for the label in 2021?

Ah thanks! Yeah, I feel like it was a great year of releases for us and I’m so grateful to be able to work such an awesome team and so many talented artists there. I work for Individual Identity as an A&R, basically I recruit artists to join our team and submit their music for release. We’re a small team though so ultimately I end up doing a lot of other things too. I create a lot of our release graphics and videos, help with promo, and also mentor newer artists to help get their tracks release ready. It can be a lot of work sometimes but I really enjoy it and am proud of the progress we made last year. We’re going to keep the momentum going strong for 2021 as well! We’re already planning a pretty big stream event with some awesome artists and have some incredible releases already lined up for the year. Right now I’m most excited for Apollo Nash’s Orion Station coming out January 15th!

‘Individual Identity’ also has a special on Spotify called Individual Selections. How has this helped grow the brand for Individual Identity? Would you be open to moving platforms outside of Spotify? Why or why not?

I love these playlist, the Individual selections playlist is curated monthly by whoever our Individual Identity artist of the month is. It’s awesome getting to hear the sounds and music that make that artist who they are. With the world’s listeners moving to streaming almost exclusively, we thought it was important to have a regular fractured playlist on Spotify. It’s a great way to highlight that artist’s sound while also growing our engagement and following on the platform.

Sure, we’d be open to other platforms, it just seems that Spotify is the best platform for focusing our energy for the time being. We’re always open to other suggestions though.

Atlanta is definitely known for its music, but not necessarily the progressive sound.  How would you describe the Atlanta scene?  Would you say Progressive is growing out there? What do you feel is the biggest challenge being in Atlanta?

Ha-ha, yeah, progressive and trance probably aren’t the first thing anyone thinks of when they think of Atlanta. The scene here is pretty awesome though, I love it. Like a lot of smaller cities, it’s a relatively small scene but the fans are super passionate and I’ve made a lot of my best friends in it.

Hmm, I probably wouldn’t say progressive is growing necessarily but the overall dance music scene has been steadily growing year after year so that leaves more opportunities to throw progressive and trance parties. The biggest challenge is probably just that these are still pretty niche genres here. For dance music shows, most of them are focused on trap and dubstep. Even in the best of times, we’re lucky to get about one show a month.

Finally, if you could only live by one motto, what would it be?

Ooh, making me dig deep for this one, ha-ha.

Hmmm, I think doing my best to live by the golden rule has worked well for me “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you”.