Longturn Presents: QRTR

Cobra | Bloomfield | Ages 21+

In celebration and observance of Pride month, our June Cobra monthly will feature an all queer lineup, and inclusively priced tickets. Headlining this event will be one of the top rising indie artists in the Northeast, QRTR!

QRTR focuses on building music of conceptual depth, pulling from entrancing and pulsating waves of house rhythms, psychedelic scopes of space and layers, and immersive worlds of sound. An artist from a young age, QRTR uses her experience as a film composer and vast collection of field recordings to create unique and memorable experiences in her music. Working with Nikki Nair, VNSSA, Baby Weight, Justin Martin, and many more over the years as well as performing at iconic festivals such as Making Time, Coachchella, and Electric Forest has gotten her a lot of attention with her work.

Getting the party started will be Molly Goblin, making his Longturn debut, followed by a Pittsburgh staple artist and 1/2 of Jellyfish, Ricky Mawzlin.

Tickets: bit.ly/LT-QRTR

VIP tables and rooms available at https://cobrapgh.com/

QRTR | Headroom | Brooklyn / Philly
https://soundcloud.com/qrtr

Meagan Rodriguez is QRTR, a musician, DJ, and film composer flourishing within modern electronic music, recognized as a top rising indie artist. Building music of conceptual depth, the tonality of QRTR’s productions pull from various ethos: the entrancing and pulsating waves of house rhythms, psychedelic scopes of space and layering, and immersive worlds of sound that utilize her vast film and field recording library. QRTR can activate the biggest of stages and can also immerse the mind into a menagerie of unfolding styles cascading over one another. A singular artist in this generation that has released two monumental works within a 24-month window: 2020’s Drenched and 2021’s infina ad nausea.

The live resume and presentation of QRTR’s music has become just as exemplary, making her presence known at prestigious festivals such as Coachella, Electric Forest, HARD Summer, and Electric Zoo, and performing at some of the most cutting edge underground shows and festivals around the globe. Most notable was her appearance at A2B2’s sold out Night of Fire festival at the Knockdown Center in New York, featuring QRTR alongside Arca, Eartheater, Andy Morin, Machinegirl, and Kero Kero Bonito. Millions of plays across streaming platforms worldwide and a dedicated fan base that’s expanded far outside of her East Coast roots, QRTR has become an undeniable force within modern electronic music.

The origins of QRTR's love for modern electronic music coupled with sounds from the past is a culmination of the family she was raised by and the dance music communities she first had access to. Her mother is from Madeira, a Portuguese island off the coast of Morocco, and her father is from Puerto Rico, giving a distinctly unique lens on incoming sounds from the house she was raised in. Growing up in Massachusetts, she would get her first access to making music with a vital gift from her dad: a Sony computer with DAW Acid Pro installed. Wild excursions into any sound obtainable, these stepping stones led to Garageband and then Ableton with a Pioneer controller. It wasn't until she moved to New York for film school at NYU that she was able to really harness the full scope of the QRTR sound that we know of today. One that DJ Mag's Ben Murphy describes as "tapping into everything from deep house to mystical IDM atmospheres, touches of UK garage, full-pelt jungle and psychotropic techno." Intensive hours sound designing and editing video gave her not only a cinematic view point to how sound is constructed but it also gave her access to a vast and unique library of sample sources. Beyond the techniques and skills acquired through NYU, being in New York allowed QRTR to interweave herself into the nightlife of the city and expand on the ethos she was formulating with vision and sketches sonically. These experiences had a huge impact on her as an artist. Across both Drenched and infina ad nausea, the bookend worlds of 21st century NY club nights and modern experimental film composer culture are glued all over the low end, overtones, and midsections. This unique dynamic is an integral aspect of what her artistry represents as a whole.

With QRTR producing a wealth of material this quickly into her career, some of the steam that was first generated around her music was infused with the presence of her feline companion ambientkitty. QRTR's usage of unique samples wasn't only restricted to film source material, with the inclusion of ambientkitty walking on top of controllers and creating spur of the moment ambient symphonies. Some of this material has made its way onto Drenched and infina ad nausea. With many of the core aspects of QRTR's music revolving around dynamic spacing of melody and beautiful rhythms, the usage of sample work has become just as critical and also ties directly back to her days in NYU collecting sample libraries and sourcing her own field recordings. Just as important to the overall makeup of the music as any drum tone or synth layer, most notable are field recordings taken from Notre Dame, Paris in 2018, as well as Catskills, New York in 2020. Used across infina ad nausea, they transport and transmute the tonality of the album and give it an essence that feels like time is stretching far back. Intros and outros all over both her debut and sophomore works take deep dives into QRTR's library, adding blends you won't find anywhere else.

Over the last three years, QRTR has shown the world what artistic merit and unfiltered vision can do in the realm of the dance community and beyond. Euphoric DJ experiences and mind opening listening experiences have taken her music to beautiful heights and she's only just found her footing. Global awareness has recently allowed her catalog to expand outside of music's DSP and physical pressing market, with soundtrack work now included in Hulu's new exclusive film from Searchlight Pictures, Fire Island. From the biggest of platforms to the smallest, the core values rest in the positive connections the music makes with the listeners while tapping into some of the deepest spaces of life. "The further I push the boundaries of this project, the closer I feel to reaching what I know is an impossibly difficult objective: making sense of pain. The world feels heavier than ever, and I can't think of anything more beautiful than working toward giving people some kind of joy. Whether that means through dance, emotional catharsis, or the act of making love to music that resonates with you — it has the potential to create meaning in a time when a lot of things feel meaningless. To make a living doing this is a dream come true."

For more on QRTR:
https://www.facebook.com/qrtrmusic/
https://www.beatport.com/artist/qrtr/704777
https://www.instagram.com/qrtrmusic/

Featuring Artists:

Ricky Mawzlin | Jellyfish | PGH
https://www.instagram.com/rickymawzlin/
https://soundcloud.com/rickymawzlin

Molly Goblin | PGH
https://www.instagram.com/pink_pips/

Longturn Music welcomes everybody and has a zero-tolerance policy for harassment, unwelcome physical contact, or any brand of bigoted behavior. If anyone at a Longturn event is making you feel uncomfortable or unsafe, or if you witness anything of the sort, we encourage you to speak with the door staff or our team members. We’ll believe you, and we’ll help.

In the era when America's Rust Belt got its name, factory workers labored on a 12-hour day or night shift for two weeks straight. To switch shifts, one group would have to work 24-hours straight and cover the labor gap. This grueling shift became known as the Longturn.

Longturn music was founded to give people with day jobs a space to spend their second shift. No bottle service, no passwords, just a dance floor filled with good people and good music.

Come early, stay late, dance hard ⚒️