Mixing that electro thump with the sample-heavy boom-bap of hip-hop, DJ/producer Gramatik was born in Portoroz, Slovenia, but he always seemed bound for Brooklyn. It was an older sister with a large cassette collection who turned the young Gramatik on to tapes of funk, jazz, R&B, and other genres that naturally lent themselves to dancefloors. By the time he was 13, he was making beats on his PC, and by the time he was in his late teens, his productions had earned him a loyal fan base and, eventually, the attention of the Colorado-based Pretty Lights. The like-minded producer signed to Gramatik to his Web label, also dubbed Pretty Lights, and released his Beatz & Pieces, Vol. 1 album in 2011. The #DigitalFreedom EP followed in 2012 along with Gramatik's new apartment in Brooklyn.