The Westcott Theater will host TroyBoi Thursday night, arguably one of electronic music’s fastest rising stars.

But before TroyBoi takes the stage, two Syracuse University freshmen will warm up the crowd with DJ sets. Memphis White will be first, followed by his friend and fellow Bandier student Benji Sheinman, who goes by the stage name Blame Game.

While the two students will bump their tunes from the same stage Thursday night, their paths there were certainly not identical.

Sheinman’s interest in making music began at SU a few years ago when he attended a summer program that dabbled in both business and music production. When he returned to his home in Miami, he was able to land a few DJ residencies at clubs. Playing at these clubs on a weekly basis, Sheinman found something he enjoyed enough that he should pursue it seriously.

Just as Sheinman found opportunity in Miami, White used his hometown of Chicago as a gateway into electronic music. The summer after his freshman year of high school, White and some friends snuck into Lollapalooza, the annual music festival held in Chicago’s Grant Park

That day, White had his first in-depth listen to Avicii. He had heard the hits, but seeing the Swedish producer perform live made White realize he wanted to become more serious about electronic music.

Long nights of YouTube tutorials followed as White engulfed himself in his new passion. There was a lot of button pushing and knob turning, he said, but slowly he was learning what it took to be a producer.

One thing that helped White was his musical background. He grew up playing the clarinet, saxophone and piano in concert bands, and said that many concepts from his days with instruments helped him adapt to a creative role in electronic music.

This classical training is something that he and Sheinman share. Sheinman also grew up playing the piano, having been taught by his mother since he was in first grade. He said even after all these years, her teachings come back to him when he’s working in the studio.

“Sometimes I’ll be producing, and my fingers will just gravitate to a riff from an old song,” he said.

Such a distinguished background is not uncommon for electronic musicians. Sheinman likened his upbringing to that of Zedd, who was also raised playing the black and white keys.

Many of electronic music’s naysayers overlook these classical backgrounds, but White said that electronic musicians are just as musical as artists in any other genres.

After Thursday’s show, Blame Game is set to release the “Addicted EP,” a four song collective work between Sheinman and a few of his peers in the Bandier program.

The new release is the best work Sheinman’s ever done, he said. He’s proud of its range of sounds, whether it’s the unique drums and vocals on the title track — which White contributed to — or the Kendrick Lamar sampling found on another song.

Sheinman has solo projects in the works, but said he is more than satisfied with the collaborative nature Blame Game has taken on so far. The name of the project started as a catchy rhyme, but grew into an aptly-used title.

“As it became such a collaborative thing, we decided that Blame Game was just kind of a phrase that represented how we do our work,” Scheinman said.

Working with other artists has led Sheinman to realize just how important collaboration can be. He noted that even TroyBoi’s “Afterhours” was a collaboration — Diplo and vocalist Nina Sky are both featured in the song.

White agreed with Sheinman’s take on teamwork. Whenever he’s working alone, he said he ends up giving Sheinman a call to ask for a second opinion.

Said White: “If you get in a rut or get stuck, having another brain or another mind there to just add creative thoughts to it makes a difference.”

Published on March 29, 2016 at 8:03 pm

Contact: jtbloss@syr.edu | @jtbloss