Elevated Frequencies

This episode is sponsored by Trackstack: the operating system built for music professionals who invest in each other. Trackstack Pro gives you access to a network of labels, curators, and artists where every connection you make is yours to keep. No algorithms, no platform holding your contacts hostage. Just real professional relationships that can turn into collaborations, bookings, and opportunities that can change the trajectory of your career.
Use code ELEVATED for 50% off Pro for 3 months at trackstack.app
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In 2001, Lee Foss bought a one-way ticket to Ibiza with no plan and no way home — just a hunch that he'd find his tribe. He did. That summer, he met Jamie Jones, and the friendship that followed became Hot Creations, one of the most influential labels in modern house music.
In this episode, the Chicago-raised DJ, producer, and Repopulate Mars founder sits down with Olivia Mancuso the day after his Chicago birthday show to trace the whole arc — from DeKalb raves to Ibiza, from building a 15-year label empire and helping launch artists like John Summit, to getting sober and reinventing himself two decades into his career.
What you'll take away:
-How betting on yourself — even with no plan and no safety net — can change your entire trajectory
-How to build a music career (and a label) that stays sustainable for 20+ years
-What it actually takes to break out of a scene that isn't the industry's "center of gravity"
-How Lee spots and bets on new talent — and why being from Chicago is a calling card, not a crutch
-The reality of running a lean, independent label that outsells majors with 80-person teams
👉 Want personalized guidance on your music career? Book a one-on-one consultation with Olivia on GreenRoom where you can get tailored advice on branding, business strategy, and sustainable career growth: https://greenroomnetwork.com/creator/OliviaMancuso
👉 Instagram: @oliviamancuso__
👉 Video Editor/Audio Engineer: James Fixx

This episode is sponsored by Trackstack: the operating system built for music professionals who invest in each other. Trackstack Pro gives you access to a network of labels, curators, and artists where every connection you make is yours to keep. No algorithms, no platform holding your contacts hostage. Just real professional relationships that can turn into collaborations, bookings, and opportunities that can change the trajectory of your career.
Use code ELEVATED for 50% off Pro for 3 months at trackstack.app
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How do you build a career in dance music with no network, no language, and no safety net?
Host Olivia Mancuso sits down with Daniel Orpi — the Spanish DJ and producer topping Beatport charts and playing rooms like Amnesia, with cosigns from Pete Tong and the Martinez Brothers. Daniel traces the long road from leaving home for a country where he barely spoke the language to building a career on his own terms, and he's honest about what it cost.
He gets into why he started his own label, what happens when the numbers start to matter more than the music, and why he calls resilience the number one skill in this industry. It's a grounded conversation about ambition, mental health, and staying grateful when the thing you wanted finally arrives.
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👉 Want personalized guidance on your music career? Book a one-on-one consultation with Olivia on GreenRoom where you can get tailored advice on branding, business strategy, and sustainable career growth
👉 Instagram: @oliviamancuso__
👉 Video Editor/Audio Engineer: James Fixx
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This episode is sponsored by Trackstack: the operating system built for music professionals who invest in each other. Trackstack Pro gives you access to a network of labels, curators, and artists where every connection you make is yours to keep. No algorithms, no platform holding your contacts hostage. Just real professional relationships that can turn into collaborations, bookings, and opportunities that can change the trajectory of your career.
Use code ELEVATED for 50% off Pro for 3 months at trackstack.app
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What happens when you stop chasing the young crowd and start making music for the audience everyone else ignores? Host Olivia Mancuso sits down with Party Pupils — the producer behind the Yacht House sound, newly signed to UTA and selling out rooms for the first time in a career that started back in 2001.
He's candid about the stretch where it wasn't working: time off the road, tickets that wouldn't sell, and getting bitter about social media instead of learning how it works. What turned it around was narrowing the scope — knowing exactly who his audience is, building a page people come to hang out on rather than be sold to, and finally getting years of unreleased work out into the world.
They also get into how sample clearing actually happens now, why labels want a ready-made package, and how to handle the hate that arrives with real reach. It's a grounded conversation about staying independent, aging in dance music, and defining success on your own terms.
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👉 Want personalized guidance on your music career? Book a one-on-one consultation with Olivia on GreenRoom where you can get tailored advice on branding, business strategy, and sustainable career growth
👉 Instagram: @oliviamancuso__
👉 Video Editor/Audio Engineer: James Fixx

This episode is sponsored by Trackstack: the operating system built for music professionals who invest in each other. Trackstack Pro gives you access to a network of labels, curators, and artists where every connection you make is yours to keep. No algorithms, no platform holding your contacts hostage. Just real professional relationships that can turn into collaborations, bookings, and opportunities that can change the trajectory of your career.
Use code ELEVATED for 50% off Pro for 3 months at trackstack.app
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What happens when a producer's biggest hit pulls her away from the artist she actually wants to be? Host Olivia Mancuso sits down with J Worra, the Chicago-rooted, LA-based DJ and producer behind releases on Insomniac, Repopulate Mars, and her own new label Dialogxe.
J Worra opens up about growing up closeted in a small town, finding herself in Chicago's house scene, and the label deal that boxed her in for two years and made her lose herself completely. She breaks down why some of her biggest tracks cause internal conflict, why she started her own label instead of chasing another deal, and how creative freedom became non-negotiable. They get into imposter syndrome, the sexism she still runs into in a male-dominated scene, why relationships now matter more than talent, and the actual playbook for launching a label today, including why paying $500 for promo can beat waiting for someone to sign you.
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👉 Want personalized guidance on your music career? Book a one-on-one consultation with Olivia on GreenRoom where you can get tailored advice on branding, business strategy, and sustainable career growth:
👉 Instagram: @oliviamancuso__
👉 Video Editor/Audio Engineer: James Fixx

This episode is sponsored by Trackstack: the operating system built for music professionals who invest in each other. Trackstack Pro gives you access to a network of labels, curators, and artists where every connection you make is yours to keep. No algorithms, no platform holding your contacts hostage. Just real professional relationships that can turn into collaborations, bookings, and opportunities that can change the trajectory of your career.
Use code ELEVATED for 50% off Pro for 3 months at trackstack.app
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You don't have to make music to build a respected underground label. Olivia Mancuso sits down with Nick Alatriste, founder of PNK Records — the Miami minimal/tech house label that grew from an anonymous house-Twitter account into a label, event series, and management company.
Inside: finding his musical obsession at a six-hour PAWSA set at Club Space, signing artists nobody else would, and developing a sound instead of chasing big labels. Plus throwing your first party, Beatport genre boxes, and staying underground as you grow.
Essential for producers, DJs, and anyone building a brand in dance music.
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👉 Want personalized guidance on your music career? Book a one-on-one consultation with Olivia on GreenRoom where you can get tailored advice on branding, business strategy, and sustainable career growth: https://greenroomnetwork.com/creator/OliviaMancuso
👉 Instagram: @oliviamancuso__
👉 Video Editor/Audio Engineer: James Fixx
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