HOTPRETTY: Igniting Chicago's Techno Scene

HOTPRETTY, the electrifying DJ and production duo of Abigail Grohmann and Zooey Glass, is igniting Chicago’s electronic music landscape. Based in the Windy City, this pair channels their trippy and proggy aesthetics into a signature sound, seamlessly blending house and acid techno with hints of trance and hard groove. Their innovative approach has earned them a devoted following among techno enthusiasts and partygoers alike, marking them as a rising talent in the scene.

Deeply embedded in Chicago’s vibrant music community, HOTPRETTY has already left their mark with a standout performance at Smoke & Mirrors. With an eagerly anticipated set at the upcoming Arc Music Festival, they’re cementing their status as a local powerhouse. Beyond the stage, their music reaches fans worldwide through a growing digital footprint, with tracks available on SoundCloud and Apple Music, showcasing their ability to connect with listeners far beyond the city limits.

What drives HOTPRETTY’s hypnotic beats and relentless energy? In our exclusive FIZZY MAG interview that follows, we explore their inspirations, creative process, and what’s next for their exciting journey in the electronic music world.

The progressive/trance revival has been gaining momentum, and you’re right at the heart of it. How do you see HOTPRETTY’s place in this movement, and what excites you most about where the sound is headed globally?

The best thing about this sound’s revival is the way that it feels like a genuine community. There’s something almost classic and old school about how tight-knit this genre feels right now, but it is supercharged by the internet because we’re able to connect across oceans and time zones with other artists working in this genre. In a world where dance music is getting faster and faster, more and more algorithmically dominated, there’s something about the emotion and the storytelling and the patience of these classic progressive and trance sounds that is so needed to return the dancefloor to a place of communal transcendence.  We’ve been humbled to have some of our favorite producers play our tracks in their sets and start these relationships based on music, where there’s a constant stream of inspiration and encouragement. That’s how a proper scene should feel, we’re just lucky to be part of it.

You’re returning to ARC Festival this year with an even bigger slot, and you played a role in designing and naming the Area 909 stage. What does this moment mean for you, and how has the Chicago club scene shaped your journey so far? 

Chicago is the greatest DJ school in history. You’re drinking right from the source. People here grew up on this music; they have come up watching the originators play, so if you can get a crowd in Chicago dancing, you can get people dancing anywhere in the world.  
Chicago can be a tough crowd, but that is part of the charm. It teaches you to dig deeper, to blend longer, to be more patient, always honing your skills and recognizing that this is a lifelong pursuit where there is no finish line. We helped concept and design this Area 909 stage to celebrate dance music’s roots here in the Midwest; we saw it as an act of service that we could be proud of. To then play on the stage has been one of the most surreally beautiful moments of our career thus far.  This year we’re planning to play a set of entirely original which we’ve never done before!  

Beyond music, fashion plays a big role in HOTPRETTY’s identity, with Abigail’s background in design and your past work moderating a talk with Dixon on the intersection of music and style. How does fashion influence your artistry, and how do you use it to amplify your vision?

We’re big believers in the principle of Gesamtkunstwerk, and to us, the clothes we wear are part of our artistic expression. Abigail studied fashion in school, started her artistic career as a model at a young age, and has worked as a creative across fashion brands and magazines, so expressing herself through clothing is just part of who she is. One of Zooey’s early influences in the 2010s was Dixon and he’s someone who has always made fashion part of his expression through his relationship with fashion houses like Dries Van Noten and his way of expressing himself through clothes. Fashion is an integral part of the storytelling we’re doing as artists. We find inspiration through the lines, fits, and fabrics of clothing pieces … those items can inspire a mix, a photograph, or even a track. DJing and clothing design are both curatorial arts. They are anchored in taste and selection, and expressed through combination and juxtaposition. Both art forms are inherently referential, always in conversation with the past and the future. It feels only natural to us that the two things go hand in hand.

You’ve been getting strong support from artists like Spray and labels like Neptune Discs. How have these connections helped shape your sound and visibility, and what’s it been like to be part of this evolving underground community?   

Visibility is a tricky question in the age of algorithms and the growth hacking that has hijacked the DJ scene, especially since 2020. With the way attention has been commoditized and hijacked, our focus is placed on building a body of work and creating genuine connections.  
Neptune Discs was one of the first labels to take a chance on us early, as were Semi Delicious, Ritmo Fatale, and Ulla. It all happened so organically and feels grounded in this shared love of music and shared passion for pushing a new sound forward. Our music getting a platform from curators we respect at the highest level just pushes us to keep exploring and getting better. Spray is a perfect example of this community we’re talking about. From the very beginning of working with our production collaborator Kirk, we referenced Spray’s music as this gold standard of where we wanted to go. When Spray tagged us playing our track Don’t Stray in Paris, we were moved to tears. Moments like that are so life-affirming and make all the years of effort and struggle worth it. We’ve been lucky to connect with all these inspirations like Spray, Body Clinic, Wigs, Kendal, and so many more.  That’s part of what makes this genre feel like an actual scene, because it’s a real community.

With your move to Europe on the horizon and more releases on the way, what’s next for HOTPRETTY? What can fans look forward to in terms of new music, collaborations, or live experiences? 

We have our first official remix coming at the end of May on Sound As Records, and a new single on Neptune Discs this summer as part of their six-year anniversary compilation. So much more music coming as well as we’re finishing tracks at a breakneck pace like never before. Of course, playing shows in Chicago, Toronto, and New York this summer.  This October, we’ll do our first run of shows in Europe, that is truly the most exciting thing on the horizon for us. Can’t wait to see some of our internet friends in person and check out some of these parties we’ve been following, we’ll be closing out the trip at ADE, which we’ve never been to! While Chicago has served us so well and we always love it here, the call to Europe has been strong. The parties, the clubs, and the labels that speak to us are all located in Europe, so this trip will be a big step forward as we look to move across the ocean permanently in the near future.