Penstation was founded by a collective of music industry professionals to create instrumental music, or what they like to call “background bangers”, that could serve as the musical backdrop for the chill scene. Think back to the days of Buddha Bar located in Paris and New York where you can go and just chill out over cocktails and listen to dope music.

The label roster and production team include veteran worldwide producers, musicians, DJs and songwriters with over 25 years of industry experience. Everyone at the company has had huge success in the industry over the years, in some capacity or another. Now a bunch of old-school cats, they’re just chillin’ - whether it be at hotel bars and rooftops, cafes, lounges or even coffee shops, they still have a passion for making music and want to produce the soundtrack to these scenes. Anywhere people go to chill out.

Penstation also offers custom production services for film and television. Musical works will span the gamut of smooth, beat-focused music, skirting genres including dance, electronica, chill hop, chill house, tropical, tropical house, funk, lo-fi, funky jazz and study beats.

New York-based collaborators, Filianaire and Mikey Smiles describe themselves as “two old-school cats making mood music and embracing the latest trends and technology.” This accurately conveys the chill nature of their music, but not their decades of experience, talent, and success in the music business.

“We’re both fans of nineties hip-hop and like the coffee shop scene. So we thought it would be cool to make some groovy tracks with chill-hop beats but a bit more jazzy to fit the cafe and lounge scene,” says Filianaire, who has co-written/produced hits for major artists such as Selena Gomez (“Kiss and Tell,” “A Year Without Rain”) and Demi Lovato (“Here We Go Again”), and had his song “Show Me Some Mercy” performed on America’s Got Talent in 2018 by Noah Guthrie.

“Our music is not designed to grab your attention the way pop music does,” he says. “It’s intended to make sure your head is bopping while you’re sipping cocktails, hanging with friends, or working on your laptop in a cafe.”

Smiles, Pen Station Records’ founder, started in the music industry as a record store buyer and Billboard Magazine Chart Reporter before evolving into a DJ, artist manager, and record company executive. “I fell in love with funk and hip-hop while I was working at a record store as a buyer, and a weekend DJ,” says Smiles, who broke five Billboard Independent Sales Records as Vice President of New York’s indie dance label Elastik Recordings, and earned his DJ chops in independent New York dance clubs like Red Spot and Wave Street in the 90s.

“Outside of the clubs I developed a strong ear for instrumental music while spinning in New York cocktail lounges. Over the past decade or so I built a large collection of instrumental tracks I call “background bangers” to serve that purpose when crowds are just chillin-out but want a little sumthin’ sumthin’ they can groove to, as the backdrop to that specific scene” 

“Most of the tracks are “beat and sample” tracks like in the early days of hip hop and Chicago house music ” says Filianaire. “But even though the songs are sample heavy, we’re trying to create tracks that sound like a live funk/jazz band. As we create, we imagine a live band in the room with us just jamming out.” 

The Brooklyn Heavies are currently working on their debut recordings at Filianaire’s studio in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. “It’s hard to categorize our sound, it’s a little bit acid jazz with dirty hip-hop beats, mixed with electronica and funk. There’s no genre like it.” says Smiles. They anticipate a fall 2022 release. 

Original Image, real name Desi Caruso, is no stranger to the dance music charts or to its biggest stars. As one of the industry’s leading club remixers (aka Dezrok), Caruso remixed the likes of NSYNC, Jennifer Lopez, Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, Ricky Martin, Jessica Simpson and a host of others. Two of his original songs hit No.1 on the Billboard Dance Music Charts, and he was named ASCAP’s Dance Songwriter of the Year in 2002 for Aubrey’s hit “Stand Still.”

Caruso also held DJ residencies at New York’s hottest dance clubs, including The Roxy, Tunnel, Pacha, Webster Hall, Quo, Sound Factory, Cielo, and Ravel Rooftop. The Brooklyn native’s lifelong love of music was developed at a young age.“At age seven, I started playing the piano and organ by ear,” he says. “Seven years later I was introduced to a synthesizer that changed my life - the Korg Polysix. The synth sounds I was hearing on radio hits, I now had at my fingertips. I was never the same. I developed a passion for electronic music.” Caruso discovered the incredible versatility of electronic synthesizers as a teen, and began using them to create songs of uncharacteristic maturity. Soon after his songs were being played on New York’s radio station Hot 97.

Today, as Original Image, he’s preparing his first single for Penstation Records, “Feel So Good,” which he describes as a blend of nu jazz, house, lounge house, chill house, and deep house. “I like to challenge myself when making music,” he says. “I’m working to compose beautiful, expressive compositions that mesmerize and stimulate your soul and spirit. I want to use synthesizer technology to fuse orchestral elements, electronic rhythms, classical motifs, ethereal atmospheres, synthesized backdrops, and forayed vocals.

My music is unique and diverse. It is exhilarating, emotional, grooving, and uplifting.” “I will never stop making music. It's in my veins,” he says. “My goal is to make music and DJ all over the world. I want music to take me places I never dreamed of.”

Kongus, the performing name of Caracas-born producer and musician Gustavo Almeida Aleman, has a love of music that was born in his father’s record store when he was just a toddler. Finding a dusty guitar in his grandmother’s house when he was seven - his mother, it turns out, had played the instrument as a teen - sealed the deal. “I would play the song ‘La Cucaracha’ by ear, pretty effortlessly,” he says. “My mom realized what was going on, despite how I was holding the guitar backwards. So she decided to teach me the basics.”

Growing up with influences as varied as Guns ’n’ Roses and DJ Tiesto, his love shifted to more electronic sounds, particularly trance, as a young teen, and he quickly embraced the world of midi keyboards and computerized music-making.“I’m obsessed with how technology evolves in music, allowing for the space to create and improvise electronic music on the fly,” says Kongus.

At 17, he won a songwriting competition sponsored by Smirnoff Vodka, having his progressive-house track “Hunted” included on a compilation CD.He created his own music and produced others at his Midi Dojo recording and production studio from 2009-2012. His 2013 YouTube video featuring a performance of deadmau5’s “Strobe” and “Raise Your Weapon” has close to 180,000 views.

Since 2016, he has produced for artists and labels including Imposs (Ex-Muzion), Naya Ali, Mama’s Boy Records, and Lukay. He looks forward to expanding into live performance in the months and years to come. Now, he is working on new music for Penstation Records that he describes as “laidback nu-disco & deep house with an uplifting vibe and a Caribbean feel,” and is thrilled to continue experimenting with new sounds and new ways of creating music.

“It always fascinated me how the brain can get addicted to a melody,” he says. “My work is a journey of chasing that dragon and trying to tame it.”