HOME BASE: NYC
LATEST JAM: The explosive single “Can We Go Wrong”
INFLUENCES: Blondie, Blur
FAVORITE GIZMO: Ableton Live “It lets me change up the timing on stage, like Mix Master Mike, except I do it with loops instead of records.”

One-third of the on-hiatus crew Northern State (the female answer to the Beastie Boys), Hesta Prynn (neé Julie Potash) has been in the studio for months cooking up a solo album that strays wildly from her hip-hop roots. In her current incarnation, she’s more of a latter-day Blondie than a female Mike D, spouting relationship woes over dance beats and lots of ‘90s-style guitar. “There are some real purists around who won’t have laptops on stage,” she says of electro-critics. “It’s kind of like, why? Do you also not watch television? We have technology, let’s use it."