The Key Studio Sessions: OCD: Moosh & Twist

It wasn’t all that long ago that DeQuincy “Moosh” Coleman McRae and Oliver “Twist” Feighan were Haverford High School kids matching up beats with their rhymes and envisioning one day when they’d be rocking massive crowds with their party-positive jams. In just about five years, OCD: Moosh & Twist has grown from being an after school hobby of two dudes who have been friends since sixth grade to becoming their legit careers. They’ve put out a string of well-received mixtapes – The Welcome Mat in 2011, The Vestibule in 2012, and Back to the Basement in 2013 – and last year dropped their first official album, Living Out Loud.

In between, they’ve built up a rabid fan base of YouTube followers – “Take Me Back,” which they played during their Key Studio Session, is closing in on 1.5 million views – and played stages at Mac Miller gigs all the way up to Made In America last summer. They hit some snags with shows where fans partied a little too hard but kept at it. They’re set to head out on a U.S. run this spring with Ground Up, and the show comes to the TLA on February 27th.

Like Ground Up, Moosh & Twist have a knack for working the crowd in a live setting and cultivating it further in the internet arena; whether you’re talking mixtapes on Datpiff or commercial releases on iTunes, they’ve done it all independently, cultivating enough fans that they can play 1000-cap rooms without being the opening act. But where their tourmates lean vibey, mellow and occasionally aggro, OCD keeps the infectious pop hooks flowing, and it’s easily the key to their mass appeal.

Think of Moosh & Twist as the successors to Philly’s Chiddy Bang, a high-energy band that can straddle the worlds of hiphop, pop and EDM with gusto. Listen to their Key Studio Session below, and download it over at Soundcloud.