West Bottoms, Kansas City
idk lede here asdf
Interview Billie Huang
Photos Billie Huang
Edit Esther Brandwein
Special thanks/hosts Nate Sullivan, Room 96
Equiss
Interview with Equiss of OSSX, a New Jersey-based duo of himself and Lektor Scopes.Billie Huang: You’ve played in the Midwest before?
Equiss:: Chicago is the Midwest, right?
Oh yeah, I forget that sometimes. Anddd I just remembered you played at Oberlin too. My friend Jacob who goes there sent me a text that was like, ‘just kicking it with OSSX right now.’
Yeah, yeah. That was a couple months ago, I took Lektor Scopes with me.
How did you get into DJing and producing?
I got into DJing really young. I was very curious about music, very interested with the DJs on the radio at the time in New Jersey and New York. I don’t think I knew that I was DJing, but I had a turntable at the house and this record that my dad owned – Keith Sweat, Make It Last Forever. For my 9th birthday I got another turntable and a mixer, so I would literally mix the record into itself. I was trying to loop it seamlessly. So that was kind of my entry point, it’s a bit weird. And that coupled with messing around on Virtual DJ. I’ve pretty much gone through every type of DJing. I had a controller, I had Serato, I had turntables. It’s been a long time doing this.
When you were listening to the radio, was it a Top 40 pop radio or curated shows?
So the cool thing about New Jersey, New York at that time, is that a lot of cultures were fused together. Not only were the hip hop radio DJs providing cutting-edge mixing and mashups – way before it was easy to do that kind of stuff – but, a lot of the Latin stations were doing cool stuff with dancehall and reggaeton. Then it was KTU, which is kind of pop during the day, but you get your Friday and Saturday night mix before the party. Then there’s this historically black station, WBLS 107.5. You know who Louie Vega is? He's half of Masters At Work. He still DJs on WBLS. Some Fridays, he'll hold down a bunch of hours and play deep house, or gospel on Sundays.
The culture has changed, but that was when I was a kid. That was what I listened to when my parents had the radio on in the car, or when I would stay up and secretly listen to the radio.
Outside of club music, what are your favorite genres?
The genres I listen to are in phases, you know? Currently I'm listening to a lot of trip hop.
Shoutout Massive Attack.
Yeah. I saw them live in the Netherlands a couple months ago. Incredible. My album of the year… I really like Erika De Casier's newest album, Lifetime. It’s on that trip hop-y vibe.
I've been listening to Becoming X a lot recently.
Amazing, amazing album. Then they're [Sneaker Pimps] fused with house because of that Armand Van Helden remix that I'm obsessed with.
Yeahhhh that remix of Spin, Spin Sugar.
Yeah. So good. I love that track. But it's always a big bag of everything. If I’m on a plane or something, I’ll listen to that kind of stuff.
You have a radio show of your own, on Rinse FM and The Lot?
We DJ on The Lot. Not too frequently, but every time we get a chance. Actually before this last one, we hadn't in a while, but right now I'm just doing Rinse FM. It isn’t an OSSX show, but a lot of the time I'll do it with Lektor Scopes. We'll do a solo show or b2bs. I also used to have a show on a station out of London, Balamii, but that ran its course. I was doing two hours on that, but kind of took those focuses to Rinse. It’s my solo show, but every month I have a friend or someone who will tap in, b2b, something like that.
What do you think of the current state of radio in 2025? I feel like people are listening more to SoundCloud or Youtube recordings [of these sets] than the actual radio. How do you feel having a radio show where you can play anything? It doesn't even have to be club music.
It’s a blessing. I’ve been listening to Rinse FM for a very long time, so to be a resident on there is kind of a dream come true. To be able to play anything is always a privilege in whatever setting.
Because mainstream radio in America now is completely different than it has been historically, I have been listening to British radio a lot more. I enjoy their creative expressions and there’s no guidelines. At the end of the day, I want to discover music, but not in the way where Chris Brown is shoved down my throat three times an hour by a New York DJ.
Like you said, a lot of people are listening to mixes on SoundCloud already. If radio was less corporatized, it would be nice if there was a station in every place we could tune in to. Unfortunately, that’s not the norm. People are allowed to do whatever, but we have so many rules here. I don’t know if it’s like this in Missouri, but in NY and NJ, the license costs almost half a million dollars to even have a station.
That sounds crazy inaccessible.
Just completely. That's why the UK format kind of thrives a bit more, they’re half internet, half FM. And they can curse, but it’s not encouraged.
Like a safe harbor show here?
Yeah, there's hours where like, okay, kids are not awake right now. You can get away with cursing. They have way more creative expression and freedom over in the UK.
As far as America, when you play in different cities and regions, how do you see the East Coast culture being different from the rest? Since that area influenced a lot of offshoot genres in other places, do you think the culture [in NY/NJ] is a lot more developed?
I’m extremely biased, I love my area. I love the Northeast. That whole sector of the country, in a way we’re very alike, but also very different. Culturally, a lot of things “start here.” Or there, sorry, I be acting like I’m home. What I do enjoy is the way everyone has been able to freak it in their own way. To take what we’ve made and do their own thing. There’s so much regional music out there that it would be hard for me to give all the props to the East Coast. I think it ties in together, but I think there’s something in our personality, how grumpy we are, how cold and intense it is.
Man, it’s cold here too!
Yeah, yeah, but y'all are friendly. I landed and people were smiling at me.
That doesn’t happen at LaGuardia?
No one is gonna smile at you, and if they do, it's probably someone that you shouldn't interact with. There’s something in the Northeast that feels like an epicenter in some ways. It’s kind of the center of the universe, but that gets a bit tiring, a bit chaotic. Everyone’s trying to be a star over there, you know? What has bubbled up from the East Coast, I’m always proud of – whether it be hip hop, Jersey club, New York garage, New Jersey garage. We’ve had great stages of New York House. And that all came to be whatever it is today.
Speaking of genres evolving, what do you think of the TikTok-ification of Jersey and Baltimore club? All the remixes of popular songs that are blowing up. What do you think about this new generation, versus the Rod Lee, Dukeyman generation?
Well, times are different now obviously, but there’s two sides of that coin. I love the TikTok-ification of club, only because it’s everywhere and people are listening to it. But it’s still not legitimately respected by the music industry. Rarely do you see someone chart with a club song. Or get proper residuals, credits, and licensing for making a club beat. That whole industry process seems to be separated from club music.
In a way, it’s similar to its origins. Early Baltimore club music separated from Chicago House. The dance music industry has never taken it serious. That still rings true, but everybody loves it. There’s so much proof of it. It’s always been interesting to me, and I never want the genre to be bastardized. It has come close, but it’s still going strong. I’m interested to see where it will go. I do have my qualms about talented people that aren’t getting paid. They should be when they’re the taste makers. I know that people are listening to them, but that’s just life, I guess.
Right. Unfortunately, I feel like the attention goes to those who are kind of appropriating it. I don’t listen to K-pop, but I heard a song come on when I was sitting at a Japanese restaurant. I heard a whole Bmore break in it. A lot of K-pop seems to have Jersey patterns and Baltimore stuff. Once again, I don’t know much about K-pop, so I don’t know if these artists are paying proper homage.
To my knowledge, no. I guess their labels have some producers and people in their circle who are recreating the sound. Obviously, they’re fans. I get it, producers are gonna produce. I don’t feel any way about that because everyone’s gonna have a different intro to club music. I’m just happy that people are listening. Maybe someday we will see the day where it’s properly legitimized. And that way, the people making K-pop can tap in with the right people. There seems to be no structure at all – I feel like myself and my peers are not struggling, but are seeing the peaks and the valleys of trying to build a structure. I’d love for the kids to have a place to release music on a label and have it all mastered for them and have a place to give them advances, stuff like that.
Do you see a future where club is mainstream? Is there a reason why DJs like yourself and Swisha aren’t bigger than you are? If you’re tapped into the club scene, everyone knows you guys. But even if you listen to electronic music, but not specifically Jersey, you’d be like, ‘who’s that?’
It can be a bit niche at the surface level. I know my peers and I aren’t necessarily trying to go up some totem pole, or go for mass popularity. I don’t know if what we do is for everybody. When Jersey club does reach that level, I’d like to say, I hope it’s not in the wrong hands. The way that the music industry goes, when club does get respected, that means someone’s getting the shit end of the stick. As far as myself and maybe Swisha, not to speak for him, but what we’re interested in is just being prolific and leaving some type of legacy. The dance music industry is what it is, whether they respect Jersey Club or not.
For most artists, there comes a point where you have horse blinders on and you’re just looking straight. As far as becoming bigger in the dance industry, I don’t know what that would look like. Maybe sacrificing a bit of my sound or something like that. As far as that goes, I’m not interested in that at all. I’m having fun.
Do you have a 9-5? When was the point when you realized you could take music seriously?
I have a part-time day job. I started taking music seriously when I was trying to get a college degree. I put it down for two years, thinking that I could get a business degree. And I couldn’t.
I know what you mean. I was in the business school at Mizzou. It was actual hell on earth. The accounting classes killed me.
Exactly. And even getting to the point where I could pass those classes, I was like, what am I even doing? This feels so wrong.
Where'd you go to school?
Montclair State in New Jersey, but I dropped out. After I dropped out, I had a lot of voices in my circle and in my life asking, ‘what are you gonna do?’ DJing is not even giving you a couple pennies.
You were DJing throughout college?
Slightly. Frat houses and events on campus, which were horrible and grueling and not creatively fulfilling. A bit more hip hop, not necessarily top 40. But a bit of that for sure. The frat houses would be more Jersey club, so it would be a bit more fun. But I couldn’t get super dance music-y.
How did you get set up with Lektor?
We met a bit before high school. I was in middle school and he was in high school. We had a bunch of mutual friends. I didn’t know he was musically inclined. Our friend groups meshed and we traded iPods when we were younger. He had the same club tracks I was listening to.
At that point I was DJing. Soon after that, he started making beats. Eventually, he taught me FL Studio and we exchanged skills. I showed him DJing. We married the two and that’s really what OSSX is. We’re still two friends fucking around.
Growing up in Jersey, was the club sound always around, or was there a certain point you got into it?
It was everywhere. When I met Lektor, it was arguably the golden age or the peak. Much like how it is today, the young kids loved it. That’s how it was then. There were these parties in high school gyms, hosted by DJs that were giving you bare bones Jersey club. They would just play loops using CDs. It was not this DJ culture that we have today, but it was wholesome and a lot of people would come. I got to witness that and it’s been a big influence on why I make and play Jersey club.
What do you think the future looks like, where is the sound of the East Coast going?
Hmm. I think it’s such an advanced genre of music that it’s almost gonna tell us what’s coming next. That’s the safest thing I can assume, because it’s always impressed me, always set a new limit for me.
I hope you can hear me over this baseline (laughs).
(Dazegxd and Witty were spinning outside the whole time we were in this backroom. Thank you Esther for correcting this transcript that was probably really hard to hear over the layered noise and background music)
It’s gonna let us know what the next generation will bring. I think that’s the future of club music. Not only Jersey, but respect to Philly and Baltimore. There’s constantly emerging artists from there. Obviously, I can only speak on Jersey, but shout out to all my peers in Philly and Bmore. They also inform what we do. In a way, we’re one city, even though there’s petty competition.
Do you play different things depending on where you are?
I do have the privilege of people who are into my music who come to see me DJ. They know what to expect and it kind of grooms them a bit to what might happen, what I might play. I’m not saying I only play Jersey and shit. I feel like people are primed and ready to see me, so I never feel too constrained. People know what to expect for the most part.
There’s definitely been some times in Europe where I’m like, maybe I shouldn’t play this crazy track. At the same time, I forget that people see me as some sort of ambassador and that they want me to bring what my region sounds like. I can’t ever let my head get too big, it’s more than just me.
You are all doing a great job. My friends and I, we DJ sometimes, we love the stuff you guys are doing.
Oh man, it makes me so happy that it even reaches places like this. I don’t notice that from my basement.
Why do you think club music has stayed niche in real life when it blows up online?
This is maybe a hot take, but I think it stays niche because it’s so fun. There’s dance music taste makers and people who write articles and give reviews. They get too serious for their own britches and all the fun gets sucked out of that. Obviously there’s different types of music for different people. I’m not saying taste makers and critics shouldn’t exist, but I think people get so up their ass, that anything that doesn’t sound ‘serious’ is negatively viewed. There’s critiques like, ‘this is too sample heavy’ or ‘this is not as original as an intelligent Aphex Twin sounding track.’ Club has always been pushed to the side because people hear it and think it’s easy to make. Try it.
I think it’s also niche in the way that it’s also very hood, in the way that ghettotech was, the way that Dance Mania stuff and juke and footwork were. Dance music people appreciate, but they don’t normally embrace it as they would something they’re more familiar with, because they don’t resonate. I resonate with the genres I just mentioned, because I grew up that way. The way people came up shows in their music.
You have people in these super expensive studios making bleepy-bloopy intelligent music. And then people are making Jersey club and ghettotech out of nothing. Literally barely a laptop, barely a drum machine, barely even power in their house, you know I’m saying? So, I think that’s why it’s fun. It’s always about bringing pleasure and nothing else.
Who are some artists or DJs you think deserve more shine? I was going through your following, preparing for this, and saw you follow Wilhelmina.
Yeah, I just met them the other day. Super sick and out of Jersey as well. Kind of tapping into, what’s the Filipino club genre called? Is it Budots?
I have no clue. I'm half pinoy and I have no clue that existed.
I was told there’s a whole club scene that’s Filipino. But so yeah, to mention someone, Wilhelmina. Definitely the homie Tah, super talented producer out of Newark, we put out a bunch of music together.
That’s Off The Books and Turnpike Authority?
Yeah, that's him. Probably gonna put out another one sometime. Out of New York, Archangel is a sick DJ. I am very big on the Miami scene right now. There's a lot of talent coming out of there that gets a bit neglected. There's some artists that I would love people to listen to. DJ Jam 305, Berrakka, that's the homie from Miami. Those are my favorite DJs right now.
What's your background?
I'm Dominican.
What DJs were you listening to when you were coming up?
There’s this label out of the UK named Night Slugs. I was listening to them a lot. Then also obviously Jersey club and a bit of French house and that kind of stuff, tapping into Europe on whatever. Early dubstep, 2-step, less of the wook-y stuff.
What year was this?
Maybe late 2000s, early 2010s. By early 2010s, I was super into labels. There’s a label out of LA titled Fade to Mind. They were pretty revolutionary for me because they were some of the first people I've heard mix Jersey club with other stuff, like dubstep and other genres of dance music. Something about that resonated within me and they’ve informed a lot of what I do today.
[train horn]
We’re literally right by the train track.
I love that.
For those reading, we're in a warehouse district. West Bottoms, Kansas City. What do you think about playing clubs and bars versus playing DIY spots like this?
I feel like a lot of my DIY gigs are really fun because…
[train honking]
It’s really honking out there. Alright, we'll let him pass.
[train still honking]
Do you think he's done?
The trains that go through the Midwest are long as fuck. I live in St. Louis and they’re annoying as hell. I’ve been telling the Materia crew to book you.
Oh yeah, I’ve never tapped in with them, but would love to. Even speaking about cities like St. Louis – when people build these DIY events ground-up, it’s different in bigger cities. In other cities, you’re a curator and get given a budget and are just lining up the pieces. Not to say that’s always easy, but it’s easier than investing in security, paying overhead, getting a soundsystem, getting a bartender. So, I respect that shit a lot.
When I can tap into a city that’s listening to my music, it makes me freak out to be allowed to come into their space and turn it up for them. I feel so blessed to be able to do that. Not to say DIY stuff is ‘better,’ but I like when I spit out energy and it gets spat right back to me. I could really go for 10 hours, go nonstop, and it’s more fun. Bars and clubs are great, there’s obviously great times to be had there. But coming from a big city, it can be a bit jaded at times. There’s always someone booked every day, there’s always something happening.
It’s cool being here, like this event was planned, this was really calculated. You can feel the tension in the air, you know? I like that when I come to play, it feels like a mutual respect.
How is the scene in New York? Did Paragon shut down?
Yeah. No, Paragon's back.
Are there still warehouse parties or spaces like that in Brooklyn?
There are, but they're more like licensed warehouse parties. It’s not like what y’all are doing, from the ground up. There are cool spaces out there. It’s a city where it’s increasingly expensive to do that kind of production consistently. So clubs come and go, and the ones that stay – bless them for their capabilities – but forgive me for looking twice at a rich person and their businesses, because they’re not always clean. A lot of those things blur the lines of what should be allowed in an underground scene.
There are some really good clubs. I like Nowadays a lot, I love that sound system. It’s a gorgeous club inside and out, beautiful staff, always have a good time there. Every time I see a DJ that I respect on the schedule, I clear my schedule and make sure I’m there at a strange hour and spend the night into the morning.
I’ve listened to the Swisha Nowadays mix, it was the all night one that was like seven hours.
It’s open to close. So they throw their nonstop party for 24 hours. It goes from Saturday at 10pm to Sunday at 10pm. They curate a lineup for the whole 24 hours. They stop serving alcohol at 4am but they stay open until the DJ finishes. Sometimes the vibe in there is so great that it’ll be 8:30am and you just don’t wanna leave.
People take advantage of set times. In bigger cities where lineups are stretched out like that, people come to see specific artists. I'm also guilty of that.
I’ve been there. Going to an event for one specific set, then leaving after.
For one set. The best nights are when you're just there. Obviously if there’s someone you wanna see, then sure. But when someone earns your trust for the first time as a DJ and you submit to the journey they’re taking you on, I think that’s the best shit ever.
Hope that happens tonight. That’s all I got, thanks a lot for answering my many questions.
I gave you a ticket to Yapper's Town. It was a pleasure.
Dazegxd
Interview with Dazegxd, Brooklyn-based artist, DJ, and producer.How did you get into DJ’ing, what was your first gig like?
I got into DJ’ing when Gum (Gum MP3) gave me his old DJ controller. He was like, “fuck with it, see how you feel.” This happened when I was around 19. The old DJ2GO2 Touch. I was fucking around with it a lot. A few months after that, he offered to have me on his show, which was my first show anywhere.
This is your third time in Missouri?
Second time in Kansas City, third time in Missouri though.
You’ve played Materia twice in the past year or so. What’s similar about the Midwest and what you see at home?
I think it’s fun and a bit more authentic over here, compared to the New York scene right now. In the New York Scene, beyond the community level, you have people who think they own shit. There’s a bunch of people coming into the scene, a bunch of outside investors that see this and nightlife as a business. New York is one of the major hubs in the States for that, alongside LA, Chicago, and all big cities. Literally anywhere that Boiler Room is doing pop-ups at. It’s where a bunch of corporations funnel money into.
Do you find yourself playing more established places or DIY events?
I prefer playing DIY stuff a lot more, but I usually get booked wherever. It depends what the promoter is able to do. In New York City, I find myself playing in more established places, opposed to when I come to the Midwest – it’s always a toss up. There’s nothing wrong with that, I love the DIY stuff more than the big professional stuff.
You have a show on NTS, how do you see radio platforms in 2025?
People definitely still listen, but the radio isn't really the radio anymore. It’s moved towards a video platform. Take The Lot Radio in New York, or Boiler Room. These things kind of overthrew the radio in terms of dance music. But, web radio will always persist. Like NTS, Rinse FM, and a bunch of the independent pop-ups. I don’t think radio has died, but has taken the backseat as of recently. I’ve always had a soft spot for radio. Internet radio specifically, is how I really got into music. It was really the internet radio, digitally imported FM. That was the one that got me into appreciating dance music and electronic music and all of the subgenres.
Was there a specific DJ or artist you would listen to when you were getting into electronic and jungle?
I would browse whatever I could at the time, so it wasn’t a specific one. I will say, one of the few artists I used to go back to a lot was DJ Red Alert. When I was a kid, I used to really like this one song he did called “Rough” back from the 90s. I heard it on web radio when I was about 11 in the year 2012. I still play that shit to this day. It was a foundational breakbeat hardcore record for me. As for jungle, Remarc’s “RIP” stands out to me a lot. Remarc was one of the originators of the 90’s jungle scene.
This one’s a more recent development, but an artist from back then that I really fuck with is General Malice. He died a few months ago. I personally never got the chance to meet him, but a friend of mine was close friends with him and had a lot of good things to say. His music was so good to me when I discovered it. It was a perfect synthesis of breakbeats and dancehall music, with a 2000’s hardcore metal edge to it, since it was stuff made around the y2k era.
What do you think of jungle today – the type of music you make and how it’s become so accessible online, compared to the artists you just named, the artists you grew up listening to?
I think it sounds good. I personally prefer going back to the old stuff every now and again. I’d be lying if I said that there wasn’t a lot of good, transformative stuff coming from new artists, especially stateside. Jungle is a very technical thing.
There’s a bunch of people who know jungle as a very technical thing. Like SIMMS out of the UK, Milez does some cool stuff, too. They get into the nitty gritty and make some cool heavy hitting stuff.
I feel like [jungle] is in a good place. It’s a lot of music coming out for sure, but the quantity of it doesn’t represent the value of it. Because there was a lot of music coming out back then too, it was just in a different format. It was on vinyl and dubplates. Some of the songs from back then didn’t have any names, artists or titles attached to it. They were white label records that people have to dig for and find, very cool.
(I have a couple white label jungle/breakbeat records myself – I found them crate digging. I don’t remember where they are… and I have no way to find out what the records were called because… there was no label. I did like two minutes of Googling and Reddit-ing and found that white labels were a way for artists to release music with samples without clearing them or getting in trouble. They were also used by DJs for gatekeeping purposes, so that people wouldn’t see what records they were spinning. Anyways, back to the interview.)
What artists were you listening to growing up that influenced your sound?
Just really whatever was on the radio at the time. I didn’t do much of a job to explore outside of what my Dad would play in the car growing up. That was kind of a detriment, but a blessing at the same time. It helped formulate my taste for a bunch of stuff that was going on in the autotune era, the T-Pain era. There was a lot of hard autotone on the radio, like The Black Eyes Peas, and I started to have a taste for that.
Given jungle’s UK origins, how has jungle developed in the US scene?
Jungle originated back in the 90’s with artists like DJ Randall and this one song called We Are I.E., but it really got bearings during the Windrush generation, a mass migration and a period of time of people coming from Jamaica and the Caribbean Islands into London. People brought over dancehall and reggae and British people fucked with it to the point where they wanted to make something transformative with it to be played in clubs. It was met with a bunch of pushback, but was able to find its footing in UK history.
It crossed over to the US in the early 2000’s, with the advent of the internet and a bunch of formative scenes of the time.
In your opinion, how does American jungle sound different from UK jungle?
It’s not so apparent, but back in the 2010’s, there was a merge with traditional drum and bass and jungle. That led to a lot of drum and bass style production that would be merged with ragga and dub motifs, rather than breakbeat chops. That’s when it was the most apparent there was a clear divide. Throughout that time, American drum and bass and jungle were leaning more towards dubstep-y sound design in that period, but jungle at the time was remaining relatively true to its roots. Then everything came back around in the late 2010’s and current 2020’s that we are in right now.
Did you have a 9-5 before DJing and producing?
I was a college student at the University of Albany, studying cybersecurity. I was just working any job I could get. During most of the start of my career, I was working at Amazon, Fedex, various warehouses around 2019.
What motivated me to drop out and focus on music was having a really banging show in LA on 9/11, then going to school on 9/13 to take a Spanish test that I was terrible at. Like everything I was good at in high school, I sucked at in college. It was a mind breaking moment to the point I was like, “you know what, I’m doing this, I’m gonna stick to what I’m really good at.”
How many years were you in school before you dropped out?
I was in my third year.
Damn, you were close.
I was close, but I didn’t have enough credits anyway. If I really wanted to graduate on time, I would’ve had to grind my ass in school, and I just couldn’t do that.
When did you start seeing your career take off? I’m assuming it was mostly through online communities. Is that how your come up was?
Yeah, that’s pretty much how it went. I was big in the Soundcloud space as a rap producer for the first half of my career. I produced for a bunch of rappers like Hi-C, XavierSobased, stuff like that.
Do you still collab with those people today?
Nah, either we drift apart or they do something crazy. I’ve been fucked over for some royalty shit, and that turns me off on working for them.
Is that pretty common with being a producer?
It was common with the people I looked up to and shit. It sucks, but it’s been years. That was back when I was in high school. I’ve been doing this, making music for 12 years. When I got to college, that’s when I got back into making dance music again. I wanted to make my younger self happy.
Outside of jungle, what sounds do you incorporate into your sets, on the radio or in real life?
A lot of Jersey club, house, techno, four by fourth rhythm. I’ll bring in a rap song every now and again. I like mixing rap with jungle, I’ve been experimenting with more stuff lately.
I remember being at Billy’s and we were watching the video for Black & Tan over and over. Then you mixed it in at Materia too, that was awesome.
Yeah, that was a hit song. Thank you.
What are your favorite parts of the world to play, where have you seen the most receptive crowds?
London, Tokyo, and Los Angeles have a lot of my attention in terms of performing. Whenever I mostly play my own music during a show, those are the cities that show me the most love. I think because there is a strong reception and good listener base out there, they really get what I’m trying to do. I often go back to those places and have friends there. I do wish that New York could be like that, but New York has a lot of growing pains it has to deal with.
Do you think the underground scene in New York leans towards club, rather than jungle?
Yeah, I believe so, but I feel like the tides are turning. You have acts like shekdash, you have stuff like Jungle Network. There’s jungle in the City. There’s also the oldheads that still keep it alive through Facebook and shit. Like remember, jungle in New York has been around for a minute and oldheads mostly stick to themselves. Unless they hear good things about a newer act, they don’t really mingle with the newer generation.
Do you think they look down on you or your peers?
I don’t think they look down, they just like what they’re used to. I don’t take offense to it, they show some of the scenes love. I’ve met a handful of oldheads at Helltekk events, which is a New York collective that does a bunch of parties, free parties, shit like that.
When you first started producing, where were you finding sounds to sample from, songs to flip? What were your influences or inspirations?
Literally whatever I was into at the time. But, for a good part of my career, I was proud of myself for not using samples. I was coming from the rap producing communities. There was a thing where producers were using a bunch of samples, then when rappers hopped on, there would be legal issues and these songs couldn’t get cleared. Songs would be shot down because of this and the third.
I wanted to circumvent that, so I started focusing on making original melodies and royalty free stuff. But as of recently, I’ve kind of shred that because I can afford to sample some things, which is good. Some of my inspiration now for sampling comes from old 90’s dancehall records, Soundcloud shit, and occasionally some pop and r&b stuff.
What DJ’s do you think deserve a spotlight right now? Who’s coming up in New York?
In New York, I think shekdash is having a really good moment, and I’m very happy for him because he’s very talented. Him and Tromac. But he’s from the DMV.
I think I saw one of Tromac’s sets on Book Club, that was him right?
Yeah.
Why do you think jungle has stayed relatively niche in real life, but on TikTok and online scenes, it has kind of blown up?
A lot of people have been trying to side-step it. There was a big nostalgic movement during the pandemic for jungle and electronic music in general. During that time, a lot of people were starting to revisit things from their childhood. Games like Tricky, Tony Hawk, Wipeout… stuff like that. Those games had electronic soundtracks, that’s what they remember from the era. Sometimes it’s misattributed, but regardless, that’s what they associate with, and hearing that music was nostalgic for them.
Do you sample from video games? I look at your album art and feel like it’s inspired by games. Am I wrong for thinking that?
It’s not wrong, but it’s not entirely 100%. It is kind of inspired by video games. My biggest inspirations also come from contemporary stuff from the era, like old rave flyers, old album covers, some stuff from Farben’s art. The Exhibition Mode cover was inspired by an album called Textstar by Farben, who was this dub-techno producer from the 90’s. It was very minimalistic and I liked it. But I also put my own twist on it.
I have an affinity for cartoons, illustrations, and anime. I want to put myself in there, while upholding that minimalism. For the vKiss cover, I was more inspired by the warehouses and industrial section of Brooklyn. I 3D modeled that cover on Blender of what I think an ideal setting like this is. I grew up seeing that type of stuff throughout my life. The character is there because I still do have a taste for cutesy video-gamey type of stuff.
Do you see yourself making rap again?
Probably, I’ve been dipping my toes back into it. I made a song with this artist on the deadAir label named Lucy Bedroque, and that was a really nice song. I’m still tapped in and adjacent to the scene. Jane is one of the offshoots of the whole cloudrap era.
I’ve always done a lot of genres, I’m not exactly limited to any. I’ve been referred to as ‘genre agnostic’ by this writer named Adlan [Jackson] who did a profile on me for this blog called HellGate NYC. I think that’s very truthful of where I’m at. I’m not really chained to jungle, but I do love it enough to where I can incorporate it in my work as a producer and DJ. I’m always open to flex and do other genres and styles because it’s really all connected at the end of the day.
Are you still touring with Jane Remover, how has that been?
Yeah, it’s been pretty good. It’s been nice to work with her and build camaraderie with an artist I have respected over the years. I’ve known her since her earlier works. We were in the same SoundCloud collective together, prior to being in deadAir, called graveem1nd. That was a pretty nice time.
When you’re opening for her, I imagine some of the crowd might not usually listen to the type of electronic music you spin. Do you feel like audiences are becoming more receptive to those sounds, or does it still feel a little out of place opening for an act like her?
I kind of force the crowd to get into it. If they’re not about it, then tough shit. I cater to people who do feel it. I feel like especially at the Jane shows, I’ve become more vocally hostile to them. I don’t have to be nice to Jane fans, they’re not my fans particularly. If they do become my fans, then that’s when I start being really cool with them. But I’m doing me unapologetically. I have a get with it or get lost mentality.
Are you working on anything? What’s next for you in the coming year?
The tour with Jane ends in November. Last stop is in Orlando, with Jane. It’s at this amphitheater. We’re opening for Turnstile. I’m working on a handful of stuff that I can’t really say right now. But next year will be a very formative year for me. I want to be in a better spot as a producer with my production quality. I want to make good tracks, tracks I can be proud of for decades.
For the people who are reading this who aren’t here, how can you describe what your set will be like tonight?
I think it’s gonna be a mix of whatever I can put on my USB. I didn’t really prepare a setlist because I knew I’d be going back to back with Equiss. I want to be as fluid as possible while still giving people the best experience that I can. But definitely expect a lot of jungle and house and how I merge the two.
Excited to hear it. Thank you for answering my questions!