Manda Moor's infectious determination seeps into her bouncy yet sophisticated tracks. European audiences will most likely be familiar with the Paris-based artist, making it hard to believe she only played her first major gigs in 2019. 

Her relentless drive has since landed her international gigs in some of the most acclaimed house and techno spaces, particularly in Ibiza and the UK. Her tracks have been released on acclaimed labels like Tamango Records. Her debut EP What U Want on Kaluki Musik hit number one on Beatport’s minimal tech chart.

While detailing her career, the artist repeatedly emphasizes her gratitude and wonder. Yet, despite her sincere humility, it's evident success was no accident. 

A self-proclaimed party girl, Moor's love for dance music began amidst the crowds and culminated when she became a protegée of sorts of one house music's founding fathers, the late Paul Johnson. 

Crossing the decks wasn't a smooth transition. I cannot help but feel sympathy as the artist reveals her struggles with anxiety. Nonetheless, her smiles while performing exude a confidence mirrored by her simultaneously warm and serious house and techno. Perhaps this melange is a reflection of her Danish-Filipino heritage. Her theory is that warmer countries inspire bouncy rhythms while colder countries inspire technicity. These coexist hypnotically in "Catfish," from Kaluki Musik's 16th Birthday EP. However, she explains, her musical influences derive mostly from her Filipino mother's side.

"I definitely got the music bug from my mother. She was a singer. Singing and music in general is a huge part of Filipino culture. She would play music whatever she was doing. There was always music in the house. Filipinos are kind of like the latinos of Asia, because the Philippines were colonised by the Spanish, then they were colonised by the Americans: that's what also brought disco and the love of singing."

Moor details the strong tribal and percussive roots of Filipino music sounds that she naturally feels drawn to in her own production.

In terms of conscious influences, Manda Moor's career constantly nods to the early Chicago house legends.

Manda Moor w/ Paul Johnson

"2019 was also the year when I started to really get into producing. That was the year I went to Chicago and met with the Chicago house legends, like Paul Johnson - rest in peace - , Dj Deeon, Dj Sneak, K'Alexi, Dj Pierre… I'm so blessed to have them in my life, and to know them personally. I consider them as family, they really, really inspire me to this day. They inspired the whole music industry! They are the founding fathers, the pillars of house music today. So, yeah when I went to Chicago it lit a fire in me to produce. That's how I started, basically. Obviously today if you want to be a successful dj and artist in the electronic world, you need to make your own music."

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We touch briefly on the tragic death of Paul Johnson, and it's clear the artist has been deeply affected by the loss. Yet, his legacy lives on through Moor's career, particularly through her long-term residency on France's first national electronic music radio station, FG.

"I was speaking with FG about how I met the Chicago house legends. That kind of revived within them the need to reconnect with the origins. So, they really encouraged me to play more of that type of music even though it's not real mainstream for a big radio station. It's just all about the reconnection with the origins which was the initial foundation of FG." 

The pandemic brought about more opportunities to reconnect with origins. Together with fellow France-based artist Sirus Hood, Moor founded Mood Edits. The concept was a limited series of edits, released only on Bandcamp. Every month a new volume of three or four edits was released, and the previous volume deleted.

"The idea was to give value back to music, whilst reminiscing the good times with tracks that we remixed. It was disco, hip hop, R&B tracks. We really felt that there was an oversaturation of music, partly due to streaming."

The edits received widespread support from acclaimed electronic artists like Pete Tong who played “Slow Touch” and introduced the series on BBC Radio 1. 

Moor joyfully recounts the gratitude she felt when major artists, like The Martinez Brothers, played Mood Edits at events in the summer of 2020. 

She attributes a major growth point in her career to videos of these edits circulating social media. Yet, after 12 volumes, the duo halted Mood Edits in fear of being subcategorized as purely "edit DJs" - though Moor passionately explains that that house music itself commenced with edits of disco tracks. 

Just as one door closes for the driven artist, another opens. In 2022, the artist hopes to announce her very own label. The label will similarly focus on giving value back to music but aims to differentiate itself by implementing blockchain technology. 

Moor's closing statement regarding 2022 aptly embodies her humbling attitude.

"Very excited for this year. Hopefully it's going to be so much better than the past two. In any case, I'm super grateful whatever happens."

SOEL's music reflects a rich sonic palate informed by a lifetime absorbing a multi-colored patchwork of sounds. Equally refined, emotional, dark, and cinematic. He is a master of twisting synths into gorgeous wavering layers of beauty. His moody, melodic techno has wowed acclaimed producers like Adriatique, Tale Of Us, and Recondite. And the list of labels he's released on is remarkable, including Afterlife, Siamese, Mobilee, TAU and Plangent. 



He often draws from his Arabic roots and the rich cosmopolitan culture of Milan for inspiration. He grew up a stone's throw from the temple of opera, La Scala. As a result, classical music influences his music heavily as well. Yet, his father had the most profound impact on his musical DNA.

"My father was collecting vinyl and cassette tapes and listening to a lot of blues and a lot of jazz. Louis Armstrong, Myles Davis, and Ry Cooder. So a lot of black music, a lot of soulful music."

Milan's proximity to so many iconic dance music cities meant that by the time he was old enough to go to the club, he rarely spent a weekend or holiday at home. "Every single time I had a break from school, or a weekend off or something like that me and my friends would just jump on a train or a low fare airplane and then just go."

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He was obsessed with club culture and techno. "I did over 15 Time Warps. Festivals in Germany, Italy, and then Holland. University festivals during the summers. There were huge enormous festivals in Spain. Even small clubs. My favorite was a Cocoon club in Frankfurt, which was owned by Sven Vath."

He was all about the club, his friends and, "just having fun during the weekends. That's it."

Cocoon Club's DJ Booth

His move from the dancefloor to the decks was gradual, he says. Fascinated by dance music's culture of playing exclusive music, he spent hours digging for and collecting tracks. So before he even touched the turntables, he was already an expert curator.

The biggest draw to create has always been the peak dance floor experience. He still lives for the moments when you lose yourself in the beat. When the world seems to fade from view, all that remains is you, the music, and the lights.

It's almost visceral when he reflects on one of those moments during a Time Warp pre-party at Robert Johnson in Frankfurt.



"At 3 or 4 am, Ricardo Villalobos played this random singer from Iraq or Syria. And I knew that I know this kind of music. It was such a random thing, but such a surprise in a positive way. Because my friends and the people that were in that in the club back then, they didn't know what it is, but just went crazy. That's the power of the artist and the DJ."

He chases that feeling with every set he plays. The transcendence of his music is built for it. And as SOEL continues to build a massive library of music, he drifts further away from providing those moments as a DJ. Instead, he believes that those moments are more impactful when he's playing his music.

"I produce so much music. So much music, that I think the only way to really express myself is by playing only live. I think it's the creative point of view, honestly. And sometimes DJ sets are not, something that satisfies me."

His catalog is tremendous, forty hours of unreleased genre-spanning music from ambient electronic to peak hour techno. His decision to play more live sets allows him to stretch, build a vibe, and build a narrative. Performing dance music in a live environment is an act of storytelling. SOEL wishes to enter himself into that legacy of artists who are our raconteurs. 

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SOEL intends to make sure all of his work is out in the world for people to appreciate. His imprint Oracolo is part of that mission. Described as "A label where musical concepts and aesthetic boundaries are seen as a way to unify - not separate." Oracolo is the antithesis of his ethos.

Despite having no formal training, SOEL has established a unique musical footprint. The consummate creative, he says that he's been training for this his whole life. Creativity blossoms naturally when fed exposure to creative endeavors.

"Honestly, I think our brain is really a sponge. When you get exposed a lot simply because you're curious and you like something, I think this will come naturally. Nobody [can] actually teach you to be creative. So, think simply, let it come on naturally."

Melding arpeggiated basslines and glowing melodies into incandescent dance music, Tony y Not - aka Mimi von Koerber - inspires pure elation through all that she produces. Her tracks, infused with the spirit of Chicago house, the richness of deep house, and the euphoria of '80s disco, have fueled unforgettable nights in New York City, Berlin, Black Rock City, and beyond. She has released through imprints like Critical Monday, Nein Records, Trampoliner, and Tächno. 

Born in Zurich, Switzerland, von Koerber's friends and family played a central role in impacting her music taste throughout her childhood. 

"My whole family is very musical," she explains. "I spent a lot of time with my sister who's just one year older than me. Being in high school, you're obviously influenced by what your friends are listening to. But I was listening to a lot of pop punk, rock stuff, and a lot of other people in my school were listening to a lot of hip-hop." 

As an 11-year-old with a keen enthusiasm to delve into new music, von Koerber was perhaps most influenced by her eldest sister, who would arrive back from New York with an array of music to share. "She came back bringing albums by The Fugees or Jamiroquai… I loved it... listening to these albums on my little Sony Walkman. So [my taste] was definitely really influenced by my older sister."

Legendary Berlin mainstay, Watergate, which stands in mesmerizing beauty overlooking the River Spree, was the location of her first rave experience back in 2012. 

"I remember being into electronic music before that, but I went there with friends and stayed there until way after sunrise. I was definitely like, 'Wow, this is so cool'… It was my first 'going-to-Berlin clubbing experience'."

Watergate's unwavering music-first culture was part of what drew her into dance music. And when she played there in 2019, it was a remarkable full-circle moment. 

In her life as a producer, von Koerber's determination for success has always been unyielding. In 2018, she was adamant about working hard on the first track she produced until it reached a standard where she was happy to release it. 

"Maybe this is just my German brain… but I was like, 'If I'm going to start something, I want to finish it'… I remember being so strict with myself."

She's honest about its imperfections but proud that it features her vocals. 

"I really liked that I used my voice. I'm a singer, which not a lot of people know. I'm currently working on an album, singing more, using my voice more." 

Becoming a successful musician is a dream that started early in life for von Koerber. "I think I always wanted to become a pop star when I was a child. I think everyone wanted that of course." 

After completing a Bachelors's and Master's Degree in New York, she began taking music more seriously. "I think once I started taking pressure off myself, and also when my Dad passed away a couple of years ago, I think my whole perspective [shifted] on what I'm supposed to do in life and on following your passion." 

After moving to New York, her connections in the city's music and events industry drew her further into the dance music sphere. 

Collective BAE, a New York women's collective, was instrumental in von Koerber's career. Their events ranging from music to poetry reading, life painting, yoga, and beyond, aim to make women feel more comfortable with self-expression. Founded by von Koerber's good friend Reem Abdou, aka DJ Dreeemy, Collective BAE was the first place to book Tony y not as a DJ.

"She brought me in and was like, 'I know you're DJing at home, but do you actually want to play in front of people?', and I was like, 'Oh my god, yes please!' So that was kind of the motivation for me… to step out there and find a voice." 

Attending music festivals was also of crucial importance. They helped spark the desire to delve into her creativity and immerse herself in the dance music experience. 

She explains how a great festival is defined by more than music. "I think festivals are about friendships, so going with a good crew, your mates, and having fun… makes the whole experience." 

Burning Man holds a particularly special place in her heart. A dedicated Burner since 2014, she's found family in her annual adventures. And naturally, it was the reason for her happiest musical moment. In 2019, von Koerber played a set on Burning Man's other-worldly Mayan Warrior art car. 

"Playing there [had definitely been] a real goal [for me] as an artist," she recalls. "All my friends behind me, all of these people in front of me… it was such a magical moment. I really, really loved it. Just thinking about it makes me so happy."

Von Koerber believes in the importance of self-expression and freedom in music. She makes a clear distinction between the role of the artist and that of the label. While she appreciates the niches labels curate, she doesn't believe artists need to follow suit.

"As an artist it's cool [to] open up a bit more to different sub-genres, or broaden it up a bit. A label is a label, a label's not a person. But an artist is a person." 

This limitless ideology translates to von Koerber's decision to release all of her future material under the same moniker, regardless of shifts in genre. "Every artist is different. I think some artists with different aliases it's cool because that's just how they present themselves. But at least for me… I like just releasing everything under one name. I think it's cool to show that you're not just stuck to one thing, you can be different, you can also work with different artists, you can collab with different people even from completely different backgrounds." 

She's become increasingly inspired by music that wouldn't work in club settings. Some believe electronic music must be either dancefloor music or ambient music for home-listening. She believes that it can transcend this boundary and breach new ground.

It doesn't need to be separated. It can also be together… the music that I'm making and working on is more synth-poppy. It's still electronic music because it's made on a computer." 

Her willingness to convey her identity, personality, successes, and struggles on social media forged a deep connection to her audience. And imbue a greater sense of humanity in her music. 

"I'm Tony y Not but I'm also Mimi, I'm just one person. I talk about my personal stuff, it's not just a "brand" that I'm representing." 

Her concern and care for others extend to the mental health implications of the pandemic. 

"We're living in a really hard time right now, at least for a lot of people… I think going inwards and focusing on self-healing and not listening too much to your outer environment is really important. My heart goes out to everyone suffering from depression and anxiety right now: stay strong, keep believing in yourself, this will not be forever, and better times are coming; just trust the process."

Yulia Niko is a Russian-born DJ and producer of melodic-minimal techno— a style she imagined into existence that incorporates steady beats, precise layering, and the occasional breathy, other-worldly vocal. She is a current resident of Watergate in Berlin, which is where she technically lives, but her talents have her traveling the world more often than she is at home. 

Niko grew up in the south of Russia, in a small town called Anapa right on the Black Sea. Anapa is known for palm trees and sandy beaches, unlike the cold and snow that usually springs to mind when one thinks of Russia. Niko feels blessed to have grown up in this sunny tourist town and feels it's part of the reason she's so drawn to the beaches of Tulum. 

She fell in love with techno music when she went to the clubs for the first time at 14 years old. Although the music scene was small, lacking in age restrictions, and she couldn't name the DJs who played, she instantly connected with the music. 

She played her first gig at 15 years old in neighboring Sochi. Her parents were surprisingly supportive of her burgeoning music career. They preferred she spend her time at clubs playing vinyl than at random boy's houses alone with the potential to drink vodka. Despite their support, Niko felt the need to sneak away to Moscow when she was booked to play at Russia's biggest club. 

"When I was sixteen, I went for the first time to a gig in Moscow," she explains, "I was lying to my parents that I was going to sleep at a friend's in the next house and then I took a flight and played and after a couple of days I come back and I thought, I can't lie. And I told my mom, and my parents were like, 'What?? You went alone? You're sixteen!' And I was like, 'Yes, and I was playing at the best club in Russia!' And then my parents just accepted that I was impossible to stop. I was unstoppable."



Since starting to make music, Niko's process and style have changed completely. Her early influences included Brazilian electronic producer Gui Boratto, and German techno DJ, Stephan Bodzin. She developed a taste for house music through Luciano and Erick Morillo as she started to travel. She credits Luciano as her number one influence. He's even inspired how she performs and moves around the stage. 

She studied music production in New York, and once she began to produce, her hunger to play only her own tracks became insurmountable. As for collaborations, she's open. Niko likes to work with artists with an energy that can match hers. 

Music is undeniably Niko's calling, which became abundantly clear when she quit producing for a few years to study law. She tried to do both, but playing nocturnal shows on weekends and turning up to class the following Monday became unsustainable. While separated from music, she felt its significant absence and quit her stressful job as a lawyer to return to her passion. 

"Music also makes me independent, if something happens in my life, you know like break up, or whatever… I just sit in the studio, I make music, instead of crying and make drama and overthinking. I'm just focusing on something, and music makes me happy and free."

Niko radiates positivity and hopes to spread joy to those dancing at her shows. She often holds up her hands in the shape of a heart for the crowd. Recently she has adopted a pre-show ritual where she steps into the DJ booth and envisions rays of gold light emanating from her body out into the crowd. 

Sessions with a somatic psychologist introduced this ritual to her life, and it's working well, "I don't know, maybe I'm crazy, but it's working." She laughs it off, but she believes in her practice, "So before I come to play, I go to DJ booth, and sometimes I close my eyes, sometimes I'm just looking at the crowd, and I imagine a gold ray coming out of my chest and going in the people, in the crowd. … I'm feeling the energy, and the room is high. It's so high, I start to have goosebumps."

Her glowing confidence and newfound meditation practice have kept her going throughout the pandemic, while live music was hit hard. Niko feels an artist must create during difficult times and thus released Ambient Meditation Mix (Manifestation of Love). 

As the world opens, offers for the gigs of her dreams flood her inbox. Still, many shows get canceled. So when disappointment strikes, she reminds herself of where she is now and how far she has come, and she can't help but be grateful. 

The greatest feeling comes when listeners connect with her music, "People who really understand how much you put into looking for this music, making this music and then you share this music, and you share this message, and they say to you, 'You changed my life,' and its priceless. I'm so addicted to that."

This edition of Gray Area Spotlight is presented In partnership with Femme House. They foster more equitable opportunities for women and gender-expansive individuals in the technical and behind-the-scenes areas of music. Femme House is creating the future producers, mixers, engineers, DJs, artists, and executives of the industry by providing education and scholarships, cultivating community, propagating visual representation, and offering professional development opportunities.

Change is the only constant. The wheel of life spins uninterrupted like the drive belt on a turntable, and everyone changes with it whether they like it or not. Throughout her decades as a DJ, producer, and label owner, Catherine Britton, who engages with dance music under the common colloquial name of Cassy, has watched the scene change, but she’s also changed herself.

Everyone involved in music has witnessed the business indelibly change due to COVID-19, and Britton was expecting change even before all the shows were canceled. 

“I felt very strange. I felt like I needed a break. I had never felt like this actually,” Britton says over Zoom from her current home in Austria. 

Britton took time off DJing and moved from Ibiza back to Austria with her son and mother. All in all, she embraced the shifting circumstances and made the best of them.

“The world is never going to be the same,” Britton says. “My life is going to change forever. Whatever I’ve done so far was okay, and something new has to happen now.”

Britton grew up in Vienna, Austria where the history of classical music is so deep and foundational it permeates the city’s infrastructure. She went to the opera at a young age, and she has an attachment to the works of the Romantic period, specifically Tchaikovsky’s ballets Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty. 

“Listening to music from a ballet like Tchaikovsky’s teaches you how fulfilling music is because classical music is extremely enlightening,” Britton says. “I think it gives you the door to know how to enjoy music or why you enjoy it or what it means to you.”

As a youth, Britton used every listening device at her disposal. She bought records, then tapes, then a radio, she recorded music from the radio and her vinyl onto tapes. She dug through the crates of Tower Records every weekend to buy music.

The passion and love of music was certainly there, but Britton would not make the change towards DJing for a bit longer.

Britton initially trained to be an actress. She attended drama school in London, where she also studied classical singing (a talent she would exquisitely apply to her productions in the future). 

Going to music school after drama school was her “official plan,” but that plan changed after she moved back to Vienna, and she started going out more regularly. Smaller DJs she knew before were now famous, and it was in this phase she met the revered techno DJ, Electric Indigo, who twisted Britton’s arm to become a DJ herself.

“She said to me, ‘You’re always at the parties. You’re always staring at the records. You’re really interested in the music. You like standing in the DJ booth and watching,” Britton says. 

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More than the arm-twisting from madly impressive artists like Electric Indigo and Miss Kittin, Britton herself became enthralled by their character and lifestyle.

“I just thought they were very interesting young women that were out there with their personalities. Definitely completely different to the drama students I hung out with,” Britton says. “This is their passion. They’re making money with this, they’re actually paying rent with DJing, and they get to tour the world. This is an alternate lifestyle that I really enjoy.”

Once Britton decided to make that change for herself, it was life-altering. She landed residencies in London, Ibiza, but most notably in Berlin at Panorama Bar when the club opened in 2004.

Upon mentioning Panorama bar, Britton’s face lights up as all the memories come rushing back. She goes deep into the history of the club. The Friday label nights. Saturdays and Sundays for residents. The hedonism. The individuality. The freedom.

Most of all, Britton recounts her growth as a DJ in the now legendary institution of dance music culture, where she would play for five hours multiple times per month.

“Playing in the same place a lot makes you have a very distinct relationship with the floor. You get to know it really well. You get to know the soundsystem really well. You start to develop a sense of how a type of record sounds. You get the sense of what the soundsystem sounds like with 100 people,” Britton says. 

“What does it sound like at the beginning of the night? What does it sound like after hundreds of people were sweating? You really start to develop this extreme sense for how everything you do has an effect and how it has an effect, and that was fucking amazing.”

After her experience at Panorama Bar, Britton knew she was on the right path as a DJ, and the natural change that came next was production. In the early 2000’s she was putting out EPs and remixes on labels like 3rd Floor Records, Ostgut Ton, and Uzuri Recordings. The culmination of her evolution as a producer came in 2016 when she released her debut album, Donna.



This complete body of work encompassed all of Britton’s musical talents. Her ever-advancing production skills, her years of vocal training, and a type of diversity in sound that only comes from years as a globe-trotting professional DJ.

“It was a personal artistic expression,”  Britton says. “I wanted to do something that is not just house and techno that is really more like an artist album where you can see what music inspired me.”

Beyond the music that inspired her, another massive influence on the sound of Donna was Britton’s son. Throughout much of the writing and production process for the album, she was pregnant, and her son was born around the time she finished.

“Feel,” (her most heavily supported track o Spotify) was inspired fully by her son, and Britton says overall transitioning into becoming a mother brought a sense of femininity to Donna. 

“This is also why I called it Donna,” Britton says. “‘Donna’ means ‘woman’ in Italian and ‘Donna’ in German but written differently means ‘thunder,’ and the album is not thunder, but having a baby is a thunder in your life.”

Having a son was one of the most significant changes in Britton’s life. Yet, she embraced it, adapted, and continued her work as an artist. She maintains that being a DJ mother is her proudest accomplishment. 

With the pandemic, Britton gave her focus to being a mother, and now with the pandemic easing around the world, Britton is ready to transition back into that balance and give it her all. 

“It’s our responsibility as veterans—if you want to call us veterans —to set a certain tone and to not give up,” Britton says. “Even if 2022 is going to be rough, and even if it’s going to be a challenge again, we’re going to really go for it and make it what we say we can make it.”

Master manipulators of trippy vocal elements, tech house rhythms, and acidic analog, Irish brothers Disfreq - aka Joe and Cahir Kely - have energized dance music fans worldwide with rave-ready stompers. Born and based in the picturesque, coastal setting of Moville, Ireland, the duo produces electrifyingly powerful material from unexpected surroundings. 


Hellbent on ascending in rave scenes across the globe, Disfreq was featured on BBC Radio 1 on numerous occasions and released tracks through Trick, Top Flight Records, and Tech City.  


The Disfreq brothers roots in dance music run deep. They started producing music together ten years ago, releasing under various aliases and experimenting with multiple genres. 



As Joe explains, "We were crazy into dance music and Danny Howard's show, and then we were like 'how can we make tunes ourselves?' I think that Cahir actually downloaded a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation): FL [Studio]. Of course, we were lost for the first few years, lost for a good few years actually, and making a lot of bad music. We skipped through a lot of genres. I think we've done them all nearly, trance, dubstep, even progressive house like Eric Prydz-vibe stuff with other aliases."


Having made most of their progress through the COVID lockdown, the pair are a shining example of the fruitful outcomes that isolation and copious free time can occasionally bring. 


As Joe recalls, "We've had a few aliases, but lockdown really is what started Disfreq. We actually had time to go at it because, during lockdown, there was nothing else to do. We were living in a house, just us two, and basically had the laptop and speakers hooked up in the living room. It was just a matter of getting up, eating, going and making tunes, and then you might stop to eat again. We were living and breathing it, just making tunes and having parties." 

Their open-mindedness towards electronic music took them on a journey with a purposeful conclusion. They eventually landed on a unique form of tech house, earning them the respect of esteemed club giant Patrick Topping.


The duo's eclectic outlook was never restricted solely to dance music. Joe explains that as a child, he was a fan of Arctic Monkeys, Paolo Nutini, and acoustic artists, but that electronic music always came first in his eyes. Their passion for house and techno thrived even though few of their friends mirrored this enthusiasm. 


Joe tells us, "There's only really a couple of my mates that listen to [house and techno] … where we live it's in Donegal. It's a bit far north. The next big techno artist [from around here] I would say is Rebuke, he's about 45 minutes away. But there's not a huge, huge techno scene in Donegal." 


Similarly, Cahir confesses that growing up, his friends listened to different music to him. Living in a fairly remote town, the duo's closest clubbing destinations continue to be Belfast and Derry. According to Cahir, the former has a particularly buzzing nightlife scene.

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"Belfast has actually got a massive scene at the moment with lots of artists. Shine does events. They've had some of the best artists you can think of, like Fatboy Slim, Alan Fitzpatrick. Patrick Topping did a Trick event in Belfast. There's a big scene there, Mall Grab, Brame & Hamo, Floorplan. There's AVA [Festival] as well. So, with Belfast, there's no comparison with anywhere else on the island." 


Disfreq's artistic inspiration came from an amalgamation of family, friends, and their surrounding environment. "On a broader scale," Joe explains, "Listening to [BBC] Radio 1 all the time, digging deep into YouTube and Soundcloud. We used to work in the factory, and we used to listen to music all day long. Earphones in and listening to Soundcloud, YouTube, Spotify, just all day." 




But what influenced Disfreq's sound more than anything else was hardware. 


Joe says, "We very rarely look at software, it's all just hardware and synths. I think that was definitely the most influential thing for Disfreq." 


The brothers' social media pages are teeming with photos and clips of an array of synth and drum machine wizardry, ranging from the Roland 909 and TD3 to the Behringer Wasp and beyond. Their investments in gear like this reflect a tunnel-vision desire to pursue music full time, no matter what the costs. 


Cahir admits that "I wouldn't be interested in much else. I know that's probably very narrow-minded, but [dance music] is the only thing that I could really, really focus on and be interested in." 


Eventually, tech house aficionado Patrick Topping saw the brothers' potential. In October 2021, the brothers released their All My Friends EP through Topping's Trick imprint, acting as a launchpad for their career in the dance music industry. 



But in Disfreq's eyes, their biggest turning point to date came when Topping dropped one of their tracks live at Creamfields. It was this, above all else, that shifted their gaze towards taking music more seriously and fueled their unstoppable ambition. Beaming smiles expand on the duo's faces as they reminisce about that crucial transition. 


Joe reveals that he's "getting shivers thinking about it," while Cahir explains, "We didn't even know that he was going to play it!" 

Creamfields was the culmination of the brothers' decade-long struggle to get their music heard on a bigger scale. 

As Joe recounts, "Before Disfreq, with all our projects and aliases and stuff like that, it was really hard to get anyone, anyone, to play our music. We sent thousands of demos to labels. If you got a listen, you were buzzed. There were so many kicks, so many kicks in the backside, and then all of a sudden, that Creamfields video was there. It was mad."


Topping's decision to expose Disfreq to wider audiences didn't come out of mere kindness but out of an unfailing commitment to elevate high-quality music regardless of its origin. 


"He's a great guy. He's really personal with the artists," Joe tells us. "He gets back to you fast. You send him a tune. He loves it. He doesn't. It's just really simple. Whenever you're connecting with him, it's just so easy. You know what I mean?" 

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In an industry oversaturated with new tracks from unsigned artists, it's refreshing to hear that Topping is indifferent towards the following of upcoming producers. Instead, as Cahir explains, he focuses exclusively on whether he likes their material. 


"It doesn't really matter who you are because it's all about the music. He doesn't care about your following … if he likes the music, he's game." As Joe puts it, "Trick's class because if the music's good, it'll get on Trick. It's not about, 'I've got 3 million followers, and I played this, and I played that, and I've done a massive release for this, massive release for them'. It's just about if you've got a good tune, and they like it, you'll get on Trick. That's what it is, and that's why it's good and why it's succeeding."


The development of an artist is marked not only by significant achievements like releases and performances but also by smaller, more personal achievements, which can be equally instrumental in the long run. Disfreq are quick to highlight this fact. 


Joe remembers the excitement of signing to other labels that we of some stature. And the disappointment of finding their music didn't always resonate with that specific audience. An important lesson for any producer that makes for even more triumphant moments when you find a label where things hit.


Their wins have paved the way for an exciting future. They look forward to releasing with Topping's label regularly, as well as other large label signings. 


Joe says, "We're making music every day."

If there's anything he's learned in the music industry, Paradoks says to "Never stop believing in your own music." When Paradoks – aka Kobe Motmans – emits powerful energy through melodic house, crowds and fellow artists gravitate towards him. 

Paradoks is grateful to have strong support for his music, but his true friends in the industry are most important. He dropped the galactic track "Floating" via Stil Vor Talent. He has a handful of releases on Parquet Recordings, and the new track "Sense of Wonder" is his latest on Nora En Pure's label Purified. 

He first connected with Nora En Pure after she started playing "Floating" in her sets, and he commented on an Instagram post to thank her for the support. They met for coffee at 8 am in Zurich and spent two hours discussing life. Since then, she has been pushing Paradoks to the masses. Soon after, he dropped the Flying Particles EP in 2020 on Purified. 

His followers quickly grew while embarking on a handful of show dates in Uruguay and Argentina late in 2021. But success does not always follow every production–sometimes great tracks fall through the cracks before the world hears them. 

"I've gotten used to the no's and the ghosting," Paradoks says. "Not everybody has it in them to be an artist at this higher level, because you have to learn to grow through this rejection and not take it personally." 

On the day he touched base with Gray Area, Instagram suspended his account for no apparent reason. He's worried about losing that line of communication with fans. Luckily, he eventually regained control of the account, but the experience underscored artists' everyday reliance on social media. He's back to sharing images of clubs packed with ecstatic people at his shows. 

Growing up, his family moved around between Belgium and Switzerland. In his adult life, he chose to live in different cities around the world, landing in Zurich for the longest period.

In videos of his live sets, we see aerial views of the Swiss Mountains and other scenic locations close to where he's settled. 

"If I get the privilege to run in the forest, I like to just listen to the birds and nature and my own breath, focus on my own rhythm," he says. He's a faster runner when he's got his headphones in listening to melodic beats, but his mood "depends if you want to go for performance or just to oxygenate the brain," he says. "Slowly, I evolved into this type of person. I've always liked to move."

He organized his own 2018 South American tour and learned his travel style. "I like to take my time," he says, remembering when he did four cities in four days on little sleep. "I don't want to sacrifice my health and my relationships." 

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Paradoks enjoys soaking in the present moment. He uses yoga, sports, and meditation to take pressure off his mind and put himself back into his body. Rest is key to gaining the stamina for the studio and stage. He works on musical ideas in a small chunk of time and then takes a much-valued break. "This is how I do the best music I can. The most conscious music," he says, to inject genuine emotions. "I cannot do it in a fake way."

In 2021, he split his attention between making music and completing a master's degree in entrepreneurship and innovation. When it comes to applying that to his role in the industry, he says, "It definitely gave me a better perspective on the long term strategy…It helps 
to brainstorm different ideas and to bring more value as an artist to the scene in the long term."

Before he began DJing, he started on the piano and produced tracks for several years. After his first club gig, he'd close his eyes and "imagine playing that beautiful music with the people. 

I felt in my heart, wow, this is amazing. But there's this big paradox: ever since I wanted to try to achieve this, I felt the contrary." This is how he became "Paradoks": "This pursuit of living the life you love and sharing these moments with the people, and then the anxiety on the other hand," that comes from doing this. "I decided to put the K from Kobe," he adds.  

In the present moment, his focus is entirely on shaping his sound. Paradoks' signatures are dynamic shifts, crisp claps, and progressive sections that make the cool synth leads flow and drop like waterfalls. 

"I mostly want to focus a lot on my own productions and get as much good music out myself," he says. Paradoks also dreams of starting his own label. "It would serve as a home base for my music." 

Although he puts tremendous pressure on himself to achieve his vision, he realizes, "There's no clear way to get there, there's no path." The decision to make music his life led to sleepless nights and anxiety about making his dreams into a reality. He uses mindfulness to step back and realize what it all means. Paradoks says his ethos is "Worry less, let go more, and trust life."


Interview by Ryden

While Russia's dance music scene may not be as well known as others, the country has produced many brilliant DJs over the years. A stand out among them is Eskuche. Known for impactful drums and intense bass lines, the Relief Records regular is one of Russia's finest exports.  

"Now, back in the day when I was living there, it was very different. It was mostly commercial house remixes of just popular Russian tracks. I never liked it that much," he says. Even then, his style skewed underground, a sound that Russia wasn't quite ready for yet. 

"Now I feel everyone is going crazy about dance music, specifically the Solomon type of style. There is also a big minimal scene that's been growing. But with Covid, there is not really a lot going on, you know? And Russia is also very strict with all the laws and stuff. So it's a different vibe there."

He honed his craft as a resident DJ at a friends club in Russia. Yet somehow, Eskuche found himself stateside with an incredible opportunity to jumpstart his career. Although he has now settled into a home in Miami, Eskuche first lived in Brooklyn, NY, then Manhattan, and Ibiza. 

Despite his northern roots, the cold weather was a deterrent for Eskuche. And while living in New York City for almost ten years allowed him to play regular gigs and take his music production to the next level. The cold winters and dense crowding of the city eventually pushed him out. He truly hit his stride during a two-year stint in Ibiza. 

"2016 I went to Ibiza for a week. I'd been there before in 2013, but it was like I was too young on the trip, and it was just going crazy above the clouds and stuff," he remembers.

"I came back and it was really open for me [in a new way]. I really loved the island and I decided, I want to try to live there. I was there all summer, and it really changed my musical tastes like what I want to do. A lot of things that I came up with, like the tracks 'Activator' or 'Concentrate' became hits. So basically, 2016-2017, was my real starting point with the musical style I have now."

Ibiza helped shape Eskuche into an artist both in sound and how he connects with nightlife.

"The vibe and the culture [in Ibiza] are so special. The island is so beautiful, and it's so connected with the nightlife, so you know, they go together, and you never see any other places like this." 

"Activator" and "Concentrate" were released on Hot Creations and Relief Records, respectively. Eskuche was already well established, and these two tracks thrust him into the spotlight. 

Most importantly, "Concentrate" introduced him to Green Velvet, an icon of the electronic scene who helped Eskuche grow his career and take significant steps towards improving the quality and quantity of his catalog. 

"So I actually met him for the first time in Ibiza. I went to one of his shows and introduced myself in the summer of 2018. And then the 'Concentrate' track happened. It had been sitting on my computer for three months, and I was like, what am I going to do with this track? I said you know what? I've never sent anything to Curtis [Green Velvet]. I sent it to him, and 30 minutes later, he replied, saying that he loved it and wanted to release it the following week. 

"It wasn't my plan for the track to release that soon but he said to trust him and I of course agreed. Soon after I began playing shows with him and playing at his La La Land showcases. We just became really good friends, he's a great guy and I respect him a lot."

Eskuche's future is bright. As he prepares to take on a US tour with Relief Records label mate and friend Mihalis Safris, he reflects on how his DJing has changed over the years.

As his sound has constantly evolved, he's worked hard not to rely on his older hits. Recently he's drifted into melodic, minimal, and deeper styles. He likes to experiment and keep his mixing creative while oscillating between old and new. 

He also used to play his own tracks exclusively. In recent years, however, he has made an effort to highlight other artists' music. He recognizes that 
part of the art of DJing is music discovery.

Lilly Palmer plays with tension and release in her songs "Temptation," "Aether," and "Vertigo" from her label Spannung Records. The German techno artist likes to explore dissonant realms. 

"In German, Spannung has two meanings. On the one hand it means voltage, and on the other hand it means tension," she explains, smiling. "I love this wordplay because tension can be either positive or negative. But it also reminds me of the job of a DJ – you're always under tension." 

Spannung Records' sleek logo resembles the power cell in an electric circuit. She promotes the label through a new webshop with original designs, including an elegant unisex bomber jacket. As a techno artist, Lilly fully believes in rocking different shades of black. 

Raised in Nuremberg, Germany, Lilly Palmer came of age in Berlin, exploring the techno scene. As a teenager, she was a metalhead until she began clubbing at 17. 

"It was in Switzerland (that) I really fell in love with deep house especially," she says. Every week she had favorite tracks to share with friends, and one day they suggested she start DJing. In 2015 Lilly made her debut, releasing an EP Teaser on Natura Viva Records, including the sizzling track "Before Acid." 

Lilly lives in the dance music mecca of Amsterdam with her boyfriend, DJ Egbert, and a Bengal cat named Dirk. While taking things slowly at home, she set time aside to learn kitesurfing. Despite a few faceplants, she gets back up and keeps flying. 

Similar to making music, she overcame the challenges that come with developing new skills. "If you don't understand how to break or speed it up, sometimes I went faster, faster, faster and couldn't stop anymore and fell," She describes. "I hit the water, and yeah, you're a bit shocked at first, but then you're going to do it again." Lilly is determined to go with the flow, and as a DJ, she has a masterful control of the environment. 

"I have this energetic side in me, and that took over," Lilly says, recalling her beginnings with deep house. "My sets are sometimes still melodic. Now I prefer hard techno even though a lot of people wouldn't consider my music as hard techno as there is in Berlin. There, it's much harder than what I do." 

She isn't far removed from the early-career jitters. "I remember very clearly, the day I opened my Facebook 'Lilly Palmer' fan page. I was sitting in front of the laptop, and I was shivering." But once she launched, she was relieved with the support of friends and, eventually, new fans. 

Coming up and getting support from friends within the scene was even more difficult than initially expected. In fact, she lost friends and wasn't immediately bolstered. 

"As soon as I started, I kind of lost all of those male DJ friends I had before," who didn't seem to approve of her artistic debut. However, her worries faded with each sign of encouragement. Lilly jumped the hurdles of entering a male-dominated scene and saw the bright side of being a female DJ, "You get to reach a lot of people very fast because you're very unique."

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And had she listened to every piece of advice, she wouldn't be a DJ with the traction she has today, so she knows not to take everything personally. Instead, curious and ready to explore the world, she would tell her younger self to "Keep going, go on with that." 

Lilly Palmer's resilience and independence comes from a do-it-yourself mindset. She invested in her setup and skills to produce 15 live streams without relying on a big team during the pandemic. She beams, "I love that feeling - I feel really independent."  

Online, Lilly Palmer DJs amidst gorgeous backdrops, including rooftop sunsets and the Eiffel Tower. The sounds are dark and industrial. ice-cold acid and scorching techno. A Lilly Palmer track wouldn't be complete without thrashing snares and chilling vocal samples.

Building anticipation is what Lilly Palmer does best, and fans are left shaking with excitement and satisfaction. Soon, Lilly hopes to have her visa to play in North America. 

She wants to add more tracks and artists to the Spannung Records roster, valuing quality over quantity. Singles merit their own releases, and they have to be something she'd play in a Lilly Palmer set, she says. So she plans to keep building. 

"If I came home from a gig and thought, wow that was the best ever, then something is wrong." Lilly explains, "It's in us artists that we always want to develop and always do better." 


Interview by RYDEN

If you're looking for explosive sets that blow the lids off of warehouses around the globe, look no further than AK Sports. Fusing techno hybrids, acid house, and rapid breaks into a unique vision of high NRG nu-rave, she continues to release high-powered material from her twin bases of London and Los Angeles. 

Her Warp Mode events play a pivotal role in bringing the LA underground to new heights, igniting it with the inimitable flavor of UK styles, and underscoring local and international talent. But, more importantly, her events focus on elevating gender minorities, queer, and BIPOC artists. 

Growing up on the sunny shores of Bondi Beach in Australia, AK Sports – aka Madi Carr – was surrounded by a band scene. Her dad opened the gateway into electronic music. He introduced her to the sounds of big beat artists like Fatboy Slim and Groove Armada. And timeless icons like Moby and Daft Punk. 

A tight-knit relationship between electronic music and her love for skateboarding and skiing blossomed. Listening while cruising around bends put her in a rhythm and groove that heightened the overall experience. She also noticed she improved much faster. 

"When I was younger my dad would drag me down to CD stores and definitely encouraged me to get into big beat … we were also obsessed with Blink 182 and the whole punk scene … just like a bit of everything when I was younger," she remembers. 

"It always crossed across from band to electronic, because I actually grew up skateboarding and my dad would make me listen to my discman [whilst skating]. I think most parents would probably say, 'Absolutely not … you need to make sure that no one's going to run into you.' But yeah, it was a range for sure."

While attending university on the Gold Coast of Australia, she was disappointed to discover a music scene tinged with touristic tackiness and commercialism. Her subsequent return to Bondi took her on an upswing and paved the way for her entrance into the music industry. 

Becoming a promoter plunged her into a scene replete with incredible DJs, creatives, and artists. The events she threw proved successful and sparked a domino effect. She quickly climbed the ladder of the events industry throwing bigger parties at every rung. 

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"That's how I got my start in the music industry because I wanted to chat to the hot band guys. I just started to become a promoter. I went up to this cool bar and asked them who books the bands and asked if I can give it a go."

Dissatisfied at her pay rate, AK Sports' first shot at DJing stemmed from a lightbulb moment. 

"In Australia, unless you're an artist, the money's pretty bad. I would complain to my bosses about getting a pay rise, and they told me, 'We can't give you any more money, but you can teach yourself how to DJ, and then DJ at your own events and get paid by the venue.' So, I would hang back at the office after work, set the decks up myself, and practice."

For her first gigs, she chose to team up with a friend. It wasn't long before she had bigger slots at better events. These days, when AK Sports performs, it'd be hard to detect the slightest ounce of anxiety in her appearance. But starting out in her career, she recalls that a degree of nervousness was sometimes unavoidable. 

"There was one time I remember driving to a club for a solo headline gig or closing for someone. I was so panicked about my abilities. The taste was there, but my abilities … I felt like it was a little bit too premature to be playing, or maybe it wasn't… I don't know. I remember driving there and thinking, 'I don't have to put myself through this stressful experience. I don't know why I'm doing this to myself!' Once you get past a certain technical ability, I think it's smooth sailing. Those were my own experiences of DJing, and it was always very rewarding and always lots of fun."



When asked about her first significant achievement in music, her eyes light up. Several vital moments spring to mind within seconds. The release of her debut EP was a big one and happened organically through a friend who had set up a record company called Gallery Recordings, based in Sydney. 

Over time, her music has evolved and taken on new forms and trajectories, with releases on Club Glow, Tooflez Muzik, Start Local Records, and Of Leisure. 

Playing shows in other countries always felt great, but a key highlight was a gig in Edinburgh. She was also immensely proud to have gotten a show on BALAMII Radio, one of London's top electronic institutions. In a world increasingly influenced by music streaming services, she insists that radio appeal is unique.

"I started out in a similar one in Australia called FBI Radio. That was another big achievement actually, getting a show on there. These smaller stations, and even the bigger ones like Jaguar, the work she's done on BBC Radio 1 with her show Introducing, it's all about community. You feel connected to everyone … for me, I really found my community in BALAMII. I was playing a certain type of jacking house, breaksy stuff, but I always wanted to play crazy breaks and heavy techno and just go a bit psycho. I wasn't getting the gigs at the time, or they weren't the right time slot or whatever to do that, so the radio show gave me the opportunity to go wild. Also, I took different shows to explore different genres, so I did the history of jungle in one show, the history of DnB in another show. Radio was also a place for DJs to practice during COVID when all these gigs were cancelled. So yeah, I think that it's an exciting new place to do things that you wouldn't necessarily do in club spaces, get some work, and connect with the online community and producers and fans that we love."

Passionate to embrace creative expression in all its forms, AK Sports has released several music videos to accompany her tracks, which showcase the skills of various female, trans and non-binary artists. 

The clip for "Houdini" plunges you into a Matrix-inspired reworking of a Brixton night out, all transmitted through the lens of a retro video game. These imaginative and vibrant videos bring music to life in a new way, yet it was a shame to reflect on the general absence of music videos in the dance music industry as a whole. 

"I wanted to put out a video with my first single but I was advised that it wasn't cool to do a video. It's just an untapped market, so let's go crazy. I particularly like to work with female, trans, and non-binary artists, so I'm trying to find those people and any other way, shape or form that I can connect with them to help me express myself and themselves."

"I think we could do more, but sometimes people just don't have the time or the money," she posits. "This animator from Berlin, Stacie Ant, did the video for 'Tank Girl.' She basically made avatars of me and my friends. It was amazing, her style was very cool. It was influenced by the Berlin underground - very sexy, very female gaze. But the hours that go into making those sorts of things are not cheap. So, it's not always that viable to get music videos, unless you've got a big label who are going to pay for it, or if you've got homies that I was lucky enough to find to help do it for the cheap, sometimes free, because they were just down to jump on."

Her dedication to her craft is uncompromising. Despite a hand injury that left her arm in a splint for several months, she chose to carry on DJing regardless; her one-handed mixing soon gained her a reputation as the 'bionic-armed Aussie DJ.' Thankfully, the splint's now off, and a current of new material continues to flow.  

She finds inspiration through real-life experiences. For example, her recent release on Justin Jay's Fantastic Voyage, "Cops In The Club," resulted from a warehouse rave gone wrong.

"I wrote it after a warehouse party that I was at got raided, and it was terrifying. It's a bit tongue in cheek with the vocalI put on like a European accent to kind of express the universal voice and connect the experience to [people] all around the world because it's just a thing that can happen everywhere."

Mary Droppinz, aka Alyssa Johnson, understands the power of faith in herself. The LA-based producer and DJ captured the attention of dance music fans because of her infectious positivity, unsurpassed skills on the decks, and a sound that seamlessly blends house, techno, and breakbeat electro. The latter is one of dance music's least represented but most impactful genres. And Johnson hopes that as a champion of nasty acid growls and rumbling 808 bass, she can help diversify the sound of the dance floor and the people who make the noises that keep the crowd hyped.

Before she fell in love with dance music, she was an emo kid from Nebraska. Her dad, an amateur drummer, instilled a passion for the classics. As a result, she grew up on a diet of Pink Floyd, the Doors, and late afternoon drum sessions banging from the basement.

"He wasn't a professional drummer, he would do it after work every day. Come home and just go down [and] start drumming," she reminisces. "So, I was used to the flow of having a little music practice at the end of the day. And so that's just kind of like where it all began."

She credits her love of emo-rock for opening her heart enough to accept dance music as her singular passion. She explains that while emo does not sound like dance music, the ethos and feeling are united.

"That style of music, it takes you away. You can escape reality for a bit. And it's head banging. It just takes you out of your body. And in a sense, it's emotional and passionate."

When she moved to California from Nebraska with her former partner, she was inaugurated into the underground scene of Southern California at a steak house in Orange County. The bizarre locations, passionately connected community, and peak dancefloor experiences of the rave scene made an indelible mark on her soul. And there was no turning back.

"Everything clicked. I was like, What the heck is this kind of music? This is what I've been looking for. I had no idea." 

Like other ravers who made it their life's work, she was quickly hooked. "I went to Coachella every year and Desert Hearts and started going to festivals. And that's when it was just like, this is what I want to do for my life."



Inspired by her dad's daily drum sessions, she started her own routine. She came home each day from her ad agency job, powered up her laptop, and emersed herself in becoming an expert in digital DJing.

The budding bedroom DJ continued to explore the laser-lit recesses of the underground. And in the process discovered a community of house heads at her job. They helped give her growing love for dance music context in the local scene. Finally, she started to feel at home in LA and had a rave crew showing her the ropes.

But life in the ad world wasn't cutting it anymore. She wanted to do something that she cared about.

"Ultimately, I was sitting there at my job and just feeling so unfulfilled," she says. She was tired of advertising products she didn't use or even care about. And she asked herself, "what can I do with the skill set to get more integrated into music?"

The universe responded with a job at Native Instruments in marketing. And as she planned and executed events for a company that is one of the most well-known in producer circles, she solidified a network of other passionate creatives.

Her journey was far from complete, and she still had another massive leap of faith to endure. She decided to quit her day job to devote herself entirely to music.

"I had saved up enough to be able to support myself for the next six months. And so I was like, I'm gonna do this, I'm going all in. And so that was the game plan, but then that all the shows that I had booked, all canceled, and everything shut down."

The pandemic kneecapped the industry. Unexpectedly, however, it offered her an immense opportunity to put herself in front of thousands of people stuck at home in front of a screen.

"I felt a bit depressed about it." She tells Gray Area. She thought to herself, "I don't know, what's gonna happen, why did I make this decision? Now I don't have a steady income, I have to get on unemployment, I've got to figure something out. it freaked me out at first, but then it fueled me."

But she realized she had immense opportunity to help change people's worldview.  

"I realized, why I'm doing this. I'm doing this to give love and to help heal people through music. To share my passion with everybody and make people smile."

Throughout the pandemic, she dominated Twitch streams, appearing on the most prominent channels like Insomniac, Desert Hearts, and Dirtybird. And despite the physical distance of streaming, she found herself connecting with her audience in more profound ways.



When people wondered how she could make lasting connections through a screen, she told them," We grew up in a digital age. I know when you are being passive-aggressive when texting me, I can tell the vibe that I put out and what they're feeling by their messages on chat.

"And so I just really honed in on that. Going out now in the real world, and DJing again, it's been super rewarding running into a lot of the community that I built online."

Her goal to spread joy was successful in the most pivotal time.

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"Them saying 'You saved me during 2020. I had nothing to do and nothing to look forward to. But every day like you came on and you brought vibes and music, and energy.'"

And she says that "You just got to make what you can out of it and always remember what your intentions are with doing this."

It also led her down a path to a new sound. LA is a house music city. But Johnson knew that with the breadth of dance music, other sounds could move dance floors. And she found a home in one of the most storied and influential genres, electro breakbeat.

It's the sound that in the 80s gave birth to dozens of classics like "Planet Rock" by Afrika Bambaata and the Soulsonc Force, "I Need A Freak" by Egyptian Lover, and "Jam On It" by Newcleus. 

Establishing a fan base during the pandemic allowed her the leverage to implore promoters to look outside of the tech house bro scene and book her for her sound. And she gets to provide a valuable service to the dance floor in the process.



Johnson is one of the many women in dance music that is helping shift the conversation and move the needle for more diverse lineups. Her work with Desert Hearts allowed her to book more women on lineups, and she's part of LP Giobbi's Femme House collective. In 2022 she'll begin her own DJ course there.

"I'm glad that we had that platform to do that, because they actually helped a lot of those women get on the path of their career," she says. "there's obviously main big goals of doing like a femme house festival one day, and if I had the opportunity to curate stages, I absolutely would take it and put on everybody that I can that's that's truly crushing it and and then give them you know, an opportunity to shine that maybe they wouldn't have that because it is, it's tough to get out there really is like, you know, maybe like 5% Get lucky or in their way. But yeah, so anyway, I can help and do that. But it just, it makes me happy to do it."

Music has always moved Baltimore-born multi-hyphenate Life On Planets—aka Phil Celeste. His smooth, soulful house sways and sings with the sounds of a lifetime of musical influences that range from jazz and the blues to pop-punk and hip hop. 

When he opens his mouth to sing, his buttery voice is slick with the memory of a youngster singing to James Brown in his grandmother's living room. His silky clustered chords are thick with his father's jazz and funk influences. And his pensive, poetic lyrics are awash with his gentle, reflective spirit. His music is at once meditative and moving, thoughtful and exciting.

Since his debut single "Apollo" in 2014, he's pushed a sound that fuses his indie sensibilities with an innate rhythmic sensibility. His releases on Wolf + Lamb, Dirtybird, and Kitsuné have earned the raconteur tens of millions of streams and performances of his hybrid live and DJ sets in far-flung festivals and lauded clubs.

Growing up in Baltimore, he had a brilliant patchwork of musical influences to draw from. He fondly remembers listening to old funk cassettes at his grandmother's house and dancing his heart out with his cousins to Destiny's Child. His father—one of his fiercest musical influences— exposed him to jazz titans like Benny Goodman and John Coltrane.

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"My dad was also a DJ. So he had his mixes of P. Funk [and] Steve Arrington, all kinds of stuff. He would have sped up versions and different mixes… that really inspired me and helped me find my way when it came to what I wanted to dig for and what I wanted out of music."

He picked up the clarinet and sax early in life, and in high school, discovered a love for singing in high school in an unexpected way.

"I would always ride the bus and hang out with kids that were listening to pop punk. I had a homeboy, one of my best friends who played guitar in some emo bands."

That friend introduced him to bands like Fall Out Boy, Blood Brothers, and Panic At The Disco. He remembers singing in the same intense falsetto as their lead singers. 

"My mom would come downstairs at one or two in the morning and be like, 'What the hell are you singing? What are you listening to?'"

Around the same time, he was gifted a guitar by his high school sweetheart's sister. At first, it seemed like a prop; he wasn't sure what to do with it. But the more he spent time with it, the more it inspired him to experiment with new forms of expression.

"That summer, I just started playing the guitar and riffing. I was like, I want to tell some stories with this music. And so I started writing a concept album."

And that's when his confessional and surreal lyrical style began to develop.

"I'm thinking about this dream I had where there is this girl who would sing. And when she sang, it was like gravity disappeared. And so, I was trying to put that dream into these lyrics. And, I guess that was my first song."

Drawing inspiration from the subconscious world has become part of his process. It's a way to process and recontextualize past experiences.

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"There's a concept called recapitulation, where you take an old memory—because we tend to have a lot of stuff that's stuck in these old rivalries, whether it's fear or embarrassment, or love lost, and you're still pining over it," he explains.

"And so I was like, Oh, maybe I can use this concept and put it into lyrics and review everything that went into the relationship, everything that happened, everything that I felt, and tried to get the truth out of it and try to just pull the energy back out of it so I can stop obsessing about it and have it out into the universe, just release."

He attended art school in Baltimore and began to immerse himself in the eclectic Baltimore scene; his sonic palette expanded to include the patchwork of underground sounds thumping from lofts and warehouses.

"It's always been very eclectic in Baltimore. I remember I saw Abdu Ali before he popped off. I would see Abdu Ali at the same concert [with] a noise guy with all these different little machines. And then another indie rock band and another experimental band.

"So you have hip hop, you've got punk, you've got house, you've got BMore club and all this stuff, contained in the same venue. So, I think when it came to making music, I was just like, there shouldn't be any boundary or limit to just sticking to one genre or having one sound that sounds the same as what's come before."

Even with the rich tapestry of musical influences he was afforded, he still didn't adequately contextualize dance music. Not until a friend gave him the movie Pump Up The Volume, the 2001 documentary that chronicles the history of house music. He realized that dance music's history was just as storied and complex as jazz, R&B, hip hop, and rock.

"I was like, Oh, this is this is black music, you know, this is a black tradition. And, you know, it's obviously become interpreted in many lenses and made its way around the world. But this is important to really keep keep that tradition alive."

And so began another period of transition and education for Celeste.

"My homie would take me around to famous Baltimore spots, like the Paradox. [He'd] take me to some of like the OG spots, where it's not like, 20 year olds, everybody's like, 40. And dancing, getting down, really dancing. And I was just like, damn, this is everything I wanted in a party, you know, to really dance and express myself."

And the more he's experienced dance music around the world as a touring DJ and musician, the more it's solidified what he learned about himself through his early exposure to those OG spots.

After traveling the world and creating peak experiences on the dancefloor, understanding the unbridled joy of the non-stop thump of a kick drum, he finds himself coming home to see bands play and wondering, "Why does the music got to stop in between? Just keep the party going, just keep the beat alive."

And as he looks forward, he's confident that music can't continue to move people physically and emotionally.

"At the end of the day for people who are going through the struggle, you know, we get together, we convene, and we support each other. And music can be therapy. There's been moments on the decks where we just see people in tears just having a beautiful moment or a beautiful revelation. I've been in other cities, and I don't speak the language but we're dancing together and were just happy, [we] just let it out."

Since his 2016 debut, Portuguese DJ and producer PEACE MAKER! has blossomed tremendously in the electronic dance music scene and continues to captivate listeners with his electrifying bass-house soundscapes and hypnotic tech-house melodies. Of course, growing up in the dance music-loving country of Portugal impacted his phenomenal taste in music. Still, it was his burning innate desire to revolutionize house music as we know it that's led him to where he is now.

PEACE MAKER! 's passion for music originated at a young age, and it was the distant memories of listening to top radio hits on long car rides with his parents that spiked his appetite to learn more about the intriguing sonic artform. 

In middle school, he was fond of heavy metal and rock music legends like Metallica, Slip Knot, and Guns & Roses, which somehow led to his heightened appreciation for early 2010s emerging dance artists like the one and only Skrillex. From that point on, he found himself indulging more in genres like dubstep, drum & bass, and electro house, and that's when that spark ignited in him to aspire to make it in the dance music world someday. 

Like most millennials, he turned to Limewire and other illegal music download sites to discover new music and eventually became addicted to digging for unfamiliar tracks and the rising artists that would later become some of his favorites of all time. His journey to stardom was beginning, and despite a few inevitable bumps in the road during his upbringing, the goal-driven musician showed no signs of ever slowing down or giving up his dreams. 

"My friend sold me his guitar when we were 13 or 14 and I was still in that heavy metal and rock phase. I tried to learn how to play it, but it was super hard, and I just didn't have that flame inside of me that I expected. I knew I wanted to pursue something involving melodies, something with power and drive. At the time, there were a few walls in the way for me to pursue music, I just didn't have the tools to learn on my own and my personal and social life was a mess back then."

He decided to quit his job as a bellman and dedicate his all solely to making music when the dance music scene was evolving faster than ever before. So he chose to look forward and envision himself making a long-term impact on the scene rather than succumbing to what was popular at the time.

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Rather than focus on the Portuguese demographic, his goal was to release music that would ignite and stir up dance music lovers across the globe. He's done exactly that. However, an unforeseen benefit was that his unmatched house sounds are now flourishing tremendously in his beloved home country, and that's what happens when an artist creates music simply for the love of it. 

"I think bass house and tech house are getting bigger in Portugal, so the parties are getting bigger here," he explains. "I feel even more blown away because I never focused on releasing music to the Portuguese fan-base specifically. I knew they didn't have the most futuristic music taste, and I always look towards the future when it comes to my music. I knew my sound was going to come to Portugal soon enough, but people here were still listening to older genres like big room and progressive house, which I'm not against, they're just booming genres from the past."



Before the pandemic hit the world, PEACE MAKER! made his grand debut at ADE's Fraudublanc Bass House Summit and then conquered his first international performance during his New Zealand run. These gigs were monumental moments in his career, and despite an ongoing worldwide pandemic, he managed to excel, garnering 1.5 million Spotify streams on his banger, "Isolation," in the spring of 2020. 

"In the end, the best thing to come from that trip was the friends that I made, the people that I met, and the overall experience. I made real friends, like people that I still talk to everyday. I never stop thinking about these small things, they're the most important aspects of doing all of this to begin with. The pandemic came right after unfortunately, but with bad things come good things, and somehow "Isolation" became a top-hit in the country I just had this crazy experience in."

His latest releases, "Stay" with HROLEX and "Think Of Me," portray his all-encompassing production capabilities in their unique light. Still, both singles radiate with that one-of-a-kind PEACE MAKER! touch fans can't seem to get enough of.

Authenticity always tends to lead to success, and PEACE MAKER! flawlessly demonstrates this concept with his forward-facing artistic vision.

For VNSSA, loving house music is easy. "These are my people," she explains. "This is my music." 





In her home, a disco ball and plant hang behind her head, and shelves of vinyl surround her. The Los Angeles-based producer is kicking back on her off days before her gig at San Diego's Audiotistic Festival. 

Her latest outing, "When Will I See You," is on the Splits 001 EP with Lenny Kiser and Neon Super Block. In November, it came out on Rules Don't Apply records, which is Walker & Royce's new record label. She first joined forces with Walker & Royce on "Word" and "Rave Grave," which helped launch her towards major festival lineups in 2019.

Growing up in Newport Beach, California, Vanessa Barnes' journey as a musician began when she took up drumming and started a band with a friend. 

"In the beginning. I just wanted to get it down and just be a good drummer," VNSSA remembers. She felt drawn to live music, picking up the clarinet and cello, but set them aside when she found her true calling as a DJ. On Fridays, it was house night at a small Costa Mesa rock venue, and that's where she fell in love with electronic music spun by the local DJs. 

She dropped her first original track, "Do You Wanna Play," with Fantom Freq in 2018. Shortly after, she quickly went from attending to headlining Dirtybird events. She learned about house music from heavyweights like Claude Von Stroke, Justin Jay, and Justin Martin. With her five little letters next to some huge names on recent lineups, VNSSA bounces around genres without relying on anyone's star power but her own. 

VNSSA trusts her instincts when it comes to expressing style. "I just noticed what sounds I like and I use them all the time," she explains. "It's kind of subconscious. I don't know that I'm making a VNSSA track until it's done, and everyone's like, Oh, yeah, this sounds like you!" Rocking oversized frames, braids, and an all-black ensemble, she looks club-ready while simply eating her cold oatmeal and returning from an afternoon walk. VNSSA's chill demeanor backs up her approach to unique house beats. 

"If it sounds good, it sounds good," she says, reflecting on her production techniques. She's not out to please producer snobs with expensive sounds, templates, or following trends. The only tools she swears by are the SoundToys effects bundle, which she uses on every track. But she's equally a fan of using free synths and plug-ins. 

"The one thing about Ableton and these programs that I love the most is that to accomplish one thing, there's 20 different ways to do it. There's no right way or wrong way. It's just your way." 

She makes up her own rules. "I like doing everything from scratch because I feel like that's my warm up. It's like setting your canvas." VNSSA describes her sound as "Classic melodic break tech house." 

Obviously not bound by any one label, she's focused on the process. "I like to have a lot of arps and different melodies in my music," she explains. "I like to have pretty elements in it. Classic snares, super reverbed 80s drums." Her tracks have dabbled in acid and breakbeat, too. Simply know that everything VNSSA delivers will make you sweat. 



While emitting cool confidence, she is acutely aware of the challenges she and other women face in the music industry. "When people think about women doing things in male-dominated industries, the first thing that people will think is like, 'oh look, she's wearing a low cut top, no wonder she's where she is now,' or 'She probably slept with that guy to get there,' you know?"

"Unfortunately, that's the world we live in," VNNSA says. "They're gonna comment on you regardless, because you're a woman."

In 2020 VNSSA adapted to the extra challenges of working in the industry during a pandemic by turning to streaming. She was part of the GOOD TV collective and appeared on Twitch channels, including Insomniac Records and Desert Hearts. 

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When Gray Area catches up with VNSSA, it's on a laidback day ahead of a weekend where she attends a friend's wedding. There, the DJ ends up spinning VNSSA's edit of Toto's "Africa." 

She's got a new car, a RAV4, which she nicknamed the "Rave 4." 


Last month she also played Chris Lake's Black Book Block Party in San Francisco. She will continue to serve up spicy tech house singles, having recently finished an upcoming remix for NYC-based DJ QRTR. 

"I'm having a lot of fun just making music and touring right now," she says. Without a second thought, VNSSA lives in the moment and feels satisfied with where she's at. She's happy with the hardware she's got. She has massive dreams for the future but wants for very little. At this exciting point of her life, the only advice she'd give her past self is to stay on track. She tells herself, "Keep going. You got this." 

Interview By: RYDEN

Known for his unique brand of high BPM tech-house groovers, Daniel Orpi has quickly made a name for himself, despite first releasing only three years ago. Born in Barcelona but based in London, Daniel has had the opportunity early in his career to play some of the best venues globally and count artists like Claude VonStroke, Solardo, and Eli Brown as supporters.

"I start raving when I was 17 years old… I didn't know what electronic music was, I was just a typical rebel kid. I was painting graffiti on trains and all that stuff… I met some people and they started to bring me to afters [parties] in Barcelona… I was like, Wow, this music is crazy. I was going there every weekend, and I fell in love. Soon, one of my friends introduced me to DJing... Step by step, we got like a small controller. Then I got rid of the small controller, and got some CDJ 300s, and we tried to mix properly without any computer. It took me like one month to figure out what was the BPM and all of that stuff because I was in my in my rooftop bar like trying to figure out what the fuck is this?"


After cutting his teeth in Barcelona, playing all night into the mornings, Daniel decided it was time for a change of scenery. Once he determined he wanted to pursue a music career full time, he went to the United Kingdom. 



He quickly made a trip to Liverpool, where he ended up staying for six months. Although he made great relationships and gained experience, the trip proved difficult for Daniel due to the language barrier. After two years back in Barcelona, Daniel decided it was time to go back to the UK for good. He saw the opportunity that DJs had in London and quickly made it his new home. 


As he has grown and developed his career, Daniel's sound has become more defined. As a result, he operates in a space that tends to be more minimal, without being repetitive, and often maintains higher BPMs than one would typically find in tech house. 


"I'm trying to bring it down now, trying to bring it to 128, between 128 and 130 because when I play, I really think it gets all the people dancing more when the beat is faster. It sounds better. I don't know why," he posits.

"But also now when I make tracks, I always, even if I do it at 130, you're going to always bring it down when you're playing. So at the end, it's not that much difference. As long as there is no 134, which is crazy stuff, you know, I got some training about like 175, like I would never play that in a club like 134, you know? I just feel that the groove is more driving, so it invites more to dance."

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For Daniel, finding the right groove is always the goal. It has allowed him to secure gigs in Ibiza, as well as high-level support on BBC Radio One. 

"I feel that what you put into your work life will get back to you… I had this in mind [playing Ibiza] for a long time. And now to be seeing all of these goals getting real, it's so crazy. But at the same time, I was already working on the vision of my career for a long time." 

Knocking out the goal of any rising DJ to play in Ibiza is a massive accomplishment. Getting support from BBC Radio One meant even more to him. 

"I feel so grateful. Every time I look at things like it's cloudy again, Covid, political issues, I'm just grateful to be where I am and be able to play shows." 

Going forward, the future is only bright for Daniel Orpi. He is scoring gigs worldwide and just wrapped up his debut US tour. In addition, he will be releasing an EP with Elrow records on December 10th, cementing his place with the brand as one of the hottest Spaniards in the business.

Tara Brooks is a trailblazer of sound and scene. Her desire for growth and evolution keeps her sound on the cutting edge, always favoring the challenge and freedom of new untapped sounds over the safe bet of the latest generic trends. Her tireless drive and resiliency have transformed her into an influential female artist in a male-dominated industry. Anyone who's had the distinct pleasure of attending one of Tara's live sets can attest to what she describes as "A collaboration with the energy in the room." She proudly allows her emotion and crowd connection to effortlessly ferry her eclectic sets from hypnotic, ethereal techno to deep, dark disco, and everywhere in between.
 

For Tara, this innate connection to music started in her earliest days.
 



"It kind of runs in our blood. My mom and my dad were both very musical. My mom sings, plays piano, my dad plays guitar… My sister and I grew up singing. My mom is from New York, so she was always going to Broadway shows and musicals. Stuff that I'm maybe not so much into today, but she used to have Beatles records, there was always some sort of record playing in the background."



That home-grown musicality eventually pushed her towards dance music when the LA-native started exploring the West Coast rave scene. Tara soon fell in love with the experimental music, the community, and the judgment-free space for expression found at warehouses, clubs, and events like How Sweet It Is. When Brooks moved to San Diego for school, her exposure to the expansive culture of house and trance grew while working in the nightlife industry. Little by little, Tara's connection with dance music blossomed until she finally began the path from fan to contributor.
 

At that time, Tara connected with her now ex-husband over a mutual love of music.
           

"He actually had a DJ set-up at home, and he had vinyl, just for his passion… I would go with him to the record store, and we would dig for records for hours. I never actually mixed them, I was just playing them for fun, I was just falling in love with them. And I knew nothing. I didn't know all these artists, what was what, all I knew was what I liked and didn't like… It was all about digging through white labels or I liked the cover of this record to find all the sounds that I love… When things were tough, I just said, 'I think I need to start a hobby, I need to figure it out… I was going through confusion and feeling a little hurt and wondering, 'What am I gonna do next?' I just started playing all these records."
 

That dip of the toe into mixing turned into a full plunge when Brooks first mixed two of her favorite records, Mylo's "In My Arms" (Tocadisco remix) and Deep Dish's "Dreams."
 

"It was the first time in a long time I felt just pure joy and happiness," she recalls. "There was no stress or worry, I didn't give a fuck about anything… And that was the first time it actually mixed properly when I didn't really know what I was doing. And that feeling, having that third beautiful mix, that third record created that you might never even see again, that feeling was everything. I just had to keep going and I never wanted to turn back."
 

From her first major gig in 2007, Tara was never one to shy away from navigating new territory sonically and professionally. A self-described weirdo, she relishes the opportunity to take listeners on a novel journey. The endless hours of crate-digging gifted her with a vast array of sounds and themes with which to connect to her audience in nearly limitless ways.
 

"It's one thing to have that sound, you're in this safe zone so people will book you. They always know what they're gonna get… With me I feel like I've gotten to the place where they don't exactly know what they're gonna get but they know it's gonna be me, they can always hear me in it… and I don't know how but somehow it all flows… the journey makes sense… Since I'm so emotional and sensitive I feel like especially when I'm playing live, I go off the crowd. So, they're the ones that really drive the direction I go, I don't really know where I'm going, without them, I'm just gonna' be doing my thing," she smiles.


Brooks' commitment to herself and her evolution is what draws those crowds. Her listeners know they are going to be a part of a uniquely personal experience. A deep-rooted appreciation for all music and the feelings it can convey sits at the core of Tara's willingness to explore. This same determination to blaze new paths fuels her navigation through the heavily male-dominated dance music industry.

Tara has experienced it all, from sound techs mansplaining how a mixer works before a headline set to general disbelief that a woman could land the performances she has. But rather than let the weight of doubt and preconceptions hold her back, she used it as a constant source of motivation. While it can improve further, female representation is currently at an all-time high in dance music, and Brooks forecasts a brighter future for female DJs and producers.
 

"I know when I'm listening to these badass women's production… most of my favorites are women today. They're incredible but they just haven't had that outlet, that opportunity, and they weren't getting the support in this male-dominated industry. When I'm discovering them today it sounds like they've been doing 10, 20 years, but we're not seeing them or hearing them. Now more than ever it's beautiful… that it's all about the music. Our music is quality, it's not a sex thing. It's like dude we have boobs, that doesn't change how the music sounds," she laughs.
 


Through it all, the triumphs, the trials, the lessons, the stories, Tara's humility, and recognition of her roots keep her grounded in gratitude. She recognizes the unique opportunity she now has to convey the same feelings of community, fun, and safe acceptance that she first fell in love with all those years ago. She even holds gratitude for the professional challenges she faces, approaching them as further opportunities for growth. Her embrace of the unknown and commitment to evolution have carried her sound and spirit to infectious heights. So it's impossible to hold back a smile and a nod in cathartic agreement when she spares this advice for new artists (and all humans):  
 

"Keep it real for yourself, play the music you love. Don't just play what everyone else is playing because that's what's popular. Because when you play the stuff you really love, that's where the happiness is. No matter where the money, where the future fame comes, if that's what you're into, at the end of the day what is that all gonna' mean if you're not doing exactly what you really love. It's ok to shift and to complement, and to be open-minded and respectful of your environment. Just keep it real."

SNBRN—aka Kevin Chapman—emerged during the SoundCloud era with a sound that effortlessly blended the weight of main stage house with the musicality of something much more profound. As he settled into his sound, what surfaced was an artistic inclination towards moving melodies, infectious grooves, and an understanding of how underground music can at once be compelling on the dance floor, emotionally reverent, and fun as hell.


He grew up on a diet of the Eagles, The Beatles, ABBA, and Queen. He concedes that his parent's musical taste had a considerable influence on his musicality. And by the time he started to form his own musical opinions, he continued to pull the rock and roll thread. Interestingly, although hip hop plays a heavy hand in his production influences, he didn't begin to appreciate it until he was in college.

"I was never too big into hip hop, it was a lot of rock music. I remember The Carter 3 coming out and that was a big transition. So, I got really heavily hip hop at that time. And, no one was playing the music that I was listening to really."


He was attending Cal State Northridge as a film major. And around the same time, he made friends with a hip-hop producer. He discovered that all the tools needed to produce a dope beat lay within a laptop, and any ambitions he had with film faded into the rearview. Instead, he wanted to be a musician.


"I bought a NuMark controller for Traktor. [It was] plastic and 10 inches by 10 inches. And then me and my homie would like DJ on rooftops. And then I met like, all the blog guys from Gotta Dance Dirty, and Dancism."


At the time Beatport was still emerging, iTunes reigned supreme, and the only way for DJs to find this new raw, home-cooked house was through direct downloads from blogs. It was also the early days of YouTube tutorials. Chapman absorbed everything and eventually started to build his brand.


Remixes drove the SoundCloud era. One well-received bootleg could turn a bedroom producer into a touring DJ in a matter of months. So Chapman's approach to exposing the masses to his budding trademark style through remixes was just as strategic as it was necessary.

"I had wanted to create originals and then sitting down with like, my manager at the time, it was like, we don't have strong enough vocals to like be at the level that they need to be and weren't sure exactly how to go about getting those or even didn't know how to write record them. And then I started, like thinking to myself, I'm like, okay, like, what can I do that no one else is doing. And it's like, we're set out to remix songs that didn't have remixes."


SoundCloud was full of remixes of Billboard Top 100 tunes. They popped up in droves every time a new song broke through. So instead of following the trend, Chapman trodded off the beaten path and remixed 90's hits, songs that struck a nostalgic tone with millennials.


That's how he landed on one of his most popular covers, of Ace of Bass' 1993 "All That She Wants." While he reveals that although he had permission from the publisher to release the song, he says he eventually did end up in some legal hot water because of it. However, it connected him with the right people to take his career to the next level.


"The publisher—who I'll leave anonymous—reached out and was like, 'Dude, we love this remix. We'll let you keep it up if you come have lunch.' And then he's like, let me put you in the room with this new vocalist. She's from Estonia. And let's see what happens.' And that's kind of how 'Raindrops' was born. And the whole start of my career."

"Raindrops" features the vocals of Estonian singer Kerli. It was the first of many songs he signed to Ultra. What followed was an avalanche of hit records, including "California" with Kaleena Zanders, an official remix of "Sexual Healing" by Marvin Gaye, and "Gangsta Walk" with the late Nate Dogg. Chapman is one of the only people to produce a posthumous song featuring vocals released by the estate of the late great hip hop legend, Nate Dogg.


While all this success was brewing and bubbling, Chapman found himself in a state of darkness that came to a head as the pandemic hit its peak.


"I Tried to take my own life in March [of 2020] and I pretty much like cleaned up my act and got sober. It was some pretty bad drugs. It was a wake-up call for me and kind of really was an inspiration."


While conversations around mental health are increasing, they are far from being normalized. Chapman hopes to help erase some of that stigma and promote healthier choices and more open conversations.


"There's gonna be a lot of stuff that I want to do via mental health, and drug addiction," he explains. "I'm lucky to be here, and I'm grateful to be here. And I don't know how but I am. And that has given me this, like second opportunity to really make sure that whatever I do, I can help however I can and just, you know, be there and share my story. And hopefully, it rubs somebody to serve, you know, making their life better."



He says that the experience set him on the path to writing his most personal work to date. His upcoming album is half breakup record, half proclamation that SNBRN is back, he's healthy, and his music is better than ever. The initial single "Home" pulls on a thread he wove when he first began to produce—weaving an iconic sample of "Your Woman" by White Town through a rousing breakbeat and shuffling house drop.

"There's a lot of voicemail stuff recordings from friends who passed away and other stuff through that year. And that kind of sparks the whole intro and then it kind of takes you on this huge journey." Chapman and two friends wrote the album over several months of the pandemic. His penchant for finding a union between nostalgia and modern-day sounds has never been more effective.


Chapman's musical DNA is steeped in soul, rock, and disco. His earliest influences ended up being the stuff that created a pathway for his career. As a result, his recent work is full of nods to the past in the most mysterious ways. He's crafted a world of easter eggs, tiny bits of nostalgia-inducing sonic candy.


"Yeah, it is fun for me putting in Easter eggs and stuff that you would never even know that are there. [There's] all this stuff that you would never really know where it came from, because it's out of context."

Hannes Bieger has lived a multitude of musical lives. The Berlin-based producer, engineer, and analog synth expert has been a guitarist, rare grooves DJ, live performer, and one of the most lauded studio engineers in all of house and techno. Yet, through it all, he's maintained a deep reverence for the philosophical impact of music and a love for how sound moves people. At his core, he holds the spirit of a songwriter. Yet, his deep love for the warmth and raw power of analog synths and drum machines informs him. A true titan of techno, Bieger's years of experience engineering records for the world's top-tier producers, have given him an invaluable understanding of how dance music is most compelling.


But long before he discovered the captivating power of the electronic kick drum, he was a child obsessed with classic rock. His earliest musical memories are heavy with the sounds of The Beatles, Pink Floyd, and The Rolling Stones.

"A typical afternoon for me, age six would be sitting with headphones in front of the home stereo and flipping over the Sgt. Pepper vinyl over and over again," he remembers fondly. "And the record now is absolutely destroyed. I think it's still in my mother's house. And it's it's full of fingerprints and crackles, and scratches."


His father was a vinyl collector. And fortunately for young Hannes, he wasn't too picky about the condition his records were kept in. The Beatles' 1967 album Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band is a significant record for many people, but for Bieger, it helped unlock something that he wouldn't fully realize until much later in life.


"It was significant because it was so wild, it was so colorful. I always had the feeling that this drug infused period of the Beatles kind of resonates very well with the children's mind, because it's so playful and very innocent. And that really had a profound impact on me. I would even go so far that probably Revolver by the Beatles is maybe my earliest exposure to something that you could say, is electronic music. The way they started to use the studio as an instrument by itself. And for example, use the various speeds of the tape to kind of pitch down the drum recordings. I think it's these little bits and pieces, which really laid the foundation for what I'm doing today."


His real role model was Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones. He wanted to play guitar just like him. However, his guitar teacher had other plans. 





"He was more of a jazz guy. And I was [one of his] younger students. I think his vision was to kind of lead me towards jazz at a very young age, which he didn't succeed with because I always just wanted to learn how to play the intro riff of 'Honky Tonk Woman,'" Bieger laughs. "What was great actually is that he never really directly showed me how to play these things, even though he could probably play them in his sleep, but taught me how to learn figuring [it] out myself. For this I'm very grateful."


Ever the voracious consumer of music, Bieger found his way into some of the more wild and experimental records in his dad's collection. And as he dove deeper into the obscure, he discovered acid jazz, breakbeat, and trip-hop. 


The bands he was in transformed from straightforward rock music to the fringes of electronic music. At one point, he played in a band that had a scratch DJ. Yet, it wasn't until he moved to Berlin in 1999 that he discovered the unrelenting power of a synthesized kick drum.


In Berlin, he says the kick drum was inescapable. And as compelling as techno and house were, his background in songwriting initially made it difficult for him to get a firm grasp on how club music is contextualized.


"You're used to [a] different density of information per time. And club music, obviously works in a very different way with time also being perceived in a very different way on the dance floor."


He had to relearn how to structure music. "I had experience from being in the club as a dancer, but not as a live performer in the club environment like I'm doing now, and certainly not as a DJ. And so the first tracks that I produced were more like songs with beats, and in that sense, not really playable from a DJ perspective. And in those years, I was part of several projects, where I fulfilled the role of the instrumental player and studio engineer."


His skills as a studio engineer increased in demand. And he says that as he dedicated more time to that, he left his own goals of producing and performing behind.


"I think those those years were important. I stopped, I started taking a break from from producing in 2006, I think, which then lasted over 10 years. And in that time, obviously, I got very busy as a mixing engineer. And so thousands and thousands of tracks flowed through my system here. And, of course, I condensed a lot of that information into my musical thinking."



When he returned to production and performance in 2018, he had a decade of experience working with dance music's most lauded artists like Adam Beyer, Adriatique, Stephen Bodzin, Dixon, Georgia Anjuli, and Dubfire, to name a few.


He also had a renewed drive to return to his roots. His musical inclination had always been to perform music. DJing was fine, but he wanted to helm the controls and recapture the visceral feeling of a band manipulating the sound on the spot. So he developed a dynamic live set that allowed him to expose the long musical arcs and slithering, sultry melodies of his music.


Even when he was listening to the Beatles on repeat, he absorbed a fundamental truth about music and musicians. As an artist, you are merely a conduit for the music, a vessel for the sound to channel through. And when he wrote "A Million Souls," that fact couldn't have been more evident.


After six weeks on tour in South America and a two-week delay to get home, he arrived in Berlin with very little time to work on his own music for 2019. He returned home halfway through January of that year and went straight into the studio for a string of client projects. He tried to write some personal music in the short time he had, but it just wasn't hitting right.

"The pressure was mounting … And I was I was getting in the danger zone of not having any music I could release in 2019 because I was so late at it. I was nervous, and I felt the pressure. And then I basically just wrote 'A Million Souls' on a Monday morning in a dream. I woke up with the groove and reverb melody in my mind, and I sent myself an email from my bed with a couple of notes. And luckily, I could recover the feeling that I had about the track later at the studio from the notes that I took."


The haunting vocals of Francesca Lombardo elevate the entrancing melody of "A Million Souls." It's as if together Lombardo and Bieger brilliantly captured the feeling of a waking dream. And in a way, he's translated the brilliance of the 60s records he voraciously consumed as a child into modern melodic techno.


"I think [that] characterizes the ideal state of making music. And I think this is really how we, in general should perceive making music [with] some sort of humble attitude, tapping into some kind of energy flow. I don't I don't see myself so much as a designer of my own music. It's more like a gardener in a way, or somebody who receives these ideas and then tries to help them grow into the final musical pieces."

"Even during the NBA, I would always have a club at my house and I would play music for my friends. House music was always it, you know, disco was kind of the beginning that turned into house music, and it's morphed into many, many different genres of house music. But that's where the original kind of music came from. I still today have a club in my house, and I still play music for my friends. That is my passion and that's what I love the most."

Rony Seikaly's life story is something out of a movie. Born in Lebanon, Rony moved to the USA at age ten for four years before moving back to Greece at age 14. While in Greece, he discovered disco and basketball. So he began hosting a "club" in his parent's garage, inviting his friends and teammates over to party while playing any sort of house music he could. 

At the same time, he was discovered by a former Greek basketball player when he went to buy size 15 sneakers at a local shoe store. Despite never having played before, Rony used his incredible athleticism and drive to quickly become one of the worst-kept secrets in Greece. He attended a high-level basketball camp in the United States and got recruited by Syracuse University. 

After a successful four years, he was drafted in the top 10 by the Miami Heat. Rony was an impact player for twelve years before retiring to Miami. Over the years, he has built relationships with artists worldwide and shared his passion for house music with anyone who would listen. After being convinced by close friends Erick Morillo and P Diddy to pursue a career, Rony went on to host a weekly radio show on Sirius XM while touring and eventually producing music.

"I never really wanted to kind of play out and get judged and have people say, what the fuck is this guy going on? Well, what the hell is this guy doing? Why is he deciding to be a DJ? Does he miss the limelight? And honestly, like, that's the last thing I miss. I don't miss the limelight. I don't miss being judged. I don't miss traveling… But for the love of music and Eric Morillo, may he rest in peace. He used to come to my house to listen to me and he says, Rony, you need to play out. You've got a different style, you've got a different sound and you need to play out. You need to let people hear your sound. And he was the one that kind of pushed me to get into this... I know that I have a certain style of music and it's not going to resonate with everybody… I'm here to put happy smiles on the dance floor and to kind of bring back the energy that we had back in the 90s, 2000, where the club was there to go dance and to go have fun and to smile and take pictures and be a celebration of laughter, of joy."

Paris Hilton and Snoop Dogg's images jump to mind when we think of artists or celebrities jumping into the booth. Rony wanted to do everything he could to avoid any of these comparisons. One listen to a set or track from Seikaly reveals a sound steeped in underground music culture. He does not abide by any one genre. It's melodic but not melodic techno; it's progressive but not fully progressive house. He prefers to stay somewhere in the world of dark progressive with a hint of house music, vintage and new. Furthermore, he has worked tirelessly to stay up to date with the times. 

"I don't want to get stuck in a certain sound, and that's why you actually hear [a difference] 10 years ago versus now… I feel that the music continues to change and I'm just going to keep following it as far as it goes. When people stop liking the music, I'll stop making it." 


Although he began his journey into DJing early on, learning and understanding music production was a more serious undertaking. Once again, at the behest of his good friend Erick Morillo, he began producing music for Erick's label. Rony studied production like he did basketball, pouring his life into learning the tricks of the trade from the very best. After spending countless hours absorbing the knowledge of other artists, Rony eventually felt comfortable enough to create music that fell into his identity rather than fitting Erick's label. Since then, Rony's production chops have been recognized by some of the best in the world. His collaborators are wide-ranging, including Sasha, Bedouin, Harry Romero, and most recently, P Diddy. 



"Diddy has come to my house so many times to listen to me play... My dream was always to have some influence of hip hop and R&B in the house music where the two can blend, but without moving too much on either side... He's got such a distinct voice that I just, you know, I never wanted to push my friendship and say, 'Hey, I want to do a track with you or something like this.' But at some point, we were just chatting and I said to him, can I use some vocals from you on a track? And then he said to me, 'Well, you know, if we're going to have to get into the studio, I'm going to push you, I'm going to make sure that it's what I want.' So he then sent me a voice message, telling me the same kind of thing like, 'we've been talking about this for so long, and I'm so happy that it's finally happening and I can't wait.' I took that voice message and just kind of put it on the track itself, and it fit perfectly because it's [an example of] my story with him, and that's the story I wanted. It was a personal message to me." 

Given Rony's financial stability from a lengthy NBA career, he can focus on his music career as a pure passion project. He no longer feels the pressure to accept gigs for a paycheck. He only makes music he wants to make and only works with those he wants to work with. His passion for electronic music is undeniable, and his body of work is remarkable. 

Although shows are less common these days, Rony is as busy as ever. Not only did he release his single with Diddy, he has an album coming in March of 2022 that will feature a high-powered remix package. Rony is also politically active, using his voice as much as possible to encourage the citizens of Lebanon to vote and fight for democracy to push back against an authoritarian regime.

Dark analog textures and sub-shifting basslines are the paints that Marie Nyx uses to paint her stark, funky, and grinding beats. The Los Angeles-born and raised artist speaks against a backdrop of hardware synths stacked high. As she carries me through a story that winds from an auspicious trip to Coachella in 2004 to her days as a raver and culminates in her creating a record label with her partner Maude Vos, it becomes clear that the path she’s on chose her as much as she chose it.

She came from a musical family—her grandfather was a pianist—and the family member that’s made the largest impact on her was her sister, who was ten years older than her.

“I had her as a musician to look up to my whole life. And I just remember her always showing me what she was into back in the day. And I think probably my most memorable moment is her taking me to see Radiohead and the Pixies at Coachella 2004.”

Marie’s first festival was a pivotal moment. Coachella in the early 00s was a far different festival. And it served as an entré into a new culture and community.

“I was always kind of influenced by a more electronic sound. I love 80s dark wave like New Order, Soft Cell, and Tears for Fears. And then in middle school, I got really into The Faint and bands like The Knife and La Roux.”

She was balancing on the cusp of dance and rock. What tipped the scale was a combination of living in Orange County, Ca just a stone's throw from the nation's largest parties. And dance music creeping closer to peak EDM.

“I was interested. I just hadn't been fully immersed yet. Until I went to my first massive, which was Nocturnal Wonderland in 2008.”

The deeper she dove, the more she realized that she preferred smaller crowds and cozier music. Her first Lightning In A Bottle rivaled her Coachella experience. It was life-changing.

“Then from LIB, I found Desert Hearts through a mutual friend that I met at Coachella." She explains. "And that was, the beginning days of Desert Hearts before they grew into what they are now. [Being] involved in that community was kind of what sparked my interest in DJing. And becoming an artist myself.”

During the pandemic, her early relationship with the Desert Hearts crew parlayed into some coveted bookings on their legendary Twitch streams.

It was a combination of her innate love for performance, her well-honed musical ear, and a lack of representation that urged her to become a DJ.

“I saw some of the lineups at some of these festivals. And I was like there's not really any women on any of these." She counts Tara Brooks as a major inspiration because, within her community, she was one of the only women pulling the large bookings. "Seeing her as one of the only females on all these lineups inspired me to be like, hey, I can probably do this as well.”

As both a producer and DJ she leaned on her community for support. And because of the organic connections, she made in years prior she has slowly but surely built a career over several years. First as a DJ than as a producer.

One of her fiercest champions and deepest inspirations is her partner and Delusional Records co-owner, Maude Vos.

“Before her and I really connected to the point of where we're at now, she was a musician I looked up to. Her as my partner and my co label owner. It's really incredible.”

They have a shared vision for the Delusional Records imprint. A record label they began together during the pandemic.

“We want push underrepresented artists and push more analog hardware artists. The main goal is to cultivate a community of people that align with our similar values. We want to be a really inclusive label…We also want to bring dance music back to its roots. Dance music is Gay. Dance music came from Black culture. So being two Queer artists that is also one of the goals we have.”

Artist Interviews