DJ Kicks Djrum

Description

DjRUM is one of the most respected DJs of his generation, a virtuoso musician and producer, but he is a long way from the image most people have of a DJ/producer. His sets, made entirely from vinyl and three turntables, are technically flawless, yet spontaneous, sometimes extreme and striking. He does not hesitate to make abrupt stylistic and sonic shifts: “I like it to move a bit,” he says, “with highs and lows, and to shake up expectations!” His productions, meanwhile, are carefully and meticulously structured — he describes his studio process as “meditative” — and even when they break free of genre boundaries or speed up the tempo and bass, finesse is essential: they are as close to post-classical composition as they are to rave tracks. This mix is the moment where he brings together all the elements that have made him who he is, to create a musical whole more coherent than ever. From there, he composed four new tracks exploring different sonic registers, and asked the experimenters Skee Mask and Clark to provide him with the exclusive tracks “Flip” and “Clonk Dual,” which he used as reference points to structure the mix. Rather than plunging into the meticulous mindset he uses to compose his tracks, he let the intuition and spontaneity of DJing in the studio take over, knowing that the selection work had already been done. He mixed vinyl live, then cut up those mixes, pasted them together and layered them, making sure not to overdo it, but to work until he got the desired result. Ambient and breakcore, classical and punk, deep acid and chaotic percussion blend into a sonic river in this mix. We will never really know whether this is the DjRUM of wild parties in abandoned buildings filled with punks and eccentrics, or the DjRUM who, at home, sculpts a one-minute recording for string ensemble until it perfectly matches his conceptual vision.