Renowned UK DJ, producer & musician Djrum announces a singular contribution to the perennial DJ-Kicks series, with an inimitable mix spanning ambient, classical music, post-punk, acid, breakcore, and percussive minimalism.
Encompassing four new productions of his own, exclusives by Skee Mask and Clark, as well as tracks by Chris Watson (Cabaret Voltaire), Venetian Snares, Susumu Yokota, The Raincoats, emptyset, Eli Keszler, upsammy & more, Djrum’s unique entry in the fabled series is a whirlwind of idiosyncratic mixing, expansive eclecticism, and immersive sound design. A phenomenal embodiment of Djrum’s dynamic production style and his freewheeling DJ sets, the mix represents another radical landmark in his endlessly rewarding output.
Lead single ‘Psychic Video’ is a convulsive, percussive-heavy roller of mind-bending electronics with chopped spoken word samples, all converging in a maze of manic rhythm and overload. One of four new productions by Djrum that feature on the mix, the track provides a thrilling glimpse of what’s in store on his DJ-Kicks mix.
The process for assembling the mix was tricky. Moving between different sonic registers, Djrum’s four new tracks provided a strong basis. Together with those exclusive turns from likeminded experimentalists Skee Mask and Clark, Djrum used all this material as a blueprint. He then pulled piles of vinyl together, figuring out what worked in his mind. Heavily inspired by sound recordist, film soundtracker and Cabaret Voltaire co-founder Chris Watson, he started thinking beyond the dancefloor, instead contemplating deep listeners and layers of sound. Thinking of his own time spent listening to mixes, he imagined all the headphone listeners, at home, on train journeys, falling asleep, who might be absorbed in the mix. And then, rather than get into the painstaking headspace he used for building tracks, he let himself take the free, first-thought-best-thought feeling of DJing into the studio, knowing that the cerebral work had already gone into the track selection. He mixed vinyl live, then chopped up those mixes, collaged and overdubbed them, conscious of not trying too hard, but working it until it felt right.
This impressionistic, intuitive approach pays off. Coursing through the lush oceanscapes of a Chris Watson field recording and the ascendant strings and pulsating percussion of the new Djrum track ‘Turning’, into the baroque, fragmentary breaks of Venetian Snares, and the wild, polyphonic rhythms of Clark and Human Resources, the mix resolutely establishes drama, tempo, and intricacy. The outlook then gradually shifts, with a masterful transition between the soundsystem science of Atrice and the sublime Italian minimalism of Lino Capra Vaccina’s ‘Antico Adagio’. As displayed in these moments and throughout, the thrills of this mix arise from its unpredictable trajectory.
A taste for the unexpected continues, as the oneiric, neo-classical visions of Susumu Yokota eventually lead into the thunderous industrial drums of Core Self’s ‘Suspiria’, which are then deftly interspersed with the haunting DIY punk of The Raincoats. The mix then returns to enveloping atmospherics and beatific strings in the form of another Watson / new Djrum marvel. Following this, the action twists and turns through a fluid blend of pummeling percussion, wistful piano, sumptuous strings, and formidable low end, heard across tracks by Chewlie, Bugge Wesseltoff, and emptyset. From here, there’s a segue between the interplanetary jazz of Planet Battagon and the irrepressible breaks of Skee Mask’s ‘Flip’, before Eli Keszler’s track ‘Sun’ is skilfully interlaced, and the austere sub-bass detonations of E Wata (Enayet + K Wata) begin to reverberate.
In the closing stages, Djrum doesn’t go quietly. Instead the remarkable sounds of a cheetah – as recorded by Watson – are threaded together with bravura jazz drumming and devastating darkside D’n’B, an impetus which runs into the manic, granular electronics of upsammy. Djrum then takes everything into land with the ambient haze of Sandro Mussida and the kaleidoscopic bass music of A.fruit, before signing off with the melancholic echoes of his own production ‘To Do What To Do’, and the fractured rave of Actual Proof, as remixed by Sileni.
An exceptional fusion of propulsive energy and wilful experimentation, Djrum’s DJ-Kicks mix attests to his status as a virtuoso musician, producer, and one of the most revered DJs of his generation. His all-vinyl, three-deck DJ sets, while technically expert, are spontaneous, sometimes extreme and hardcore, unafraid to make stylistic and sonic handbrake turns, “I like things to be a bit bumpy,” as he puts it; “to have ups and downs and f*ck with expectations!”.
His productions, on the other hand, are lovingly and meticulously structured – he describes his process in the studio as “meditational” – and even when they, too, reject genre boundaries or ramp up tempos and bass, the finesse is the point: they’re 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 what he is; the point at which the multidimensional facets of his work become more of an integrated whole than ever before.
In terms of his DJing lineage Strictly Kev aka DJ Food – “who, I think, is my most revered DJ of all time” – showed him that DJing didn’t have to be linear and adhere to one style, but could be textured, conceptually rich, full of bold avant-garde sounds and ideas; an ethos equally inspired by the vernacular of club music and hip hop. Moving to London for university, he was overwhelmed by the possibilities of pirate radio, and then by squat parties. He’d been clubbing but felt constricted by its rigid routines, but here in the early-mid 00s, in broken down old pubs and rickety warehouses, were people who loved sound being mashed up for its own sake, who didn’t judge anyone for being different. It was in the white heat of these chaotic spaces that he honed his craft as a DJ, genuinely feeling like he could cut anything into anything as long as it was done with knowledge, skill and passion. But this was also the same time that his own music production experiments were starting to get attention for their delicacy and precise funk in the vague musical world that became known as ‘post-dubstep’.
Which is how all these musical styles – ambient, breakcore, classical, punk, deep acid and chaotic percussion – flow into a river of sound on this mix. It has the kind of elegance that only someone who’s put in billions of sweaty rave moments, holding utter chaos just in check, can manage. It joins together things that should never work with uncanny perfection, and then moments later knocks you sideways with a ragged cut or foolish sample. You’ll never quite know if this is the Djrum of lawless warehouse parties full of punks and freaks, or the Djrum who will sit at home sculpting a string ensemble recording until it perfectly matches his conceptual vision. Because, of course, it’s both, the whole time. His DJ-Kicks mix connects these two modes of expression. He was always both, and on this mix, he’s shed both skins, and – once again – become himself.
DJRUM DJ-KICKS
Out 16th October on !K7 Records
Tracklist:
01 | Chris Watson – Glastonbury Ocean Soundscape
02 | Djrum – Turning
03 | Venetian Snares – Miss Balaton
04 | Uwalmassa – Untitled 12
05 | Clark – Clonk Dual
06 | Human Resources – New T
07 | Djrum – Psychic Video
08 | Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids – Traponga
09 | Atrice – Hatara
10 | Lino Capra Vaccina – Antico Adagio
11 | Susumu Yokota – Fearful Dream (available in mix version DL + physical only)
12 | Lo.Sai – Voi Siete Qui
13 | Kimyan Law – Chungwa
14 | Core Self – Suspiria
15 | The Raincoats – Only Loved At Night
16 | Djrum – Leave Me Alone
17 | Chewlie – Run
18 | Bugge Wesseltoff – Flimmer
19| Chris Watson – El Divisadero
20 | emptyset – Point
21 | Planet Battagon – Salacians Of Trans-Neptunia
22 | Skee Mask – Flip
23 | Eli Keszler – Sun
24 | E Wata – U D S2S
25 | Chris Watson – Adult Cheetah Resting by Baobab Tree
26 | |||||||||||||||||||| – Causalities
27 | Mark – Incantation For The Protection Of JC
28 | upsammy – Relict
29| A.fruit – Measures of Dispersion
30 | Sandro Mussida – EEE
31 | Djrum – To Do What To Do
32 | Actual Proof – Maybe We’ll Stay (Sileni Remix)
DJRUM Live Dates
22 August: Lowlands Festival, Biddinghuizen, NL
29 August: Gare, Porto, PT
30 August: Gravitate Festival, Alandroal, PT
4 September: Draaimolen Festival, Tilburg, NL
11 September: Tresor / Globus, Berlin, DE
13 September; Waterworks Festival, London, UK
23 October: Zeezout, Amsterdam, NL
23 October: Club Raum ADE, Amsterdam, NL
24 October: Open Ground, Wuppertal, DE
28 November: KANAL, Brussels, BE
4 December: Cialo, Wrocław, PL
01 January 2027: RADION, Amsterdam, NL
When is Djrum’s DJ-Kicks album released??
DJ-Kicks will be released on October 16th and is available to pre-order now.
Photo: credit Vasso Vu
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