Artist profile · DJ
1a2n
“Music is intertwined with memory for me.”
- What does your DJ name mean?
- It probably looks like 1aZn, but the real meaning is a personal in-joke, a call back to a time when I used to speak competitively at over 200 words per minute in order to get into college. It also references a time when I listened to a lot of the music that I like to play now as a DJ.
- What was your relationship to electronic music in the past?
- Music is intertwined with memory for me. Listening to certain genres or tracks can make me remember people, places, and experiences. Sometimes it’s pretty vivid and visceral. Electronic music, especially what I like playing now, was tied to my formative years tinkering with electronics, hanging out on messageboards and IRC, and playing games with my friends.
- Why and how did you pick up DJ-ing?
- Two things happened recently: techno and trance suddenly became tied to some pretty fucked up work experiences, and I found a barely-used Traktor Kontrol S2 MK2 for extremely cheap at a thrift store. As weird as it may sound, I’m trying to rewire some of the pathways in my head and clear my mind. It seems to be working so far.
- What is the best set you’ve ever seen?
- I almost broke my neck listening to Ken Ishii blow up a tiny basement in Japan, shortly after hearing 20, November on 20 November at what might have been DJ nagureo’s birthday party.
- What is an underrated genre in the current electronic music landscape?
- I don’t know if it’s underrated because I’m starting to see the music slowly pop up on my Instagram feed, but old-style late 90s early 2000s video game liquid drum and bass like what you’d hear playing Wipeout should have a moment again.
- What are you planning to play for us at Twenty:Four?
- I really enjoy how well some truly classic trance tracks work out with modern stuff coming out now, especially when played at a properly fast speed. I hope people enjoy it.