Artist profile · DJ
Jun
“DJ’ing lmao wtf? Who does that stuff lol”
- What is your relationship with the music that you play?
- I’m always struggling to find a balance between music I like and music I think people will like in my sets. I think the funnest part of DJ’ing is the harmony of these two camps.
- Why and how did you pick up DJ’ing?
- I met Jacob back in high school through DDR because we were cross town rivals both in the game and our schools were heated rivals in marching band at the time. I was excited to find out we were both going to UCSD so we kept in touch. One day I was on Library Walk and I saw him at the DVC booth DJ’ing and talked about it for a bit. I walked away thinking “DJ’ing lmao wtf? Who does that stuff lol”. The only exposure I had to electronic music was DDR/IIDX music and quite literally keygen music at the time so someone taking the time to mix electronic music was just foreign to me. Fast forward like 2-3 years and a certain someone named L. Yang no wait that’s too obvious , Lisa Y. drags me out to my first event because she knew my background in music and I had my eyes opened to an entire sector of music. Just in the span of two days in the LA Coliseum I suddenly understood the appeal and potential not just to make people move but also to bring people together. Next fall quarter in school DVC was throwing their Something Awesome which is the flagship single stage fall event in Price Center, I of course went to check that out. Who do I see on stage? MF’ing Jacob on stage and people in the crowd are just losing it. After the event I looked at Lisa and said: “That could be me up there, I need to learn how to DJ.” I went to literally the next DVC meeting
- What is the best set you’ve ever seen?
- I have seen a lot of artists and sets. I think my spreadsheet says I’m at about 350 unique artists and 800+ sets. There are still some artists that I have been seeking but still never had the chance to catch so I have been maintaining a “hit/bucket list” kinda thing where if an artist shows up on a lineup I will make extra effort to see them. Year is 2019, I’m about to get married in the summer so Lisa and I both agree I need to calm down a bit during festival season. The Coachella lineup comes out and WTF!? Someone on my hit list that I’ve been waiting for practically my entire life randomly shows up for the first time in the states in maybe over a decade. Even Lisa knows about the seriousness of my hit list so she sighs and simply says “come back in one piece.” The day comes in Indio and I’m super anxious going into it because idk when the next chance will be I can see this person. I even stay completely sober so I can be lucid and remember every second of the performance. After it we’re walking away from the stage and Anthony asks me so what did you think and I told him it was genuinely the best set I’ve seen in my entire life. It really changed my perception of how electronic music can be performed. The set wasn’t just a single genre but an exploration of the entire spectrum. It challenged me to incorporate different genres, move tempos more, and not be so locked into one corner. The set was Aphex Twin at Coachella 2019 Weekend 1.
- What is an underrated genre in the current electronic music landscape?
- Look, it’s Happy Hardcore but no one wants to admit it. All that BONG BONG BONG shit that Dimension is doing with Offender-like tracks is all Happy Hardcore. Hardcore is here.
- What are you planning to play for us at Twenty:Four?
- I haven’t really had the chance to sit down and listen to music critically in the last few years because of my two amazing kids. I do however make the time later in the evening when they are asleep but I unfortunately can’t blast my system. For that reason I have been exploring Ambient music very heavily. Gonna play my first ever set in the genre. My goal in this set is to take people on a journey, to sleep. My other set started out conceptually as a tribute to Anjunabeats but… I found out that spinning Anjuna prog is SO boring lmao. To make it more interesting for both me and the crowd I expanded it into a set dedicated to the moments that mean something to us at shows. Gonna be a healthy dose of the three British guys but with a live mashup in every song with some surprises sprinkled in. Hope you guys like it!
- Where did you come up with the idea for Twenty Four and why is it happening now?
- We’ve had our share of retreats and even some gaming events but it always made me sad that we never had an event that was truly dedicated to music. I had floated the idea to various people in the past and they were very down for it but life got in the way especially in the last few years. Really big missed opportunity not hosting in 2024 honestly lol. For the music event I wanted to showcase genres that aren’t just dance music but if we play sets only at night like at traditional retreats, the artists weren’t able to play music that weren’t primed for party time. With that in mind I thought ok lets play sets during the day but if we’re gonna play during the day, what if we never stopped? And that’s how the idea for a full twenty four hour event came to be. Timingwise feel like everyone is going through a transitional period in our lives and while it is an amazing time, there are aspects of it that make me sad and bittersweet as well. With all of the things people have going on, are we still able to devote time and energy to music? I yelled that question into the void while planning this event and the answer I got back was a resounding yes through the passion of all of our friends.