Artist profile · DJ
katzhu
“I like cats, I like chicken katsu, and my last name is Zhu”
- What does your DJ name mean?
- I like cats, I like chicken katsu, and my last name is Zhu. Yeah…
- What is your relationship with the music that you play?
- I really try to play out songs that I listen to regularly, as I think of DJ sets as music taste sharing sessions. It’s also a nice way to test out songs I’ve been working on but just haven’t released yet. To be fair, it’s a bit of a love hate relationship with music because of music production, but I try to use it as an outlet to just enjoy the music I’ve created and see how it melds with the things I listen to.
- Why and how did you pick up DJ’ing?
- Out of necessity, to be honest. It’s always been fun to do, but I picked up DJing because I needed to DJ for something and I realized I had no idea what I was doing. To be honest, I still don’t really know what I’m doing behind the decks. I only kind of know what I’m doing in Ableton, and it’s been a long time haha.
- What is the best set you’ve ever seen?
- I think one of my latest favorites is Porter Robinson’s nurture tour. The songs really resonated for that whole album, as I was feeling a lot of what he was feeling with creative burnout and self-expectations for the music I made. I also really enjoyed Madeon’s GFF tour, and the way the music melded with the visuals into a sonic spectacle.
- Where do you find new music?
- I honestly am a spotify slave nowadays. I don’t even listen to music that often anymore. But when I do, I go on binges on soundcloud, pull songs from DJ sets I like, and just keep clicking through Spotify artist pages until I hear something hot.
- What is an underrated genre in the current electronic music landscape?
- I think complextro is still super underrated. It’s gonna come back, I swear it!
- What is the weirdest venue or gig you’ve spun?
- I don’t think I’ve spun in super weird spots, but I remember struggling a lot the first few times I DJ’ed live because I was way too nervous. Honestly, I’ll probably still struggle at 24 but at least it’ll be on my terms.
- What are you planning to play for us at Twenty:Four?
- It’s a whole shabang of as many random things I’ve made or worked on in my production discography. Lots of old tracks, some remakes, and lots of new ideas that I started recently. I haven’t had enough time to fully prepare everything and polish, but I’m doing what I can to put on a good set regardless!