VARIOUS ARTISTS: DJRUM - DJ-Kicks: DjRUM [CD Digipak]

Format: CD
Catalogue No.: K7454CD
Barcode: 4062548143010
Release Date: 16 Oct 2026
Genre: Electronic / Experimental

DjRUM is one of the most revered DJs of his generation and also a virtuoso musician and producer, but he’s a long, long way from what most people would imagine when they see the words “DJ/producer”.
 
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 as such.
 
This mix is the moment where he brings together all the elements that have made him what he is, and becomes a more integrated musical whole than ever before. As a basis he composed four new pieces which move between different sonic registers, and asked likeminded experimentalists Skee Mask and Clark for exclusives “Flip” and “Clonk Dual”, using these as coordinates to map out the mix.
 
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.
 
Ambient and breakcore, classical and 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 the lawless derelict building party full of punks and freaks, or the DjRUM who will sit at home sculpting a single minute-long string ensemble recording until it perfectly matches his conceptual vision. Because, of course, it’s both, the whole time and 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.

1. Chris Watson - Glastonbury Ocean Soundscape
2. DjRUM - Turning
3. Venetian Snares - Miss Balaton
4. Uwalmassa - Untitled 12
5. Clark - Clonk Dual
6. Human Resources - New T
7. DjRUM - Psychic Video
8. Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids - Traponga
9. Atrice - Hatara
10. Lino Capra Vaccina - Antico Adagio
11. Susumu Yokota - Fearful Dream
12. Lo.Sai - Voi Siete Qui
13. Kimyan Law - Chungwa
14. Core Self - Suspiria
15. The Raincoats - Only Loved At Night
16. Chris Watson - Glastonbury Ocean Soundscape
17. DjRUM - Leave Me Alone
18. Chewlie - Run
19. Bugge Wesseltoft - Flimmer
20. Chris Watson - El Divisadero
21. emptyset - Point
22. Planet Battagon - Salacians Of Trans-Neptunia
23. Skee Mask - Flip
24. Eli Keszler - Sun
25. E Wata - U D S2S
26. Chris Watson - Waiting (aka Adult Cheetah)
27. |||||||||||||||||||| - Causalities
28. Mark - Incantation For The Protection Of JC
29. upsammy - Relict
30. A.Fruit - Measures of Dispersion
31. Sandro Mussida - EEE
32. DjRUM - To Do What To Do
33. Actual Proof - Maybe We’ll Stay (Sileni Remix)