Human Algorithm Takeover | 04.15.24
with DJ & Producer Keyspan ❤️🔥
Happy Coachella & Couchella! This Human Algorithm Takeover special guest comes at the perfect time as he just performed his first Coachella set on Friday where he got the Yuma dance party started. This artist was recommended by a Music Club member, is a resident DJ at Sound (one of LA’s best clubs) and just released a super vibey EP on his new label. Please welcome to Music Club DJ and producer Keyspan!
The last takeover was in January and since then, there are a bunch of new members (yay), so some of you may be wondering “what is a HA Takeover?” The mixes I create and share in the club are called Human Algorithm Mixes (HA for short). Throughout the year, I feature special guests from the music world in what I call the Human Algorithm Takeover (previous guests here). If you know any artists, producers, DJs that would be interested, please let me know.
❤️🔥 HA Takeover with Keyspan
What inspired you to get into music?
My dad is a musician and audio engineer so good music was always around growing up. I was a producer for nearly a decade before I ever started DJing. I grew up in the SF Bay Area at the tail end of the Hyphy movement in hip-hop, so I started out producing music while I was in high school making rap beats for my friends. Artist like Mac Dre, Andre Nickatina, E-40, & Keak Da Sneak were big influences. There was a very vivid scene around that music at that time and making beats was just a fun thing to do to get closer to the music. I had no concept of sharing the music at that time outside of my friends, it was just for the love of creating it.
I got into electronic music while I was in college in LA, through a scene and weekly party for leftfield-beats-type-music called Low End Theory. Artists like Flying Lotus, Tokimonsta, Nosaj Thing, Shlohmo, and early UK dubstep from artists like James Blake. I started making experimental electronic music around this time, but nothing really focused on club play, more like music to listen to on headphones.
In 2017 a friend borrowed a DJ controller and we sat down one day and played with it. It clicked with me and I’ve been hooked ever since. DJing has had a huge influence on me as a producer, it continues to teach me firsthand about what works and what doesn’t on a dancefloor. Same with putting on events as a promoter and working in event operations, these all continue to have a big influence on how I relate to music and what comes through in my production and DJ sets.
What role has Coachella played in your path with music?
I first attended Coachella in 2011, at the time I knew very little about electronic music. On Friday, I happened to see Cut Copy perform. There was a schedule conflict between cut copy and the black keys (who were huge at the time), and my friends decided to leave halfway through. I ended up staying solo because I was so transfixed by the show. And it was one of the best lineup clash decisions I’ve ever made. That set had a profound effect on me and opened my eyes to the power of dance music.
This will be my 10th year going out to Coachella. Over the years there I’ve had many transformative musical experiences that have continued to shape my taste and appreciation for music profoundly. Sets from Major Lazer, Darkside, Caribou, Bonobo, Foals, Glass Animals, Nicolas Jaar, and Four Tet come to mind.
There was a period where I set music aside to focus on my corporate career, and during that period, being at Coachella was this very stark reminder that I had strayed away from my path. In that sense the festival has been a big part of my journey, helping to guide me back to where I am today with music as a big part of my life. It definitely does feel surreal going out there to play the festival this year. I’m insanely grateful for the opportunity.
You just launched a new label, Near Wild Heaven, and an EP, Vaayu: what are some of the inspirations behind these?
The label is an outlet for me to release music that I love, my own and others. The focus is on music that operates outside the latest trend or flavor-of-the-moment, and to showcase what I hear as cutting-edge club music, that can sometimes be hard to classify in traditional genres. The name “Near Wild Heaven” is borrowed from a song by the band R.E.M., one that I’ve always loved. To me, the name refers to that bittersweet feeling where there’s a euphoria out there: you’re not quite there - but you’re close.
The label launched with my solo EP, Vaayu, which is out now. Vaayu is the name of a little outpost in Goa, on the west coast of India, I had the opportunity to travel there last year. They have the most surreal sunsets I’ve ever seen, with gradients of vivid colors that cover the entire sky. The sunsets literally last for hours, and we would sit out on this deck overlooking the beach and ocean and watch. The memories have stuck with me even now over a year later. The EP has also been heavily shaped by DJing at Sound. I always try to include my own tracks in my sets, and have been playing these 5 tracks out a lot over the past year. It continues to be a learning process, iterating on what works best in the room and on the dance floor, and adjusting the tracks accordingly.
More to come on the label as well... and my DMs are always open for demo submissions!
🎧 Where to find Keyspan: Spotify / Instagram / Soundcloud
Music Club Beats / Now Playing: April 2 - 14
Pro Tip: This playlist gets updated bi-weekly with each newsletter. Add to your library to stay up to date :)
Winston House Showcase this Friday
If you’re in LA and not going to Coachella W2, Music Club member Ethan (who started a local music collective called Bring Back the Music) is throwing a show with Saturdays at Seven that features all Venice artists, including himself and another member Josephine! Tix will sell out so suggest you purchase them asap.
Catch-Up on Music Club
🕺 Move-In HA Mix - energy giving dance beats
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