What's actually on this DJ-Kicks?
Forget the idea that DJ-Kicks means wall-to-wall club music. Djrum's volume for !K7 Records, out October 16, runs 31 tracks deep (plus a closing continuous mix) and treats genre as optional: Chris Watson's field recordings sit next to "Miss Balaton," Venetian Snares' breakcore cut, The Raincoats' post-punk "Only Loved At Night" lands a few tracks from Eli Keszler and upsammy, and Susumu Yokota's melodic electronics thread through emptyset's starker material. Four of the tracks are new Djrum productions; two more are exclusives, Skee Mask's "Flip" and Clark's "Clonk Dual," neither available anywhere else.
How did he actually put it together?
That range is possible because of how Djrum works. He mixes live from vinyl across three turntables, the same setup that's made his DJ sets unpredictable for a decade, then takes the results into the studio to edit, collage and overdub them, so a transition that started as a mixer move ends up a composed piece. Lead single "Psychic Video," one of his four new productions on the mix, is the clearest example: dense percussion and electronic textures built around chopped spoken-word samples, mixed from the floor up rather than written at a desk.
Why does a turntablist get the keys to DJ-Kicks?
Because the series has always rewarded that instinct. !K7 Records built DJ-Kicks on handing one artist total control rather than programming a crowd-pleasing sequence, and Djrum's volume, the label's third DJ-Kicks release of 2026 after entries from Sofia Kourtesis and TEED, pushes that license further than most, closer to a crate-digger's argument than a dancefloor set.
