MJK is one of the most exciting artists to emerge over the last couple of years. They’re a DJ not adverse to taking risks with their sets often spanning a wide range of tempos and genres, and a producer who’s tracks showcase their sphere of influence (grime, UKG, techno).
As they continue to rise, 2024 has already seen them play Ilian Tape’s takeover of The Cause, Field Maneuvers, and FABRICLIVE x HVYWGHT, with plenty more to come including the spectacular, Draaimolen this coming weekend.
We managed to catchup with MJK about their journey in music so far, connecting with the likes of Oblig and Skee Mask, the art of the back-to-back, and what should get you excited about Draaimolen.
Hi MJK, for those who aren’t as familiar with you, can you tell us a bit about yourself and your journey so far?
So it’s been a very long time since I’ve started, so long that I’m actually kind of fuzzy on the details.
My first set in a club was maybe like 2014/2015 if I recall correctly. Learnt mixing a lot of the old UK garage stuff my dad had growing up & from that I ended up getting into grime quite heavily, dubstep too. I would say dubstep was really where my passion for collecting music started
I grew up in a town where a lot of this music was kind of foreign in a sense not too many people were into it. My obsession with the music was almost quite insular to an extent. It wasn’t cool to be into any of it. I remember trying to show my friends all the stuff I was listening to when I was in school which quite often fell on deaf ears.
But that was fine for me because my love for the music was enough.
It was the golden era of SoundCloud where the community aspect was quite high, I remember joining a few groups and really cutting my teeth on some guest mixes for people which was great for me because until then I never actually got to nerd out with anyone about all this music I loved.
At this point I’d never actually produced anything that was always a mystery to me. The first thing I’d attempted to make was some remix of deep inside at uni after getting the acapella whilst digging on vk.com which as you can imagine with no musical knowledge went pretty poorly.
So I tried bootlegging a couple tunes I always played. My first ever tune which I made was a bootleg of Musical Mobb – Bad Bongo Behaviour
That was it for me after that, everything I listened to I was always reimagining it in a different perspective or arrangement which then lead to me trying to remake certain parts of the tunes from scratch entirely.
I felt very blessed at the time because I was really just a DJ who wanted music to play and then essentially got treated as a producer down the road. It was really something to be played on the Boxed Show & The Grime show etc. I remember my first rinse plays & nts plays even my first boiler room plays still to this day which was crazy to me just sat in my student accommodation.
I decided at some point to spend my savings and whatever I had left of my student loan on a DJM 900 Nexus after finding a super cheap pair of CDJ 900’s off some guy on Facebook so I could finally have an actual CDJ setup. I had about a 100 a month to live on for the next 3/4 months, I think I essentially ate pasta and mixed in my room for the whole period. Managed to make a couple extra quid from any bookings I got but as a student DJ I very rarely got paid
Through this period is where I ended up meeting Oblig, Neffa-T, Sir Hiss, Brak Don’t Crack FKA (PK Brako), Chamber 45, Grandmixxer, General Courts, OH91, Lozzy so many more people to mention but I’d be here all day
Naturally, as it goes, when you spend all your time on music you end up not focusing on academics (at least for me) so eventually I dropped out and moved home. It was during this time & during the pandemic that me and Skee Mask properly got acquainted after i had sent him some tunes I was working on and the back and forth was constant from then on I’d say.
I would send most of the super rare grime stuff I’d collected and he would send me a lot of super interesting techno bits but also loads of other ukg & grime stuff which was super foundational for me in the sound I’ve adopted now
I quite quickly recognised the structural similarities between a lot of these genres but I remember the first time I really gave the “grime vs techno” thing a shot was when I had logos on my noods show during the pandemic.
But I actually quit music completely just after the pandemic finished and had no real plans to start it up again. After a while I moved down to London after getting a new job and i didn’t tell anyone about it because i was quite adamant for my own reasons to leave it in the past.
I actually can’t remember how it came about but Oblig managed to get me out of my funk somehow and the first show I played in a very very long time was me b2b Skee Mask b2b Oblig b2b Victor all night long in the White Hotel.
It was a night I’ll remember for the rest of my life considering at that point I was quite happy to quit music and leave that part of my life behind me but that experience really restarted my love for it all.
Anyway after that Oblig managed to get us together to make Patchworks Vol.1 and the rest is history.
You’ve played some amazing b2b’s historically (your b2b with DJ Oblig back in February for Keep Hush is one we still revisit regularly), and you’re joining the incredible Mia Koden at Draaimolen. How does playing a b2b differ to you playing solo, and what vibe are you going to bring to The Pit?
So I do love a B2B. I think you have the capability to produce great moments but I think the really beautiful thing about these moments is the chemistry being defined between 2 people.
When it really clicks there’s nothing like it.
I’m a little bit torn if I’m brutally honest because I had such a great solo experience at Ilian Tape just recently. It was my first solo set for a while and it went so perfectly that I can’t help but yearn for another opportunity to tell a story in a set like that again which is a little selfish, but that being said this one is a b2b I’ve been looking forward to for the whole year.
It’s a nice feeling having someone to go b2b with that is on the same page and is invested in the music to the same level.
I always try to do make every set a journey of some sort. I’m a big advocate of starting off slow. It’s a guilty pleasure of mine to start at 120 bpm nowadays and I think Draaimolen will be a place where we can start slower even though I think we’re maybe known for being “140”.
One of the big draws of Draaimolen is the stage design; have you seen the setup for The Pit? How do you feel the aesthetic for the stage will add to the environment you’re trying to create?
So I’ve actually been intentionally keeping myself in the dark for a lot of Draaimolen.
I don’t do festivals much and this will be my first ever proper festival that I’ve been to abroad much less one I’ve played.
But I’m sure the environment will influence me in a positive way it’s one of the many things which has put me in such high spirits for this set.
I think spaces to me are one of beautiful things about being able to do this as a job. To experience what I do in new places that have had an extraordinary amount of time care and effort put in is a huge privilege.
This year’s lineup has the usual list of amazing artists and exciting b2b’s that Draaimolen has become well known for. Who are your three ‘must see’ artists at Draaimolen this year?
For me it’s –
Fadi Mohem B2B Moritz Van Ozwald
Mad Miran B2B Pariah
Chunky
Your productions are stellar! We loved your 2005 EP and your outputs on Obligated records are some we have on regular rotation (the layers of percussion you bring in are right up our street!). Are you able to give us a brief insight into your production process?
So my process has changed since Patchworks came out,
I’m quite obsessed with the idea of everything being a live jam and being arranged afterwards.
It lets me almost treat ableton as a toy and not an instrument with structure, when I made a lot of the tunes before patchworks like the 2005 EP I almost had this preconception that of what the tune would sound like.
Now I never have an idea of what I’m making until I decide I’m done. Obviously you still try make certain decisions in the moment but it’s been freeing being able to sit in front of your laptop without any expectation of the sound you’ll make.
This being said not everything I make new or groundbreaking but as someone who honestly struggles with mental blocks and the production process just being able to have something tangible at the end takes a lot of the anxiety away from it.
I work with a lot of LFO’s now I would say it’s super integral to the music I’m making. As someone who isn’t learned in the music production process being able to map an oscillator to things and find out how they affect the sound after the fact has been life changing.
It lets me lean on the daw and lets the computer do the work which for me is perfect as unfortunately I wouldn’t class myself as talented in that department.
Can we expect any releases from you in the near future?
Yes!
2 of my favourite labels have asked for an EP from me.
One is already finished just in the mastering stage. It’s the first solo stuff I’ve made so I’m honestly nervous for it to come out.
The other one I’m currently producing for it.
Without saying too much I would say I owe both of these people a lot for the position I’m in now.
I would have never even considered myself to be good enough to be on these labels but they’ve disagreed with me thankfully so here we are.
You can expect them by 2025 hopefully one by the end of 2024.
After the summer festival cycle, what does the future hold for you heading into winter and early 2025?
Lucky enough to have my last show in the calendar at the moment in April of next year.
A lot of debuts, back in Germany for a bucket list booking. Doing Amsterdam for the first time this month, Prague too for the first time in October some more things to come in the UK towards the end of the year. Hopefully more places abroad too I’m always trying to leave to UK to play in clubs I’ve never heard of, I’m quite nomadic in that sense. I literally will travel any amount of distance for a show if I can experience something new.
Interview By: James and Tom