1.Growing Up

Listening to music in public was completely forbidden in Iran where I lived as a child (especially Western music). The first piece of electronic music I heard that I fell in love with was Jean Michel Jarre’s Oxygen album. Still groundbreaking to listen to!

2.Inspirations

So many different ones to name but I’m going to focus on my non-dance music inspirations: Tool, Van Hunt, Daniel Lanois (producer), Tom Waits, A Tribe Called Quest, Deftones, The Naked And Famous.

3.Your Crew

I used to work in the wine industry before I ended up touring the world DJing! I got into DJing through a friend of mine who owned a couple of vinyl decks, and eventually I got the bug and spent entirely too much time and money buying vinyls which are now sitting in storage collecting dust. These are my fave DJs to play and generally spend time with, as I love them as much as I love their music: Sian, Carlo Lio, Tiger Stripes, Stephan Bodzin and Thomas Gandey. There’s a much longer list of DJs who I regret meeting because they’re nowhere near as cool as their music, but I won’t spill the beans here – but it’s proof that sometimes it’s best not to meet your idols!

4.The Music You Make And Play

Current producers whose stuff regularly finds its way into my sets include Tiger Stripes, Weska, Traumer AKA Roman Poncet AKA Mod3rn and Pig & Dan. Basically all guys who, while you can lazily categorise them into the ‘techno’ genre, all have such a unique style which make their tunes instantly recognisable. Quite a feat in this day and age with so many labels and producers releasing music with absolutely no quality control.

5.Music, Right Here, Right Now

I think it’s an incredibly exciting time in music. Production technology has advanced so much that anyone can put the time in to get their productions out. While this certainly has created an ocean of mediocre and sub-mediocre music, it’s also enabled people that are deserving of the respect to come into the limelight. I unfortunately don’t get to attend as many shows as I would like with the tour schedule, however seeing Kink live (again) is always an inspirational experience. He has so much incredible music and such magnetic energy!

Pleasurekraft appear atS.A.S.H By Night at Home Nightclub on Sunday April 17

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