PAPER <3s NY and PAPER <3s the DJs that keep us moving. That’s why we’re proud to present The Tear, our mix series highlighting the best DJs spinning in the city we call home. In February, we shared a mix by Nita Aviance, a heart-forward show of force by one of the city’s most storied legends. Today, we share a mix from none other than rising star DJ DEADNAME.
DJ DEADNAME came to NYC with a Paragon booking and a dream. Since arriving, the North Carolina native has become a connective force in the city’s burgeoning Bass scene, making waves through their now-complete Bossa Nova Civic Club party series, TOWER and via star-making turns at Nowadays and Toss’d. North Carolina-raised, but thoroughly NYC, DJ DEADNAME’s mixes represent their new home’s penchant for variety. “The emulsion of different sounds embody NY,” DJ DEADNAME tells PAPER. “Yes it’s NY, but it’s also LA, it’s ATL, Philly, Jersey, CDMX, Bristol, Wales, Bogota, Shanghai, West Bengal, Melbourne, Amsterdam, Paris, it’s Lyon BOOTS.”
And while they have their ear to the world, DJ DEADNAME is also clear about how their early days DJing in Durham, North Carolina shaped their artistry, beginning with their party collective, PERMISSION (run with fellow NYC-by-way-of-North Carolina favs Zeigler, Blessing and Sergia). “We were really interested in the spiritual element of dance music, especially emerging from such a dark period of our lives, and were very heavy handed with the vision,” they share. “Technopaganism, dahling: Lots of religious imagery, chains, candlelit lanterns as our lighting source.”
Today, DJ DEADNAME retains their affinity for dramatics, bringing that same flair to The Tear stage. For their PAPER mix, DJ DEADNAME delivers an hour-and-half long carry that’s heavy on Bass but always light on its feet. After being “severely outside” for the last two years, they have a reverence for “the ki,” or the intrinsically social function of dance music. Always playful, but still deeply sourced, the mix takes listeners through a whirl of Drum and Bass, Jersey Club, Deconstructed Club and an overall bold minimalism. The set’s sonic sparseness never lessens its impact, though. At the mix’s halfway point, a cresting wave of bongos lead up to a stunning starkness, a bare landscape of drums, stomps and click-clacks, all making way for a 2012 Santigold classic, “Look at these Hoes.” As the mix reaches its last lap at the one-hour mark, DJ DEADNAME lets the fog roar in, drifting off into a sea of bright and blurry synth chords, heavenly harmonized vocals, and the light presence of resident goddess Kelela.
Ultimately, the mix evokes DJ DEADNAME’s wide ranging musical ethos. “[My biggest hope for NYC nightlife is] less musical conservatism,” they share. “Also, that there might be a little more commitment and appreciation and LOVE for the music and the dance floor as opposed to that bathroom line (NO SHADE).” Tea. We can’t speak for everyone, but our feet are firmly planted on the dance floor.
The prompt for the mix was “the past, present and future of NYC nightlife.” What sounds inspired you for this mix?
The NY past that I feel the most directly inspired by, both for this mix and as a DJ in general, is the Deconstructed Club scene of the early 2010s that was centered around GHE20G0TH1K. I was in a freeform college radio station while I was in college (WXYC 89.3 FM at UNC Chapel Hill), so we weren’t restricted by genre in terms of what we could play in any given set. That was very foundational for how I would continue to approach music, with an exploratory mindset that aligns with the ideas of Deconstructed Club. Color Plus’ Towhead Recordings and its New York Dance Music compilations were another big source of inspiration for me when I was starting for similar reasons in the way they synthesized various American club sounds.
All of these sounds ended up leading me in the direction of Dubstep/Post-Dubstep/UK Bass. I quickly got addicted to the more UK side of things, I think partially because I have a certain nostalgia for my childhood habits of listening to Drum and Bass mixes while playing World of Warcraft and listening to bastardized EDM dubstep on the bus to school. The delving into UK-inspired stuff led me to labels that honed in on Bass music specifically. In New York, SLINK and Kindergarten Records were really scratching that itch for me (and still are), with their releases which center the fusion of genre, a low-end centered sound, and cutting edge sound design. Mind you, pretty much all of this exploration happened during the pandemic when I was completely removed from dance floors. I emerged from that and have been severely outside for the past two years, leading me to appreciate the more classic, four-on-the-floor style of NY dance music that wasn’t quite hitting for me when I was listening out of context, without the presence of “The Ki”. My goal with this mix was not only to narrativize my experience with the NY dance music I love, but also formulate it in a way that works in the kinds of environments where this music usually isn’t getting rinsed in.
I suppose that’s my vision of the future of NY nightlife: a larger variety of music being integrated into some of the larger underground dance floors. In terms of current NY-based artists, I included some of the people who are doing that in the mix: Baalti, Martini, Love Higher, Connor Wrong, Eros, DJPT. This is nowhere near the beginning of a comprehensive list, but it is representative of the direction I’m interested in for the future. Anyway, to answer the question, there’s a lot of sounds, girl. And a lot of them inspire me. The emulsion of [different] sounds embody NY in a way I feel no single genre on its own is able to. Yes it’s NY, but it’s also LA, it’s ATL, Philly, Jersey, CDMX, Bristol, Wales, Bogota, Shanghai, West Bengal, Melbourne, Amsterdam, Paris, it’s Lyon BOOTS (they’re tearing so bad right now). And it is, in fact, North Carolina.
Speaking of North Carolina… What was it like getting into dance music there?
I went to my first house party with CDJs in the fall of 2019. I was drunk as fuck and got my life to Raingurl. That started it all low-key. There was also a very severe party starting at the time called Office Hours run by friends at the radio station which at one point was referred to on Twitter as the Met Gala of North Carolina. It was majorly stunty. COVID robbed the world of that party.
During the pandemic, I learned how to DJ on CDJs we had in the station and started releasing mixes on SoundCloud. I also deepened my friendships and artistic relationships with my DJ besties Noa (Blessing), Sergia (Sergia), and Jordan (Zeigler). As we exited the pandemic, after regularly DJing house parties and radio events, we started our own party/collective, PERMISSION. We were really interested in the spiritual element of dance music, especially emerging from such a dark period of our lives, and were very heavy handed with the vision. Technopaganism, dahling. Lots of religious imagery, chains, candlelit lanterns as our lighting source. It’s fab. NC legends Sand Pact and GRRL were regular DJs of the party.
Where was the first set you played in NYC?
My first set in NYC was in October 2022 at Paragon. I had just put out a very emotional breakup mix on JEROME Mixfile that summer that I recorded on my laptop in the rain sobbing under a bus stop in Carrboro, NC. It was a dark time. I received the offer to come play while the PERMISSION girls and I were actively in the car on our way to visit NY. I was gagged. I opened upstairs for Korea Town Acid and AceMoMA and felt so beyond fab. That gig is…..high key why I dropped out of college before my final semester and moved here. I thought I had made it. No regrets at all though. Can you imagine?
Favorite NYC nightlife memory?
Oh, girl… that is an impossible question. Also because some of them have left the building, no shade. A semi-recent one that comes to mind is from last summer at Doll Invasion on Fire Island. Me and the PERMISSION girls were hugging and crying and dancing in the pool over how far we’d come from when we’d met (at our gender-inclusive arts and literary “fraternity” mind you…and clearly they were real inclusive).
My favorites are hard to pin down but my earliest ones are more concrete. One of my first times partying in New York was summer of 2021. We flew up to go to the legendary Platinum in Chinatown thrown by the one and only expansive diva herself Angel Money. We walked in to Drumloop who was playing some nasty IDM in front of the windows. I got my life in the front next to Miss Parker, who I did not know at the time but she was absolutely taking it. Club Eat performed live for the first time and we were in the “Sticky” music video. It was three stories with a rooftop and the first real function I’d been to since the pandemic started. It was THEE moment.
At the end of the same year I was staying here for a month during the holidays and there was a surprise GHE20G0TH1K night at Home Sweet Home with Arca, Shayne Oliver, Telfar, and Physical Therapy. It was the first time I’d seen anyone (besides me and my sis Blessing) DJ a real party with the kind of music I was listening to and playing around with in Rekordbox at the time. Arca DJed for like 20 minutes and then walked around the bar giving shows. It was fab.
Favorite set you’ve ever played?
Definitely Atlanta Pride last October. I played the Gag & Split Gala which was a two-day collab function at the Georgia Beer Garden thrown by NSA (Stroke) and the Gimmick Sounds crew. I was very upset and being completely insufferable to my sisters who came down with me the whole weekend because of some personal tea. But I started playing and just really, really tore to be so real. I had yet to turn a dance floor out like that. Said tea was resolved within 24 hours, mind you. I gagged. The girls gagged. Recording got deleted though, so you had to be there.
Biggest nightlife pet peeve?
Bitches who don’t know how to navigate a dance floor respectfully. And sometimes that has been me because it’s real dark and foggy in there. And mind you I’m the one hitting that fog button at Bossa while no one’s looking. But generally you don’t have to push anyone. A lil’ “‘scuse me” or a very gentle hand while you scoot by. Or like just wait five seconds for the little sea in between two people to part and slide through. Bulldozers are chopped. To have a little vulnerability/accountability moment, I was at Nowadays for Sully and rushed to the dance floor because I was excited and I tripped over someone and I’m so sorry. If you see me, clock it and I’ll get you a drink or something. Love you, girl.
Biggest DJ inspo?
Again, don’t even ask that question. I am inspired by so many countless artists every day, including all of my besties. I am so incredibly blessed to have the opportunity to see some of the greatest DJs in the world all the time. I could do a big list but I’m gonna forget and leave people off and I can’t with that mess. But like CCL or Bobby Beethoven or Special Guest DJ or Identified Patient. Okay, no more.
What makes NYC nightlife unique?
The Ki, as I mentioned earlier.
Biggest hope for the future of NYC nightlife?
Less musical conservatism. Also, that there might be a little more commitment and appreciation and love for the music and the dancefloor as opposed to that bathroom line (NO SHADE). And yes there are three fingers pointing back at me. And they need a fill.
Photography: Zach Doung
Styling: DJ DEADNAME and Laura Napoliello
Hair: Sergio Estrada