Raijin is from New York, NY, on the Hudson River. Getting his start in trance music when he was 16, he was known to compile 100 track sets on a monthly basis. His taste on social media was enough to garner the interest of DJs looking for tracks. He has since moved on to techno, where he still comes up with a new 20 track hour each week. What he plays now ranges from industrial techno to groove house, and everything in between.
Connect with Raijin on Soundcloud | Instagram
Tracklist
01. Dead Satellite – Yan Cook
02. Dubspeeka – p1dC5 (Tension Edit)
03. Gel Abril – Contemporary Thoughts
04. Alexander Technique – Mfkr Still Dancin’
05. Mark Broom – Satellite
06. Abdulla Rashim – Asayita 2
07. Marco Bailey – Gravity Drag
08. Ronnie Spiteri – Underwater
09. Deep Dimensions – So 1992
10. Paul Kalkbrenner – Torted
11. Phil Kieran – Wasps Under a Toy Boat
12. Loco & Jam – Omaplata
13. Mark Reeve – Exposure
14. Radial – Asiel
15. Felix Krocher – Stardust
16. Ben Dust – Homeless
17. Mass Teevah feat. Unperson – Paradox (anD cyclops Remix)
18. Chris Hanna – Time 2 Let Go
19. Heartthrob – Stop Lorraine (No one’s gonna stop mix)
A few rapid-fire questions with Raijin
Where are you from (city/area) and what makes that place special?
New York is a special place to come from. It is Yankee stadium for a lot of guys in techno from places like Berlin, Glasgow, and London. There are very few places in America where guys like Paul Kalkbrenner will come, even for one day. I was able to see him in Brooklyn last year, and it was out of this world. I am lucky enough to come from a techno Mecca, but that comes with needing to be loads better to get in front of people, which is motivating.
Where does your passion for electronic music come from?
I never liked what the radio was playing in my country. I think it was really biased to pop music, so I had to come up with my own ways of getting music that was actually good. The moment the iPod came out, I started my library and have never looked back. Trance music was the way in the door for me, as dark techno music for a 14-15 year old I feel like doesn’t make too much sense yet haha.
Tell us about what first got you started into electronic music?
Oakenfold–Southern Sun (Tiesto Remix). The big-time dance hits were coming out right when I was a kid, so you would hear about them on what was becoming the internet. It was basically only MySpace back then, but there were still ways to hear this music you had never heard before. I feel like songs like that are the doors that open new genres to you, especially in countries where that type of music isn’t popular. The reason I started DJing was tracklists. No one releases them! I make the sets I make so that other people can listen to my music on THEIR time. No one likes 20 out of 20 songs (except this mix of course 😉 ), so they will want to take their favourites and Spotify them. I wanted to facilitate that.
How would you describe your sound and style?
Industrial to a fault! Haha. Techno has gone through some different shades throughout the years, with tech-house being the most popular right now. Sometimes I come across some tech-house that I enjoy, mostly the disco-era related tracks; but I try to make music to isolate people from everything. To this day I search for the Berlin techno sound from the early 2000s, which I feel is the best way to do what I want to do.
What can we expect from the mix you made us?
The sets I listen to over and over again are the open-air sets from the summer. It is my dream to one day play at Pollerwiesen in Germany. Such an amazing vibe, and it seems to coincide with when producers have some new stuff. I always go for that sound, which blends together some lively techhouse tracks with some hypnotic techno tracks. Getting a mix of both outdoors works so well for popular DJs.
What is your source for finding great tracks for your set?
This is extremely difficult, and I have by no means been able to master this. I listen to about 6-8 hours of techno per day, mostly sets on YouTube, which I subscribe so I don’t have the bloody commercials. I will sometimes try to find tracks from their sets, but after a while, I felt that was a bit of unfair play. I use record pools now for most of my tracks, but techno ones are difficult to find. I would recommend Digital Dj Pool for those who need more techno tracks, but like all pools, you will run out. Pay month to month and look on forums for others to skip on to. If anyone who is reading this has a good pool reach out!
Thank you.
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