From Daft Punk’s neon-lit robot suits to Deadmau5’s oversized head, DJs seem to wield their beats best under the cover of disguise. The sold-out crowd at 9:30 club on Friday, March 30th won’t see the face behind the colorful tribal mask of London beatmaker SBTRKT (pronounced “subtract”), an aspect that only adds to the intrigue surrounding the upcoming producer.
Rather than using his masked anonymity and a trendy vowel-less stage name as attention-seeking gimmicks, producer Aaron Jerome’s intention is more sincere – to reject the larger-than-life persona embodied by far too many DJs in favor of sharing his music, minus the pretense. “The name SBTRKT is me taking myself away from that whole process”, Jerome told Clash Magazine. “It’s more about giving [DJs] a record as an anonymous person and seeing whether they like it or not.”
As Jerome’s success this past year has shown, his less-is-more instincts are on point.
SBTRKT’s debut album, released last summer, was hailed by many publications as one of the year's best. Featuring guest vocals from Little Dragon’s Yukimi Nagano and labelmates Jessie Ware and Sampha, the album was a more accessible take on post-dubstep, the trend of experimental electronic music introduced by fellow UK producer James Blake. Sampha will also accompany SBTRKT on stage at 9:30 to provide live vocals.
