From Subway Raves to “Metronomic” pspsps Builds His Own Lane

pspsps channels two very different sides of his story into the “Metronomic” EP, released August 21 on Hood Politics Records. Featuring “Metronomic” and “Renegade Masters,” the two-track project sits between tech house and bass house, pairing catchy grooves with aggressive synths and the playful energy he has increasingly made his own.

The title track began with a literal studio accident. While working in Ableton, pspsps meant to press “0” to mute a sound before the drop but accidentally hit “O,” activating the metronome instead. Before turning it off, he noticed the click was in key with the track and sounded like it belonged there.

He immediately sampled the metronome, reworked the production around it and wrote new lyrics to match. The idea also fit something he had already been thinking about: with so much tech house beginning to sound similar to him, he wanted a hook that people would still remember long after leaving the rave. He also liked that the metronome reference could connect with the growing number of producers showing up at his sets.

“Renegade Masters” comes from a different part of his world. For pspsps, a renegade is an underground, impromptu rave, and he had started throwing more pop-up parties around Toronto as a way of getting his name out there. The track was built specifically for those environments, with the goal of capturing what he describes as the pure chaos of the parties.

That story grew after one of his renegades on Toronto’s subway system went viral, generating millions of views online and receiving news coverage. The moment also inspired similar subway parties elsewhere, while people around the city began stopping him to ask whether he was “the subway DJ.” With more renegades planned for summer 2026, he knew he wanted a record specifically for those sets.

Taking heavy lyrical inspiration from the classic “Renegade Master,” he created “Renegade Masters” to feel immediately familiar while becoming something of his own. The result, in his words, is “an anthem for the afterparty.” Together, both tracks reflect the three words he uses to describe his sound: gritty, addictive and playful.

His path to electronic music started with guitar. Growing up, pspsps played lead guitar and wrote songs in a high school rock band. When the members eventually left for different universities, he was left without anyone to record with, so he began creating the drum, bass and rhythm parts himself in a DAW. That process led him toward sampling, synthesizers and eventually electronic production.

The freedom of controlling every element of a record changed everything. Avicii and the golden era of EDM became major influences, particularly after pspsps began attending electronic events and seeing how the music could elevate people’s moods and bring a crowd genuine joy. His music has since appeared across labels including Hood Politics, This Ain’t Bristol, Uprise, Data Transmission, Slothacid, RVDIOVCTIVE and others.

Music was not always his full-time career. pspsps is also a lawyer, and he remembers coming home late from work with one thing on his mind: making music. A few years ago, he eventually made the switch to pursue music full time.

That decision gained even more momentum through live performance. Last year, he played his first headline show at Shake Your Buoy, an event he describes as Canada’s wildest and largest lake party. The crowd energy stayed with him for days and made him even hungrier to continue DJing and producing. His dream festival is Shambhala, where he believes the audience’s openness to darker, grittier underground music would fit naturally with his sets.

Those sets also reflect his sense of humor. At bigger shows, pspsps occasionally builds toward what sounds like a huge drop before switching into his remix of Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up,” effectively Rick Rolling the entire crowd. Outside music, gaming is another major part of his personality and branding, with his logo even drawing inspiration from the Super Mario font.

There is no formal tour currently planned, but more collaborations are in the works, and he expects to play multiple festivals in summer 2027. For now, he wants one thing from Metronomic: for that tick-tock to stay in listeners’ heads for weeks and leave them wanting more pspsps.

The larger mission is even simpler: make the world dance.