SpaceDisco Channels Punk-Rock Energy Into Dancefloor DnB on “Golden”

On July 4, 1998, SpaceDisco walked into the State Palace Theater in New Orleans for a rave called The DJ Is God without knowing who Carl Cox was. Cox stepped behind the decks and played for three hours and 45 minutes. SpaceDisco remembers every record feeling tougher than anything he had heard before, and nearly three decades later, he still considers it an experience no one has matched. His takeaway from that night remains simple: he still wants to go that hard.

That instinct sits at the center of “Golden,” released August 21 on EDMArmy Records. Built as a dancefloor-heavy drum & bass record, the track is energetic, melodic and designed for a big sound system. SpaceDisco was not trying to attach an elaborate story to it. The idea was more immediate: recreate the feeling of getting completely lost in a live performance, moving without thinking about much else.

One of the track’s defining sounds comes from a place outside traditional drum & bass. SpaceDisco designed the main synth to resemble an electric guitar playing a palm-muted, riff-driven part with an almost punk-rock character, then built the rest of “Golden” around that energy. It is a small production detail that helps explain why his influences have never fit neatly inside one genre.

Long before electronic music entered the picture, another guitar-heavy moment had already left its mark. SpaceDisco was five years old when he saw the video for Guns N’ Roses’ “Paradise City” on MTV, and he says he is “about 99% sure” that was when his fascination with music and live performance began. From there, discovering a new genre often created the same reaction: he wanted to understand it by becoming part of making it.

That curiosity eventually produced an influence list that SpaceDisco admits looks unusual on paper. Mannie Fresh, Tool, Pantera, Carl Cox and Richie Hawtin, particularly his Plastikman project, were among the earliest major reference points. Hip-hop production, metal, techno and rave culture all found their way into the larger musical vocabulary behind a project he now describes in just three words: “dreamy dance music.”

For all of those influences, SpaceDisco’s approach ultimately comes back to the room in front of him. Festivals have their place, but he says nothing beats a packed 300 to 450-person venue where everyone is completely locked in together. Even a carefully planned DJ set can disappear if the room wants something different. He would rather change direction and play what the crowd needs in that moment. As he puts it, “It’s about them, not me.”

That philosophy extends beyond his own performances. Every month, SpaceDisco hosts a local rave in New Orleans, with drum & bass upstairs and techno downstairs. The goal is to build community, showcase local talent and create another place where people can experience the music together rather than simply consume it individually.

His listening habits continue to move across electronic music as well. Lately, Pretty Ghosts has been in rotation, while he has also been exploring color bass and recently discovered Prism. Champagne Drip and LSDREAM remain regular listens too.

There is another side of SpaceDisco’s life that exists at a very different speed. Outside music, he is also a professional downhill skateboarder. Skateboarding has been part of his life for years, but downhill skating became a much larger focus as he got older, eventually becoming important enough that he now travels regularly for events.

For a producer with such a wide range of influences, SpaceDisco’s creative rules are surprisingly uncomplicated. He says he makes every track for himself first and does not base those decisions on what is trending, what people currently consider cool or what happens to be selling. If a sound excites him, it belongs in the record.

That attitude also explains why he does not ask listeners to find some enormous hidden meaning inside “Golden.” He calls it a cool track and hopes, above all else, that it makes people want to move. “I make music that I love. Hopefully, you love it too.”

And when the record is finished, SpaceDisco has a simple standard for knowing he got it right: “Every track I release is perfect to me in that moment because it is exactly how I wanted it."