The Sound of NY
A slice of life from the “anti-disciplinary” DJs keeping the city’s underground alive.
Read the full story in Justsmile Issue 8, Shaping What's Next.
Photography Theo Choi
Styling Ian Bradley
Text Mekala Rajagopal
Left to right: MORENXXX, Lydo, Bryce Barnes, Maya Margarita, Sterling Juan Diaz, Byrell The Great, Stonie Blue and Princess Peggie.
New York City’s DJs want you outside. “If the girls are not pulling up, it's not gonna give,” says Sterling Juan Diaz—though, right now, it seems everyone wants to be guestlisted for the world of New York nightlife. Over the past decade, Brooklyn’s underground dance music scene has swelled into the mainstream. Its sound has steered party trends; its personalities have colored memes and memoirs alike. More specifically, Bushwick’s current nightlife bubble is rooted in the DIY spirit of the 2010s, an incubator for experimental art and renegade raves but also a horseman of major gentrification in the area. Now, as venues shed the last vestiges of discriminatory cabaret laws, their lineups are helmed by musicians who are masters of many.
Diaz, a Washington Heights native, is one such selector, whose upbringing at the crossroads of Dominican music, hip-hop, and alternative culture formed the complexity of his sound. “I fucking love New York. As a DJ, I also want to protect it from people that don't understand, love, or cherish what New York is,” he says. “There’s a lot of play and experimentation here that gives other scenes permission, like, okay, this is a thing. It’s genuine trend leadership.”
Part of what attracts and retains sonic innovation in Brooklyn is the tight-knit queer community that holds its underground together. “The queer scene is huge, so I always feel like I'm around family,” says Bronx-made DJ and producer Princess Peggie, a staple of the circuit, versatile and prolific in making bodies bounce. For Discwoman musical talent Maya Margarita, who’s recently been splitting time between the decks and dressing rooms—most recently, she was cast in Keenan Tyler Oliphant's Off-Broadway production of “Practice,” while working on her own playwriting—the connections are par to the music. “I’ll always be inspired by my friends and the Black trans women who made space for me. When I talk to our elders, that's what I gather the most: they talk about connection in such a special way.“ It’s a world where the lines between collaborator, mentor, and friend are often blurred. “Friends like Saintclair, Blaize Scarr, and Byrell [the Great] really inspire me,” says Peggie. “Byrell is my mother. He always brings me back into myself.”
Stonie Blue
Stonie Blue wears jacket and pants FENDI. Shoes ACNE STUDIOS.
Sterling Juan Diaz
Sterling Juan Diaz wears jacket LOUIS VUITTON MEN’S.
Byrell The Great
Byrell The Great wears jacket SACAI. Tank top and shorts WILLY CHAVARRIA. Shoes DIESEL.
Maya Margarita
Maya Margarita wears jacket LAQUAN SMITH. Skirt JANE WADE. Boots and jewelry talent’s own.
This familial culture stems in part from the city’s deep-rooted ballroom scene, of which Harlem’s Byrell the Great is a pillar. For over a decade, he’s earned his flowers as one of its star DJs, while also releasing his own music; like many other unconventional artists, his work tugs with the commercialization of local nightlife. “I take risks every single time I release music,” he says. “The sound of ‘Maxxxed Out’ [his most recent release] is definitely not happening a lot in the club.” According to Brooklyn mainstay Lydo, techno is what’s going mainstream. “Everybody’s a DJ, everybody wants to throw parties, but I would like to see more people taking more risks.” Lydo has always been interested in new sounds: born in the Philippines to Vietnamese parents, they began DJing while throwing X-tra Services warehouse parties, eventually becoming a resident at Basement and creating soundscapes for institutions like Sculpture Center. And while there’s been some cultural convergence between the underground and big EDM, the latter is still more financially viable. For the artists who comprise this world, this means looking past the decks to keep up with the demands of living in New York—through startup ventures like X-tract, Lydo’s new soda gambit, or through the various other ways their careers become bifurcated.
Take Bryce Barnes, who hails from Maryland, where he first found musical footing playing keyboard in a go-go before pursuing fashion design. Now, he works full-time at the streetwear brand Denim Tears and develops his own collection, Forever Blessed, spinning by night. “I have to carve out time and discipline to practice music,” he says. “But living in Brooklyn and constantly hearing a beat around me, that gives me energy”—it’s what inspires his percussive, global sound. “At the end of the day, [fashion] is inspired by the underground. It's us who actually drive the culture.” Also between worlds is Dallas-bred house DJ Stonie Blue, who juggles music, photography, animation gigs, and pressing records for his label, Believe in Yourself Do It Yourself. “I’m just trying to keep the balance healthy,” he says. “A lot of us artists do multiple things because we have the opportunity to, but also to survive and make rent.” “I'm from New York so I feel like I'm born to do everything at once,” says Princess Peggie. “People have this idea that the city's in a rush, but taking your time actually helps you become able to do it all.”
Lydo
Lydo wears jersey COMMISSION.
Bryce Barnes
Bryce Barnes wears jacket DENIM TEARS. Pants and beaded belt FOREVER BLESSED BY BB. Jewelry talent’s own.
Princess Peggie
Princess Peggie wears jacket DSQUARED2. Bralettes DIOTIMA and JANE WADE (worn underneath). Pants COMMISSION. Shoes CFCL. Jewelry stylist’s own.
MORENXXX wears jacket and belt BURBERRY. Pants WALES BONNER. Shoes TWOGAA. Jewelry talent’s own.
Cringe as it may sound, New Yorkers have always been multiplicitous—or, as Jesús Hilario Reyes calls it, “anti-disciplinary.” Chicago-born Reyes, who cites hometown influences like Ariel Zetina, Honey Dijon, and Futurehood, weaves together their sets as Morenxxx and their robust art practice with a call-and-response sensibility. “To me, [DJing] is a very visual experience. I think about an image I want to conjure so there’s a certain climate to my sets.” In kind, their sculptures are deeply evocative of the thrum of the dancefloor, glimpses of a crowd from the booth, and the disembodiment of a dark foggy room. “I’m really thinking about the devotional aspect of nightlife, how one gives their body to the music, and using what evidence is left after the night is over,” they describe. “It’s become one path. Like, I've fully embraced that the artist is the DJ and the DJ is the artist within my work.”
Brooklyn currently contains an unprecedented number of DJs. “In such a saturated community, it's easy to get swallowed,” says Maya Margarita. “There’s so much more that goes into working in nightlife than just plugging in. I've learned how to advocate for myself without needing to use words.” Booking agents aren’t uncommon, but most of these selectors depend only on themselves to pop without management or publicists. “[I’ve learned to] see myself more like a product, but the influencer DJ culture of New York has kind of killed what it actually is to love and cherish music,” says Princess Peggie. With the scene embracing leadership like new Paragon owner, Detroit legend Kevin Saunderson and Dweller festival founder Frankie Decaiza Hutchinson, there’s a little space for idealism. So what are the dreams these eight artists have for Brooklyn nightlife? Black queer institutions and bookers, self-ownership for the city’s natives, true underground spaces, deep freedom, curiosity, unity, integrity, and exaltation. It's a vision worth supporting—wyd this weekend?
Read the full story in Justsmile Issue 8, available to order and subscribe here.
Left to right: MORENXXX wears jacket and belt BURBERRY. Pants WALES BONNER. Shoes TWOGAA. Jewelry talent’s own. Lydo wears jersey and pants COMMISSION. Shoes ADIDAS ORIGINALS x WILLY CHAVARRIA. Bryce Barnes wears jacket DENIM TEARS. Pants and beaded belt FOREVER BLESSED BY BB. Shoes and jewelry talent’s own. Maya Margarita wears jacket LAQUAN SMITH. Skirt JANE WADE. Boots and jewelry talent’s own. Sterling Juan Diaz wears jacket, pants and shoes LOUIS VUITTON MEN’S. Shirt DIESEL. Byrell The Great wears jacket SACAI. Tank top and shorts WILLY CHAVARRIA. Pendant ring ALL ANTICS NYC. Rings talent’s own. Stonie Blue wears jacket and pants FENDI. Shoes ACNE STUDIOS. Princess Peggie wears jacket DSQUARED2. Bralets DIOTIMA and JANE WADE (worn underneath). Pants COMMISSION. Shoes CFCL. Jewelry stylist’s own.
