DJ Orange Julius

DJ Orange Julius, a main player in the internet-based Mall Music collective, is known for freewheeling footwork concoctions that embrace the absurdist aesthetic espoused by label boss DJ Paypal. “Still Geekin,’” the first taste of the artist’s forthcoming debut album The Grove, finds a balance between playful irony and serious music-making. DJ OJ chops up Gucci Mane’s “Breakfast”—originally a languid, hazy rap song—into a frenetic symphony of percussion, looping Gucci’s morning mantra (“Smoke weed for breakfast/I drink lean for breakfast”) over booming kickdrums and skittering snares. This creates a constantly shifting drum pattern that changes before you’ve had the chance to grasp its nuances. DJ OJ said that he first heard “Breakfast” while smoking a morning blunt and he immediately went to work cutting it up. “Still Geekin’” is a scorched-earth footwork track, that brims with the enthusiasm of that particularly inspired smoking session. - Pitchfork