Dj Diamond / Flight Muzik

Planet Mu

DJ Diamond is 24-year-old Karlis Griffin from the West Side of Chicago. He has been producing music since the age of 13 and DJing since 20, heading the Flight Muzik clique of footwork producers. Listeners may recall his two tracks from Planet Mu’s Bangs & Works Vol. 1 compilation of 2010. A unique producer with a distinct style, DJ Diamond has an unusual ear for unexpected sonic and rhythmic combinations within the footwork template: his samples are often so thoroughly edited that they become tiny, trance-inducing, techno-like stabs. With neon synths and loose, effects-laden drums, Diamond’s tracks have an intriguing and dreamlike feel. His productions’ breadth and quality is evident on Flight Muzik. Contrast the woozy, drawling synths and tribal tom drums of opener “Rep Yo Clique” to the snapping snares, repetitive vocal samples and martial, detailed drum work of the following track “Speakerz ’n’ Tongues.” “Torture Rack” is like grime in outer space: a minimal bassline underpin samples from a computer game while a bass kick stumbles at half time. It’s a brilliant exercise in wonky tension. The extraordinary “Decoded” is an amalgam of trance and prog rock bombast at 160 bpm, while the harmonic micro-edits of “Digimon” sound like an SND track transported to Chicago. “I Choose You” rolls out over a heavily edited and processed soul sample, closing Flight Muzik to odd, angular drum rhythms.

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