Slikback

Kenyan DJ and electronic musician Slikback produces an intense, volatile form of experimental club music, smashing together elements of trap, footwork, speedcore, and several other styles. Affiliated with Uganda's Nyege Nyege collective, he earned massive amounts of praise for his blistering live sets as well as late-2010s EPs such as Lasakaneku and Tomo. Freddy Mwaura Njau was born in Nairobi, Kenya. He mainly listened to the radio and first gravitated toward trap and gqom, but when he moved to Uganda for university, he discovered more experimental dance sounds. Working at the Nyege Nyege collective's studios in Kampala, he was exposed to artists like Jlin, Errorsmith, and Amnesia Scanner, as well as labels such as PAN, Planet Mu, and Hyperdub. Filtering all of these newfound influences into his own brand of fractured, explosive club music, he began producing tracks on his laptop in 2017. He released his debut EP as Slikback, Lasakaneku, through Nyege Nyege's sister label Hakuna Kulala in 2018. Standout performances at that year's Nyege Nyege and Unsound festivals received heavy praise from the dance music press, and Slikback spent much of the following year touring the world. His second EP, Tomo, appeared in February 2019, and two more, Slip A and Slip B, were simultaneously issued in September. Following Slikback's April tour of China, he collaborated with several producers from the Shanghai-based SVBKVLT label on the Slip EPs, including 33EMYBW, Osheyack, and Hyph11e. His first two EPs were issued as a double LP (with bonus tracks) by Hakuna Kulala, due to heavy demand. In 2020, PAN released a split EP by Slikback and Soda Plains, and the Kenyan producer delivered a mix of unreleased originals for Resident Advisor's weekly podcast series. He also issued a two-part, 60-track digital album titled ///, consisting of early material, sketches, outtakes, and collaborations. ~ Paul Simpson