Interviews

Interview: 009 | Karar

1:30 PMClaude responded: Kjartan built his reputation in Reykjavík’s club scene under the alias KjarTMaN, playing venues like Jacobsen, Faktory, and Park while co-founding the “Addicte…Kjartan built his reputation in Reykjavík’s club scene under the alias KjarTMaN, playing venues like Jacobsen, Faktory, and Park while co-founding the “Addicted to Drums” event series and exploring everything from techno to deep house. After stepping away from performing between 2016 and 2023 to focus on sobriety, he returned with a harder, analog-driven sound as Plexcore. In summer 2025, he combined his musical background with his Christian faith to launch Karar, a bongo-driven Tech-House project built on organic percussion and uplifting grooves, releasing his debut 4-track EP on February 27, 2026.

Interview: 002 | Silverfilter

Manila-based Silverfilter brings award-winning DJ skills, music production teaching, and live performance chops (he’s also guitarist and vocalist for band Lovecore) to his electronic productions. Free from catering to local EDM trends, he explores techno, house, drum and bass, and chillout with equal enthusiasm. His approach: make music that moves him to dance first, knowing if there’s a vibe, he’s headed in the right direction. The groove-focused producer sees each genre as a toolbox of possibilities, and his live performances prove dance music can be locally made, originally performed, and entirely different from a DJ set.

Interview: 001 | J Lauda

Buffalo-bred progressive house guru J Lauda traces his sound back to Toronto’s massive trance scene and underground Buffalo raves. His remix of Dave Richards’ “After Midnight” launched connections with labels like Pangea Recordings and Yotto’s Odd One Out. Known for intricate melodies and punchy grooves built on transient shapers and call-and-response percussion, his tracks regularly chart on Beatport and appear on DJ mix shows worldwide. He credits his wife (who bought him his studio speakers) and his son (who gives every track a thumbs up or down) as essential collaborators in his creative process.

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15 Years. 5 CDs. 6+ Hours of Pure Underground.

Celebrating 15 years of MK837 with five hand-numbered collector’s CDs. Each disc mixed by Dave Richards spans our evolution from hard techno to deep house – over 6 hours of continuous mixing that captures our underground sound and pays tribute to classic series like DJ-Kicks and Global Underground.