We Caught Up with Deylin Universe Ahead of His All Night Long
This is your first all night long. How are you feeling, and what’s your approach to prepping for it?
I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous, but I am grateful even for the nerves!
This will be my most challenging and ambitious set yet as I will be taking everything I have loved, learned and collected over the last 5 years of this music journey and bare my soul to my most beloved dance floor in Cape Town.
In a weird way it feels very “exposing” but I am grateful for the opportunity given by Evol to really take the night on a journey through many different textures and tempos, and hopefully give the dancers something cathartic, unpredictable and ultimately joyful.
Cape Town at birth, Albania growing up, Cape Town again now. How have these two places shaped the way you listen to and move within music?
Growing up as the only brown queer kid in a very conservative environment in Albania really pushed me to spend a lot of time with myself on the internet. I would watch videos of Skrillex perform at Ultra Miami and dream of being part of such crazy scenes. Living there really gave me the ear and intuition I have now. It was when I moved back to Cape Town for high school that a lot of my friends put me into amapiano and gqom, and these genres spoke to the body in ways I had never experienced before. Moving back home taught me the rhythm and pace in which we, specifically as South Africans, move in.
Techno, IDM, gqom and breaks. How do you weave these influences into one fluent dance-floor dialogue?
As a DJ, I believe it is part of my job to tell dancers different stories through my experiences. I try to utilise elements from the different genres that shaped me while using techno as the thorough line and the main language to convey unique stories in my sets.
What moment made you realise that sharing music with others was your calling?
There have been many formative moments for me so far in this journey, but a memory I will hold close to me forever was seeing so many different queer people from all walks of life dancing to my CSD Pride set in Berlin this summer.
It was a magical moment where I was surrounded by undeniable love, I still get goosebumps thinking about it.
What came first for you, vinyl or CDJs? And how often do you combine the two?
CDJ’s definitely came first. I only just started collecting wax just over a year ago but have already grown a close relationship to my records. I put a lot of intention into the dialogue between my records and my usb’s, using different textures to layer on one another and choosing different contexts for each blend.
Where did your music production journey begin, and how has making music shaped your DJing and your sonic palette?
My music production journey began just over two years ago. It was tough in the beginning, having no knowledge of DAW’s or music theory. Through lots of trial and error and spending time with other producers, I got to learn which sounds and elements spoke to me and what functions best on the dance floor. It’s still something I am learning every day, and my voice will constantly change the more I learn.
In April you released Core Memory, four tracks of hypnotic, driving techno. What fascinates you about this sound? And how did the EP come together?
The EP came together right after I had got home from my first psytrance festival for new years last year. I imagined the mental elements of hypnotic techno and the similar cerebral passages of psy existing in one world: two elements that pulled me the most with this project. It was my playful take on where techno existed in my heart at the time.
You’ve spoken about finding your own voice from outside Cape Town’s techno landscape. As a queer DJ of colour, what has carving out your own space looked like in practice?
As a colored queer DJ in a predominantly heterosexual and male environment, I often felt a lot of resistance to where my sound was taking me as an artist in the beginning, and a certain pressure to tick boxes to play in particular spaces.
I have since learned that sticking to the sound that is authentic to me, staying rooted in my community, and putting my energy solely into the love of the music and the people dancing, all shaped where I am today. To be queer means to be limitless and it is important for me to keep this belief at the center of who I am.
HÖR, Rave The Planet and a run of well-placed Cape Town shows. What travelled with you from Cape Town, and what did you bring home?
Something I always take with me when I leave home is my South African warmth and love for connection with culture and people. Something I brought home with me is more fire to do what I love to do: make rooms shake.
It still feels like the best is yet to come. With each experience, and with the Evol All Night Long in particular, what do you hope people remember you by?
I hope through my music people remember the importance of togetherness and unbreakable joy in times of struggle and hardship. I hope people are reminded that there is something radical about a room of people choosing to experience joy together.
We chatted briefly about your experience in Berghain for the first time. How did this shape the direction of your sound and influence the kinds of feelings you would like listeners to feel when listening to you perform?
Berghain was my first interaction with techno, before I ever went to any techno related party/club at home and before I really had a concept of what “techno” was.
It completely rewired the way I think of using tracks to sculpt entire worlds, using negative space to create tension and release, and really following the journey the dj is taking the room on. It was the first time I understood techno as an inward and mental experience. I want listeners to take away that same catharsis, surrender and release that I felt my first time interacting with techno.
Name three tracks that are core memories for you: one from childhood, one from the floor, one you can’t stop replaying right now.
- From childhood: Summit - Skrillex & Ellie Goulding
- For the floor: Anthony Rother - Nummern/Computerwereld
- On repeat: D.Dan - Floating
