Rakish

Enabled by quick wit and deep curiosity, Eora/Sydney based Rakish bends and blends sound like few others. Spiritually, he’s the offspring of Sydney’s early-2010s queer and electronic nightlife scene. Yet the strong pivot to DIY-party spaces in response to club lock-out regulations during the decade means that he’s honed his skills with a strong understanding of both commercial and community tastes. 

Rakish is driven by a strong desire to stitch together disparate sounds and genres with charm and ease. His South Asian upbringing and credentials as a saxophonist anchor his deep comfort with polyrhythms, syncopation, tension and release. You’ll find his club sets doing the same, weaving throbby percussive tracks with unexpectedly satisfying melodic and harmonic accompaniments. 

Yet few know that Rakish got into DJing because of his love for the warm-up slot. He’s most at home when he’s building community through live experience, be it at the bar, in the club, or at the festival. 

Ultimately, he holds his own with sound profile. For the club, he gets people moving with loads of classic house, UK garage, east-coast club and trance techno which live alongside an extensive catalogue of contemporary R&B, oldschool rap, baile funk, dancehall and global club. Yet his more demure side sees him weave elements of bossa nova, jazz, trip-hop and loungey cuts into his broader sound.