"I think it's a good thing that the mainstream is taking a stab at EBM," electronic body music, "and it's on the Grammys big-time. But when it comes to radio, there are only a few guys that are truly making it. DJ culture is much larger than just David Guetta, Deadmau5, and Skrillex. I love those guys, they are friends, but there's so much more."
Aoki, 34, is in a unique place, as much a presence underground as over. Though he has remixed brand names such as Michael Jackson and Bloc Party, Aoki's own electronic dance music is alternately clunky, noisy, moody, and filled with long, languid passages of melody, making it hard to pigeonhole.
"I'm not an alienating guy, but I like taking risks," he says with a laugh. And that's not just as a spinner/music maker but as a label owner. Dim Mak survived by being unpredictable, signing as much indie-rock stuff (Battles, Gossip) as the likes of Infected Mushroom, which has a psych-trance edge.
Weird rock and twitchy trance could just as well describe Aoki's new Wonderland. He points out how inspirational the French tech-house duo Justice was to Wonderland as well, how their abstract noisiness and fuzzy bass suited his ears. Add in rappers such as Kid Cudi, Lil Jon, and the cats from Chiddy Bang, and you get an album that cooks like a soup but eats like a meal.
"I wasn't raised by the EBM world," Aoki says. "I broke into music like a baseball smashing through a back window. I was a hardcore kid, a punk kid." Introduced to the electro scene in 2005, Aoki found that "the lifestyles, not just the music," were much the same as punk. "That's why collaborations that bridge those gaps have become so popular now. All that goes back to me being a hardcore kid," he says. Just like when he was a kid, Steve Aoki fits in by not fitting in at all.
Steve Aoki & Datsik play Saturday at 10 p.m. at Borgata Event Center, 1 Borgata Way, Atlantic City. Tickets: $39.50. Information: 866-900-4849, www.theborgata.com.
