Aaron J

Founder and resident DJ of Sure Thing. Aaron J has been quietly reimagining the deeper currents of dance music for over a decade. The seasoned DJ has cultivated his own milieu of lucid, empathic sound both through his renowned work as a selector and as curator of the record label, podcast, and event series Sure Thing. Currently based in Brooklyn, Aaron has been a pillar of scenes throughout the US including Boston, LA, the Pacific Northwest, and San Francisco, where Sure Thing was founded. He draws from these experiences across the continent to develop his distinct sound, synthesizing an expansive set of environments and sonic sensibilities into a new whole. He grounds the rhythmic language of bass and dub in the personal and ancient, beguiling listeners into states of hypnosis through tracks marked by intricate sound design and a delicate romanticism. Aaron’s expert control of narrative is particularly showcased in his longform sets, where he challenges listeners into unfamiliar places of feeling and movement while holding just enough space for them to do so. Aaron’s masterful sense of pacing and his emotional acuity as a DJ are inextricably linked, as evidenced by highlight performances at Sustain-Release and Monument Festival and a nod from Resident Advisor as one of techno’s “best kept secrets.” Feeling is at the core of his work, expressed and explored through endless variation of texture and rhythm. Sets move through distinct passages distinguished by hazy boundaries. Tracks are layered atop one another, with a constant consideration to balance, between energy and restraint, momentum and introspection, turbulence and relief. The flow of time becomes obscured in a phantom forest of sonic patterns that push at the edges of perception, acting as a foil for one’s own latent feelings to unfurl. Beyond the boundaries of tempo or genre, Aaron brings listeners fully into their senses by tying together subtle threads of emotion, with the poise of a DJ who can at once witness past, present, and future affective states of the dance floors he guides. Biography by Raag Bhatia.