Once you hear DJ ojo’s music, you know you’re hearing something special. Ojo finds a unique pocket within the resurgent wave of contemporary dub techno, bringing forth an off-kilter strangeness touched by moments of controlled sourness. His music is all his own. Even at their most ethereal, these tracks refuse to fade into the background. Every once in a while a new producer comes through to remind you of the endless source of inspiration and refreshment you can draw from the core tools of dance music. Ojo is one of those voices. He was one of our first bookings for Dripping 2026, and we reached out about a live set before one even existed. We’re anticipating a dancefloor set of intense focus when he plays live at The Inn on Friday night for his US debut.
✧ Near Field Communication 3.0 ✧
✦ Spanners ✦
✧ 17/04/26 ✧
✦ 22:00 - 03:00 ✦
✧ Amber ✧
✦ Dome Zero ✦
✧ DJ ojo ✧
✦ Mike Levitt ✦
✧ UK Garage all nite long ✧
✦ tickets on https://nfc.dance ✦
It was the summer of 2024.. or was it 2025. When the architectural masterminds behind the wonderful @thethreewheeldrive festival were looking sun kissed an stunning, walking around the site w walkie talkies and measuring tapes hanging out of their bum pockets setting up for the weekend ahead. A boy came up to me asking if I had seen a missing duvet, the whole thing just disappeared, he said, as he was setting up his tent. (?)
EVA 🌹 had sent her tent up next to mine not realising I had one big enough for her and her 2 dogs. I even got some fairy lights for the night so we could stay up telling each other sexy sorry I mean scary stories maybe share a.. Deep meaningful secret or two. This didn’t happen unfort because she stormed out of my tent screaming as the fairy lights were not warm nor golden enough. I quickly took down the fairy lights and put on my doc martens and ran to the main stage to find her. Laces hanging loose an everything
There had been talks earlier of a sensational set by an incredible producer, DJ Ojo. I thought this would be where I might find her… Well I didn’t find her did I, but I discovered someone better 💋
Who joins us tonight to reminisce this mystery of the missing duvet 🃏💭
10-2am 🔊🔥
DJ ojo’s first live show 🍄
𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊
Niche @ MOT
Saturday 7th February
11pm to 6am
@venuemot
SE14 5RT
£7 (limited) / £10 / £15
Tickets via our website 🎟️
𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊
First time we heard @deejay_ojo , he was playing b2b with legend @trish_ak_means as Avant Garbage, @ Lion & Lamb (Summer 2021?). We got chatting and he mentioned he was working on his first demos. Not long after, he delivered an all-original production mix for Trish’s Instant Yum! radio show (with @domezero_ also a guest, hi pal), and it was immediately clear Joe had a singular perspective on club music.
A run of sensational EPs and a full-length album later, ojo has proven himself a masterful conjurer of murky worlds, where dub-rooted rhythms underpin half-hummed, distant melodies.
Playful yet granitic, brainy yet groovy, this is club music stripped to its essentials, where small gestures and subtle moments carry real weight.
So you can imagine our excitement when he told us he wanted to play his first-ever live show at Niche. Continuing our “weird sounds laboratory” tradition, we’re deeply honoured to provide the space for this special debut.
Tickets on our website! Don’t sleep on the cheaper ones if you can’t afford to pay more. From £7!
𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊
Tammo Hesselink
DJ ojo (live)
Airali
Ikävä Pii b2b Wordcolour
Queenie & Ben
𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊
Curated by @ikavapii
Artwork by @rooocore
Niche @ MOT Feb 7th 🍄
𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊
Saturday 7th February
11pm to 6am
@mot.ldn
SE14 5RT
£7 (limited) / £10 / £15
Tickets via our website 🎟️
𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊
2026, time to mutate: Niche becomes itinerant, migrating between like-minded venues and spreading weird sounds across both sides of the river.
Saturday 7th February our habitat will be MOT.
A 6am-finish exploration with a lineup of daring DJs, and a live debut by one of our favourites: welcome Amsterdam hero Tammo Hesselink, alongside our longtime collaborator Airali all the way from California, DJ ojo’s first ever live show, plus residents b2bs with Ikävä Pii & Wordcolour and Queenie & Ben.
𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊
Tammo Hesselink @tammo8000
DJ ojo (live debut) @deejay_ojo
Airali @___airali___
Ikävä Pii b2b Wordcolour @ikavapii@wordcolour_
Queenie & Ben @queenie.qw
𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊
Curated by @ikavapii
Artwork by @rooocore
is saying thank you to everyone who supported me this year
thank you to anyone who listened to, purchased, or otherwise obtained music i produced (especially if you bought a physical copy!)
thank you to the promoters and venues that booked me to play music
thank you to all the people working in nightlife & keeping the whole thing going
thank you to crowds who make parties special
thank you to my collaborators in the studio and behind the decks
thank you to my family & friends
~~~~~~
slides:
1. real footage of me cooking up tracks
2. double LP on Blank Mind
3. EP on Pain Management
4. track on three wheel drive compilation
5. new live set prep underway.......
on that note - I will be performing a live set for the first time next year. the debut will be Feb 7th at venue MOT... later in the year I will be crossing the atlantic to perform it at a very special festival... stay tuned!
i'm actively taking bookings for the live set and for deejay sets of all variety. fee is always flexible to align with your party + venue finances
see ya next year !
bit late on sharing this one (oops) - but if a mix for the mighty @hessleaudio doesn't deserve a post on the feed then what does ?!
went back to the roots (of dubstep) for this one. lots of gully sub-shaking cuts from the big hitters and unsung heroes of the late UKG / early dubstep sound. plus a couple of wildcard post dubsteppy bits towards the end. Probably could have consisted entirely of Benny Ill tunes but that felt like cheating... another time
I wasn't listening to dance music when all this was going on in the 2000s, but its funny now to know it was happening around me whilst i was busy getting stuck in at UKHC shows. Fast forward a couple of years and my first forays into record shopping brought me across some of these records, shouts to the charity shops of High Wycombe & Southampton. Its now pretty well documented how much influence this sound was having on so many artists and labels across the UK.
Of which Hessle Audio is most definitely among the most significant. If 18-year old me had known I'd be doing a mix for them one day I'd have been made up, so yeah, thank you @pearsonsound for the invite. and for all the support on my music thus far.
Photo by @sodhabread from 3WD earlier this year. If you heard my set there then this one is kind of a continuation of that, hope you enjoy !
no tracklist, as always, but IDs given on request every time.
up on my soundcloud // link in bio // blah blah blah
_
TOMORROW! Balancing and blending gloopy abstractions, wigged out and convoluted rollers, raw yet soulful machines with deep, intricate and playful sounds🧞♂️🧞♂️🧞♂️ @deejay_ojo is coming on Thursday 27th to stimulate minds and limbs with loops, rhythms and sounds from 6PM to 9PM
Today marks the release of my album, a debut full-length release, 8 tracks pressed as a double LP ~ leaving plenty of space for each track to spread out ~ DJ friendly discs only!
On this record I wanted to lean closer towards more traditional dance music forms, focusing on directness of rhythm, and deliberate function of sound design/placement. Hopefully these tracks help you to immerse yourself into movement.
The title borrows its name from the physics phenomenon referring to light refraction which, somewhat unintentionally, has a double meaning in the emotional context. Similarly, several of the track names are other scientific or engineering expressions - language which surrounds me in my day-to-day work and which I find often has interesting human parallels.
To produce the artwork, we sent photographer Thomas Steineder an 8-sided prism and asked him to bounce light through it to capture reflections. I've included a couple of the digital shots in this post to give some xtra context, but the final cover art was produced without a camera, by wrapping the film directly round the prism and firing light into it. I love how it resulted in a subtly obscured, abstract soft interpretation of the original angular material, kinda reflecting the end result of the music.
As always, big big thanks to Sam for being down with my ideas and getting this produced to Blank Mind's consistently high standards, really feels like the perfect home for the record. Thanks to Oskar Jeff for the words and thoughts to shape them. Thanks to Thomas Steineder for the art. Thanks to Ryan O'Callaghan and Charlie MacLagan, my unofficial promo photographers. And thanks to all my family, friends, and the wider music world for the support.
Total Internal Reflection available to buy from the usual places - grab the vinyl and support your local record store!
DJ ojo - Total internal reflection
Delighted to share the debut album from @deejay_ojo . It’s been a long time coming, and Joe has really created something intimate and sepcial here. Deep, beautifully crafted and inventive in his trademark slippery when wet style.
The double LP features despoke art by @thomassteineder and is released on 7th November.
Pre-order now and download ‘No hoist’ and ‘Cruising’.
Mastered by @stardelta_mastering
Art by @thomassteineder
Design by @sampurcelll
Press release by Oskar Jeff (@domezero_ )
Photo (slide 2) by @cmaclagan
