Lean Into You: The Eclectic World of DJ Tr!p
- Ky Mi
- 2 days ago
- 5 min read
Updated: 2 hours ago
DJ Tr!p on nostalgia, genre-hopping, autism, and the underbelly he calls “global bogan core”
As told to Ky Mi for Electronic Music Australia in October 2025. Edited for flow and clarity.
I am a DJ and producer from Adelaide. I wear a few hats. I DJ multiple nights a week. I release music on the first of every month. I have spent years writing scores for theatre, film and dance. My world moves between the dance floor and the studio and I like it that way.
The mix I put together for EMA is a wild snapshot of the genres I explore. Trip-hop, lo-fi, world music, hip hop, electro, breaks, big beat, funk, dancehall, electro-punk, drum and bass, glitch and house. It is all wrapped in a grimy lens that looks at the underbelly of suburban excess. I jokingly called it "global bogan core". I made that term up about four minutes before the interview, but it fits the stories and voices that run through my tracks.
Global bogan core
Bogan is the Aussie archetype. Think proudly unpolished, completely themselves. I love authentic accents and everyday conversation. I sample CB radio, overheard chats and those in-between moments that feel more real than a perfect vocal take. It is a kind of musical voyeurism. Not every song is narrative-driven, but when I capture those slices of life and put them to a beat they feel human and relatable. Less overproduced. More candid. More alive.
Nostalgia Cycles
I see music moving in roughly 20-year cycles. In clubs, a lot of younger people are asking for nineties tracks. Maybe it is their parents’ influence. Maybe it is something deeper about that era. I tap into that. There is comfort in nostalgia, but there is also room to reinvent. My songs are new, but many are love letters to older forms. House had disco. Hip hop had soul and funk. Drum and bass keeps revisiting and progressing. Paying homage does not mean being stuck. It means adding your take and keeping the flame moving forward.
Autism, presence and performance
I am a late-diagnosed autistic adult and a high masker. Understanding that about myself changed how I see my work. On stage I get into a hyperfocused zone. I treat a DJ set like a one-person band. The song choice and the journey matter more than tricks. Eye contact, open body language and making people feel seen matters. I am very open to requests. If I stitch a requested track into the right moment, the whole group lights up and the energy spreads across the room.
“Find the fire starters.”
In a crowd I look for the most open, most playful dancers and I cheer them on. Their joy becomes contagious.
From Amiga to today
I started in high school on a Commodore Amiga using a tracker called OctaMED. Four channels. Eight-bit samples. I carried the computer to gigs in a second-hand trumpet case and ran it through guitar pedals. Limitations were a gift. They force invention. Even now with endless tools available, I try to set constraints. Fewer choices can make better art.
There was a long chapter where I wrote scores instead of releasing records. Live scores to silent films. Theatre. Dance. Later I came back to releasing at speed when streaming made independence practical again. I held onto a lot of older material and then re-skinned it so it sits beside the new work. The voice has stayed mine the whole way.
Adelaide - City of Mystery
People have tried to lure me interstate. I like Adelaide because it gives me bandwidth. It is busy enough to be alive and small enough to let you lean into your authentic character. Space and even boredom help ideas arrive. Bike rides and showers are where I hear a lot of them.
And maybe the city’s darker history plays into that creative energy too. There’s a lot of serial killer lore here — Snowtown, unsolved mysteries, all that stuff. Maybe that energy seeps in a bit. Adelaide’s got a shadow side, and I guess I’ve always felt at home exploring that musically.
Programming the night
In the club I play long sets. Four or five hours. I like mountains and valleys. Set up a cheesy track and hold it back until people are warm enough to love it. Drop into a different genre. Build tension. Release it. Curate with confidence so people feel safe to let go. It is playful. It is not about cool points. It is about elevating the room.
You might hear the Zorba. You might hear a dubstep Zelda flip. I have even finished on the Inspector Gadget theme. I want permission to go everywhere. That same freedom drives my releases. One month is downtempo and dark. The next is blunted hip hop. Then electro-clash or big beat. I am not tied to a label story so I do not have to sit in one lane.
Independence
Streaming changed discovery. I can see months where my listeners are in Japan, America or Poland. That reach was not possible when I was hand-stamping cassettes and CDs. A label can amplify you, but it also takes a big slice. You still need shows and merch to live. Independence gives me timing and pace. I release on the first of each month. I keep building the body of work. Focussing on my craft and the rest follows. People say you only need about a thousand true fans. That has always felt true to me.
Darkness and Light
I lean into the dark because there is texture there. For a long time I lived with severe arthritis before a hip replacement. Pain pushed me into shadowy places that suited darker music. After surgery I felt what life is like with less pain and some light crept in. Tracks like 'Blunt' and 'Use Me' have more bounce.
The dark still returns. It is home. But I have room for both now.
Advice for artists
Comparison kills joy. You can admire others while trusting your own voice. Give yourself permission to try, to fail and to change. You do not have to stay the artist from your first great album. You can choose to evolve. That applies to radio programming too. Curate the show you believe in. Listeners will follow if you lead with conviction.
“The thing is, just lean into you — find what really gets you off sonically. It has to bring you joy, or what’s the point? Because it’ll bleed out into the listener’s ears. They’ll feel it.”
Connect with DJ Tr!p
Instagram | YouTube | Facebook | Bandcamp | Tidal | SoundCloud | Apple Music
Playlist Aussential Mix 013 DJ Tr!p
DJ TR!P - What You Do
DJ TR!P - Dancing With Myself (feat. Tara Falleti)
DJ TR!P - My Mother Keeps Introducing Me To Women
DJ TR!P - Trust In Me
DJ TR!P - Snake Charmer (feat. Heaps Good Friends) (DJ TR!P Remix)
DJ TR!P - Because Of You (feat. Cooperblack & Tenille Ashton) (DJ TR!P Remix)
DJ TR!P - Astronaut (feat. TKG)
DJ TR!P - Use Me
DJ TR!P - Pants On Fire
DJ TR!P - Bird Brain
DJ TR!P - Berlin Wall
DJ TR!P - Troxler Effect (Cat Blood)
DJ TR!P - I Kill For You
DJ TR!P - J-Rod (feat. Alia)
DJ TR!P - Epilogue (feat. Ready Wolf) (DJ TR!P Remix)
DJ TR!P - Danse Macabre (feat. Tara Falleti
Outro
Catch up on The Aussential Mix Series
Want to hear more? You can find all past Aussential Mixes in this dedicated playlist. Enjoy!
Comments