With house, electro, techno, or dance music as a whole, there is a specific sweet spot where a tune can just as easily be rinsed on a hazy dancefloor as it can be received like a looping spiritual mantra, bridging a most unique gap between celebration and therapy.  Rezident, the project of emerging 21-year-old producer David Roif of Karlsruhe, the city in Germany’s southern  Baden-Württemberg state, demonstrates that electronic music best sustains itself when these separate entities interlock. 

Like his counterparts growing up in the technologically-accessible 2010’s, Rezident downloaded various music programs on his Windows PC laptop at the age of 12, eager to concoct his own melodies after hearing a ringtone his sister’s friend composed on her Nokia cellphone. There, he gathered essential production techniques, like layering,  streamlining, and learning when to walk away from a  track for a while. Today, at points in his intimate but expanding discography, reverberating chords informed by deep house accents whirl in and out, only to have sharp hi-hats and intermittent whooshes sober the ethereality. Such instances mark Rezident’s desire for a more minimal and honest approach to track producing, one which contrasts from his earlier school of beat making, self-described as “commercial,” trusting the project and himself.  

Citing a consistent flow of Deadmau5 which influenced him growing up, and taking notes from progressive canons like Bicep,  Rezident’s ever-evolving signature sound never fails to leave a lasting impression on the listener. With a slew of releases on major labels such as Spinnin’ Deep, Anjunadeep, Poesie Music & more, his addictive blend of dance music has attracted a global fan base. Hitting many milestones in 2020, his stellar ‘Artifacts’ amassed over 11 million streams on Spotify alone, and he delivered a scintillating guestmix for SiriusXM Chill. Working his magic on DRAMA’s ‘Hold On’, Rezident proved his adept remixing talents with a soaring rendition of the original. Adding another breathtaking addition to his catalog with his three-track ‘Chapters’ EP on Anjunadeep, Rezident continues to position himself as an artist to watch for the remainder of 2020 and beyond.