Spesh is an accomplished club DJ with more than 30 years behind the decks, and is co-owner and head of A&R for Loöq Records. He has also co-produced over 80 releases with JD Moyer as Jondi & Spesh, and with Jerry Bonham and Jondi as JSJ, with releases appearing on over a dozen groundbreaking labels including Bedrock, Global Underground, Renaissance, and Loöq. Spesh is also the co-founder and resident DJ of Qoöl, which in its 15 year run became one of San Francisco's most storied underground electronic music events. 

Spesh, né Stephen Kay, began his career in dance music as a DJ in the late 1980's. This was a time before dance music had congealed into distinct genres; when a five-hour set for a DJ was the norm, not the exception. With an ear for choosing compelling music and an unparalleled ability to weave those tracks into euphoric journeys of sound, Spesh quickly rose in the San Francisco scene, eventually landing himself a high-profile residency at the legendary party, Release.

Shortly after the 1999 release of Jondi & Spesh's hugely popular progressive house anthem "We Are Connected", Spesh developed into an international talent, performing his deep yet enthralling DJ sets across Europe and North America. Back in his hometown of San Francisco, Spesh quietly simmered away playing in virtually every venue the city has to offer, receiving the highest accolades from his peers and from local and international press including Mixmag, DJ Mag, San Francisco Magazine, SF Weekly, and more. 

Spesh can be counted on to bring something new and unexpected to every gig. His refusal to take the obvious route makes his many fans more passionate than usual. They expect more than fantastic dance music flawlessly mixed; they expect to be transported to another plane. Over 30 years of spinning music has given Spesh time to develop his talents to a nearly unconscious level. As Spesh himself says, "I'm doing my job when everybody in the room, including myself, has completely lost track of time."

These days Spesh limits his DJ bookings to less that half a dozen per year to allow more time for family and other passions projects. Each set is special and for him a shared experience of joy and gratitude.

music producer, synth maker, decent human being

House head, NYC roots, LA living. Once dubbed 'The Queen of House' in a book on NYC club life. Raised on the legendary DJs of The Garage, Shelter, The Loft, Choice, Sound Factory, and every iconic NYC underground house spot that shaped the scene.

It’s all about the lighting. And the music.

Master Your Health
https://linktr.ee/humanOS.me

No discussion of underground techno purism and technical DJ mastery would be complete without the mention of Dylan Drazen’s uniquely remarkable life and career, and the myriad of musical influences it has brought. Conforming to no one person, genre or entity, Dylan has fiercely charted his own path since his sonic journey began over thirty years ago.

With the outset of Drazen’s path arriving in the early 90’s at the age of 18, a crescendo would already manifest by the late 90’s when Spain took note of his visionary methods and pioneering sound during the earliest days of the Internet, and he quickly became an originating stalwart of its nationwide underground techno scene for years, putting in over a million air miles commuting from his New York base, crisscrossing the Iberian peninsula many times over, as fans couldn’t get enough of his relentlessly energetic, organic and authentic rhythms that were so novel to a generation of partygoers.

Yet at the height of all this in the mid 2000s Dylan became swept up in the worldwide poker boom and found himself at a crossroads with dual careers. Maintaining both for nearly a decade, he decided to relocate to South Florida in 2012 to take poker more seriously and music took a back seat. By 2020, Dylan’s poker talent would bring him over $1 million in cash and tournament winnings. Then the pandemic hit, the world ground to a halt and everything was reset as he noticed fans begging for his return, bringing him to yet another crossroads…

So let’s reset.

Dylan’s exposure to multiple forms of music began at the age of 16 getting his first job working at his local record store on Long Island, NY. He quickly gravitated to electronic music, heavily inspired by what New York’s FM airwaves had to offer well before the hiphop era would take over. That summer he would sneak out to NYC and into his first club experience, The Limelight, where he instantly fell in love with its debaucherous environment and DJ booth, which he vowed to get into.

By graduation in 1993 he was beyond hooked. Before heading off to college, he took that summer to intern at a few Manhattan based labels: Todd Terry’s Freeze Records, as well as Astralwerks and Instinct Records. All the while insatiably crate digging through NY’s various vinyl shops, Dylan’s teen self was already swimming in local contacts and influences.

But college awaited, and throughout his time at Boston’s Emerson College (obtaining a degree in audio engineering) he launched a weekly radio mix show called “Underground 88” on WERS 88.9 FM through 1997, working his contacts and continuing to hone his technical skills live on air. During these formative years Dylan maintained working at various vinyl shops in NY and Boston doggedly advancing his exposure to every genre imaginable, thus contributing to his encyclopedic knowledge of electronic dance music and all of the wide-ranging influences it would bring him. As a byproduct, his position enabled him to recommend tracks to and influence the taste of bedroom DJs and a myriad of luminaries alike.

Through these years, he even made good on his promise to play at The Limelight before it shuttered, as well as other infamous New York megaclubs like The Tunnel, Twilo and Save The Robots. And thanks to his stint as assistant engineer at The Looking Glass Studios where David Bowie was recording his latest album in 1997, Dylan was hired to DJ Mr. Bowie’s private 50th birthday party after his sold out birthday performance at Madison Square Garden.

But by the turn of the millennium it was off to the races and Dylan was spending more time on the road than at home, as he found himself in demand not only in Spain, but also in The Netherlands headlining the Awakenings festival three times, as well as other major events and festivals in Germany, Brazil, Japan, and Colombia, spreading his unique form of techno gospel one city at a time. 

Between journeys Dylan made the most of his audio degree by building out his own studio in Brooklyn, releasing a handful of original releases and remixes on some of America’s more influential labels of the era: François K.’s Clicktracks; Ascend; Blueline; Remains; and Ultra Records. Even after moving to South Florida in 2012, Dylan continued to work on remixes for other Spanish and European labels.

Then as Dylan began to go dark quietly diving head first into South Florida’s world of high stakes poker, he made sure to finalize the curation of his life’s work on his website and SoundCloud page, with that nagging feeling he would one day return…

That day arrived in 2021 when Dylan decided to look for work as a local DJ in Fort Lauderdale and its saturation of gay nightlife. His bimonthly residency at the legendary Ramrod helped pave his way back, growing just as comfortable in today’s booths as he did 20 years prior.

After a couple years of this and then launching The Techno Files podcast, he realized it was time for more. So in 2025 Dylan decided to relocate once again, this time to the birthplace of where it all began: Detroit.

Within his first year as Detroit resident, Dylan was already playing events for Detroit Techno Militia & Bang Tech 12, along with multiple appearances at Spot Lite, Spkrbox & TV Lounge.

New York-born, Miami-tested, now Detroit-welcomed: Dylan Drazen is primed and ready to return to the world’s electronic stage showing modern audiences how 30 years of sonic mastery, experience and musical influence can be put on brilliant display in a single set.

J-Dray is following