DJ to Watch: Graves

To know the depth of Graves as a producer and DJ is to know Christian Mochizuki’s journey to his highly admired solo project. Nearly a decade ago, when Kanye West was working on his 5th album, Christian landed what many of us would consider a “dream job” as West’s assistant. Fast forward a of couple years and eventually, Christian solidified himself as not only a trusted member of the West entourage but also as a full-time sound engineer on the album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. The album won a Grammy, so Christian won a Grammy.

Did he stop there? Nope. Christian went on to assist with the two-time Grammy nominated album, Watch The Throne. For most, this would be enough, but the Kanye confidence is infectious. With these two grammy-engraved gold stars on his resume, he felt ready to emerge from West’s shadow and bravely go rogue.

In early 2014, Christian and a fellow island producer came together to create OOF in Honolulu. Although their tracks landed them bookings and a mention on EDC New York’s Discovery Project, the partnership didn’t venture past the beta phase. Now with the sweet taste of touring on his tongue and successful studio experience, the drive to create something that would stick went into overdrive. Through persistence comes greatness and thus, Graves was born.

Now, he has quickly become one of the most unique sounds in bass music and can be found touring in the U.S. with RL Grime on his Nova Tour. His sound can be described as unexpected while being very finely tuned. Building on his work with West, hip/hop and rap are no strangers to his live sets and originals. Graves is no doubt a DJ to Watch. His latest release with Duskus is a booming and emotive track that in less than a week has already garnered 180,000 plays. All eyes are on Graves and come May 27th you can see him and RL Grime at Talking Stick’s Release Pool Party. You’ve Nova seen a show like this before, grab your tickets here.

Connect with graves: Facebook | Twitter | Soundcloud