“Destiny, Blood, Ecstasy”: Meet Genesys, the Fashion Students Throwing Cyberpunk Raves

Rain, Pari, and Anam of Genesys.

This is SOUND ADVICE, a weekly destination for playlists curated by Interview’s friends, enemies, and lovers. Over the past few weeks, we’ve gathered playlists from Thugpop, Dasha, and How To Dress Well. This week’s guests comprise the cryptic London nightlife collective, Genesys. Central Saint Martins fashion kids Paritos Tamang (DJ Nomad), Anam Maclean (020BABY), and Rain Paul Mueller started throwing raves in London a year ago and have since taken the project international. Earlier this month, Genesys teamed up with new music tech platform Equa.ls to put together the most major installation of their mystic cyberpunk ragers yet. Drain Gang‘s Yung Sherman took over the decks and fashion designer Mowalola got on stage to preview music from her new band, SEX, and follow-up swag to her ubiquitous WET tanks. After coming down from the madness, Genesys made us a playlist that veers from “drug-fueled alien planet pillaging” to “edging” to “flying through a kaleidoscopic vision of my fate.” Plus, they clued us in on the best anime soundtracks, unreleased Varg2™, and NFC-integrated doomsday fits.

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Where do you dance? At the interstice of this world and the next, on the precipice of the Abyss, sometimes maybe even Peckham.

Who do you trust most with the aux? Desperately wanna give the aux to Asuka Shikinami Langley, she probably had some amazing ’00s Hands-Up on her MP3. Her or Mark Fisher.

What song do you have on repeat? There’s an insane Varg2™ x Mowalola track coming out soon. It’s been cyclically stuck on my Skullcandy Crusher-Evos. 

What’s a music taste red flag? We find mono-genre listeners to be deeply disturbing. Also people who’s playlists are cultivated solely via trendy TikToks. The process of music discovery must be epic and mythical. If the track didn’t emerge from eight-hour Soulseek dive or reveal itself to you through an Instagram reel with 7 likes, we not tryna hear it.

How do you pregame? Deadlifts while watching Sakuga MADs.

Earliest rave memory?

RAIN: I was born in Ibiza, my mum used to take me clubbing in a sling. The memories are blurry and primordial, but I remember feeling warmth, bass in my chest, and lights flashing on my closed eyelids.

PARITOS: Quite a bad one actually, hundreds of drugged up white kids listening to drum and bass on a broken sound system in a field in Kent.

ANAM: I’ve never been to a rave.

Who’s the best-dressed musician? BillionHappy, no clue how he does it.

Name your favorite artist no one knows about: 020BABY

What’s the best anime soundtrack? Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex. The post-global, anachronistic East/West synthesis of the sound track is a perfect sonic representation of the franchise. Honorable mentions: Boogiepop Phantom, Evergrace, Rahxephon, Macross Plus.

What’s your DJing pet peeve? The Cue button, wtf is that?

Fuck, Marry, Kill: London venues? Fuck: Archives Tottenham, it’s the perfect venue in so many ways—concrete beams, Funktion One Evo-7 sound system, scary amount of strobes, perfect for a Mass Euphoria Event. Marry: HERE @ The Outernet. Can’t put into words our love for this venue, it is an immersive audiovisual experience, it allows us to communicate our world-building like nowhere else, it’s truly unmatched. Kill: Any Dalston basement venue, or any venue with a DICE ticketing deal.

Where’s the afters? Carcosa.

What are you wearing when the machines take over? Genesys 2nd skin vest, Genesys NFC integrated trousers, Genesys 5g cloaking faraday jacket, 2m x 2m Kazakh flag, Vibram 5 fingers.