For the Record is a conversation series where we speak with all manner of music heads — DJs, music journos, indie label captains, record shop owners, listening bar kingpins, et al — about their stories + the music that makes them.
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JKriv is a Brooklyn-based producer, DJ, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and label owner. Widely known as a co-founder of the stalwart label Razor-N-Tape, J is also a highly respected producer, prolific remixer, and incendiary DJ.
In a music career stretching two decades, JKriv has blazed an unconventional path through club world, beginning as a trained jazz musician and live performer before honing his studio and DJ skills. JKriv’s prolific production work has yielded scores of releases on Razor-N-Tape, Glitterbox, Soundway Records, HeistRecordings, Moton Records, ZRecords, and many other labels. As a songwriter, arranger, collaborator, and studio musician, J has worked with luminary artists Dimitri From Paris, Horse Meat Disco feat. KathySledge, Adi Oasis, John Morales, Dames Brown and many more. JKriv’s music has garnered support from all quarters of club and radio DJs, such as Antal, Hunee, Colleen “Cosmo” Murphy, Derrick Carter, Disclosure, Andrew Weatherall, Louie Vega, Kenny Dope, Pete Tong, Craig Charles, and Jamz Supernova, among many others.
In 2024 J has shown a different side of his musical persona, with his electronic/ambient Within EP, a dub 7” under alias Kings of High Speed that has earned massive support from Gilles Peterson, as well as a steady stream of remix output. In early 2025 J will release a new original EP on Razor-N-Tape exploring heavier club sounds, in line with the high energy DJ sets he has been delivering.
Like his productions, JKriv’s DJ sets showcase his deep and diverse taste, weaving eclectic disco, house, world grooves, and offbeat selections together seamlessly. Coming off a recent EU tour that included sets at renowned venues Hi (Ibiza) for Glitterbox, Heidegluhen (Berlin), Night Tales Loft (London) and Pike’s (Ibiza), the rest of 2024 will include hometown performances at Good Room, Gabriela, Nightmoves plus featured headlining sets in Seattle, LA, Mexico City and a return to the Mareh Festival in Brasil. J has recently been featured guests on NTS Radio, Openlab Ibiza, Balamii Radio and hosted his own regular “Living Sounds” show on Radio Alhara throughout lockdown.
As co-founder of Brooklyn label Razor-N-Tape, JKriv has had a sizable impact on both the local NY and global dance music scenes. The label’s prolific and consistent quality output across 150+ releases over 12 years of operation has earned them eminent respect and support from club DJs, radio selectors and listeners around the world.
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MUSIC MENTIONS
- Sly & the Family Stone
- Parliament
- Funkadelic
- Red Hot Chili Peppers
- Rage Against The Machine
- Tortured Soul
- Shelter (NYC)
- Sound Factory (NYC)
- Tunnel (NYC)
- Limelight (NYC)
- Escort
- Razor-N-Tape
- Metallica
- Napster
- Limewire
- The Grateful Dead
- Led Zeppelin
Jazz as a career alternative (12:20):
- Smalls (NYC)
- Topaz
- Izzy Bar (NYC)
- Baby Jupiter (NYC)
- Knitting Factory (NYC)
Defining Razor-N-Tape (15:46):
- SoundCloud
- Guinu
- BaianaSystem
- Jimpster
- Diogo Strausz
- Prince
- Marcos Valle
- Stevie Wonder
- Asha Puthli
Q&A
- Far Out Records
- “Merida” by Prince of Queens
- Combo Chimbita
Discovering music today (26:15):
- Other DJ’s
- Bandcamp
- Shazam
- Discogs
First album ever purchased (32:18):
- “Pyromania” by Def Leppard
Most recent album purchased (33:01):
- “No Reino Dos Afetos 2” by Bruno Berle
Artists discovered in the past year (34:13):
- Retromigration
- Little Simz
- Inflow
- Daniel Villarreal
Desert island discs (37:15):
- “Portrait in Jazz” by Bill Evans
- “Masterjam” by Rufus & Chaka Khan
- “Chill Out” by Black Uhuru
Guest recs for future episodes (51:59):
- Megatronic
- Kim Anh
- Prince of Queens
- Phenomenal Handclap Band
- Midnight Magic
