Community Picks is a weekly series where artists submit a release to be voted on by members of the Nina community. Once a week, the release with the most votes will receive editorial coverage. This week’s winner is “Stroker” by milgueg, a sprightly, textured techno tune, good for both clubbers and gamers. We sent over some questions to the artist, read the interview and listen to “Stroker” below.

Where are you from?

milgueg: I’m from Almada, in Portugal.

How would you describe your music to someone who has never heard it?

I think it’s a mix between ambient, trap, and the Wii. I love ambient music, sometimes I like to listen to it and imagine I’m the only person in the world and I can do whatever I want, kinda like Minecraft or 28 Days Later, but, like, in a relaxed and calm way. I take lots of stuff from trap to create my drums ‘cause I like to make them bouncy and cool with lots of textures. I’m also very inspired by video games, mostly the WII since I grew up with it. 

Tell us about your release on Nina.

I wanted to make something that you would listen to in, like, a clothing store and think, “Damn this is so fire, why is this playing here? Who put this on?”

What kind of tools do you use to make music?

Most of my music is made in Ableton. I use lots of samples from video games and sample packs I find on Reddit. I also have a Korg Minilogue, which is really good at making pads for ambient stuff, and a Pocket Operator that I use to make some drums. I play the piano so I really wanna use that more. Most of the plug-ins that I use are stock Ableton plugins.

Who are five independent artists you think people should check out?

I think people should check Villa, Redhead, lightlyheld, priincess, and Cal Fish, they’re here on Nina too. Gum.mp3 is also really cool, I missed his set here in Portugal a few years ago unfortunately.