KAI WHISTON

KAI WHISTON

Kai Whiston is a producer based in Dorset, United Kingdom. Born in 1999, he makes electronic music that combines fractured sampling, distorted textures, heavy bass and abrupt, hyper-surreal sound design. His work is often associated with deconstructed club, grime, experimental electronic music and UK bass, and it draws on a wide range of electronic influences.

Background

Whiston begins producing at the age of 12, teaching himself digital production tools and experimenting with remixes of video game soundtracks that he and his friends play at the time. He is encouraged early on by IGLOOGHOST, who comes from the same small town, and that connection helps him start circulating his music more widely.

Releases and collaborations

After being put in touch with the Los Angeles label TAR, run by PBDY of Brainfeeder and JP Moregun with Jeremiah Jae, he releases his debut EP Houndstooth in 2016. The record receives early support from Mary Anne Hobbs. In 2017, he appears as a featured producer on Taiwanese rapper Aristophanes’ mixtape Humans Become Machines, alongside Grimes and Jam City.

Style and influences

Whiston’s sound is described through dense, shifting production: bass-heavy, distorted, and built from chopped and fractured samples. His approach pulls from across electronic music rather than settling into a single style, and his influences include Arca, Hudson Mohawke and Death Grips. He is also associated with the act Gloo.