SHAKING
A conversation with SHAKING — an LA-based DJ making garage-inspired dance music for the next generation — ahead of his headline show at tomorrow’s enc0re party, about his sound, influences, and ideal night out.
Interview // Cameron Bunge
This conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
SHAKING’s path to becoming a DJ was far from straightforward.
Living in LA for most of his life, he did a brief stint at SF State, before dropping out to work for Top Dog Entertainment back in LA. What promised to be an exciting run of work doing VJ work for major artists was cut short by COVID. Not only did live events come to a stand still but…
SHAKING // Six months into COVID, all of the cool VHS glitch stuff that I was doing — 16-year-olds were catching up to me.
So he used it as a chance to refocus on music, running the gauntlet of open format nights in Hollywood, fluidly shifting through genres until he found his sound. Moving through techno (before it was big in LA) and jungle (when it was mostly listened to by kids under bridges wearing trip pants), until he finally found his home in the garage scene.
SHAKING // Four-to-the-floor speed garage felt like the solve. Groovy enough for the house kids, fast enough for the techno kids. And it had the same sound palette as jungle.
He heard Interplanetary Criminal for the first time around summer 2022-23 and locked in. That was it.
He also admits to being inspired by Frost Children and Ninajirachi lately, but generally he doesn’t listen to much music.
SHAKING // I very much like to listen to my own stuff over and over and over and be like is this good enough
His primary inspirations come from outside of music entirely, like books.
SHAKING // When I read a book set in 1300s Italy at a monastery, all of a sudden things like old Gothic fonts become very appealing to me.
A movie with a great score pulls you toward the score. A book has no soundtrack, so there's more room to invent. He's been into Cosmos lately, a Pinterest alternative. Visual imagery, no audio.
SHAKING // I prefer inputs that are not music-related so I can build a world around them.
When asked to describe his sound, he won’t compare himself to anyone else…
SHAKING // I can never think of someone that's accurate enough. It’s more about the emotions I’m trying to convey
For me it's a lot more interesting to make music that can be played in as many different scenarios as possible. The artists who are really inspirational to me make music where you can listen to it in your car, or you can hear it in the club and it's the biggest song of the night.
He references Daft Punk as one of them — artists who made music for the heads and for everybody without getting lost in the middle.
SHAKING // I envision it as music you can hear at a club, at a rave, at a festival, or in your bathroom while you’re taking a shower. It doesn’t always translate as that — but that’s the ultimate goal.
His latest release is Push It. The track features Coupdekat, a British vocalist he discovered on TikTok a few years back.
She followed him on Instagram over the summer, said hit him up to work on something when she came out to LA. He freaked out.
SHAKING // I had this idea of doing a remake of Funky Town if it was made in Manchester, like a hard house tune from Manchester, except it's Funky Town with a sassy vocal over it.
Having been around the LA dance scene for a while, he has some very strong opinions about where to go out.
For him, the best sound in LA is at the Lights Down Low warehouse downtown.
SHAKING // The guy they used to have doing sound out of Ataraxis Acoustics is just a whole other level. Anything he's running sound on is going to be literally best in class.
His go-to for hanging out is Zebulon, and he'll defend it against anyone.
SHAKING // If you're hating on Zebulon, you're literally just doing it because everyone else loves it and you're just trying to be different." Front room for dates, patio for smoking, stage for dancing. The DJ sits in a dark corner where nobody can see them, the stage is lit, 40 people up there moving. So everyone is like, ‘oh, if they're dancing then I can dance.’
UPCOMING SHOWS
enc0re presents // SHAKING + FRIENDS
Homage Brewing [Los Angeles]
[03202026]SHAKING + CANARY YELLOW + TESH + VESPER + CHROME MAMI
Midnight Museum [Los Angeles]
[03212026]Enter The Realm
The Midway [San Francisco]
[04042026]HARD SUMMER
SoFi Stadium [Los Angeles]
[08012026]
< SHAKING >
// Spotify
ARTIST.LOGMAR 20, 2026
