Fresh Kicks 198: KYRUH

Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, KYRUH became a techno devotee frequenting parties such as the now defunct Solarplexia, a DIY series held in various haunts across the city. For her, it’s venues like Bossa Nova Civic Club that feel like home; renowned for its forward-thinking line-ups, it’s one of the first clubs that booked her and continues to support her rise.

“I started learning how to DJ in 2018. I would practise in my room all the time, with no intention of anything. I was just like, ‘I love the music, let’s just play around with it’. I started sending mixes out during the pandemic, then after that is when I started getting my first gigs, and Bossa Nova is a huge part of that. It’s a techno club, and I would say the scene in New York is very eclectic, lots of music genres are accepted. Bossa is where I can play dark, rolling techno to people who love the music and are searching for that energy,” she explains.

Early on, KYRUH didn’t have any mentors. She taught herself to DJ, inspired by the music she heard while on dancefloors pre-pandemic. “I had to work it all out in front of people,” she says. “It was very unfiltered and genuinely like, ‘I don’t know what I’m doing, but I really like doing this with you and I have so much love and respect for the rave’. So that allowed me to establish a sense of identity without having a lot of noise on how it’s supposed to be, which I thought was really good. And as I have been developing over the past couple of years it’s been really great, because I feel... not always so confident, because you can’t be confident all of the time... but I know what I want to say. Confident in the sense that it’s ok if you don’t have it all figured out. Hopefully people who love hearing this sound now will be along for the ride.”

KYRUH has a longstanding love for dancing, and her DJ sets explore tracks that make her body move. She favours techno with a groove, often minimal in other elements, but with rolling kicks, and bass as the driving force. Her club sets are energetic, high octane, and often hypnotising. “When I’m looking for a track, I’m visualising myself on the dancefloor hearing it... What does it feel like? What does that look like? Do I feel like I want to dance right now? I’m looking for tracks that get my heart jumping,” she explains.

She has a residency with Infra, the techno collective based in Boston, a place where she’s been given the opportunity to spin alongside artists and friends including WTCHCRFT and Anthony Parasole. In April, she embarked on her first ever European tour, with gigs at Renate in Berlin, DE REACTIE festival in Enschede, Thuishaven in Amsterdam, and a guest appearance on HÖR radio in Berlin. Back home in New York she’ll be playing WIRE FESTIVAL, plus more dates to come at Basement NYC, another club that she visits regularly. 

For KYRUH, it’s been a fast ascent since her first gig in 2021, and her story is still only just beginning. As well as her copious amounts of energy and dedication to techno, she’s passionate about the clubs that she plays being a space for inclusivity and expression. “In these spaces, there’s so much anonymity — even as a DJ. The thing that I love about it is [it’s] this space where you can mould into who you want to be without the pressure of who you are and who you have been. You can be no one and everyone all at once.”

Listen to KYRUH’s Fresh Kicks mix below. 

Tracklist:

Skodde ‘Retrospect (TRUSSEL Remix)’
Takayuki Kamiya, Satella ‘Exp’
Diamanda Galás ‘I Wake Up and I See the Face of The Devil’
ACOR ‘Unstoppable’
Steve RedHead ‘Sea Choy’
Leo Laker, Tomash Gee ‘For The Drugs’ (Original Mix)
Daniella da Silva ‘RaveBae’ (Original Mix)
Buried Secrets ‘Echoes From The Past’
Stukes ‘DLADYWYA’
Sha Ru ‘Taiga’
Roks ‘In My Mind’
P.E.A.R.L. ‘Dirty Knees’
B2 ‘One Night In Bogotá’
Golpe ‘Vocal Shit’
JoeFarr ‘Well Tempered (Buried Secrets)’
Aahan ‘We'll Rave Again (Perc Remix)’
Pfirter ‘Distant’ (Original Mix) 
Y-NØT ‘Crave (Mython Remix)’ 
Gigi de MArtino ‘Neverending Rave (Van Dexter Remix)’
Lobster ‘Krrsantan’
Cratan ‘Menace’