You’ve never heard computer music quite like DJ_Dave’s. The Los Angeles-based electronic producer’s medium of choice is live coding, a discipline that demands the tech-savvy of a veteran programmer and the musical acumen of a one-man-band. She’s brought her show, where she triggers every instrument and sound live while sharing her computer screen for all to see, across the country to dedicated “algoraves” and major clubs like AvantGardner and Elsewhere, earning flowers from the likes of Grimes and Kero Kero Bonito. Now, with her debut album Hardcore Software on the way, an opening slot secured on Berlin hardstyle star horsegiirL’s next tour, and the most creatively ambitious headline shows of her career in the works, Dave is ready to bring her pioneering vision for electronic music to the most expansive audience yet.

A passion for music and affinity for technology have always gone hand-in-hand for DJ_Dave, who cites Phantogram as a key early inspiration. A childhood taste for gadgets of all kinds resurfaced in college when, unfulfilled as a fashion major, she decided to take an “algorave” course that introduced her to the core tenets of live coding: accessibility, knowledge-sharing, and active opposition to technofascism. When COVID-19 hit shortly after her graduation, she was still what she warmly describes as a “noob” to both coding and electronic music; but within a year, she’d gone from DJing a few virtual summits to key clubs on the American nightlife circuit. She swiftly carved out a clear lane for herself within electronic music’s new avant garde, dropping remixes for Tove Lo, Channel Tres, and Uffie, opening up for JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown’s joint tour, and putting out debut EP, Intercell. But she also started making videos detailing her production process, eager to knowledge-share and find out what clicked with listeners. Before long, she found herself with cohesive collection of songs that would become her debut, Hardcore Software.

As fluent in the driving force of trance and hardstyle as the delicate melodies of PC Music, Hardcore Software sits comfortably between the rave and the radio, ushering in listeners with more of a pop background while still tapping into the psyche of the most seasoned club kids. Working with live coding collaborators (Switch Angel, c_robo_) as well as likeminded electronic producers (Ninajirachi and meat computer), she’s pushing herself to introduce new elements into her core sound, from softer balladry (the pulsating “Await”) to more lyrical pop (“Alive Internet Theory”). Drawing inspiration from Clams Casino and Aphex Twin, Dave took extra care shaping and twisting samples of her own breathy, ethereal vocals, adding a new level of intimacy and texture to her icy club earworms.

Of all the tracks on Hardcore Software, lead single “Next to U” best exemplifies the inspiration and heart behind Dave’s practice. The snappy, power-fifth lead melody that drives the song came about by mistake: by mistyping one comma in Strudel, her live coding environment of choice, she altered its loop pattern, instructing it to go back and forth between a key change instead of layer notes. Within what felt like “thirty seconds,” she had her next song. It’s the kind of divine human error that drives DJ_Dave’s practice, and her rejection of the sanitation brought about by AI music. Her dream for live coding—which she has further explored in academic papers, TED Talks, and college lecture circuits—is not just to open up the dance floor, but to demystify the innovations Big Tech wants to keep out of the hands of the people. Mainstream electronic music is mired with muddy politics and sanitized sonics more than ever these days. With every tap of her keyboard, DJ_Dave is bringing the sound back to its revolutionary roots

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