The Only Poster on My Wall

Steve Aoki is the only DJ I’ve ever had a poster of. That’s not nothing. Most people collect art, I apparently collect one framed piece of evidence that I lost my mind sometime around 2009 and never fully recovered.

Born in Miami, raised in California—son of Benihana founder Rocky Aoki, brother of Devon Aoki, who is objectively one of the most beautiful women to have existed on this planet. The family genetics are not playing fair. Steve took his share and channeled it into becoming one of the most recognizable faces in electronic music, eventually building his label Dim Mak Records into a genuine cultural force.

Pillowface and His Airplane Chronicles came out in 2008 and I finally got around to it. I know. But some things are worth being late for. The album is basically a remix collection that reads like Aoki handed someone a list of my favorite tracks and said: do the worst possible thing to these, make them filthy and undeniable. Remixes of Justice, Uffie, Peaches, Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand—all of them hauled into something heavier and sweatier and more urgent. Not just beats slapped on top. The original DNA is still in there, spliced with something that makes you want to break things in a good way.

I’m already getting phantom club sweat just thinking about it. Cold shower. Immediately.