Kim Kemi likes to get really close to the crowd.
“I like to play at small places because of the intensity. When you get that close to people, you can
watch their faces and really see when you catch them with your music. That kind of interaction is
awesome.”
His dj name fittingly depicts the intense chemistry between him and the audience. He performs
behind the decks when he plays, transforming his delight in the music and the extra energy he
receives from the crowd into sizzling bursts of enthusiasm and joy. He will bounce about like a live
wire, a crazy bomb of energy. He will pull the audience into his sets and look like the happiest dj you
have ever seen. Still, the word “melancholy” keeps popping up, when he talks about what moves
and inspires him.
As a kid, he would run into the room of his older brother to steal his mixtapes with 80s music. He
would copy them and listen to them for hours and hours, deeply absorbed. And the sound of the
80s is still his greatest inspiration.
His interest in electronic music was sparked by a Prodigy concert in Copenhagen in the beginning of
the 90s. Before that, he was mainly into thrash and death metal.
The electronic sounds of Spooky, Depeche Mode, New Order, Bryan Ferry, BoyTronic,Yello and Tricky
took over, and he started frequenting the parties of the emerging electronic scene of Copenhagen.
In 1997, he started dj’ing. Four years later, he met fellow electro afficianado Amox, and they
released their first record (“Me So Horny”) in 2004 on Lasergun Rec. Over the next five years, Mr.
Kemi & Amox released several records on Lasergun, Mis Rec, Gold Und Liebe, Opossum and Darek.
Later on they changed their name to 2 Working Donkeys and released another two records on
Opossum and one on Darek.
Kim Kemi’s strong bond to Berlin was established when he ran his own monthly club night – Zink
Club – at Sternradio from 2006 to 2007. Since then, he has played at Panorama Bar, Deep, Polar TV,
Sage Club, Sternradio, Watergate, Arena Club, Bar25, Golden Gate and at the Love Parade in Berlin.
His groovy, deep and sexy sound, which he likes to describe as futuristic disco-techno, has given him
dj-gigs all over the world (from Chile, Italy, Iceland to Schwitzerland and Spain), and he has run
regular club nights at the best clubs in Copenhagen, like Den Anden Side, Module, Culture Box,
Jolene and Dunkel.
His newest project is PhonoKemi, teaming up with fellow Dane and friend Jacob Phono, releasing
tracks on Highgrade Rec., Fantastic Friends and Bump Music.
They also run the bi-monthly club night “De To Spillemænd” at Dunkel in Copenhagen – a club night
dedicated to pulling the crowd through a multitude of different genres, mixing and blending high
quality stuff from the 80s to the present. And the intimate dancefloor and late opening hours of
Dunkel suits his style and the mood he wants to achieve perfectly.
“I like to play the late morning sets”, he says.
“Where people get extra sensitive and really let themselves be pulled into the music”.
And somehow, while the sun is rising and he is pulling the crowd into his set, he will, despite his
many years of experience, manage to look like he just discovered how mindblowingly great
electronic music is. Because of sheer enthusiasm. And it’s contagious
