Kiinjo

Kiijo is a new chapter in the career of Canadian superproducer Grandtheft, who cut his teeth during the halcyon days of Bloghaus zigzagging between LA and Montreal, DJing alongside the likes of DJ AM, Justice, MSTRKRFT and Boys Noize. Grandtheft topped the Hypemachine charts with disco-house bangers and then, as American Apparel deep Vs got discontinued and Four Loko got banned, he went on to release club and bass music on a slew of seminal labels. By 2022, it was time for Grandtheft to get his groove on again. Under the name Kiinjo, he blends all his musical experiences, past and present: the fun, the funky, the silly and the soulful. Kiinjo is a sultan of sampling and a luminary of loops, sometimes flipping snippets from his own previous rap beats. They’re sped up, chopped around and then layered onto house drums – an ode to the sounds of Armand Van Helden, Masters at Work and the French Touch movement, as well as an expression of unadulterated artistic freedom and pure ebullience. “This is all new to me,” Kiinjo says, “I had all this fun, fresh music bubbling up inside me, and now there’s an outlet for it. All I want to do is make people dance, move, have fun, and one day play in Ibiza”