Newly-minted, SF-bred/LA-based producer a.k.a. skips wants to bring listeners back to the roots of dance music culture.
Over the past decade, the artist (formerly known as Ducky) made a name for himself with a refined, hyper-rave sound spanning the gauntlet of electronic genres, which led to collaborations with artists such as Jauz and MUST DIE!; performances at festivals such as Ultra Music Festival, EDC Las Vegas, Bonnaroo, and Lollapalooza; tours alongside heavy-hitters like Anna Lunoe, Mija, Kayzo, and NGHTMRE; and releases on vaunted labels such as Deadbeats, Astralwerks, Dim Mak, Activia Benz, Spinnin, NEST (OWSLA sister label), and more.
In 2021, a.k.a. skips retired the Ducky project to privately begin his transition as a transgender man and pursue other creative aspirations. Now, two years later, the producer remerges under a new alias, ready to showcase his holistic creative vision.
As a musician, photographer, painter, and professional tattoo artist, a.k.a. skips is an artistic polymath always striving to push his creativity into new directions. And with the launch of a new artist project comes a new sound that taps into the carefree abandon of rave music.
Without sacrificing the infectious danceability of his past work, a.k.a. skips is pivoting to a style that’s harder, grungier, and reflective of true underground dance values – all while introducing a bold new era in the process.
Today, a.k.a. skips releases “F.T.N.U.” – his debut single under the new alias and a mesmerizing, 90s-inspired warehouse rave banger. Filled to the brim with vintage club synth chord progressions, scintillating high-hats, and swirling vocal samples, “F.T.N.U.” (which stands for “Fuck The Night Up”) is a brooding, classic-sounding dance track that embodies a punk ethos: an incendiary electronic cut doubling as queer rebellion, two modes that align with the a.k.a. skips brand.
“F.T.N.U.” – which a.k.a. skips teased in a promo video featuring bass producer Com3t and happy hardcore DJ/producer DJ Flapjack – is an exercise in tension and release. Kicking off with a thumping four-on-the-floor beat, the track slowly builds with waves of ethereal synth pads and central vocal chops before dropping into its blazing synth melody. But “F.T.N.U.” doesn’t relent there: the song’s dynamism keeps the momentum going, putting listeners on their feet transporting them into a sonic world of pure rave vibes.
With its throwback rave presentation and underground techno aesthetics, “F.T.N.U.” reintroduces an artist trying to push dance music forward by reminding the community of its liberatory, all-inclusive sensibilities. The track also displays a producer who, after years away from the spotlight, is ready to show the world everything he’s capable of.
The track comes in the midst of a new era for a.k.a. skips, who, in addition to making new music, has been displaying his paintings in galleries around the world, tattooing out of a well-known shop in DTLA, and gearing up to publish an autobiographical coffee table photo book that will coincide with an appearance at the LA Art Book Fair this summer. Stay tuned for more information.
