Welcome to the JNTM team, Zak!

Joining us from Flagstaff, Arizona, ladies and gentlemen please welcome Zak! Zak is a Junior at Norther Arizona University and when he’s not dancing his ass off at a show he enjoys a little bit of everything. A jack of all trades, Zak enjoys to create — music, videos, or whatever! Zak is a master barista and likes making coffee for people.

We caught up with Zak to find out a little bit more about one of our new contributors.

JNTM: Who are some of your favorite producers right now?

Zak: I’m really into GRiZ right now, Breakbot is a favorite of mine, [as well as] Oliver.  Anything with some funk in there.

JNTM: If you could see any DJ/artist perform live, who would it be?

Zak: I missed Gesaffelstien at HARD Summer, and I’ve been getting into him lately. So, that’s the first thing that comes to mind.  Wouldn’t mind seeing Dillon Francis again soon either.

JNTM: What’s the last show/festival you went to? Who was your favorite artist there?

Zak: HARD Day of the Dead.  And this is a tough question; with so many artists, it’s tough.  However, Pretty Lights really vibed with me in a surprising way.  The groovy subtleties in his set really got me moving.  Jack Beats was also surprisingly heavy.

JNTM: What are some genres you really like and some you really hate? Any that you hate you like?

Zak: For a long time, I was the guy who fully denounced electronic music.  I saw a lack of live instruments as a huge weakness in the music, like so many people do.  It wasn’t until I discovered the emotion and creativity that can be unlocked with the limitless sort of potential that EDM provides that I fell in love.

That being said, I still have an affinity for live instruments fused with electronic music.  GRiZ’s Rebel Era is a perfect embodiment of this.  Funk, groove, soul.

But hey, who doesn’t like to go hard?  Dog Blood, Bassnectar, Zomboy, ect…

Hate?  I’d have to go with trance.  I can stick with it for a few minutes, but 8 minutes into the same beat, and I get bored.  Maybe that makes me an uncultured neanderthal, I don’t know.

Hate that I like? I’ve heard it called “brostep”; That slow, 1-2 beat that Skrillex is all about.  Entry-level? Maybe.  Dope? Probably.

JNTM: If you could produce a track or DJ with any producer who would it be and why?

Zak: As far as him musical prowess, I’m not sure, but It’d be an absolute riot to spend a day with Dillon Francis. Ooh, or Gary Richards (Destructo).  That guy knows everything.

Want to join Zak on the JNTM team? Send us a message on Facebook and we’ll be in touch!