Two Nights Out with Mess Kid

​Walking through wide quiet streets to meet DJ, Producer, and Electronic Artist Artem Emelianov, AKA Mess Kid can't help but think of how removed his studio is.

Thursday, 10:20 PM

I turn off an industrial side street and sign in with a lonely security guard in the bare entryway of a massive multi-unit rehearsal space. Weaving through the maze of hallways I finally happen upon the man himself. He smiles and halfway mumbles "come on in" motioning to a couch, before taking his seat back behind an oversize desktop monitor. I've casually known the guy for a year or two, but this is the first time seeing him outside of a party, in his workspace.

Born in Latvia and raised in Detroit, Artem received his first set of turntables at the age of twelve. By eighteen he had moved to New York, but never DJ'd until he'd lived in the city for over a year. He first got attention for his earnestness; playing vinyl out at clubs like 1Oak and Beatrice in 2006 was a bizarre look, but the impression was lasting. Today he straddles a fine line, as both a beloved figure in the weirder reaches of the city, playing raves until all hours of the night, while simultaneously capturing the attention of the downtown fashion set (he has played so many Alexander Wang shows and events that it's becoming hard to tally them up). When I ask him about this he's kindly dismissive; he draws his inspiration from his normal friends he says, regular people not found in these bubble worlds he frequents.

10:05 PM

With that he begins to play tracks from his forthcoming E.P. which he is currently finishing up. Some tracks are days old, or still in progress, but some have been shelved for surprising amounts of time. A song called "Bottom of The Sea" is three years old, yet still sounds current. I ask him if it was made around the time of the temporary semi-joke subculture "Seapunk" but he tells me it was made before he heard the term. All things considered, the sound of the song was prescient then, but substantial now.

Next he plays a Jit track with his own vocal sample. Jit is Detroit's version of Chicago Juke, and he explains this was the music that got him going in the first place. "When I first snuck in the club with my Latvian cousin I witnessed how much dance battles ran the night. How everyone would wait until that moment when it was perfect and the circle would form. Crews dressed in matching attire would crawl from the dark spaces in the club and the battle would begin…" He drifts off before coming back in. "The Jit is Detroit's dance. It's main focus is the feet but there's other elements that come into play like pop and lock and hip roll. It was the most exciting thing I've ever witnessed live. It changed my life and the way I make music."

Friday 1 AM

Soon after I leave his studio to let him keep working – he's just getting in the swing of things. The next night he is playing a group birthday party, hosted by It-Girl De Se, at a bizarre club in Bushwick, and we make plans to meet there.

Passion Lounge is a club that has gone under many names over the years, but has only been 'discovered' in the past few, as the neighborhood has attracted more and more of the people that might have moved to the Lower East Side a few decades ago. Inside, it's part Miami and part old New York performance supper club. It is the kind of place that offers mixed drinks in vases and fishbowls, though most have learn quickly to pass on that sort of thing. It's a great place. Immediately when you walk in you see the double staircases leading to a VIP area generally reserved for hiding jackets during the winter, because everyone just dances all night.

The next night, Friday, 12:28 AM

When we finally meet up the line is down the block, and security is getting hectic. It's only half past midnight and they're bellowing that all exits are final. He arrives with only his girlfriend and old buddy in tow. Just in the door he shakes it off, giving the traffic jam at the door one last glance before continuing on with his night.

As he steps in the building emerging buzz artist JunglePussy is performing a couple songs from her new mixtape for the lively crowd. More or less everyone knows who he is, but this is New York, so only friends and acquaintances come up as he glides through the crowd, making his way towards the DJ booth to relieve local favorite and New York native Joey LaBeija.

1:15 AM

His set is fluid as always. Though he's edging in on a decade of club gigs, despite his baby face. Hearing him switch between genres the night after listening to his own music in the studio, his omnivorous sound is even more apparent. He begins to mix in some of his own tracks that night, testing the waters on a warm crowd, or blessing them with something they don't know they want yet, depending on how you look at it. He takes a quick break to let a second performer do her set, and we say a brief goodbye. He's still in the swing of things, and it's somehow already three in the morning.