maniken05 - producer, DJ, visionary, enigma. Hailing from Latvia they have had a massive year, signed to childsplay with tunes released on Angels Gun Club & Low Income Squad. Their tunes break alll the boundries of genre and are guaranteed to increase ur heart rate to a dangerous level. 

What is the scene in Latvia like , any club / label / artist highlights?

I honestly don’t know much about local scenes, never been really interested in them until recently, never played in a club before too (i’m underage + nobody gives a fuck bout me lol). Artist I would wanted to highlight is Sirdsapes. That dude has been blowing up recently, he is like a Latvian version of Locked Club.

You seem to float between genres, how would you describe the music you play?

That’s a tough question because I just make whatever I want. Maybe I'd call it genrefluid dance music or hyper ghetto house music. It doesn’t really matter what I call it or what you call it. Music is what truly matters

Can you set the scene of a night you would curate -

Small dark club with lots of people in it. Crazy lights. Positive energy. Everyone’s hyped up. No phones. No drugs (preferably, but do them if you want).


Who were your inspirations to start creating music?

I started making music in 2015. Me and my classmates were really into Geometry Dash and if you know what that game is you probably know that music is a crucial part of it. So, there was and probably still is an artist named Xtrullor. He was posting his tracks to Newgrounds from which his music spread out onto GD and everyone could make custom levels with his music in the background. My friend found out about which DAW Xtrullor was using, it was FL Studio. Two weeks after, I was fucking around in FL. Skrillex inspired me the most though, I never was really into Xtrullor.


What would a cult who listened to your songs dress like?

A cult who listened to my songs would dress like me. All black with maybe some colour accents. Sportswear elements with high fashion or avantgarde pieces. I’m not a style god (yet) but If they like my music they better not dress like NPC’s

2 policies you’d implement as president?

I would legalise hugging homies and lowered prices of everything somehow. 

Favourite scandal of 2022?

I don’t like scandals, at all, but Balenciaga fucked uuuuuup bro, and they kinda deserved it. I was a big fan of Demna (current creative director) before the controversy but not anymore.

What do you predict the next alternative music genre to be?

I feel like Rap is gonna fall off really hard in the next 3-5 years because underground is about to become mainstream.





How would you describe your style of graphics, particularly on your EPs?

Osian jenear and polarfantasy helped me find this style. huuuge shoutout to them


What was your favourite track you released last year?

‘Sugar’ no doubt about it. Shoutout drain gang I sampled bladee’s sugar on that track and nobody seemed to notice.


What is your ‘attics’ physical form?

My brain


What are the thoughts in your attic? 

Essence of time is laughing at all of us because of how fast it flies away. What if Russians decide to attack us today? I want to change my artist name


How do your more abstract and masked/secret ideas influence your creative processes?

They influence my creative processes a lot, I'm not gonna disclose any of them though.


What/who is hiding under your bed(s)?

Uuuuuhhhhh dust. I have like 2 centimetre gap between my bed and the floor, so unfortunately no monsters under there🙁 (donate me to buy big bed)


The year is 2100 and all thats left are burning car tyres - what / who are u roasting on the fire for your end of the world dinner party?

I’d rather order out…