Get between the sheets and slip into the dream world with rapid pi movement, a column from beloved mix series and label pi pi pi. Each month, it will feature a cheeky, dreamy conversation with an artist from the wider pi soundscape, alongside an unreleased track showcases where the artist is in between releases. 

Oscar Huang is a Brooklyn-based DJ/producer (and mainstay of pi pi pi) known for his swagged out Lot Radio appearances and slippery West Coast inspired productions. Here, he picks up where his last release, Slipstream, left off, pushing the reality-busting edge of his trademark sound into a moody half-step zone, somewhere between rave-sleep and lucid trance. Titled “Temporary’s Snooze,” the song is a genre-bending ode to the Groovy Groovy-affiliated DJ Temporary, whose mind-altering set at the legendary Grove at Sustain-Release was, in our opinion, one of the best sets of the year. In fact, Temporary used this track as an emo tool for going from tripped out goa into a moment of reflection. Mesmerized weary festival-goers were captivated with its warm, spaced-out breaks; dubby sub bass; twisted Cape Fear vocals; and delayed, psychedelic synth lines.

In this edition of rapid pi movement, Oscar discusses the artistic clarity that can occasionally come from dreams, his idiosyncratic sleep habits, and the DJ nightmares that keep him up at night. 

deep creep: Your head meets the pillow after a long, sunless day in the dead of NYC winter. What thoughts are doing little loops in your mind before you fall into slumber?

Oscar Huang: Generally I try to practice a little gratitude before I fully close my eyes, thinking about things I’m grateful for to get myself in the right headspace. I’m a very calculated person by nature, so I’m often thinking of things I need to prepare for the next day to truly wind down. I need to keep the phone away from me, too; otherwise, I go down Wikipedia spirals to feed my endlessly inquisitive nature on my hobbies—like, “Did Andriy Shevchenko deserve the Balon D’or in 2004?” or “How to properly season a carbon steel pan.” The latter I still can’t figure out for the life of me—please help. The former is pretty settled in my opinion, so fight me football (soccer) fans.

Describe what a cozy zone looks like for you. Preferred temperature? Ceiling patterns? Sheets of choice? Cuddle or solo sleep?

Ice cold, but my partner is the complete opposite. We balance each other out and end up at the perfect snuggling temperature.

Melting into melatonin, no phones on the dance floor or in the bed…What are your weird sleep rituals?

I’m terrible about going to sleep on time. My partner can sleep on the spot no matter what. I seem to be able to draw this infinite energy from the ether and can just will myself to stay up. I think it's an Aries thing. 

I try to be productive, so I often just work on tunes or read. When I do get my sleep hygiene in order, though, [I do] some breathing exercises and stretching. Stretching is a big one, since I started playing soccer again with friends. I’m doing my best to reclaim my high school athletic form these days.

When you finally slide into slumber, what classic DJ nightmare interrupts your tranquility? 

“File format not accepted” on a CDJ/XDJ, or a record that won’t stop skipping. The file format thing, though, is the absolute worst, and it’s happened to me so many times. I now bring two back-up USBs and convert all the new tracks I want to play to both aiff and mp3 before a gig. There is really nothing more demotivating than getting excited to play some new track that you want to share with others, only for something really lame like a file format issue to stop your momentum.

You’re experiencing sleep paralysis. What’s one track that is powerful enough to wake you up?

Some tear out amen-break jungle. “Selekta” by Red Light comes to mind. That tune always reminds me of those “me when the jungle/Dnb tune hits” memes. One of my favorite tunes from the 95 jungle era.

If someone were to make a movie about your dreams, what producer would score the soundtrack?

Probably Joe Hisaishi. Incredible composer. The Sonatine score comes to mind. He’s worked on so many soundtracks that incorporate classical, experimental, and minimalist aesthetics in such a spellbinding way. I really adore all his contributions to Takeshi Kitano’s films. His Miyazaki work is also very easy to love and timelessly beautiful.

What role does music play while you sleep?

I sometimes will think of track ideas in between that transient state of awake and sleeping. There are often moments of intense artistic clarity in that lucid dreaming state, where I’m able to articulate motifs out quickly. I try to record those ideas down, either by sending myself very elaborate voice memos that would be deeply embarrassing if ever made public or going straight to the computer to get it written down in Ableton. 

“Temporary’s Snooze” is somewhat of a product of that. I was lucid dreaming, half awake, chopping breaks in this bizarre version of Ableton and playing with delays and reverb. I am really happy to have finished that one and was beyond stoked when everyone went wild for it at Sustain-Release this year. It’s one of the few tunes that I was able to wake myself up to finish in one go. I’ve lost many potentially great tracks to dreams, but I’d like to think that those lost ideas subconsciously transpose themselves when I’m actively writing while awake.

You’re opening your eyes to the dawn of the new day. What song is in your head?

Nala Sinephro’s “Space 1.” It’s Beautiful track that always gets me in an optimistic space for the day. Usually it’s something jazz adjacent with some ambient qualities that gets the day started for me.

Here is a forced lucid dream: You are in a club in the 90s in Miami. It contains lengthy hedonistic plants, as well as a state-of-the-art fog mist machine that makes loud “SZzHshhhh” noises. What’s the first thing you do?

Sounds super fun. I’d go exploring around, checking out the plants, and do some people watching. Maybe grab a whiskey highball and go wiggling about on the dance floor.

What does this track mean to you?

This is personally my favorite track I’ve made, for many reasons. It’s one of a few where I had a fairly clear idea of what I wanted to articulate, soundscape-wise. It’s also a track that delineates a personal style that I’ve been leaning into a bit more lately. I wasn’t focused so much on thinking, Would this go off at a club? or, Would my friends think this is cool? I just thought, I don’t really know how this fits in the musical zeitgeist, or how I would even describe it myself, but I love this track and I don’t really care what anyone thinks. It’s one where I felt fully confident in writing. It’s a nice reflection of all my eclectic musical interests and influences, without consciously trying to replicate a specific style.

Hearing my good friend Declan (DJ Temporary) close his Sustain-Release set with it was also a dream come true. We’ve been working on tunes a lot lately, and Declan was trying to find something that was 140 bpm+, dubby, and brought the energy down. I was showing him some more downtempo “slambient” I’ve been working on. We were just joking around about playing those tunes at 2x speed, super pitched up, and I remembered that I had finished this tune a few months back. It was the perfect track to close out what was my favorite set that weekend.

You know me: I love the big dance stacks and bass bins, and this one sounded fierce on the system. The track was named in honor of Declan. Big up to the selektah!!!