Birthed in the arches of Brixton, London, and raised on hardcore’s relentless energy, genesys has swiftly evolved into a sprawling cultural force that blurs the boundaries between nightlife, performance art and speculative world-building. Drawing on Tsutomu Nihei’s biomechanical manga and Bantu creation myths, genesys’ events unfold as living mythologies—part ritual, part rave—complete with cinematic visuals, clothing capsules and MMA spectacles. Along the way, they’ve hosted huge parties across Asia, tapped names such as Mowalola, Yung Sherman, Varg2™ and Danny L Harle and cemented their place in Drain Gang lore when Bladee, Ecco2K and Thaiboy Digital filmed the “TL;DR” music video at one of their shows. In 2025, fresh from the “Ultimate Raving Championship” hybrid, founders Anam Mclean and Rain Müller expand their vision with genesys1.0—a classic dance duo and extension of their multi-platform creativity—releasing their debut EP abyssal core on Swedish label YEAR0001, a natural home given the imprint’s commitment to audiovisual identity and cultivation of artists such as Bladee, Namasenda and Varg2™.
Last month’s Total Sonic Knockout 2 exemplified genesys’ ethos—a collision of club culture and fighting stripped of macho posturing and rebuilt around inclusivity, creativity and community. Fighters curate their own walkouts and visuals, the crowd votes on DJs and stages, belts and set designs are co-created by the collective itself—bouts end in hugs rather than hostility, transforming spectacle into a collaborative ecosystem. Against the backdrop of London’s turbulent nightlife and MMA’s exclusionary traditions, genesys feels less like an event than an act of cultural resistance—an experiment heralding an important new wave of independent, hybrid entertainment.
With genesys1.0’s debut EP abyssal core out now, and the latest showdown at London’s HERE at Outernet still reverberating across the city, we were able to catch a glimpse into their evolving universe.
What was it about Year0001 that felt like the right home for your debut EP? Did the collaboration come naturally through the scene?
genesys1.0: Year0001 has incubated some of our favourite artists since our childhood. They’re the only label that has such a strong audiovisual identity and aesthetic narrative, and thus working with them feels more like a creative collaboration than a release. We had been in contact for about a year already since we were booking their artists to perform at our events.
The track “Nyambe//Alfadir” feels like a descent into something ancient and alive. You reference Nyambe and Alfadir as these twin forces of creation and oblivion: did that imagery come before the music, or did the sound lead you there? How do narrative and sonic language evolve together in your process?
genesys1.0: Nyambe is the supreme deity, creator and destroyer of the universe in the traditional Bantu religions. Alfadir is the “all-father” the proto-Germanic name for the same deity. We see divinity in the intermixing of ancestral pools, and are fascinated by the resulting dual morphic fields that we are both able to draw from, the title is sort of reference to the mixed-race experience and God’s transcendence of culture and ethnicity.
There’s this rhythm in the EP between descent and celebration. Do you think of your sound as building something new or breaking something open?
genesys1.0: The genesys sound is neither breaking nor building, it’s synthesising an eclectic body of subgenres and sonic movements.
If this EP exists inside the arcology of Nyambe, where are we in it? Near the surface, somewhere in the middle, or deep near the core?
genesys1.0: It depends which track you’re listening to, each track is a different layer of the arcology, in descending order.
You remixed a 2006 UK hardcore track for the final track, what drew you to that specific era of sound after building a world that moves between ancient myth and futuristic visions?
genesys1.0: On any timeline, in any universe, hardcore will never die.
You’ve done parties, fashion, martial arts events – and now released your first EP with Year0001. Has that opened up new ideas for where Genesys could go next?
genesys1.0: We really want to focus on building and designing more wearable tech, that is our main focus and aim.
Your recent party featured Hatsune Miku, which felt wild but also kind of perfect. Tell us more about this.
genesys1.0: genesys is the only place in the known universe where you can see a 10ft Hatsune Miku hologram performance, 7 MMA fights, and Skrillex for less than a pack of cigs.
Total Sonic Knockout 2, 2nd August 2025:
