Guides
Curation as product
Curation is not a playlist. It’s a product discipline. The lineup is the product. The brand is the trust that...
Tag
curation
Guides
Hardware live sets as programming differentiator
Every underground lineup in NYC looks the same: eight DJs playing CDJs for an hour each. The programming blurs together....
BTS
Music file quality: why we check every DJ’s library
Before any DJ plays a SLIST event, we verify their music library. This is not a suggestion. It is a...
Scene
There are a million highly skilled bedroom DJs who will never see the light of day
There are a million highly skilled bedroom DJs who will never see the light of day. Not because they lack...
Dark Culture
Gossip is Google reviews for the underground
Gossip is a necessary evil and tool. Something to keep us all honest with each other. That is the position,...
BTS
We cut a DJ’s set after 15 minutes
Fifteen minutes into a set, the decision was already made. The DJ was playing YouTube-ripped tracks through a sound system...
BTS
Clout is the ultimate currency
In the underground scene, there is a currency more liquid than cash: clout. It opens venues. It books headliners at...
Dark Culture
75% of the world doesn’t like dark music. Good.
Seventy-five percent of the US population does not like listening to dark music. There is statistically no point in trying...
BTS
The guest list is a precision instrument
The guest list at SLIST is not a perk. It is not a favor. It is not generosity. It is...
Guides
Set time strategy: how to program a 12-hour event
Programming a 12-hour event is not the same as programming a 4-hour club night stretched out. The energy arc, the...
BTS
What dark actually means
Every promoter in New York will tell you their events are “dark.” They slap a black flyer on Instagram, book...
BTS
Extract the darkest shit people normally don’t play elsewhere
There is a single sentence that defines everything we book for. It is the mission statement that every DJ hears...
Values
Access to guest lists
Over the course of 2023, Slist distributed more than 2,300 tickets to at least 100 different raves. A policy of...
Updates
Why I stopped DJing
March 2026 was my last month behind the decks as SLIST. Three final sets, then I handed it off. The...
Updates
The residency program: why I killed it and why it worked
Last month I disbanded the SLIST residency program. The scene politics had gotten toxic enough that the structure was doing...
Guides
How to Start Your Own “S LIST”
1. start by following atleast 1 DJ/event organizer/promoter 2. follow every relevant account they tag in their posts/stories 3. browse...
Dark Culture
The SLIST doctrine
Every organization has values. Most of them are corporate filler — aspirational nonsense designed to look good on a website...
Values
Going against the grain
In December 2023, SLIST threw an industrial techno event in SoHo. The conventional wisdom said this was a ridiculous idea....
Recommendations
TV shows for when the afters end
View the full IMDB list It’s 6am. The music stopped an hour ago or maybe three. You’re home but not...
Dark Culture
About: Why I share curated entertainment lists
Sharing recommendations with like minded people is the best sli.st is a reference to S tier lists. I’ve found that...
Recommendations
Dark films that shaped SLIST
View the full IMDB list Dark film is not horror. Horror wants to scare you. Dark film wants to sit...
Values
Tastes over activism
SLIST books DJs for one reason: their taste. Not their follower count. Not their gender. Not their politics. Not the...
Recommendations
Dark albums that belong in every DJ’s library
Darker music makes me feel nostalgic and cathartic. I enjoy those feelings. That’s the root. This is not a genre...
Guides
Curated List of Events
I currently use my stories to share most upcoming events. I then sort each story/flyer by date and into highlights....
Recommendations
Manga and anime for people who like dark music
View the full MyAnimeList SLIST started as an anime blog. That’s not a joke — it’s the origin story. Before...