PQ - proprioception (2022)

pq, real name Pete Jones, is a relative newcomer to the world of electronic dance music, but he has always been interested in making people move. His musical journey began in Nottingham as a drummer and songwriter for various metal and hardcore bands. When he moved to Leeds in 2011 he began to take interest in the darker and more experimental forms of dance music. Six years later, after having met fellow drummer and producer Spooky-J, the two moved to start a residency project in Kampala, Uganda in 2017 with the Nyege Nyege crew. Here they formed Nihiloxica, one of the most significant acts to rise out of the East African platform, a band with which he continues to write and tour to this day.

The nomadic producer has released via Nyege Nyege, Hakuna Kulala, Crammed Discs, Blip Discs, Opal Tapes and Hundred Flowers among others, with an eclectic output ranging from ambient and electroacoustic, through techno and grime, into club workouts. He also releases on Spooky Shit, a hyper-club label he runs with his best mates Spooky-J and Ekhe. This imprint proved formative in pq’s style, influencing a unique take on club music that is equal parts experimental, humourous and destructive on the dancefloor.

Proprioception is the name given to the body’s innate sense of positioning and motion. It governs our ability to move and detect our limbs in space. It enables us to dance. Centred around an energetic 160bpm core and punctuated with moments of blissful ambience, pq's ‘proprioception’ shimmers like a dream. As he elegantly shifts tempo, genre and style, pq’s signature analog and digital synthetics bounce around in polyrhythmic harmony, inspiring both bodily movement and out-of-body experience, all the while never taking itself too seriously. Can you dance if you can’t feel your limbs? pq is on a mission to find out.