Photo Credit: What So Not team/MP3 Labs
Artists are known for changing creative direction once or twice in their careers, and this year, genre-defining Australian electronic music producer and DJ, What So Not, entered a new artistic chapter.
Dropping his new project, I SAW A TRAP DJ, AND IT CHANGED MY BIO CHEMISTRY, the electronic music record-breaker is currently throwing intimate shows throughout the US in celebration of the new creative direction, including a stop at Substance in Las Vegas.
“For a long time, I found myself running away from a sound I helped create,” What So Not shared. “In my journey to always do the ‘next’ thing, I think I neglected my thing. This project comes from finally reconnecting with that energy – not to recreate the past, but to understand why it resonated so deeply in the first place.”
Centered around revisiting the legacy of early trap and internet-era electronic music culture, the shows have thrown attendees, including myself, into a euphoric blend of nostalgia and cultural celebration. The project itself all started with What So Not’s roots.
Da Project
Photo Credit: What So Not team/MP3 Labs
Rather than just taking folks back in time, What So Not’s newest project is both a love letter of personal reflection and a deeper look at the trap and bass music era that transformed global dance culture throughout the 2010s. As one of the defining movers and shakers behind the rise of cinematic trap and future bass music, the tour and project celebrate the art of real-life connection, enhancing a resurgence of a widely celebrated moment in electronic music history.
“I feel like I’m finally writing the music everybody wants from me – but on my own terms, on my own time, with the tools of a lifetime chasing ‘what’s next’,” the artist said in a press release announcing the project.
And the timing couldn’t be more perfect. As 2010 nostalgia, influences from early internet environments, and most importantly, community-first events rapidly re-enter music culture, the tour catapults the feeling of vibing to drum & bass and cinematic songwriting on a more intimate landscape and level.
Drawing inspiration from early SoundCloud culture, formative collaborations, and the explosion of a sound the artist helped create, the project fuses the old with the new by combining global rhythmic influences with years of his own experimentation across drum & bass, analog production, and cinematic songwriting. It’s the type of cuts you can not only listen to and close your eyes and see, but also feel.
And that was indeed the intention.
“Doubt, evolution, inspiration, or lack thereof, it’s a journey a lot of us go through as artists. There’s a layer of sadness to that, also so much beauty & growth,” What So Not said in an Instagram post about a new project.
“But here I am…2026, amplified, hungry, inspired. With all the tolls of DnB, analog exploration & rhythms from around the globe, re-captivated, like the rest of the world, by this 2016 energy.”
The announcement came with a full social reset, a new creative direction, and a limited-capacity US tour with stops at selected festivals, including DAS ENERGI in Salt Lake City and Breakaway Music Festival in North Carolina, and intimate shows in a handful of cities, including Los Angeles, Denver, San Francisco, and most recently Las Vegas.
What So Not Takes Substance in Las Vegas Higher
Substance, owned and operated by RVLTN Events, has become the premier (yet still underground) electronic dance music venue in Las Vegas. Designed with a raw warehouse aesthetic featuring concrete floors and visual art, the space is equipped with a massive festival-grade 200,000-watt L-Acoustics sound system and a 100-foot 4K LED wall. Sitting in the heart of Downtown Las Vegas, on Fremont Street on the second floor of the Neonopolis entertainment complex, it holds around 1,200 people, bridging the gap between small local bars and massive 2,500+ capacity mega-clubs. It’s the perfect space to celebrate What So Not’s newest project.
Held on a typically busy night in Las Vegas, the Friday night show drew in guests from each corner that makes up the United States’ West Coast region. The vibes were right as the crowd fed off the energy that What So Not was laying down.
Dropping tracks from his 2013 breakout album, High You Are, and, of course, his three new EPs from his current album, including Candy Flipping, the night captured the intention behind the idea for the project. With mesmerizing artists displaying as his backdrop, What So Not easily connected with the crowd on a deeper level, taking them through the past and future of his artistic journey.
A beautiful tribute to a friend and DJ, Oliver Tree, lit up the venue as attendees joined in on the memorial tribute. The night ended on a high note of memorable collaborations, futuristic drops, and the soundscapes that made the Australian DJ iconic in the first place.
Da Music Speaks for Itself
This summer, What So Not, whose stage name is Emoh Instead, dropped his third and final single from‘Candy Flipping,’ which features Alina Pash, Jack Blom, and NERVE. The track is described as “a dance of human ego,” pulling the feelings of transformation and ego, euphoria, and identity, in opposing forces. It’s a subtle callout to the altered state of consciousness one feels under multiple substances.
Feeling is a major part of the album’s core, with EPs EVEREST and MONA LISA offering a slide into different emotions of healing and self-destruction. The way the album feels is the differentiating piece that separates what the artist has already done and what he’s planning for this new era of his musical career.
Born out of the height of the SoundCloud-era trap movement, What So Not’s catalog spans collaborations with artists like Skrillex, RL Grime, Oliver Tree, Killer Mike, Toto, and Daniel Johns. But he’s never shied away from evolving with the times and leaving his footprint on the dance music culture with singles like ‘Gemini’ and ‘Jaguar.’ Furthermore, his immersive live performances fuse cinematic visuals and live instrumentation for emotion-wrecking storytelling.
I SAW A TRAP DJ AND IT CHANGED MY BIOCHEMISTRY catapults audiences into this new voyage, and What So Not is taking us all along with him. He continues captivating listeners everywhere with the weaving of his cultural foundations with his years of artistic evolution.