All Encompassing

In January Steve Aoki, broadly associated with electro house, finally presented his debut album, Wonderland, a composite of EDM, urban and rock. He's been touring ever since – last stop Australia. “I always judge how the album is doing by crowd reaction from all the different shows. Whenever you see kids lip-syncing or singing along with the song, it's probably one of the best feelings in the world.” Wonderland has an epic guest list, including Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo, Wynter Gordon, will.i.am, Lil Jon, Chiddy Bang, LMFAO (R.I.P), Nervo, Lovefoxxx of CSS, KiD CuDi, Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker, and ex-Exploited guitarist Big John Duncan. As Aoki describes it, the album was completed by way of a huge studio crawl. “I think me being in LA made it really easy and convenient for people to work with.” Will.i.am, with whom Aoki cut 2010's crossover club joint I'm In The House, works nearby. Barker's studio is 10 minutes away, and Cuomo's 20. Then Aoki has his own set-up – and here Lil Jon, KiD CuDi and Chiddy Bang popped by. “Basically, my studio is the den of my house that I've outfitted, or retrofitted, to a studio spec to my liking.”

The Hollywood DJ originally known as Kid Millionaire was born in Miami to the late Hiroaki “Rocky” Aoki, a Japanese wrestler who founded the US Benihana restaurant chain, and his first wife, Chizuru Kobayashi. Steve's parents separated when Kobayashi discovered that Rocky not only had a mistress, but also a child with her. Steve, growing up in California, had limited contact with his father. In later years Rocky battled his children (though not Steve) for legal control of the family's assets.

Aoki attended the University Of California, Santa Barbara, majoring in Sociology and Women's Studies (he was one of two males in his final year). “It's kinda an odd thing to do – it questions your own sexuality, it questions a lot of 'man-ness' in you or masculinity,” he says of his interest in feminism. “But I have no problem with what society or people think of me. [If] they don't think I'm man enough, because I'm a Women's Studies graduate, they can go fuck themselves.” Momentarily Aoki sounds almost terse. In fact, he has a sly sense of humour. When recently the DJ's extravagant tour rider went viral, he blogged a funny commentary: “Two bottles of Cristal is definitely a ballin' move. Do I need it? No, but if I can get it… sweet!”

It was as a college student that Aoki, a hardcore punk, threw himself into music. He hosted gigs in his digs. Aoki was in the band This Machine Kills. He conceived Dim Mak, its name (the martial arts 'death touch') a twisted homage to Bruce Lee, in 1996. Meaningfully, he self-funded it; Dad not involved. Aoki issued music by The Kills, Gossip and Bloc Party. But, like Kele Okereke, he soon gravitated towards electro, emerging as a key proponent of indie-dance. Dim Mak subsequently signed MSTRKRFT. Aoki began to produce, initially with Blake Miller. He'd go on to remix Michael Jackson, Duran Duran and Drake, not to mention Lady GaGa (along with every other DJ). And he's collaborated on bangers with, among others, Armand van Helden, Laidback Luke (the Lil Jon-featuring Turbulence), and Afrojack (Olympian Michael Phelps has cited their No Beef as a motivational record). In 2008 Aoki offered Pillowface And His Airplane Chronicles – more mixtape than mix-CD.

Though he deserted academia, Aoki still views DJ culture in sociological terms. Now in “a position of power”, he strives to be “fair”. “In a way, I got into my school, which is a really great school, due to affirmative action – they needed more people of colour in that school. So I really take that into light with everything I'm part of. At least, I try to.”

In 2012 EDM is the sound of America, Aoki the country's top-grossing DJ, according to Pollstar. “I think that the reason why it has been bubbling with so much energy and passion and vigour is from all the youth – this is the youth's generation's choice of music.” What appeared to be a reboot of '90s electronica is more grassroots. “It's a whole lifestyle – it's not just the music, it's a culture.” Aoki did much to stimulate LA's underground, eventually becoming resident (and music director) at Wynn Resorts' Surrender Nightclub in Las Vegas.

While oldtimers mock the 'EDM' tag, Aoki sees it positively as an “all-encompassing” concept. There's no tribalism in the current scene – it's “a more harmonious environment”. “Before trance artists would never play a dubstep song, and a dubstep artist would never play an electro record.” Dim Mak secured the psy-trance duo Infected Mushroom for this year's dubstep-inspired LP Army Of Mushrooms. Aoki himself has teamed up with the trance Tiësto (Tornado), strayed into dubstep on Wonderland, and dabbled in moombahton on the new single Beat Down with Iggy Azalea (for July's Wonderland Remixed). “I'm influenced by all these different genres,” he says. “As an artist, and as a producer, I'm really just taking what I feel is the best from every genre and using that as my mood board to create new music.”

Aoki has expressed disillusionment in (indie) rock – and, ironically, even stadium heroes Muse are going dubstep. The DJ suggests that rock acts learn from EDM, appealing to potentially passionate young audiences via social media. After all, (major) labels no longer hold sway with marketing. “Music is completely decentralised.” As a label mogul, Aoki believes in “strategically” giving music away. “Before people were afraid of leaking music and how it's gonna affect your album sales, how it's gonna affect your career… Some indie artists I remember, there's one in particular, didn't release an album because it got leaked early! Now it's like you wanna leak your album, you want people to circulate that music… I always say that the most important thing is: circulate the music first and then we can sell music later.”

Aoki is inherently entrepreneurial. He's long had a Dim Mak streetwear (well, merch) range, but he has spoken of launching a fully-fledged fashion label, DASA, with his half-sister Devon, the supermodel and Sin City actor. “We're still figuring out what we're gonna do with this line.” Aoki is mates with Australia's Ksubi crew and joined them in a restaurant venture in LA (Dad would be proud).

However, as “all-encompassing” as EDM is, a gender imbalance exists in the DJ ranks. The Women's Studies grad has his own theory about that. The impetus is on DJs to produce, he says, yet the studio domain is populated by male geeks. “I think that the issue there is to be more inviting and find more ways to bring women into that world, so it's not so daunting of a task.” Regardless, Aoki points out, women dominate dance in a way men never can: as vocalists. His Aussie DJ friends Nervo have used that ability, to compose melodic “toplines”, to their advantage, covering different bases.

Aoki has enjoyed some of his “most memorable shows” in Australia, first visiting around 2005. This time he's excited about maximising the benefits of playing indoor venues. “It's always about the crowd to me.”