Biography
London's Felix Manuel, recording as Djrum, shapes an intricate strain of electronic music that fuses club idioms such as techno, garage, and jungle with his longstanding immersion in jazz and classical forms. Rather than standard dancefloor fare, his pieces unfold as extended, segmented works that resemble compact film scores. Following a 2010 debut and a series of well-received EPs—most prominently the 2011 set Mountains—he delivered his first album, Seven Lies, in 2013. Although sampling underpins many of his earlier records, Manuel shifted emphasis toward his own piano performance on the 2018 follow-up Portrait with Firewood.
Trained as a jazz pianist, Manuel cites Alice Coltrane and Keith Jarrett as formative influences. He took up DJing in the late 2000s as part of the Yardcore crew, which staged events across London and hosted a monthly program on the online station Sub.fm featuring garage, dubstep, drum'n'bass, gabba, and breakcore. In 2010, initially credited as DJ Rum, he issued the atmospheric post-dubstep singles "Plead with Me" and "St. Martin," both built around cryptic vocal fragments and dub echoes. Signing to 2nd Drop Records the next year, he released the two-part Mountains EP, which drew praise from Resident Advisor and prompted a 2012 remix 12".
After remixing tracks by LV and Phaeleh, supplying an RA podcast mix, and issuing the single "Watermark," Djrum presented his debut album Seven Lies in 2013. He kept issuing ambitious singles, chiefly through 2nd Drop, though the drum'n'bass-leaning "Plantain" surfaced on Samurai Red Seal in 2015 and a split 12" with Struction appeared on Ilian Tape in 2016. That summer he issued the trilogy of EPs Forgetting, LA, and Space Race. In 2017 he joined the R&S Records roster for the Broken Glass Arch EP, which preceded the 2018 album Portrait with Firewood featuring cellist Zosia Jagodzinska and vocalist Lola Empire.
Trained as a jazz pianist, Manuel cites Alice Coltrane and Keith Jarrett as formative influences. He took up DJing in the late 2000s as part of the Yardcore crew, which staged events across London and hosted a monthly program on the online station Sub.fm featuring garage, dubstep, drum'n'bass, gabba, and breakcore. In 2010, initially credited as DJ Rum, he issued the atmospheric post-dubstep singles "Plead with Me" and "St. Martin," both built around cryptic vocal fragments and dub echoes. Signing to 2nd Drop Records the next year, he released the two-part Mountains EP, which drew praise from Resident Advisor and prompted a 2012 remix 12".
After remixing tracks by LV and Phaeleh, supplying an RA podcast mix, and issuing the single "Watermark," Djrum presented his debut album Seven Lies in 2013. He kept issuing ambitious singles, chiefly through 2nd Drop, though the drum'n'bass-leaning "Plantain" surfaced on Samurai Red Seal in 2015 and a split 12" with Struction appeared on Ilian Tape in 2016. That summer he issued the trilogy of EPs Forgetting, LA, and Space Race. In 2017 he joined the R&S Records roster for the Broken Glass Arch EP, which preceded the 2018 album Portrait with Firewood featuring cellist Zosia Jagodzinska and vocalist Lola Empire.
Albums
Singles
