Panic City

California DJ and producer Panic City fuses multiple strains of house with infusions of hip-hop, techno, and garage. After surfacing in the early 2010s, he earned recognition through joint projects with 219 Boys and Miles Media plus an array of remixes for Daft Punk, Zedd, and Tove Lo.

Oakland-born and Union City-raised, the artist began spinning records across the Bay Area until he secured a support slot for Andrew B., who served as an early mentor. Labels soon noticed him after he started inserting his own reinterpretations of popular tracks into club sets. In 2011 a Supersede-assisted remix of Steve Aoki and Afrojack’s “No Beef” reached the top of the Hype Machine chart. Subsequent years brought further reworkings for Daft Punk, Lana Del Rey, Diplo, and Zedd—the last a trap version of “Find You” created with GRAVES. Sampling Calvin Harris’s “You Used to Hold Me,” Panic City issued his own track “Real Love” in 2014; Dim Mak Records then put out “Bang Bang!” that August. The 2015 Up All Night EP on Dim Mak featured Kris Kiss, Reid Stefan, and Mike Taylor, while additional remixes that year touched Tove Lo, Tori Kelly, and Syn Cole.

Remaining on Dim Mak, he released “O.A.K.L.A.N.D.” in 2016. The following year yielded the CLB collaboration “Get Higher,” a Miles Medina partnership on Kehlani’s “Undercover,” and the original cut “Ball Is Life.” A sustained link with San Francisco’s 219 Boys commenced late in 2017 via “Want U 2 Bounce” on Audiophile XL. Further joint efforts with 219 Boys produced 2018’s “Steeze,” included on the Night Bass compilation This Is Night Bass, Vol. 6, along with a remix of P-Lo’s “Same Squad.”