The tape reads Biography. Pop it in. Rewind. Press play.

A whiskey-voiced narrator starts speaking as the hazy images come into focus. “It’s 2010. Zeds Dead is about to play one of their first shows in the basement of a dive bar in Toronto. Behind the brick walls and the unfinished ceiling exposed wires hang freely. The air smells of booze, smoke, and sweat. A crowd is lined up outside, flasks hang from their back pockets and cigarettes from their lips. Abandoned drinks rest on the lip of the dj booth while joints get sparked in the corners.

The tiny room is packed. Nobody quite knows how to describe the music yet. When Hooks and DC start their set the earth trembles. The air becomes charged and almost sexual. Everyone goes crazy. You feel the music in your bones. Your marrow shakes. You don’t know what they will play next but you know it might just change your life. Everybody at those early shows could tell – these guys are gonna be big.”

Fast forward a few scenes. The narrator continues.

“It’s 2013. Zeds Dead is killing it. They’ve got an enormous catalogue that includes remixes for some of the biggest artists out there, and releases with the most credible labels in the game. They’ve accumulated hundreds of millions of views online. They play tours of over 70 dates to hundreds of thousands of people. Fans love their shows, critics love their creativity, and heads love their production. They’re big. Really big.”

“The date’s not important. The place is Toronto, Canada. Teenagers Zack Rapp-Rovan and Dylan Mamid are introduced – they hit it off immediately over a shared love of classic hip hop, music production, and digging through crates. They join forces and call themselves Mass Productions aka MP Records. Dylan becomes DC and Zack becomes Hooks. They work out of DC’s often smoky garage. Critiquing, dissecting and swapping samples. They grow with every tune. They get on a level where their combined sound is unified and strong. MP releases an LP of hip hop instrumentals called Fresh Beets. It’s a pivotal moment for the duo.”

“It’s 2009 and hip hop is in a coma. Hooks and DC are about to have an epiphany that will change everything. They thirst for something new. They want to make people move to their sounds and not just bob their heads, but to grind, heave, shiver, stomp, and dance to their music. They want to capture the ecstasy and comradery of house, the heart pummelling thrill of Drum and Bass, the beauty of ambient music, and the heaviness of electro – all in one sound. They want to push boundaries. To challenge themselves and their listeners to”– The movie cuts out. Ribbons of static shimmer across the blackness. Someone has taped over this part. A scene from Pulp Fiction flickers on screen. Butch and Fabienne are sitting on top of a Harley Davidson.

FABIENNE: “Who’s motorcycle is this?”

BUTCH: “Zed’s dead, baby, Zed’s dead.”

Zeds Dead

Inspired and driven by the future of electronic music, its story-telling potential and ability to convey powerful emotions, IMANU is the brainchild of Rotterdam-based Jonathan Kievit. At the forefront of a new generation of producers, he rejects stuffy genre boundaries, rigid tempo expectations and DJ-friendly format formalities and just wants to create genuine emotional electronic music. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Established late 2019, the IMANU project follows an already impressive chapter in drum & bass. Breaking through at the age of just 16 with a highly distinctive and technical brutalist style, he made a remarkable impression in a very short space of time. However, this was only a hint at what was to come. Now in his early 20s, IMANU has already been responsible for releases on significant labels such as VISION, Heaven Sent, UKF and mau5trap, he’s remixed the likes of Apashe, TOKiMONSTA and What So Not & Skrillex and already collaborated with fellow kindred, unclassifiable spirits like Sleepnet, Mefjus and Buunshin. Many more are expected to drop in due course.

Each release joining more dots and weaving an indelible, emotional thread between every genre you can throw a pigeonhole at, IMANU is the culmination of everything that inspires Jonathan. Everything he’s achieved so far, everything he’s learnt and everything that moves him… But flipped in a much more personal and open-armed creative way that focuses purely on the future and where this music can be taken next…

IMANU

Toronto-based MKLA, has several collars with Zeds Dead including “Alive” (2021) and “In My Head” (2022).

MKLA

Powerhouse electronic duo Zeds Dead join forces with Rotterdam-based innovator IMANU and Toronto vocalist MKLA on their new single “Runaway”, via Deadbeats. A cinematic fusion of future bass and drum & bass, “Runaway” is a meticulously crafted tapestry of luminous synth work, subterranean basslines, and MKLA’s signature delicate vocal delivery.

Runaway

Zeds Dead x IMANU x MKLA