Skyshaker
The Bronx, New York, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2009
Music
Press
HD146 is a turbulent love letter from Bronx-bred Skyshaker, now living in Guadalajara, Mexico. - Boiler Room
We’ve selected 20 mixes that we think best represent an uncertain time. Some of these mixes feel very much like a response to the present moment, with Yen Tech piecing together a club-centric radio play about a boy called Kevin escaping conspiracy theorist parents, Loraine James working through music discovered while in lockdown and Skyshaker channeling months of angst and anguish into a furious four-deck dispatch. - Fact Magazine
Through its run-time, elements of industrial techno, drill, trance, ballroom, drum & bass and more converge into a stunning electronic opus, demonstrating the artist’s versatility. You can hear their thunderous techno reinterpretation of Osheyack’s ‘Parataxon’ now. - DJ Mag
Spanning ten tracks, the digital-only Novox 10 arrives on November 26th. It includes reinterpretations of Prettybwoy, Faded Ghost, Scintii, 33EMYBW, Gabber Modus Operandi, Hyph11E and other regulars on the eight year-old Shanghai label. The release is "a collection of electronic music commemorating a decade of Black voices silenced by anti-Black racism and xenophobia," Skyshaker described in a statement. - Resident Advisor
Flexing an exemplary range of styles with singular panache, Skyshaker proves a highly mutable mettle from cut to cut, proving equally adept at a spectrum of tempos and styles. One of our fave Svbkvlt bangers, Gooooose’s ‘Arp Kicks’ is treated to a lusher fast techno realignment, and Gabber Modus Operandi’s fucking nutty ‘Padang Galaxxx’ is harnessed into a sort of cybermetal chugger that wouldn’t sound out of place on the Blade soundtrack. - Boomkat
What follows is a brutal journey of catharsis and chaos of truly epic scale, in which Skyshaker finds emotional release in the cacophonous, gesturing towards vulnerability and tenderness with a relentless barrage of ballroom, pitch black techno and a lethal array of blends and mashups. Always exhilarating, frequently overwhelming, it’s a virtuosic session in constant dialogue with House of Vemanei’s mission “to transmute our individual pains into collective, purpose-driven tools of reclamation, recovery, affirmation, and self-defense.” - Fact Magazine
Kaos and Sky LaBeija go b2b to open up tonight's show, in partnership with HBO Max, marking the grand season finalé of ""Legendary"". Hosted by Gregg Evisu XL with performances by legendary dancers Arturo Miyake-Mugler & Omari Orrici. - Boiler Room
"It's not just a bunch of remixes," Kelela says. "It's how my worldwide community of producers and DJs communicate through difference. It's also about the camaraderie that we experience when we find the overlaps. The same songs get to exist in these alternate realities which means different people get to have a relationship with the music. Maybe even with each other." - Resident Advisor
On their remix of Scintii’s ‘Deux’, Skyshaker detonates the artist’s vocal track into an explosive ballad of synths that rupture at the pulsating techno beat. It’s an equally tender and fierce interpretation of the artist’s three-year-old release. - AQNB
El DJ y voguer Skyshaker de la legendaria House of Labeija en Nueva York estuvo de visita en Bogotá como invitado en la Marcha Trans 2019 del 05 de julio de 2019 #YoMarchoTrans. Durante su estadía aprovecho para compartir algunos movimientos y conversar con la incipiente escena voguera de la ciudad de Bogotá, durante una de las prácticas abiertas de la House of Tupamaras, por ahora, la única casa voguera local. - ABC Del Arte Drag & Transformista
The mix's subtitle, "Day Nine Thousand Four Hundred Seventy Nine," refers to roughly the number of days that have passed (26 years) since Madonna's infamous music video for her single "Vogue" was released, which played a very significant role in introducing vogue culture to popular audiences beyond the Black, queer, Brown, femme, trans, and poor spaces of color where it originated. - Thump - VICE
As a leader of the international House and Ballroom community, immigration discourse comes with the job. For many, there is no greater opportunity than to attend American balls and take classes from legendary ballroom figures. As a result, grad prize money won at balls outside of America is often set aside to pay non-immigrant US visa fees. When it comes to my time in Latin American ballroom, these conversations carry a different weight. Concerns of ICE and questions of asylum are at the forefront in a way that brings the plight of the undocumented into start focus. Although seeking asylum must not be confused with the journey of seeking citizenship, both conversations clearly must be better understood among the voting public. - Mixmag
Skyshaker is an affiliate of the Legendary House of LaBeija. He knew QB was the right place for him to develop as a producer after he wandered into a MikeQ set one night. - Paper Magazine
The lead track is a remix of Evanescence's alt rock classic "Bring Me To Life," taking the original's haunted narrative and submerging it further into tumultuous, depressive ambiance shot through with an agitated dembow beat. - Thump - VICE
Venus' offering is the stomping 'Golden Girl', fellow NYC producer False Witness gives away the siren and whistle-heavy 'Buss Up' and Skyshaker's 'Shurmda HA' is an erratic bass cannon. - Mixmag
Discography
[2012] - Black Fabio feat. Toni Royale - Reggie Miller [Black Fabio Remixes] [RAD SUMMER]
[2016] - Koppi Mizrahi feat. MC Precious - Manko Backpack [Qweendom] [QWEEN BEAT]
[2016] - Skyshaker and Dashaun Wesley - Walk [Qweendom] [QWEEN BEAT]
[2018] - Kelela - Skyshaker_Onanon_129 Bpm [Take Me A_Part, The Remixes] [WARP]
[2020] - Skyshaker - All The Dark (Novox) [New World Dysorder]
[2021] - Justin Cudmore - Of Course You're Beautiful (Sky LaBeija Remix) [Major Records]
[2021] - Skyshaker - Novox 10 [SVBKVLT]
[2022] - Estoc and Syn - Death In The Greenhouse (Skyshaker Dusk Edition) [Nonesuch]
Photos
Bio
Sky Vemanei is an African American composer, filmmaker, and activist based in Bronx, New York. They are most widely known for their remixes of Kelela, Tinashe, Janet Jackson, Evanescence, Cardi B, Jaymie Silk, Dasychira, and the artist formerly known as Le1f. Outside of nightlife, they are most widely known for their activism as a member of the house and ballroom community.
In 2004, the “Skyshaker” moniker was created as a ghostwriter alias while Vemanei was a lead vocalist of nu-metal band Kizashi Oversoul. As an early proponent of the moombahton sound in 2010, their first solo release under the “Skyshaker” alias was on Indianapolis-based Oreo Jones and Action Jackson’s “Reggie Miller” remix compilation in 2011. From then until 2014, Vemanei continued to work as a ghostwriter and sound engineer for several major label artists.
Upon joining MikeQ’s Qween Beat crew in 2015, Skyshaker’s ballroom remix “Shmurda HA” on Venus X and Shayne Oliver’s GHE20GOTH1K was named “one of the best tunes of 2015” by FACT Magazine. Subsequent releases on imprints such as Jasmine Infiniti’s New World Dysorder, Tygapaw’s Fake Accent, Banjee Report’s Futurehood, FaltyDL’s Blueberry Records, and Angel-Ho’s NON Worldwide further cemented the Skyshaker sound as a signature of New York’s Black queer underground.
Vemanei has operated as record label A&R of Chicago-based Futurehood, New York-based Fake Accent, and UK-based Electronic Architects since 2017. That same year, The Fader premiered Vemanei’s first release as Futurehood A&R called “Skins”, a collaboration with New York-based activist and poet Linda La. Later in 2018, Vemanei’s remix of Kelela’s “Onanon” on Warp Records caught the attention of Shanghai-based label SVBKVLT, leading to the first widely circulated Skyshaker remix release, “Novox 10”. Forthcoming releases are set to appear on Fake Accent, Futurehood, Qween Beat, Rabit’s Halcyon Veil, Antpuke’s Club Carry, and Skyshaker’s own Vemanei Soundsystem.
As a performer, they have made appearances at Red Bull Music Academy Festival, MoMA PS1, Boiler Room, New Museum, and Resident Advisor events since 2015. Their work has appeared on platforms such as The Fader, Mixmag, DJ Mag, Vogue, The Advocate, DAZED, Paper Magazine, and Artforum.
During their time as a member of the legendary House of LaBeija and Kiki House of Old Navy, Vemanei could be seen in ballroom documentaries “KIKI”, and Viceland’s “My House”. As a ballroom historian since 2016, Vemanei was invited by Mexico City’s N.A.A.F.I crew and ballroom pioneers Franka Polari and Vicki Letal to establish the formation of the Mexican ballroom community. Since then, Vemanei has chronicled the rise of the Latin American ballroom across Costa Rica, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, and Chile.
Upon founding their mental health foundation Reiout Intergalactic in 2018, Vemanei formed the artist collective House of Vemanei as an incubator for the gender-nonconforming Streamline community. Vemanei now spends their time cultivating the Streamline ethos alongside Latin American ballroom’s founding members and first generation of children. – 2021
Band Members
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