Khen's mesmerizing, slow-burning techno is making an Impact

Your interest in music was sparked pretty early on, is that right?

Yes, and the story behind that comes back to my older brother. He was one of the biggest DJs in Tel Aviv in the late 90s, early 2000s. I grew up on his vinyl, his music - between house, techno and trance - starting from when I was 6 or 7 years old. So it’s something that I knew I wanted to do very early on.

He had liked music since he was a kid. He’s 14 years older than I am, so when he was a child he loved music on the radio and was buying vinyl and cassettes. He began playing for friends and became bigger and bigger until he started to make music in 1996.

I lived to him right next door, and I would always come to his room and come play with his equipment and vinyl. This was before CD-Js! Then, he started making music, so I did too. Synthesizers, computer programming, very basic things. Then, eventually we installed a computer in my room with Cubase, the software we used. I fell in love. I started making music at 11, or 12, even though in those days it wasn’t as easy as it is today.

I was making trance and house, and then when I was 13 or 14, I released a track on a compilation in Israel for Love Parade in 2002. I grew up with music, with trance, 90s house. It still influences my music today.

In the last few years, Tel Aviv has really begun to shine as a prominent electronic music destination. What do you think it is about the city that has helped to output so many promising talents like yourself?

Tel Aviv has always been a good city for parties. It started in the 90s, and now it’s a lot of techno and progressive, but you can find everything here. It’s a small city, but there is a big scene in comparison to the city. There are four or five big clubs, a lot of small, mini clubs. Most of it is underground music, which is nice. Not much commercial music, even in the big parties that used to have some commercial.

Also, in and around Tel Aviv, there are a lot of mini-festivals. Monochrome is a great one, it’s outdoor and it changes locations. Midburn is another, it’s like Burning Man - in the desert. People like to party here, you know!