CNMAT Users Group is excited to welcome Berlin-based electronic musician and DJ Lotic to the CNMAT community.

 

In succession to her debut album Power, released in 2018, Lotic’s new single “Burn a Print” is the  accession of the previous album’s message: Once one has transformed fear and vulnerability into  the consolidation of individual power, the natural next step for any reign is to establish a legacy,  or in Lotic’s own words, “to burn your print into this Earth because when you go, you need to  remind the future bitches that you was here.” Lotic, known as J’Kerian Morgan, has been fortifying her forceful sound and dominating the Berlin electronic music scene for nearly a  decade. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, Lotic played alto saxophone in her high school marching band and in competitions with the University Interscholastic League before an education at the University of Texas at Austin, where she studied film and electronic music and hosted DJ sets for the college radio station. In 2011, shortly before relocating to Germany, she released her debut EP More Than Friends, on Ben Aqua’s dance music label #FEELINGS.  Following her move to Berlin in 2012, she released a series of well-received mixtapes, including  Fallout (2013), Damsel in Distress (2014), Agitations (2015) and Heterocetera (2015). In addition to producing music for the dance floor, Lotic also helped to create one: She co-founded the Janus  Collective with fellow American expatriate promoters and producers, creating a monthly party that began in Berlin-Kreuzberg’s Chesters and quickly ascended to hosting Janus rosters at  Berghain. Lotic established herself within Berlin’s nightlife for her capricious DJ sets, her sonic offering ranging from experimental creations rooted in her music theory training to remixed Top  40 that attracted avant-garde singer, songwriter, and DJ, Björk. Following a collaboration on two remixes for Björk’s Vulnicura album’s track “NotGet” and an invitation to open for her 2015 Berlin concert, Björk stated, “Lotic is one of the fiercest performer DJs I have ever heard” (MixMag,  2018). Even in the midst of success and recognition, Lotic (meaning, “to inhabit rapidly moving water”) treaded against the currents of sudden homelessness, the end of a long-time love partnership, and a personal transformation. Through an empowering hiatus focused on rebuilding, she found her voice in her debut album Power (2018), which introduced her as a  singer and songwriter for the first time. Power was praised for its polished production style in the tradition of Lotic’s past releases and rejuvenated by her narrative and reflections on race,  sexuality, and gender. The release of Power inaugurated Endless Power, a live A/V show in collaboration with lighting designer Emmanuel Biard, featured at Berlin’s CTM Festival and  Barcelona’s Sónar in 2018. The same year, Lotic collaborated with fellow Houston-born dancer and choreographer Roderick George/kNoname Artist on Fleshless Beast, a music and dance performance in co-production with Berlin’s Sophiensaele and funded by the Berlin Senate  Department of Culture and Europe. Lotic created the original score and performed in Fleshless  Beast, a performance contemplating and deconstructing race relations, being an immigrant, and challenging the status quo. In 2019, Lotic collaborated in the performance piece Las Casas  Invisibles with the KDV Dance Ensemble hosted by Berlin’s Funkhaus, once again lending her original music to the performance score. The newly released track is a declaration in continuation  of Lotic’s mission to “live life to the fullest by not giving a fuck about what anybody thinks.” Much like feminine rulers memorialized in history, Lotic’s sound is the symbiosis of force and softness;  the beat behind the drill of a parade honoring a strong and unpredictable Queen imprinting her mark into the ground to the beat of her own drum.