ARTISTS

Lotic

Berlin (DE)
dj

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.

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.

She has a new, well appraised album, check the wonderful reviews on Crack Magazine, Loud and Quiet Magazine, Bandcamp, Resident Advisor, XS-noize, and being called Album of the Year by Hit The North.