A drummer with New Zealand acts like Ladi6, Opensouls, and Fat Freddy's Drop, Julien Dyne is also a producer, DJ, and artist who crafts electronic music inspired by instrumental hip-hop, jazz, and funk. Dyne began his career as a producer in the mid-2000s, learning by watching peers such as Opensouls' Jeremy Toy and James Duncan and experimenting on his own. After attending the Red Bull Music Academy in Rome in 2004 and again in 2007 in Cologne (this time working with Theo Parrish, Mark Pritchard, and Sa-Ra's Om'Mas Keith), he issued his debut EP, Phantom Limbo; the lead single, "Maddingos," was nominated for an award by bNet, a New Zealand student radio network. His 2009 full-length, Pins and Digits, which featured collaborations with his Opensouls and Ladi6 bandmates as well as his father Paul, earned praise from Gilles Peterson and Benji B. Two years later, Dyne returned with Glimpse, which built on the futuristic, synth-heavy direction of his previous album and featured vocal cameos by Electric Wire Hustle's Mara TK and Claire Duncan of Dear Times Waste. For 2013's December, Dyne took inspiration from modern R&B's layered vocal harmonies and fragmented beats. ~ Heather Phares, Rovi