From YouTube revived fame to making club music come alive, Fred again.. shows us why he’s giving us everything from the roots to signature tunes in a flash drive.
The internet’s favourite producer has been, as the kids say… cooking. Not only has Fred again risen to be an unlikely hero, there’s a passion in the way he makes his tracks that make him stand out. From underground beginnings to whittling his skills and giving shape to guerilla production again, we’re taking a look at his new drive. His USB is open now for us to see, nay, hear. After 2024s ten days, he’s not levelled up his game-but shown us how he really plays. USB is packed with DJ, production and finger percussion highlights like never before.
Where he started
Fred again.. has had relatively “classical” beginnings in music. He learned the piano when he was younger, and his movement on the keys is something that has stuck to this day. Having a mentor in Brian Eno of Roxy Music, ambient soundscapes became something of his specialty. Fred again.. had different ideas, however. This was very polished, high level music. As much as he loved this, there was something more he was looking for.
So when you touch upon the opening of this album with I Luv U and solo, you can see how he’s able to capture the essence of the artist performing. The canvas might be splattered with a range of colours, but Fred allows the vocalist/singer/hip-hop artist to really take the stage. He is the live, buzzing metronome with so much personality inside, it eventually bounces out. It doesn’t matter that he’s so dexterous, if the song doesn’t ask for it, he doesn’t use beats and soundscapes as a filler.
House, trance, EDM -coming together
Check out songs like ICEY.. and ..FIESTY. This is great Boiler Room music, made just to vibe with smoke, lasers and lights. He tailors the beats and effects for each artist with some signature insight. This is what allows him to keep having dynamic turns in the track. Somehow, for a DJ, it would be the chorus the audience listens and waits for. Not in the case of Fred again.. Something creative can be cooked up by him, just the verse section. Even if it isn’t tantalizing 808s giving that signature boom-he has something like hi-hat/maracca plays or just claps, allowing the song to have so much body.
Winny and songs of this kind are the intense build you wait for. Another artist like Skrillex, social media clips and real voice notes from friends and family can be regularly heard in his music. The purpose, like Professor Puth once so eloquently put, is finding music in everything. He’s as exciting live, and if you’ve gone into an electronic music wormhole on the internet, you would have found him. He’s either playing on someone’s roof, a tiny room-but definitely able to bounce off the energy of the crowd there at the time. What he puts up in front of him is not a typical DJ console, though. Fred again.. wants to make the music in front of you, for you. Each time he’ll find a different path to take us down. And it will be worth the experience.
Breaking into the scene
His bold Actual Life series seems to have left an indelible mark on composing. Understanding himself as not just a song maker, but a collaborator, has put Fred again.. in a space where he’s revolving around the vibe. It is the kind of musician we deserved post the pandemic, prioritizing the thumping pulse of the club than become a pretty cover for an acclaimed album. His peers talk about him in high praise, in awe of not only his process but his personality. In the album, you find the Victory Lap series peppered across, quite honestly one of the hardest mixes for a song that has hit mainstream culture in 2025.
The impact he leaves
When you listen to Baby again.. with Four Tet and Skrillex, you remember an electronic supergroup that might have been a defining slice of the 2015-20s era. Fred doesn’t forget his roots, yet knows how far away from them, he can fly when he hears something that is a mood changer. There are too many songs on this USB that make it a treat to have, with defining harbingers of the genre like Swedish House Mafia to the artists who he gives a chance because he hears something no one else does. It has all the characters of an actual pocket drive you used to carry to your friends house with that pirated movie you always wanted to watch. Too good to feel true, yet something in there that you’d like to keep.
It’s funny, we’re getting a mega collection from an artist who prioritizes getting these experiences live. One could be his contractual extensions. But I also feel he wants you to have this to turn your little slice of life into a party. Fred again.. is a returning messiah, someone who knows that every note that he hears around him can be the spark for inspiration if he puts his head to it. And are we glad that this is the route he chose:
Self professed metalhead, moderately well read. If the music has soul, it's whole to me. The fact that my bio could have ended on a rhyme and doesn't should tell you a lot about my personality.
