Coastill: A Crescent City Junglist From Ruffneck Ting To Jungle Punch

NOLA EDM: For those meeting you for the first time — who is Coastill?
Coastill: I grew up in the DC area and moved here about 10 years ago. I started DJing back when I was 15, and got deep into the scene there. When I moved down here, I immediately started clicking with the Noladnb folks and before too long became part of the crew. Fast forward to 2021 and COVID, Glassy Eye and I found that we were both close with Danny Nick, the owner of Portside Lounge which was right down the street from me. We did our first Jungle Punch at Portside as a private party, limited to 25 people (because of COVID restrictions) as a way to help out his business which was struggling during the pandemic. And now, Jungle Punch will make 5 years this March!

My style has shifted over the years, I try to be really authentic to whatever I’m feeling at the moment. But almost always you’ll hear me leaning into a more raw UK sound. I love tunes that take just a few elements, and push them as far as they’ll go in interesting ways. Kind of a maximalist minimalism.  A lot of Bristol rollers and jump up, some techy stuff, some liquid (as long as it’s funky!). I’m also big into teasing classics in my sets as an homage to our roots. As far as DJing goes I definitely like to push myself. I like to spin fast, but with lots of long blends and intention. I’m also big into creating an ebb and flow, lots of peaks and valleys. It’s all about creating contrast on the dancefloor.

NOLA EDM: You’re part of this month’s all-vinyl jungle & DnB showcase with NOLA Mix Records. What makes vinyl special to you as a selector? Is it the texture, the sound, the ritual — or the connection to the dancefloor??
Coastill: There’s so much I love about vinyl. When I first started DJing, CDJs were kind of just on the scene, and they weren’t that widely used in DnB yet (DnB heads can be a bit purist sometimes). Plus turntables were cheaper and I was 15! My friend and I each bought a turntable, and then we shared all our records. He’d get the decks one weekend, I’d get them the next. Basically a divorced couple sharing custody. 

I’m really glad I learned that way because there’s so much intention and grounding in spinning vinyl.  There aren’t cue points (unless you’re brave with a piece of tape/sticker). There’s no BPM read out, there’s no sync button. It’s all manual and by ear. You’re riding the pitch the whole time– you’re always an active part of the set. Because of that you play tunes differently. Slower pace for sure. But in many ways “closer to the metal” as coders would call it. Closer to the actual tunes and the crowd, with all the screens and digital layers removed. 

I think it also really affects tune selection as well. In the 90s and early 2000s when vinyl was the only way to DJ, tunes were purchased and played with intentionality. It’d cost $10 to buy a dance record from your local store, and even more if you were paying to ship it from the UK. With that money you’d get two songs: one on the A side, one on the B side. This meant folks’ crates were smaller, and the tunes that were being played were less disposable. Versus today spending $1.50 on beatport for a tune, or a free download from Soundcloud, people collect tons of tunes. Many of them might not ever get played out! Back then you also didn’t have an algorithm pushing the same few tunes into your feed so people by default dug deeper for unique records.

As I’ve been digging and practicing this week it’s reminded me how much I love spinning vinyl. There’s something really zen about it.

NOLA EDM: How did you first get into jungle and drum & bass on vinyl? Was there a record shop, mentor, or moment that shaped your direction?
Coastill: My journey was a bit different for the time. I remember hearing EZ Rollers – Walk This Land in the movie Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Something about the drums just FLOORED me. I remember trying to figure out more music like that. Somewhere around that time I was also playing Midnight Club 3 on Xbox which had a killer soundtrack with tons of DnB. Specifically “Follow The Leader” by Calyx and Teebee hooked me. 

I started going down the rabbit hole, though it was harder to find things on the internet at that time. Around the same time someone told me a kid in my English class was into the same music and I should talk to him. Nate (goes by Legit) had been on his own journey and already started collecting records, and so we pooled our meager resources and the rest was history! 

The record shop that was most influential to me at the time was DJ Hut on Dupont Circle in DC. We’d call up the shop at lunch on Fridays to see if they got such and such promo in and if they could hold it for us. Then hop on the metro after school to get it. The guy there was so nice, really generous and community focused. He even let us use the turntables in the shop to record mixes. 

NOLA EDM: What can people expect from your set at this showcase? Any themes, eras, or special pulls you’re excited to bring out of the crates?
Coastill: Expect to hear a little bit of my history! There’s definitely an element of my reconnecting with my roots, with my younger self, when I play vinyl. So I think in many ways you’ll hear some of the stuff that first got me into drum and bass. Looking at my crate now it’s mostly 1998-2005 stuff, a lot of stuff off of Full Cycle, Ram, Virus, Playaz, and Prototype.

NOLA EDM: NOLA EDM: This lineup is stacked — 45auto, BB 504, Brother Electric, Greenleaf. What do you enjoy most about going B2B with other vinyl-focused DJs?
Coastill: That anything can happen! We don’t really know what each other has in our crates, so anything can and will happen. There’ll probably be a few clangs, but there will also be serendipitous moments no one was expecting. It’s like Jazz!