By Harold Goldberg
We’re thrilled to bring back DJ Reznor to the New York Game Awards on January 21st at 8 p.m. at Manhattan’s SVA Theatre. A few tickets for the Awards remain right here.
In addition to being a stellar DJ whose career is growing by the day, Reznor has been a supporter of the New York Videogame Critics Circle for years now. At a recent gig on the Lower East Side during which he announced his departure to the West Coast, you could see the happy faces on everyone in the crowd. That didn’t mean Reznor was doing pure pop music. The music had a variety of moods.
The reason for the smile was this: Reznor connects. The music inspired in the crowd a sense of community. Even I, who in reality am an introvert, found myself talking to members of the audience between sets.
Just listen for yourself:
Here’s more from Reznor’s official biography:
In only a few short years, his budding discography has reached the ears of tens of millions of music fans. It wasn’t just a fluke, either. Even after receiving support on Above & Beyond: Group Therapy two weeks in a row, his 2019 hit single “Glencoe” was voted back via the radio show’s Push The Button feature.
His meteoric trajectory is all the more impressive when you take into account the obstacles he faced from an early age. Born in Bangladesh, Rahat Reznor (real name Rahat Rashid) moved to NYC at the age of two. Faced with a difficult decision, his family chose to remain Stateside as illegal immigrants – which complicated his day-to-day life until he was able to obtain citizenship at the age of 21.
After finding his way to a career in PR by way of journalism, he decided to pursue his lifelong dream of making music. His experience playing piano as a child served him well when he first sat in front of a DAW, and he taught himself to produce the euphoric sort of trance that affords its listener a cathartic release with every emphatic super saw.
It wasn’t long before the name Rahat Reznor found its way into the vocabulary of electronic music fans the world over. After inaugurating the alias (which was inspired by the music of Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor) with a handful of singles, he released the effort that marked his big break.
In 2019 he delivered a single titled “Glencoe” ahead of a two-track EP of its namesake. The song’s introspective synth lead gave way to a serene breakdown which captured the hearts of the trance community at large. By the time he delivered “Let The Past Die” – the other entry on the EP’s tracklist – “Glencoe” had garnered continuous support from Above & Beyond, arguably the biggest figureheads in the progressive trance movement.
Not long his big break, Rahat Reznor began to lock in more billings as a DJ. In the summer of 2019, he found himself sharing the stage with Australian Anjunabeats signee Jaytech at a show billed as No Labels in NYC. From there, it was only uphill.
