Thris Tian

Thris Tian has carved out an international reputation amongst music lovers and producers as a champion of a broad and eclectic range of local genres. As a DJ, Thris Tian’s selections are grounded in his East London roots while taking us on a journey across borders and beyond. Locked in to a community of a consistently fertile generation of music production and a culture of underground parties, early projects included running warehouse parties in east London and experimenting with online broadcasting platforms such as bi-monthly music blog Hold Box Flat. Now, well known for introducing the world to Boiler Room in 2010 with (then, Platform Magazine’s) Blaise Belville and (now, NTS’s) Femi Adeyemi, Thris Tian dropped the first track to an online audience of xx and went on to booking friends, acts and DJ’s. After playing the first record from a warehouse in East London, Thris Tian co-established the concept of Boiler Room as a broadcasting space for (previously largely inaccessible) underground parties, taking the scene online, while keeping the essence underground and opening up to an international audience. Acts and DJs selected by Thris Tian for the early days of Boiler Room include Richie Hawtin, DJ EZ, Masters at Work, Thom Yorke, Frankie Knuckles… the list is endless. Thris Tian continued running warehouse parties in east London, and had begun working closely with Gilles Peterson and across Gilles’ projects - Brownswood Records, Sounds of the Universe, Worldwide Festival and Soul Jazz Records as part of an influential and informal partnership/ apprenticeship. During this creatively immersive time, Thris Tian picked up the mic and became ironically known as the “Boiler Room MC” in addition to hosting on NTS. This brought a new layer of insight to his offering with an infamously informal yet informed thought processes and easy chat. Part of the original roster of NTS’s DJs, Thris Tian moved on from hosting the morning show to create his critically influential Sunday headliner show Dark & Lovely, playing West African grooves to Norwegian Gospel and birthing the Global Roots brand. In 2015, Thris Tian dropped the mic at both Boiler Room & NTS and spent the year exploring the world independently as a DJ. Linking up with emerging producers and crate digging internationally brought Thris Tian back to London the following year to set up Worldwide FM with long time associate Gilles Peterson. Leading the station as Creative Director, Thris Tian is back on the mic with his weekly shows Global Roots and New Music Worldwide. Current side projects include We Talk Music and Four to the Floor, UK’s Channel 4’s new music magazine show alongside continuing to run parties in London and DJing around the world.