If you are tired of safety, if you want to feel the voltage of a live wire against your teeth, seek out Kira Kerosin. Just wear ear protection. And bring a flashlight for the infrared dark.

At her recent secret set at CTM Festival in Berlin, the venue lights were killed entirely for 45 minutes. The only illumination came from the red LEDs on her modular synth rig and the occasional flash of a strobe that was synced not to the beat, but to the off-beat —a disorienting trick she calls "negative lighting."

While most producers rely on 808 kick drums or synthesized snares, Kerosin reportedly uses contact microphones on industrial machinery. The rhythm track of her breakout single, "Pilot Light Blues," was allegedly created by recording the hydraulic press of a car crusher, then pitch-shifting it down twelve semitones. The result is a kick drum that doesn't just hit your chest; it collapses your ribcage.