Montenegro Producer DNIE on Being Influenced by Skrillex and His Next Single ‘No Thanks’

Among the recent high points – at least from a social media lens – for Montenegro-based producer DNIE aka Edin Skenderi was meeting electronic music stalwart Skrillex. Skenderi – who also runs the electronic music label Lacuna – counts Skrillex as a formative force. “I even remember doing a presentation on him years ago, telling people the story of how Skrillex influenced me to get into music, start my record label, and overall just fall in love with electronic music,” Skenderi says.

At 23 years old, Skenderi is a prime example of self-made music producers who have thought well ahead of just releasing their own music. He’s also started a label that builds on ever-present dubstep, bass and trap music experiments. From being discovered on gaming and cooking playlists and among trap favorites, DNIE (pronounced ‘deny’) finds himself to be the soundtrack to different kinds of activities. While there’s an undoubted electronic influence, Skenderi mentions several times in our interview that he’s not restricted by genres – his top streamed song on Spotify, “Hourglass” has a bit of hip-hop and trap, while 2023 singles like “Fossilized” with vocalist Stephen Geisler are more dark-pop with trap influences, and “Paranoid” has hushed vocals and familiar dubstep elements.

Skenderi says, “I want everything to be perfect before I share something to the world.” Where “Fossilized” spoke about his detachment from reality and reflected being almost stuck in a state of perpetual dreaming, it also allowed him to work on his mental health. Sonically, he counts artists like Unlike Pluto, Arrested Youth, Missio, 8Graves and Fytch as influential in pushing him to draw from multiple genres. “Going in this direction got a lot of people sending me messages that they recognize the style and that they definitely heard me before seeing who the song(s) are from, so that’s a good sign I guess,” he says with a laugh.

Among the countries streaming his music the most, interestingly, is Japan – a place where Skenderi hasn’t actively carried out any targeted marketing or promotion for DNIE. That said, it’s high on his bucket list of places to visit. Before that, he’s releasing more music, including a song called “No Thanks” that sees Skenderi take over on vocals as well. While he’s sung on his previous single “Stardust,” the artist it’s a “bigger thing for me” with this upcoming release.

Then, there’s likely to be a self-titled EP with “very personal songs that will basically tell the listeners more about” Skenderi. Would he capitalize on streams in countries like Japan and head to perform there sometime? Skenderi says he’s working on concepts for shows, but the focus remains on building up his catalog. “Shows are definitely something I am excited for and if I get to perform in Japan, that would be incredible, I wouldn’t know how to react honestly,” he adds.

Listen to “Fossilized” below.