Kutmah

Left-field hip-hop DJ/producer Kutmah (Justin McNulty) was born in Brighton, England, but at the age of 12, he moved — with his Egyptian mother and Scottish father — to Hollywood, California. In the early 2000s, he became part of the Los Angeles-based nonprofit Web radio collective Dublab. His abstract productions were first issued in 2006 via the Japanese compilation The Sound of L.A., compiled by Dublab's Carlos Niño, and a nine-track 10" EP released on Poo-Bah. In May 2010, U.S. Federal agents unexpectedly removed him from his home, due to complications with his immigrant status; he ended up serving two months in a detention center. While incarcerated, he made 39 drawings that, after his release and deportation to the U.K., were collected as Two Soups & a Honeybun and showcased at a number of exhibits. Kutmah issued a series of limited mix CDs titled The New Error in 2011, and in 2012 he compiled the second volume of the Brownswood label's Worldwide Family series. The disc featured vintage and recent recordings from Tadd Mullinix, Dakim, Dibiase, Flying Lotus, Hudson Mohawke, and Kutmah himself.