What So Not Announces I Saw A Trap DJ Project And Tour as he reconnects with the trap era roots behind his sound

What So Not is an Australian electronic music producer and live performer recognized as one of the defining architects behind the rise of cinematic trap and forward-thinking bass music in the early 2010s. Now, he is entering a new chapter with I SAW A TRAP DJ AND IT CHANGED MY BIO CHEMISTRY, a forthcoming project that revisits the trap and bass era that pushed electronic music through festival stages, SoundCloud culture, and the wider 2010s dance music wave. The announcement comes with a full social reset, a new creative direction, and a limited-capacity U.S. tour that includes stops at Club Vinyl in Denver, 45 East in Portland, Substance in Las Vegas, Marquee NY, Lost In Dreams Festival, and Das Energi 2026. Instead of treating the project as a simple throwback, What So Not frames it as a return to the sound he once moved away from, using years of work across drum & bass, analog production, cinematic songwriting, and global rhythmic influences to revisit the emotional pull of that era on his own terms.

What So Not’s Catalog Shows How Far His Sound Has Expanded

Across releases including Not All The Beautiful Things, Anomaly, Motions, and the 2025 collaborative EP The Quiet That Hurts with Buunshin, What So Not has expanded his sound through trap, drum & bass, cinematic songwriting, analog production, and melodic electronic production. The Quiet That Hurts marked one of his more recent shifts, pairing his songwriting-focused approach with modern drum & bass and experimental electronic production. That background matters to I SAW A TRAP DJ AND IT CHANGED MY BIO CHEMISTRY because his return to trap roots comes after years of work across different forms of bass music, not from an artist who stayed tied to one sound.

His wider catalog also includes collaborations with Skrillex, RL Grime, Oliver Tree, Killer Mike, Toto, and Daniel Johns, while tracks such as “High You Are,” “Jaguar,” “Gemini,” and “Be Ok Again” have collectively contributed to more than 1.3 billion global streams. On the live side, What So Not has played major festivals including Coachella, Ultra Music Festival, and Lollapalooza, with performances known for cinematic visuals, live instrumentation, and story-led production. That history gives the new project a stronger frame because trap was never only an early catalog reference for What So Not. It also became part of how his music translated across festival stages, collaborations, visual production, and the wider bass music audience that first connected with his sound during the 2010s.

What So Not Frames The Project As A Personal Return

For What So Not, I SAW A TRAP DJ AND IT CHANGED MY BIO CHEMISTRY is not only about revisiting a period in electronic music history. It also reflects a personal shift in how he views the sound that first placed him at the center of the trap and bass movement. “For a long time I found myself running away from a sound I helped create,” he said. “In my journey to always do the ‘next’ thing, I think I neglected my thing.” His comments give the project more personal weight, especially because the rollout comes after years of releases that pushed his production into different parts of bass music, drum & bass, and cinematic electronic songwriting.

For him, the project comes from reconnecting with that earlier feeling, not trying to recreate the past exactly as it was. What So Not also describes the music as something people have wanted from him, written on his own time and with the perspective gained from years of chasing what came next. That gives the project a stronger sense of distance and intention, where the trap-era foundation is still present but filtered through the producer he has become since the early 2010s.

What So Not Brings I Saw A Trap DJ To Clubs And Festivals

Alongside the project announcement, What So Not will bring I SAW A TRAP DJ AND IT CHANGED MY BIO CHEMISTRY to a limited run of club shows and festival appearances. The U.S. dates include Club Vinyl in Denver on July 10, Lost In Dreams Festival in Los Angeles on July 11, Substance in Las Vegas on July 17, 45 East in Portland on July 18, Marquee NY on July 24, and Das Energi 2026 in Magna, Utah on August 7. The wider schedule also includes The Vault in Fyshwick on May 23, Wollongong CBD Laneway on May 30, and Newspeak in Montreal on October 1.

The club dates matter because this project is tied to the closeness of the early trap and bass era, when much of the culture developed through smaller venues, online discovery, remixes, and producer-led communities before the sound became common across major festival stages. Pairing those venues with selected festival stops gives What So Not a live setting that matches the idea behind the project without making it feel like a direct copy of the past. Presale begins Thursday, May 21 at 10 AM local time, followed by general onsale on Friday, May 22 at 10 AM local time.