Space Ghost is known among dance music heads for blending house, boogie, and dreamy downtempo textures. During a visit to KALW, the Oakland producer and DJ spoke with Marcus Rosario about his beat scene roots, the records that shaped his sound, and the story behind launching his label, Peace World Records.
Press play above to listen to the conversation or read the transcript below.
We've got a really special guest with us today here in the studio at KALW. Oakland's own Space Ghost. I've been wanting to have him on the show for a while to chat about the new music he has coming out, some past projects, and just generally connect with him here at KALW. Welcome.
Hey, how's it going?
How's it going?
I'm doing pretty good.
I've known you for a minute now and you've been putting out a lot of music over the years. How would you describe your music, and who is Space Ghost?
Space Ghost is my music persona. I make ambient music, downtempo music, house music, dance music. I DJ as well. It's kind of heady, synthy, euphoric music.
You started making music when? Can you tell us the origin story of when you started and how you got into music?
I've always made music my whole life. The Space Ghost project started when I was about 17, right around the time I moved to Oakland.
Okay. Who were some of your early influences? What inspired you?
Back then it was totally different from now. I just wanted to make hip-hop, so probably artists like MF DOOM, Flying Lotus, and J Dilla. Over the years it’s changed. When I first met you we were all about the LA hip-hop beat scene and all that. The last time we did an interview, I was starting to move more into dance music - boogie, house, disco, that kind of stuff.
That was in 2018, the record that came out on Tartelet.
Correct, yeah. Endless Light.
Right. And that made a lot of waves. I saw on Bandcamp that you have a new record coming out that we can get into, but first—what was the progression from Endless Light to now?
I think Endless Light, for people who aren't familiar with my music, was a bridge from my old style of making hip-hop beats into trying to make more dance and house-related music. It’s kind of a combination of those two things. Fast forward to now, I’m always listening to ’90s and early 2000s house music, ’70s and ’80s disco, and ’90s R&B. My music is influenced by a lot of that and comes out in a more modern sound.
How would you describe the influences around 2018? What artists were you really drawn to at the time?
Around the Endless Light era I was really inspired by Lone. I was getting into Larry Heard and the whole Mr. Fingers catalog. I’m always inspired by DāM Funk as well. It’s about bridging the gap between different styles. With every album I make, I usually have a different obsession at the time.
For instance, in 2019 my album Aquarium Nightclub was heavily inspired by Larry Heard and some Italian producers on Periodica Records, like Mystic Jungle. It’s a bit deep and obscure, but I was really inspired by ’80s boogie and ’80s and ’90s house music at that time.
There’s a lot of music that you consume and make, and you’re also a DJ who plays shows around the Bay Area and elsewhere. How would you compare the two? What do you play out versus the music you make?
Sometimes I get booked for shows and people think I perform live, but I usually just DJ depending on the context. My albums can be a little more heady—music you listen to at home—with ambient or downtempo styles. When I play out, I like playing house music a lot.
My sets vary. If I’m playing a long set, I might start slow with downtempo stuff like UK street soul or slow R&B dance music, then work up to faster, more energetic tracks.
Nice. I’ve always been a fan of your sound. When you're making music, how do you start? Do you chase a groove, chords, a feeling? Does inspiration come from listening to something or from an experience?
I absorb music daily and listen to a lot of the music I want to recreate. Then I go into the studio and sometimes put a song in my session that I’m heavily inspired by. I might try to recreate the drum rhythm in my program and build a track around that.
Sometimes the inspiration might be a little obvious if I do that, but other times it morphs into a brand new idea. My sound is always there, but it usually starts from something I’ve been listening to.
It’s always varied and always really unique to you. You started a label back in 2024, right?
Correct.
What’s the label and what was the impetus behind starting it?
It’s called Peace World Records. I’ve been making music for a long time and putting records out with different labels around the world. I’m also trying to figure out how to make money as a musician, to be honest. I don’t make a living off my music—I work a day job.
Starting the label was a chance to build a business around my music and see if I can take it somewhere. Right now I’m in the red, but maybe ten years from now all the music I’ve put out on the label will generate some royalties.
Real. With the label, do you see it being mostly your music, or other artists too?
It’s going to be a mixed bag. I’ll put out a lot of my own music there, but I still want to collaborate with other labels so my music can reach different audiences. I’d also like to work with other artists—locally or people I find online.
The first release was a 12-inch of my own house music—four tracks. The second was a collaboration with a singer where I produced the music and he sang on it. The third release is from another artist who sent me a demo. I’m not really at the stage where I can regularly receive demos, because it’s all just me running the label, but I thought his tracks were special.
I mixed the record, so it has a bit of my sound in there, and I also did one remix. We’ll probably announce that in the next few weeks.
Nice. We’ll play a song here after this. Before that, who are some artists you’d love to collaborate with?
I actually sent an email to someone recently and didn’t get a response, but I don’t think it’s too far out of reach. He goes by Mr. YT.
Oh, okay.
I don’t know his full name because it’s Japanese and I don’t want to butcher it, but he’s really cool. He made ’90s house and techno, though he only released a little music in that style and then spent decades writing video game music.
For some reason I thought I’d email him and ask if he wanted to collaborate. He never responded.
Maybe give it time—it could come back around. We’re going to play a new song of yours. Can you tell us a bit about it?
This is the Tanukichan track. A couple of years ago an artist based in Oakland—she writes music and performs with a band around her tracks—hit me up about doing a collaboration show together. That was new for me because I never really performed my music live.
She set up a show at MoMA, of all places, so we had to write a bunch of music together and do mashups of our songs to perform live. It was hectic but really fun.
From that collaboration we ended up with two tracks of me remixing her songs. One is a drum and bass, ethereal R&B-type tune, and the other sounds more like classic ’90s or early 2000s R&B.
Cool. Excited to get into it. You DJ around the Bay and around the world—do you have any gigs coming up?
Yes. Next weekend actually. Saturday I’m playing at Bar Part Time in San Francisco with Chungtech. I think it’s free or a small cover. That’s a good chance to see me DJ.
Then Sunday I’m playing in Oakland on a pretty stacked lineup—Moodymann and Marcellus Pittman, two famous Detroit DJs and producers. There’s also local support from me, Nina Sol, Patrick Wilson, DJ Patrick, and Infinite Jess.
Sounds like a stacked weekend.
Yes. A lot of good house music.
Last question: where can people find you online?
You can find me everywhere. I’d suggest going to Bandcamp first and purchasing my music. If you have to go to Spotify after that, that’s fine too. I’m on YouTube and SoundCloud—there are a lot of DJ mixes on SoundCloud. Just look up Space Ghost.
And on Instagram: SpaceGhostOakland.
Awesome. Anything else you want to share with the greater Bay Area before we wrap and get into the song?
No, I’m good.
Awesome. Thanks for coming by KALW.
Thanks for having me.
