The sonics connoisseur opens up about his creative process, founding legacy, and highly anticipated solo debut, “If Not Now, Then When.”
Southern California native Joe Kay is a vibe curator. Unabashedly music-obsessed, throughout his early life, he would discover vintage sonics and songs as if they were high-end collectible sports cards. Sonics to Joe Kay are compelling sounds and produced beats that would stimulate his imagination to seek out more. The 35-year-old DJ and beatmaker founded the Soulection collective, a music discovery platform where DJs worldwide share their love for music, with Andre Power and Guillaume Bonte in 2011. “[In Soulection Radio] we say future beats, eclectic soul, and forgotten gems,” Joe Kay prefaces on our Zoom call. “A lot of that is really how the Soulection collective is coded, what we live by, it is the Soulection Bible.”
In 2008, broadcasting sounds in his Grandmother’s basement, Kay produced his own homegrown radio show on Podomatic called “Ill Vibes,” which would lay the foundation for Soulection Radio and his forthcoming sold-out Soulection spinning live events. The eclectic grooves that occupied the DJ’s mindspace sparked the idea of Soulection, which would go on to blossom into a global artistic and cultural movement.
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From February through March 2025, Soulection celebrated its 14-year anniversary in a big way, making tour stops in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York City, and Houston. An astounding lineup of DJs (including Kay himself) shared their synergistic adoration for sonics with a crowd of 5,000-plus attendees. Nowadays, the vibe facilitator is choosing to take his fluency in curating worldly sounds and packaging them into a musical body of work that captures his essence. If Not Now, Then When marks a major moment for Joe Kay, who has historically often been camouflaged behind a standing table of DJ turntables. Out April 4, 2025, the six-track EP was crafted in the executive producer’s Joshua Tree sanctuary, which inspired much of the sound design. Out in the desert terrain of Yucca Valley, Joe Kay made a call out to his friends: Karri, Cruza, Isaiah Falls, Arin Ray, Blackway, Amaria, Dylan Sinclair, Merges, Sinead Harnett, and D’Mile. There, “the skeleton of the musical foundation of If Not Now, Then When was laid down in about 7 to 10 days,” Joe Kay breaks down to me.
Only someone like Joe Kay could send out a bat signal in the sky to get artists and producers who all live across the globe to come to a desolate, creative safe haven. Kay caught up with Latina ahead of his EP release to discuss his lifelong love for sound design, being inspired by the soul of California music, and his family household’s Hispanic-Caribbean heritage.
LATINA: Truly standing the test of time in contemporary music’s creator economy, how does it make you feel knowing you created the Soulection collective that has been around for this long?
JOE KAY: I’m forever grateful. I’ve said this to my friends recently, every year that we make it, every extra year added, it’s always a blessing. I just feel to be able to do what we’re doing this deep in and have a loyal following and community of people that come out to the shows. We don’t even announce the lineups or my name is not even on there, and it feels really, really good to be able to bring the amount of people that we’re doing. I think in New York, we did over 5000 tickets. We had to add bonus shows for the stops that we decided to do in the US. Somewhere between 10,000 to 12,000 people with a handful of shows that we did for this 14-year run. People are still listening to the radio show religiously and are dedicated to the sound of Soulection.
LATINA: What is at the core of Soulection’s creative beliefs?
JK: At the core, the message and ethos of what we do is always to be intentional. That is what people feel first [from] anything we post, anything we share, anything we release, everything from the communication, the language, the captions to the design, and the music. It’s a testament to the longevity of us still being here. It is not about trying to inspire people to get into music or to be an artist, DJ, or producer. It is about staying true to yourself. Do not dim your light, keep finding ways to push through with your vision no matter what [your doubts are], and stay selective.
LATINA: What led you to create the idea of Soulection?
JK: I’ve been doing this since 2007. [The intent was] always to create this concept of uniting other like-minded people. We created the early foundations of Soulection back in 2008, 2009, but it took a couple of years to [get going]. There have been so many artists, DJs, and people that I’ve brought in along the way during this journey to help push it to what it is. Much of it was created in my grandmother’s basement in the den when I was in college.
LATINA: Tying to your family’s background, what Latin music or artists impacted you when you were younger that nurtured this cultural idea of making music a movement?
JK: Music is my therapy. There was a lot of different music played around the house, a lot of soul music, a lot of R&B. There was such a world sound always brought into the house, whether it was house music or reggae. I’m half-Mexican, I have Puerto Rican heritage and Native heritage, too, so there were always different styles of music. There were always Latin sounds, like Puerto Rican music, getting into salsa via my grandma—who only spoke Spanish—and Dominican music. I’ve always resonated with Jamaican music, too. Dancehall, lovers rock, just the overall Jamaican sound. So a lot of what was inspired and created in Jamaica also influenced the Puerto Ricans and that is where reggaeton and all these different sounds came from that I love.
“Music is my therapy.”
LATINA: How has Southern California shaped your taste in music?
JK: I feel the Cali sound, the West Coast sound, has influenced me immensely. Sometimes, if I’m playing that music across the world, people might not resonate with the West Coast sounds. The Chicano oldies culture is huge here, [so] I think that is a part of my heritage growing up in LA—the lowrider culture mixed with that classic 1970s soul music. It is a whole energy, from the way you dress to the way you look. South LA’s Battlecat had a certain bounce and soulfulness. Today, Kendrick has done so much for the culture, so that’ll always be a part of my DNA. Some sounds are still coming from the [highly influential musicians] of the Bay area.
LATINA: Referring to your first EP, If Not Now, Then When, the title is very telling. What about this body of work made it right for your solo debut?
JK: It’s six tracks and features nine artists who I believe in and love. The EP is a snapshot of what I already do on Soulection radio and what I do as a tastemaker. This time, it is me leaning in and owning that. There is R&B, soul, some Jamaican influence, and Afrobeats. Primarily all with singers and vocalists. We had great writers and a legendary producer, such as D’Mile. I leaned into the tastemaker and executive producer side. I’m not [doing production] on this project. I put these people in the right room. It was many of the artists’ first time meeting each other or even finding out about each other. So the entire EP felt like a true Soulection ethos of what I’m about: [introducing] people to new artists and new sounds.
LATINA: The whole idea of If Not Now, Then When—were you second-guessing this release at times? What was the timeline like for this project?
JK: Original music is the only thing I’m missing in my portfolio and catalog. If Not Now, Then When was intentionally created at my home in Joshua Tree. The home where we created these sessions inspired the EP with the space’s interior design. The project was inspired by the desert, the energy and clarity out there, the quietness brought everyone together. In terms of, why aren’t you doing this much sooner? Or why haven’t you done this before? And to be honest, I do feel like it’s right on time even though I’m 14 years in with Soulection, I feel like I’m the most poised and established now. Before, I was constantly telling myself, I’m not ready or I need more time, I’m around people that create the best music.
LATINA: What creative decisions did you make sure to prioritize while creating this EP, or was it all spontaneously organic?
JK: When we were in Joshua Tree, it was great to see how everyone was discovering each other for the first time in person, yet there was this synergy. It just felt like a jam session with like-minded individuals. The fact that people took the time to trek two to three hours out from Los Angeles, some people flew in, told me that people were serious about this and it was important to me to take charge. People immediately resonated with one another and had chemistry within the first two hours. A couple of the records, such as “Moonlight and “Slow It Down,” were created within the first 24 hours.
LATINA: How did you approach these artists in introducing their sounds together?
JK: There was a real spark and chemistry that came about from bringing these people together. It felt really good. I did come into it telling everybody: Be yourself, but also feel free to create and step out of your normal sound. Come out of your normal pockets of sounds that you’ve been producing or records that you’ve put out. Let’s make a moment to try something new. That is what Soulection is about. It is about taking risks. I started off the whole session by giving them that speech and that introduction allowed these artists to experiment and try something different.
LATINA: In the digital age, the music world is increasingly saturated with artists tapped into algorithms and social media. How do you stay inspired as an artist and keep things sounding natural?
JK: I stay inspired in different ways, not just through music. I have tapped more into interior design and spatial design, [like,] How do I want my place to feel and sound? That correlates to how I spend all of my days at a time in one place. I might as well invest in my space and make it feel the best possible—artwork up on the walls, furniture pieces, and chairs, lights, and aromas that inspire me to want to create. Even when I experience writer’s block, I might look at a poster or look at a magazine or a coffee book or something that I have on my table that was made in the ‘60s or ‘70s and think, Damn, this still feels timeless.
“That is what Soulection is about. It is about taking risks.”
LATINA: What about the state of contemporary music are you excited about? Any criticisms as a music lover and someone who loves art?
JK: Right now, there are more artists than ever. I was listening to the latest show that I did for Soulection Radio. I was listening back to it and I had played this artist Jayla Darden, and she has a similar tone and pitch to Brandy. She is kind of slept on—she needs to be bigger. We’re in a time when there is more music and more creatives, designers, DJs…just more everything than we’ve ever had. When we were younger, there wasn’t social media, [everything] wasn’t as accessible. [I think] it was much harder to become successful in the music space—to be known and seen. You had to create this unique body-of-work and really depend on your resources and go through the label system. I find out about new artists every day, every week, and there are so many more that are untapped. [But] we have to do a lot more nowadays. You have to be your own creative director, your own designer, and your own visionary.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Malik Peay is a features writer based in Los Angeles who focuses on culture, entertainment, and more. He loves the art of traveling and connecting with people through their taste in music. You can follow his work on Instagram.
