KI/KI (Kiki Wesselo) is a Dutch DJ and producer from Amsterdam and one of the prominent figures of the contemporary trance, acid and techno scenes. Her music combines the aesthetics of the 1990s and early 2000s with fast modern techno, Roland TB-303 acid lines, euphoric trance melodies and hard-driving club rhythms. KI/KI’s career took shape within Amsterdam’s queer scene and became particularly closely associated with the Spielraum parties, where she became a resident in 2018. She later founded her own label, slash, developed the hybrid performance format 5HRS OF ACID and released tracks such as Leave It to the Vibe, 5 Mins Of Acid and Getting Ready For The Party. Her discography also includes collaborations with Marlon Hoffstadt, Armin van Buuren and Underworld.
Kiki grew up in Epe, a small town in the Netherlands. Electronic music was not a central part of the local cultural environment, but at home she heard records played by her parents, including early trance from Tiësto. Wesselo later cited this music as one of the first sources of her interest in the electronic scene.
Her first attempts at making music date back to around the age of fifteen. At the time, production was not seen as a future profession; it was more a way to process emotions and experiment with sound. Music later moved into the background for a period because of her studies, and KI/KI returned to serious studio work much later.
At seventeen, Wesselo moved to Amsterdam. It was there that her connection with electronic music expanded beyond home recordings and the internet: Kiki began regularly attending clubs and parties before eventually stepping behind the decks herself.
For a time, she performed as part of a duo with her then-partner. Their musical tastes differed, so their sets were built as a compromise between several styles. Over time, Wesselo realised that she wanted complete control over the musical direction of her performances and focused on the solo project KI/KI.
Spielraum and Amsterdam’s queer scene
A turning point came in 2018, when KI/KI began playing at Amsterdam’s Spielraum parties. The project was aimed primarily at a queer audience and created a space where musical selection was not restricted by the usual boundaries of club techno.
It was at Spielraum that one of KI/KI’s defining characteristics took shape: the free combination of trance, acid, techno and rave music from different eras. In the late 2010s, old-school trance was still far from universally accepted as relevant club material, yet Wesselo actively incorporated such records into fast techno sets.
She soon became a Spielraum resident and maintained her connection with the project after her career expanded internationally. When the Spielraum team opened its own Amsterdam club, RAUM, KI/KI continued to perform there as well.
Wesselo herself has repeatedly described the queer scene as the foundation of her professional story. It gave her room to experiment with both music and stage identity without having to conform to established ideas of what techno or trance should sound like.
Trance, acid and 1990s club music
One of the main foundations of KI/KI’s sound is the club music of the 1990s. After beginning her solo career, she became particularly active in searching for old trance, techno and acid releases, including obscure records and music that had almost disappeared from modern club circulation.
Among the artists Wesselo has named as influences on her musical thinking are Outlander and Miss Djax. However, her engagement with the past has never been about simply recreating a retro sound. Older records are played alongside contemporary tracks built around similar rhythmic and harmonic principles.
The sound of the Roland TB-303 holds a particularly important place in her music. Resonant acid sequences have become a recurring element both in KI/KI’s own productions and in her performances.
As a result, a single set can naturally move between late-1990s trance, acid techno, hard house, modern fast techno and new music from emerging producers.
International career
After her early years in Amsterdam, KI/KI’s touring geography expanded rapidly. She has performed at Berghain, Tbilisi’s Bassiani, New York’s The Bunker, as well as major festivals including Awakenings, Dekmantel, Draaimolen, Lowlands, Sónar, Kappa FuturFestival, Glitch, Nuits Sonores and Sziget.
Videos of her performances played a significant role in expanding her audience. In particular, her Boiler Room set at AVA Festival introduced international viewers not only to her music selection but also to the way she constructs a set.
KI/KI does not aim to turn a performance into a sequence of individual hits. Her sets are more often built around a gradual development of tension: dense techno passages give way to acid sections, atmospheric transitions and large trance climaxes.
This approach is especially evident in longer sets, where the musical narrative can unfold over several hours.
5HRS OF ACID
One of KI/KI’s signature performance formats is 5HRS OF ACID — an extended set built entirely around different forms of acid music.
The title does not mean five hours of identical acid techno. The programme can include acid house, techno, trance, rave and contemporary tracks built around the distinctive sound of the 303.
The format sits somewhere between a traditional DJ set and a live performance. KI/KI not only mixes finished records but also uses hardware elements that allow her to alter and expand the material directly during the performance.
As a result, each edition of 5HRS OF ACID can differ significantly from the previous one, and the concept has developed into an independent part of KI/KI’s touring activity.
One of her best-known original tracks is directly connected with this project: 5 Mins Of Acid, in which the idea of a five-hour acid session was compressed into a club track lasting only a few minutes.
Live format
KI/KI’s work with live hardware did not end with 5HRS OF ACID. In 2022, she introduced a full live format, first presented during the closing performance of Draaimolen festival.
This direction became a natural continuation of her interest in production. While a conventional DJ set allows her to work with music by different artists and from different eras, the live show places the focus on her own material and on the possibility of reshaping it directly on stage.
Founding slash
In 2022, KI/KI founded her own label, slash. The name refers to the slash in her stage name and reflects the project’s central idea — connecting the past with the present.
The original concept was broader than a conventional artist-run imprint. KI/KI wanted to connect a new generation of producers with artists who had shaped trance and techno in previous decades, bring forgotten records back into circulation and create contemporary interpretations of older material.
Putting this idea into practice proved more difficult because of licensing issues and the challenge of locating the rights holders for some catalogues, so the label’s early releases became more focused on contemporary music. Nevertheless, the main concept remained intact: slash exists at the intersection of trance, techno, acid and 1990s club aesthetics.
The label’s catalogue has featured music by Alpha Tracks, DINA, Artemis, Intuition, Aeryeen, KTRSX and other producers.
A harder offshoot called club slash later appeared, focusing on more direct and forceful club music, while the main slash imprint retains a broader range between trance, techno and the aesthetics of older rave records.
Leave It to the Vibe
Although KI/KI had been making music since her teenage years, her first fully developed original EP arrived much later. On 21 April 2023, she released Leave It to the Vibe through slash.
By that point, the title track had already been part of her sets for around two years and attracted particular attention following her Boiler Room performance at AVA Festival.
In the original version, a fast rhythm is combined with atmospheric trance synthesizers, while KI/KI’s own voice is transformed into a short hypnotic motif.
The EP also includes To the Vibe (Rework) and Leave It to the Drums. The former strengthens the melodic side of the original material, while the latter focuses much more heavily on rhythm and warehouse aesthetics.
Leave It to the Vibe marked an important stage precisely because KI/KI’s international reputation had previously been built mainly around her DJ performances. From this point onward, her own releases became an independent part of the project.
5 Mins Of Acid and the Armada partnership
In 2024, KI/KI released slash 010 — the tenth release on her label, but only the second EP built around her own original music.
The main track was 5 Mins Of Acid. The composition is driven by a powerful acid line, a dense bass foundation and more airy trance textures. The idea grew out of the 5HRS OF ACID live format and developed over a long period inside her sets before receiving an official release.
The second track on the EP was Don’t Stop (Acid & Drums Mix), a harder and more rhythmically direct production.
At the same time, KI/KI entered into a long-term partnership with Armada Music. The company began working with slash on A&R, distribution, catalogue management and international promotion, while creative control of the label remained with Wesselo herself.
Don’t You Want Me
In July 2024, KI/KI released an official remix of Felix — Don’t You Want Me, one of the defining European club tracks of the early 1990s.
The choice fits her musical method particularly well. Rather than completely rebuilding the original, Wesselo retained its recognisable synthesizer motif, increased the tempo and moved the track into a harder contemporary club context.
The remix received widespread support and became one of KI/KI’s most recognisable studio productions.
Getting Ready For The Party
In January 2025, slash released Getting Ready For The Party, recorded with vocalist Storm Mollison.
The track combines trance synthesizers with elements of classic hard house and a more pronounced song structure. Unlike earlier material, where vocals were often used as short samples or hypnotic loops, Mollison’s vocal takes a full central role.
The concept of the track revolves around the moment of getting ready for a night out — the transition from a calm everyday state into the anticipation of club energy.
Edison Dance
In 2025, KI/KI received an Edison in the Dance category, one of the Netherlands’ major music awards.
The jury highlighted her distinctive sound, bold musical choices and ability to build a strong connection with the audience. The victory was also historically significant: KI/KI became the first woman to receive the Edison Dance award in the category’s twenty-year history.
The award was an important indication of how far her audience had expanded beyond the Amsterdam club environment where her career began.
Marlon Hoffstadt and Losing Control
In August 2025, KI/KI joined forces with Berlin-based DJ and producer Marlon Hoffstadt for the track Losing Control.
Both artists are associated with the return of fast, euphoric trance to contemporary European club culture, although they emerged from different scenes. Their collaboration combines trance melodies with a direct festival structure and the tempo associated with the new hard dance wave.
This was followed by What’s a Girl to Do in ’25, a contemporary reworking of Fatima Yamaha’s What’s a Girl to Do. Once again, it demonstrated one of KI/KI’s recurring principles: working with familiar musical history without simply reproducing the original recording.
Armin van Buuren and Put Your Bassline
In October 2025, the first collaboration between Armin van Buuren and KI/KI — Put Your Bassline was released.
The track was created as the official anthem for Amsterdam Music Festival 2025 and accompanied their back-to-back performance at Johan Cruijff ArenA during Amsterdam Dance Event. It became the first official AMF anthem created jointly by two of the event’s headliners.
The collaboration brought together two generations of Dutch trance culture. Armin van Buuren emerged from the classic trance scene of the 2000s, while KI/KI represents a generation that brought the genre’s characteristic euphoria back into a faster techno and rave context.
Underworld and further development
As her own discography expanded, KI/KI increasingly began moving beyond the familiar techno-trance combination.
In February 2026, she released the solo track 5AM, followed by her remix of Romy — Love Who You Love.
In May, she collaborated with British electronic project Underworld on Arp12. The release includes the original track and a separate DJ version.
The collaboration feels natural within the context of KI/KI’s musical history: as early as the 1990s, Underworld freely combined techno, progressive house, trance and live electronic music — the same kinds of genre intersections that Wesselo explores in a different club era.
Later, slash released Going Existential In The Rave and Here With Me, continuing the development of her own studio discography.
KI/KI’s musical style
The core of KI/KI’s sound is built around trance, acid and techno, but her individuality is defined above all by the way she combines these styles.
From classic trance she draws emotional harmony, extended synthesizer chords, euphoric melodies and long build-ups. From acid come the characteristic resonant TB-303 lines and constant modulation of synthesizer parameters. From techno she takes repetition, a direct rhythmic framework and the ability to sustain tension for long periods without having to rush toward a climax.
Despite its high tempos, KI/KI’s music is rarely built around extreme industrial heaviness. Even her harder tracks usually retain a clearly defined melodic component.
Speed is therefore not an end in itself, but a way of intensifying the sensation of uplift. One of her characteristic techniques is the transition from a dense, hard rhythmic section into a large emotional trance melody.
Vinyl and the search for older music
Searching for older records remains an important part of KI/KI’s work. She buys vinyl and explores Discogs catalogues, music channels and specialist record shops in search of obscure trance, techno and acid releases.
Some 1990s records were never officially reissued in digital form. In such cases, Wesselo digitises her own copies for use in her sets.
She used to perform directly with vinyl more often, but with an intensive touring schedule the format proved impractical. Festival performances are particularly difficult, as heat and direct sunlight can damage rare records.
As a result, the modern KI/KI set is predominantly digital, although a significant portion of the music she plays still comes from her physical collection.
Performance approach
KI/KI works across several performance formats. A standard DJ set allows her to move quickly between genres and eras; extended performances give her more time to develop the atmosphere gradually; 5HRS OF ACID combines DJing with live elements, while the full live programme focuses on her own material.
At the same time, there is almost no rigid divide in her career between the underground and the large-scale stage. KI/KI continues to perform in spaces connected with club culture and the queer community while also playing for festival crowds numbering in the thousands.
This continuity has become one of the defining characteristics of her career: instead of completely adapting trance and acid to the demands of the mainstream stage, Wesselo gradually expanded the audience for her own musical approach.
Discography
Main EPs and original releases
- Leave It to the Vibe — 2023
- slash 010 — 2024
- Getting Ready For The Party — 2025, with Storm Mollison
- club slash 006 — Time to Party / Time for Acid — 2025
Selected tracks
- Leave It to the Vibe
- To the Vibe (Rework)
- Leave It to the Drums
- 5 Mins Of Acid
- Don’t Stop (Acid & Drums Mix)
- Getting Ready For The Party — with Storm Mollison
- Time to Party
- Time for Acid
- Losing Control — with Marlon Hoffstadt
- What’s a Girl to Do in ’25
- Put Your Bassline — with Armin van Buuren
- Can’t Stop Loving You
- 5AM
- Arp12 — with Underworld
- Going Existential In The Rave
- Here With Me
Selected remixes
- Felix — Don’t You Want Me (KI/KI Remix)
- E.Motion — Somebody Else (KI/KI Remix)
- Romy — Love Who You Love (KI/KI Remix)
KI/KI emerged at the intersection of Amsterdam’s queer scene, 1990s club music and a new generation of fast European rave. Her approach is not based on simply reviving old trance or acid, but on maintaining a continuous dialogue between different eras. Archival records, contemporary producers, her own music, live hardware and the slash label all exist within a single system through which the euphoria and acid sound associated with the 1990s have found a new place in modern club culture.
