Mawkus
If it wasn't for radio, Mawkus would not be a DJ. Inspired by listening to the radio growing up in the small beach town of Ventura, he knew at a young age he needed to be a DJ. After getting his first set of turntables at 15 and spending much of his free time in local record stores, his first real foray into DJing started on college radio in 2004, playing house music on a weekly Saturday night dance mix show on KCPR 91.3 FM.
Through his college radio roots, he later found himself working as a radio DJ at San Diego's Jazz 88.3 where he hosted and produced two weekly radio shows showcasing music from all over the world, both new and old, as well as jazz, blues, soul, funk and everything in between.
As a DJ, his deep musical aptitude found him playing alongside and opening for a plethora of world-class talent. From opening for Body High at Moustache Bar in Tijuana to playing slow jams alongside the legendary Questlove at Santos Party House for LA's 143 takeover curated by Sosupersam, vibes are vibes with Mawkus.
The rest of it — four more paragraphs
In addition to a string of features and accolades for his production work ranging from Los Angeles' KCRW to London's Rinse FM, his love for bringing people together and creating spaces for vibes that need to be heard, seen and felt moved him to produce events. Mawkus became a fixture in San Diego for championing the underground through his radio shows, DJ sets and events he put together.
Since relocating to New York in late 2014, he began working as A&R Director for FSQ, signed to Soul Clap Records as well as joining Singapore-based label collective Darker Than Wax.
He currently co-hosts two radio shows, one of which is a weekly radio show, Darker Than Wax FM, on The Lot Radio that’s featured many notable guests like that of LeftO, Scratcha DVA, Nickodemus, Photay and many more. He can also be found on KALW in the San Francisco Bay Area every Saturday and Sunday afternoon. He used to co-host a monthly show, We Move, produced by Red Bull Arts New York.
You can listen to him weekly on KALW 91.7 in the SF Bay Area and KALW.org every Saturday and Sunday afternoon from 12pm to 2pm PST.
Their Resident Advisor profile, in full and unedited.
Records out on Darker Than Wax and Savoir Faire Musique. — their own list on Resident Advisor
The nights
2026
- Fri 7 Aug15 Years of Darker Than Wax: New York with Haseeb Iqbal, Marco WeibelElsewhere · first time · Darker Than Wax
2025 — 1 night
- Sat 10 May 2025Darker Than Wax Night: DJ Tara, Mawkus, TASHASAN, JASJupiter Disco · first time · Jupiter Disco Version 2.0
Who they play with
Two nights on the books, and no name on more than one of them.
- Sat 10 May 2025DJ Tara · TASHASAN · Jasmine Li
- Fri 7 Aug 2026Haseeb Iqbal · Honey Bun · Lefto Early Bird · Marco Weibel · John Silas · Jasmine Li (NY) · Nappy Nina
Ten people have stood on one of these bills; none has stood on two.
The nights, the rooms and the bills are the listings themselves. The biography and the labels are Resident Advisor's. Nothing on this page was written for it.