Biography

Julian Connor and Mykola Smith may have somewhat predictable beginnings as a DJ duo – two friends who met at university, moved to New York City, and began to throw events for their community of friends - however Muffs & Mykola are nothing but. The two meld their charisma with their music tastes; their sets are constructed in a way that inspires the drive to dance through an amalgam of genres and sounds. There are no musical boundaries, just good tracks that elicit the right groove.

A lot has marked their DJ career since 2014, when Muffs & Mykola first became a “thing." They have had the privilege of playing many of New York’s nightlife institutions – Output, The Brooklyn Mirage, Teksupport, Elsewhere, 10ak, House of Yes, and various others – in addition to their own vyvn events. SXM Festival, Elements Festival, Gather Festival, Disco Knights and Distrikt at Burning Man are some of the acclaimed brands of the festival circuit Muffs & Mykola have been invited to play. In addition, they’ve shared the stage with industry respected names such as Maya Jane Coles, Adriatique, Serge Devant, Robag Wruhme, Anja Schneider, Monkey Safari, Martin Buttrich, Life on Planets, Matthias Kaden, Shaun Reeves, and DJ Three – just to name a few.

As like a lot of DJ biographies, Muffs and Mykola’s love of music and their persistence to be a part of it began when they were quite young. Mykola was merely 10 years old when he started to earn money dog walking in order to purchase a coveted RadioShack 4-chan mixer. Pairing it with two individual cassette tape decks, he cut his teeth spinning his first sets with bootlegged songs from the radio. At the ripe age of 13, Julian’s musical path was set when the first CD he ever purchased was Sasha’s Involver album. This was the genesis of an exploratory journey in electronic music that still carries him to this day.

After meeting in college, both Julian and Mykola overlapped on a love of hip hop - though they always disagreed on whether East Coast or West Coast rap prevailed. Mykola grew up in LA, listening to Tupac, G-funk and Power 106. Julian on the East Coast with rappers like Biggie, Nas, and Hot 97. Upon moving to New York, they started their brainchild, vyvn, a successful event series with a strong community and creative production. With carefully curated line ups of electronic music tastemakers, vyvn regularly sells out.

Today, when they’re not DJing or surfing, they’re working in the studios on productions. Their inaugural release on Sound of Vast is set to be released at the top of 2025 with an Asia tour in support. This is the first of many releases, as over the years they’ve amassed an arsenal of productions, honing their craft as they go. Without doubt, Muffs and Mykola are ones to keep a keen eye on as their gigs and releases steadily climb.

Recent releases & mixes