Jesse Desenberg – aka Kid Kenobi – is one of Australia’s most respected DJ's. He’s won many awards and won over many a late-night crowd. He’s also one of the most affable souls you will ever meet.

SOMEBODY recently caught up with Jesse to discuss his recent endeavors.

Jesse how did you first get into DJing?

I’ve always been into music. DJing itself came about after being inspired by the music I was hearing at the time – trip hop and big beat. I still don’t define myself as a DJ. I’m an artist and DJing is just my main thing right now. I’ll definitely continue to branch out over the next year, especially as I just started my own label and have just released my first t-shirt range.

How has the industry evolved since you started?

Well, it’s not a secret sect of people playing strange music called techno at all night ‘dance parties’ in industrial Sydney anymore, that’s for sure! In short: computers have replaced records; DJ’s can be popstars and dance tunes can top ARIA charts; bands and DJ’s don’t hate each other anymore, they influence each other; when my younger sister hears an electro track on radio she doesn’t call it a dance track she calls it a ‘song’ and my Mum sees dance bands on morning chat shows; tunes now cost a couple of bucks rather than twenty; music is bought online rather than by brown-nosing the local record-store worker; artists are becoming independent and no longer need big labels to get their music out; the average age of a successful DJ is no longer 21, it’s 30. That’s just a few of them!

You took some time off from touring earlier this year – what have you been up to?

I’ve basically just been focusing on making the transition from DJ to artist. It’s involved a lot of long days and nights locked away in my studio, but it’s all really coming together. Indeed, I’ve gone from doing my first ever solo work to starting a label to get my music out in the space of a year, so pretty happy with how everything is going right now.

You’ve recently released some tracks with your brother under the name 'Two Fresh.' How did working with him come about?

We both decided to become more active in the studio and were both inspired by new sounds coming through so we thought: let’s do some! It’s gone so much better than I had hoped. The last year has been a massive growth period. I love what we are writing. All the mixes are different and very fresh (pun intended).

Who wins the studio fights?

We have learnt to be very diplomatic. A big step for me as I’m very much the control freak!

Can you tell us a bit more about your 'Kosmic Kids' moniker?

It’s about my lover of deeper sounds. It’s about music to inspire and to move. It’s just about music for quiet times and inner reflection. The aim is to uplift, inspire, and basically just to make some really ‘beautiful’ music.

How does releasing an original tune differ to a remix?

You can’t blame the original for a bad result! Ha! It’s essentially the same thing as most remixes are originals anyway.

Any artists you’re itching to work with?

Yeah, I still would love to work with the Plumps. Do the old Plump sound updated for 2009. Huge!

Your recent Sessions CD blended a mix of genres - is that representative of your musical tastes?

Yeah, it always has been. When I first started DJing I had to do that in order to survive. There were times when I would play a deep house gig, a breaks gig, a drum-and-bass gig, and a techno gig all in the same weekend and people would be like ‘cool.’

Then breaks came along and that was my thing. But now I’m branching out again. But it makes sense to me. It’s a natural evolution, and to be honest a lot of what I’m playing now – fidget, Baltimore, dubstep – is all just breaks in a ‘new pair of jeans.’ It’s the same ethos and uses the same influences, but just has a slightly different groove.

How do you deal with negative reviews?

I like the way you asked me this question directly after the one above! Yes, I had negative reviews after I started breaking out of the ‘breaks’ mold. But I don’t think it was handled the best at the time either. Ministry for example put out a ‘warning’ sign with the press release for one of my first non-breaks specific releases saying something to the effect of: ‘warning this is not a breaks release’ which was a little bit tacky and definitely came across as a diss to a lot of my older fans. But at the same time it was my decision to mix things up. I don’t always look back on that period fondly and if I had my time again I would certainly do some things differently.

But as Miles Davis once said: "Do not fear mistakes, there are none," and as an artist you really have to adopt that philosophy in order to survive. You can’t fear making a bad decision because if you do you will never try new things and you need to try new things in order to evolve. Indeed the rush of ‘new sounds’ is what I have always loved about music. And yeah, sometimes it may end in a bad review. But in the greater scheme of things growing and evolving as an artist is far more important to me than worrying about good or bad reviews. Reviews are always subjective anyway – good or bad – and at the end of the day you just gotta take them with a grain of salt. Or just don’t read them!

Do you like the direct communication the internet gives you with your fans?

Yeah, totally. I always try to make sure I get back to fans when I can. It’s nice for them to know you’re a normal person at the end of the day. That’s the kind of thing I find most inspiring about the people I admire. Ego is a big turn off.

What is the main misconception people have about you?

That I’m still in my 20’s. Terrible, isn’t it?!

If you weren’t DJing or making music what would Jesse Desenberg be doing?

Being an illustrator, I think. Drawing is my ‘other’ love.

You’ve recently been involved with the development of the Playstation game Little Big Planet. WTF?

Well, I didn’t actually design a game – I just helped design a level for the launch! The point of the game is to design your own world with a little character called Sackboy as your hero. My level made Sackboy a DJ whose music is stolen by evil aliens. He has to go to planet Cheese to win the music back!

Can you tell us a bit about your favourite tee?

It’s from a brand new range I’ve done with Sydney design group ‘Love Jungle’ and it’s a tee called ‘Komsic Kids’ inspired by, and named after, my Kosmic Kids moniker. Check out lovejungle.com!

Moving forward…what does 2009 and beyond hold for KK?

It’s crazy – which is why it has taken me so long to catch up for this interview!

It goes something like this: start my own label ‘Klub Kids’ and put my own comp out independently; tonnes of remix and original work; an EP as Two Fresh with my bro; releases on Klub Kids; tours in Canada, US, Japan, and Europe… It goes on and on!

I also want to start work on my first real artist album. I’ll be very tired...but I’m also very excited!

Jesse, love your work and thanks for your time…