By the time the room catches up, he’s already somewhere else.

Born in Wellington, now in the deep south, TONKA moves quietly and damages floors across the board. Raw energy, hard drums, bass that doesn’t ask how much headroom it’s allowed. A master of contrast, his live sound pulls from everywhere: the darkness of late night rave culture, the weight of hard hitting production, the range is wide but the vision is singular.

At 19, TONKA has barely scratched the surface of what he’s sitting on. The people who’ve been paying attention already know it. The rest are catching up.