A Plus — The Collaboration
From the streets of Port Elizabeth to the decks of South Africa’s finest venues — DJ Darryl has been carving his own lane in the underground house and electronic scene for over a decade. Not the loudest name on the bill, not the one chasing the festival headline. Just a producer who puts in the work and lets the music do the talking.
Available through Darkmello Recordings — the label founded by Vonenzo Baschello to release music that moves. Follow Darkmello on Instagram for release announcements. Search for the track on SoundCloud or Spotify to stream it now.
Darryl Loxton — known on the circuit as DJ Darryl — grew up in the northern areas of Port Elizabeth, raised by his grandparents after his businessman father introduced him to the art of DJing early. “Like father, like son,” Darryl says — but he’s taken it somewhere else entirely. While most kids in his neighbourhood were chasing street cred, Darryl was opening Fruity Loops Studio in his bedroom, teaching himself production by reworking demo projects and watching every YouTube tutorial he could find. No formal training. No classes. Just hunger and a laptop that could barely handle the project files.
By 2015, he’d already made his mark on Music In Africa’s directory — described as a producer who “creates various styles such as deep house, electro, minimal tech, R&B, hip-hop — anything to get you dancing, or even when you want to hit the road and just cruise.” That versatility became his signature. He wasn’t the guy who only knew one tempo. He was the guy who could read a room and play what it needed, even when the room didn’t know what it needed yet.
Today, DJ Darryl is signed to Darkmello Recordings — the label arm of the Vonenzo Baschello World. And his latest release, “A Plus” featuring vocalist Naz Williams, is a statement of intent. The track is a collaboration under the GemSoundz banner — a production partnership that blends Darryl’s textured production with Naz’s soulful vocal delivery.
Naz Williams is the kind of vocalist that producers build around when they find her. Not someone who needs a beat to hide behind — someone who can sit inside a groove and make it breathe. Her delivery on “A Plus” lands somewhere between deep house and melodic Afro-soul — the kind of performance that rewards close listening rather than passive streaming. She doesn’t over-sing. She doesn’t under-sing. She finds the exact right amount and then she stays there, holding the track’s emotional centre while Darryl’s production moves underneath her.
The production work here is worth sitting with. “A Plus” doesn’t announce itself. It unfolds. The intro builds slowly — a filtered chord progression that gives nothing away before the kick arrives. Once the track is in motion, it moves with the kind of restraint that separates deep house from the more aggressive end of the spectrum. The bassline is present without being dominant. The percussion keeps time without demanding attention. Everything is in service of the groove, and the groove is in service of the listening experience.
The result sits somewhere between deep house and melodic Afro-soul — a track built for late-night drives through the Port Elizabeth harbour, for sundowners in Camps Bay, for the kind of sessions where the music does the talking. It’s South African electronic music at its most considered — not throwing elbows to get floor attention, but earning it measure by measure.
For Vonenzo Baschello and the Darkmello Recordings operation, “A Plus” represents the label’s ongoing commitment to supporting producers who bring something real to the music. The VBWLD ecosystem — which spans the Vonenzonian Royalty NFT community, the Chosen Chakra algorithm, and the broader creative network — has always positioned itself around the idea that the music comes first. DJ Darryl’s signing to Darkmello is consistent with that positioning. He’s not a favour or a charity case. He’s a producer who makes music that deserves to exist, and Darkmello is the structure that gets it to the people who need to hear it.
You can stream “A Plus” by DJ Darryl feat. Naz Williams on Apple Music, Spotify, and through Darkmello Recordings’ official channels. Follow DJ Darryl’s journey on SoundCloud for exclusive previews and studio sessions.
Darkmello Recordings — music from the Vonenzo Baschello World. Distribution, publishing, and artist management under one roof.
