Few artists have bent the trajectory of UK club music with as much quiet force as Joy Orbison — the alias of London’s Peter O’Grady. A permanent fixture in the underground, he's now operating in rare air: where raw cultural impact and uncompromising artistry aren’t at odds, but symbiotic.
In the last few years, O’Grady has entered a new phase — more precise, more personal, and more potent. His 2021 mixtape, still slipping vol. 1, wasn’t so much an album as a pirate broadcast from a parallel London, stitched together with cracked ambient textures, bass-heavy mutations, and intimate voice notes from his inner circle. Released on XL, it dodged genre convention in favor of emotional depth and structural freedom — a record equally informed by grime radio, warehouse disintegration, and domestic warmth. It was awarded DJ Mag’s Best Album, and hailed by Resident Advisor and The Guardian for its ability to blur public and private space in sound.
By 2024, O’Grady’s sonic language had crystallized into something heavier and sharper. His breakout anthem “flight fm” landed like an industrial siren through the rave matrix — a track that defined dance floors across the globe while refusing to play nice. It earned “Best Track” at DJ Mag’s awards, and its official remix with Fred again.., Lil Yachty, Playboi Carti, and Future proved what O’Grady’s always hinted at: his world isn’t underground or mainstream — it’s an ecosystem that feeds off both.
Even now, 15 years on from the seismic debut “Hyph Mngo”, Joy Orbison continues to disrupt the algorithm. His sets are blunt-force transmissions, shifting from low-end pressure to post-industrial euphoria without warning — proving that for all his legacy, O’Grady isn’t interested in nostalgia. He’s rewriting the language of the club in real time.
