manics
Feeling the RUSH
From Dolores Park to dance floors across the country, the LA-based duo reframe rave nostalgia into future-forward soundscapes.
Manics isn’t just a name it’s a mindset. Since linking up in San Francisco over early-gen Ableton controllers and underground parties, Chris Sanders and Jordan DeHerrera have been on a relentless mission to fuse emotion, energy, and evolution into electronic music. Together, they’ve shaped their own world, both as artists under the Manics banner and as founders of Popgang Records, the SF-rooted, genre-blurring label they’ve cultivated since 2013.
“When we started, it felt like no one was paying attention to what we were building,” says Sanders. “We were just making noise that felt real to us, then suddenly, we realized that noise had started to matter.”
Their latest release, Rush EP, is a sonic adrenaline shot. Where their earlier projects like Pastel Palace bathed in sun-drenched disco and chill tempos born from pandemic-era isolation, Rush accelerates into heavier club territory, live instruments crashing into rave-inspired rhythms and Jordan’s vocals piercing through synth-drenched textures.
This evolution wasn’t accidental. Their move to LA in 2020 marked a shift in intensity full-time focus on the label, on Manics, and on the full-bodied live shows that now define their presence. Each track in their live set comes with custom visuals. Each synth sound is reconstructed by hand. The result? An all-in, no-hiding kind of performance where the music is raw and intentional.
“We’ll hook you with something familiar, then slide in the weirdness. The goal is to keep you dancing, sure—but also to let you see what we’re inspired by.”
Tracks like “Numb” and the EP’s title song “Rush” reflect their hybrid approach to genre, UKG influences morph into melodic house, while pop vocal structures collide with post-punk textures. The duo doesn’t chase trends. They experiment, bend, reframe.
“There’s never really a formula,” Sanders says. “Sometimes it’s like smashing two genres together and hoping the chaos works.”
Manics’ identity also exists offstage and behind the boards. Beyond their own records, they’re collaborators, ghostwriters, and producers often helping other artists bring visions to life, even when their names stay in the liner notes. It’s a creative freedom they thrive in.
If Rush had a single word to describe its headspace? Maybe it’s “release.” Or maybe that’s the magic of Manics: there isno single word. Each track is a mood. Each show, a universe. And when it ends, you’re left remembering the feeling more than the sound.
At the core of it all, Sanders hopes for something simple.
