Sound as research, selection and a living archive.
01 / PortraitIceland, 2017
OriginPanevėžys, Lithuania
PracticeSound / Curation / Visual art
ArchiveSecret Thirteen / Since 2010
Publications252
01 / Biography
Sound as archive, matter and memory.
DJ S13 is the artistic identity of Justinas Mikulskis (b. 1986), founder and editor of Secret Thirteen, an independent music journal established in 2010. His work as a DJ, sound artist and curator operates between audio archaeology, journalism and visual art.
01
Origins & atmosphere
The sonic identity of S13 was formed in the post-industrial landscape of Panevėžys. Brutalist factories, material decay and the quiet pressure of a post-Soviet city sharpened an early sensitivity to texture and darker sound. At ten, with help from his engineer grandfather, he constructed his first DJ mixer. An uncle’s record collection — black metal, punk and 1970s rock — opened a route toward anarchism, philosophy, science fiction and a life built outside conventional cultural structures.
02
The evolution of sound
Early roots in jungle and drum’n’bass, including productions for Liquid V and Vampire, quickly expanded into a more abstract language. S13 sets move between industrial rhythm, ethnographic field recordings, new wave, drone and academic composition. Each performance is treated as research: material is not repeated, but reorganised into a new narrative of pressure, space and time.
03
Performance & curation
S13 has appeared at Berlin Atonal, Arma17, Norbergfestival and Unsound events, sharing programmes with Mika Vainio, Esplendor Geométrico, Demdike Stare, The Soft Moon and Fennesz. Mix commissions include Electronic Explorations, Headphone Commute, Seek Sick Sound, Cashmere Radio and other independent platforms.
04
Across disciplines
Mikulskis approaches sound as both a physical and visual entity. His wider practice includes abstract industrial assemblages made from metal waste, lectures on musical narrative and industry context, and sonic installations such as The Energy System of the Užutrakis Manor Orangery as a Sonic Negative. He continues to build Secret Thirteen as a durable resource for future listeners.
02 / On stage
In the room.
Performance footage and selected posters from the archive.
Audra Festival / Kaunas, 2022Photo by Vytenis Sidabras
Digital Tsunami / rotating frameSūpynės Festival / filmed performance, 2019
Berlin Atonal / 2014Holotone Showcase / Berlin, 2016Space Love / Arma17, 2014Polar Inertia / KablysUMBRA / Kablys, 2014Undogmatisch / Berlin, 2015Audra Festival / 2022Sūpynės Festival / 2019Digital Tsunami Camp / 2022
03 / Personal archive
External transmissions
Documented mixes and radio shows, 2008—2024. Recent recordings open a listening page; earlier recordings remain in the original download archive.
Justinas Mikulskis as a guest: conversations about making music, listening and building Secret Thirteen. DJ sets and his own editorial work are archived separately.
Pimmon draws on three decades of experimental listening, joining Australian underground discoveries with fractured electronics and intimate home-made recordings. Fifteen pieces form a deliberately unruly journey through resonance, distortion and unexpected connections.
Listening Mirror lets fourteen records unfold patiently, moving from Jóhann Jóhannsson’s piano-led opening towards a quiet sense of spring. His own work meets Birds of Passage, Coil and Motion Sickness of Time Travel in a gently absorbing sequence.
Jára Tarnovski gathers twenty-three Japanese recordings into a delicate survey of experimental sound. Ambient space, intricate electronics, murmured voices and small acoustic details reveal an intimate connection to the scene.
Cezary Gapik connects early electronic experimenters with a restless contemporary underground. Thirteen selections move between static atmospheres, abrasive textures and sudden rhythmic structures, with Eliane Radigue framing the journey.
Ersha blends five of his own unreleased pieces with music by Alva Noto, Irezumi, 36 and other atmospheric explorers. Sixteen selections balance luminous space with darker, weightier textures over a cinematic hour.
Anduin moves through thirteen pieces by John Zorn, Autechre, Tom Waits and kindred experimental musicians, alongside his own recordings. Jazz, submerged voices, guitar textures and shifting rhythms form a volatile, cinematic hour.
Jeremy Bible brings nineteen recent experimental records into a continuous, deeply textured composition. Subterranean crackle, chamber melodies and abrasive passages reveal the wide listening world behind Experimedia.
Ryklys charts a quiet voyage through twelve records, from Aphex Twin and John Cage to Kraftwerk, Orbital and Carl Craig. His love of the sea gives this wide-ranging selection its patient movement and luminous atmosphere.
Eril Fjord builds a live set from unpublished material recorded in 2010–2011. Hardware rhythms, electric guitar and flickering details open a cinematic world between abstract techno and ambient music.
Pleq opens the series with twelve compositions made with collaborators across Japan, Canada, Spain and the United Kingdom. Glitch, drifting atmospheres, cello and piano form an intimate hour drawn from his own musical world.
Patris Židelevičius is a multi-instrumentalist from Lithuania, who combines experimental electronic music with acoustic sounds. Artist’s major instrument is cello with which he plays from childhood.
Hungarian duo Magamura turn electronic structures, rhythms and voices into an unfolding live narrative, recorded at Merlin Theatre in Budapest in March 2011.
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