Jenna Shaw navigates the electronic music landscape with precision and vision. After cutting her teeth years ago at underground warehouse raves in her home city of Austin, Texas, she’s blossomed into a DJ and producer whose work transcends genre, seamlessly blending psytrance, hard techno, drum & bass, and industrial kicks to create a forward-thinking sound all her own.
Fresh off playing three sets on board EDSea 2025, including an empowering D&B set with the ladies of Sara Landry’s Blood Oath, Shaw caught up with EDM Maniac to talk about her creative process, her sonic evolution, and the dance floor experiences that have shaped her journey.
Ahead of the release of Anubis, her new collaborative EP with Joan Dark, out today on Psyonik Records, she shared the inspirations and ideas that drive her art forward.
EDM Maniac: What were your earliest memories with music, and how did they set you on your path?
Jenna Shaw: [Early on] I knew about electronic music, but wasn’t really involved. Then I discovered a secret warehouse rave with an undisclosed location. They wouldn’t tell you where it was until like an hour before. I was like, “All right, that sounds cool and interesting, different,” because I didn’t really have friends at the time in Austin.
I went, and it ended up becoming a defining part of my personality. I thought, “This is exactly what I want my life to be.” That was Sara Landry throwing her first warehouse party for about 100 people in Austin, and that’s what inspired me to want to do this and be a part of it.
EDM Maniac: Was that how you got started in DJing?
Jenna Shaw: I went there, and I was like, “This is a really cool community and setting.” I met all my friends there. After being a raver for maybe three years, I was like, “Hey, I really want to start DJing.” That was because it was a pandemic, and a lot of people I was listening to locally just weren’t playing the kind of music that I wanted to listen to.
It was a lot of drum & bass, techno, house music, tech house. It was all lovely, but it didn’t really resonate with me at the time. So I started playing my own stuff. I started with techno, and I’ve slowly transitioned to psytrance, drum & bass, and similar genres. It’s an evolution that continues to change over time.
EDM Maniac: How did you develop your distinct sound, and how would you describe it?
Jenna Shaw: Honestly, it just goes by how I’m feeling at the time. I wanted something that felt very ethereal and transcendent, but still made me feel the way fast, hard dance stuff makes me feel.
I would listen to people like Oona Dahl or Ellen Allien, who had very cool trippy vocals. Oona Dahl is a little more in the house realm, but if I could do that and make it into a hard dance track, that would be really cool. A lot of times, there are algorithms for what’s going to be a hit and not a hit, but I don’t really follow that. I make what speaks to me and how I want to express myself.
EDM Maniac: How do you decide what style to play for a crowd?
Jenna Shaw: It depends on the crowd, the time, and the setting. Many people know me for harder techno, so I give them a little of that, but I’m trying to push my own sound now. I always like to end with drum & bass if the crowd is game for it. I gauge how willing they are to participate in something outside of techno. If they let me, I get to play my drum & bass, which is always my special treat.
EDM Maniac: Aside from fielding smaller crowds who may be just catching on to the genre, what challenges do you feel you face as an American DJ playing psytrance?
Jenna Shaw: I think it’s just people understanding what I’m trying to do. Sometimes people are like, “This is a little too weird.” It’s not mainstream enough or commercial enough to play on a bigger stage. I try to figure out how to get my bookings while still being true to my sound. There are specific parameters, visible or not, that people check to see if this is going to be a reliable booking. I’m learning to hit those while staying true to the genre and my music.
EDM Maniac: Can you tell us a bit about your upcoming EP?
Jenna Shaw: I have a new EP coming out on Psyonik Records, which is a collab with Joan Dark. It’s centered around an Egyptian theme. The EP is called Anubis, and it’s about the process Anubis goes through during his judgment of the dead ceremony. I also have a few other EPs in the works for 2026, but right now that’s the most current one.
Featured image courtesy: Jenna Shaw.
