Novena Carmel was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area surrounded by her mother’s record collection, classical music books atop her piano, and a deeply rooted musical legacy. Her father, Sly Stone of Sly & The Family Stone, instilled in her the love of the funk and the brilliance of “everyday people.” Her family’s decades-long connection to Brazil along with her Japanese-bilingual elementary schooling, further expanded her world view. Inspired by the guidance of one of her best friends and mentors, her grandfather, she moved to Los Angeles at 18, to attend UCLA. She has been a proud LA resident ever since with a deep appreciation for the city’s contributions to the global cultural landscape. For the past 14 years, Novena has worked in entertainment booking for Temple Bar Concepts, which owns and operates live music venues and cultural havens throughout the LA area. During this time she was also a member of multiple music groups, leading to the opportunity to perform at Lollapalooza, Warped Tour, Abbey Road and Coachella. She launched her DJ career six years ago, which quickly took off, fueled by her lifelong love of sharing the music she loves with people, infectious energy, and ability to read a room. In 2018 Novena was invited to join the DJ team at KCRW, and has quickly become popular through her quirky sense of humor, energetic spirit, and expansive and personalized music collection.

Anthony Valadez is a native Angeleno; a DJ, producer, and radio and podcast host. Dating back to skipping 6th period during his senior year in high school, he became part of a cast of rotating DJs on KVCM. He would later land shows on KCSN, KPFK, Dublab, and KROQ. He joined KCRW in 2008. His show has been championed by the likes of Childish Gambino, Khruangbin, Ty Dolla $ign and Julian Casbablancas for Valadez’s celebration of music discovery. He has held DJ residencies in Los Angeles including the legendary Temple Bar and the Natural History Museum for their First Fridays series, and in Las Vegas at the SLS. He also served as host and co-producer for three seasons of Crate Diggers on Fuse TV. The show documented the art of digging for recorded gems with top record collectors across the United States. He was hand- selected by Jennifer Lopez to open for her 2014 homecoming show in the Bronx. He has remixed official releases for David Bowie, Ozomatli, Local Natives, and has released three full-length albums of his own on indie label, Plug Research. He has had the honor of sharing the stage with Prince, Ben Harper, Meshell Ndegeocello, Bruno Mars and was voted Best Club DJ by the LA Weekly's Readers Poll in 2016.