Jauz

Sam Vogel makes music under the name Jauz, and if you’ve spent any time in the bass house world over the last decade, you already know that shark logo on sight. Born in San Francisco and raised just across the bridge in Mill Valley, Vogel picked up guitar and started messing with production at 15, then went the unconventional route through Loyola Marymount’s film school before switching gears and enrolling at Icon Collective to focus on beats full time. That decision paid off fast.

His break came the way a lot of the best stories in this scene do: through a friend. Producer Kennedy Jones played one of Vogel’s remixes for manager Moe Shalizi, which opened the door to releases on Borgore’s Buygore label. From there it snowballed — Diplo, Skrillex, and Borgore himself all started paying attention, and Jauz went from bedroom producer to a name people actually knew in what felt like no time.

The Sound

Jauz built his name on bass house, but he’s never stayed in one lane. His catalog moves between heavy, chest-rattling bass house, dubstep, and chill trap, all stitched together in Ableton with a signature that leans hard into thick low end pulled from 90s-flavored sound design. In November 2017 he launched his own label, Bite This! Records, giving himself (and a rotating cast of collaborators) a home base to push that sound out on his own terms.

His debut album The Wise and the Wicked dropped in 2018, followed by EPs like Off the Deep End, Vol. 1 and Dangerous Waters, plus a steady stream of collabs with names like DJ Snake, Marshmello, Kiiara, Krewella, Zeds Dead, GRiZ, Adventure Club, and Karra — and a Diplo-assisted remix of MØ’s “Final Song” that put his range on full display. In 2023 he came back with his sophomore album, Rise of the Wise, led by the single “Lights Go Out,” which climbed to No. 17 on Billboard’s Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart — the highest chart placement of his career to date.

Years into the run, Jauz is still one of the most reliable names on a bass house lineup, still grinding out new music on Bite This!, and still touring hard on the festival and club circuit. Whether it’s a headline set or a surprise back-to-back, the shark shows up ready to shake the room every time.