Studying Medicine at Oxford University is an achievement most people couldn’t even dream of. But for Michael Diamond, this is only half of the story. For Diamond, who graduated from Brasenose College this year, and is now entering his career as a practising doctor, is also a DJ and music producer. Having already released several singles and an album, as well as hosting regular club, radio, and festival sets, Diamond is creating an impressive profile within the music world. But it was his time at Oxford – the city with one of the worst reputations for having a “dead” music scene – which really compounded this.
Diamond’s music is, in his own words, “jazzed electronic sounds”. It hosts a whole range of styles and moods, but it has also been created within an artistic world which is more hybridised still. This seems something characteristic of Diamond’s practice; it is constantly dynamic, constantly expansive – a product of his varying musical experiences, from being a heavy metal fan to a chorister. The shift to electronic music, however, has its foundations from back when Diamond was about sixteen and first heard the genre. It was, he recalls, some “cheesy commercial thing. A simple house tune”, yet “it was super accessible. It had a good little loop. I liked the fact that it repeated itself, so I could hear the bit that I liked over and over again”. It was this essential litany which really inspired Diamond to create his first song: “surely I can make this as well”, he thought, and so, after borrowing a friend’s laptop, downloading GarageBand, and playing around a bit, Diamond’s first ever track was born. It is, tragically, now lost to the depths of old computer memory but, he assures us, “it slapped. To me at least”.
Diamond’s current style is, then, a blend of influences, styles, and sounds. This is evident in juxtapositions between synth sounds and classic saxophone (usually sampled from Diamond’s friend and music partner, Alex Wilson); it is evident in the inspiration behind his 2022 album, Third Culture (the title being a reference to his own upbringing, away from Kerala where his parents were raised, and indicating the cultural complexity which he has been a part of); but it is also evident in the multimodal form which a lot of his work has taken. Third Culture, for instance, was released alongside a short story, a film, and lino printed vinyl sleeve – all artworks which were created in conversation with one another. The short story – written by another of Diamond’s friends and collaborators, Áine Kim Kennedy – was both a product and producer of the music. It was written after conversations and early insights into the songs, but it then supported Diamond to order and construct the album – “to dissect some sort of trajectory”, “to give it a narrative”. “Even though they are different domains”, says Diamond, in reference to this multi-media practice, “they help each other out”.
But this sense of fusion is not something limited to Diamond’s music production alone, for in his other life as a medic, he is also finding ways of uniting music and medicine. “For ages I thought they were actively destructive to each other”, he confesses, but he knew he needed “to find a way of making them both complementary”. It is here that his studies took a new turn, for he has since started investigating the use of music in healthcare settings; how, for instance, music may guide our thoughts into a certain frame of mind which could aid physical and mental recovery, or how it may assist physiotherapy through the use of its beats. During the final year of his degree, Diamond spent time visiting Oxfordshire hospitals with Clarke; here, they played patients live music of their choice, and recorded their responses. The effects were immediate. One patient, recalls Diamond, who was completely immobile following a stroke, made his very first movements when played this music – it was a trigger to his recovery. This is an exciting field of medicine which is under-researched, but which could, in time, become part of social prescriptions, and part of a more holistic understanding of human health. Diamond’s vision and imagination in this field is inspirational – it is a reminder that work and play do not necessarily have to be separated, that it is possible to align and consolidate our various interests to create lives we find richer and more personal.
Things ahead for Michael Diamond are, then, looking fruitful, but he isn’t going to forget where it all began. “I’ll definitely miss Oxford”, he says. “It was definitely a small scene”, and what Diamond goes on to describe is something more intimate, more opportunistic, and more supportive than the city and university are often thought to be. Admittedly, what Diamond is describing is a space which, since the pandemic, has changed somewhat. When Diamond first arrived at Oxford, for instance, the club, Cellar, was still in existence. “That era was really good for electronic music. The scene was way healthier”, he admits. Cellar, which was located just off Cornmarket, was a small but accessible venue which offered alternative musical experiences. “The focus of the night was different. The focus of the night”, as opposed to chatting or finding a date, “was music”. It was here that so many, including Diamond, were really welcomed into the underground music scene.
Though this environment has now shifted, there are still spaces and opportunities in Oxford in which these musical communities can be found. Simple, the production and promotion company who run some of Oxford’s biggest nights over at The Bullingdon, is one such opportunity cited by Diamond and which he was a huge part of. It is with Simple that Diamond got some of his first big gigs – becoming a regular headliner and resident with them in his latter years at the University.
But locating such opportunities doesn’t have to look quite so grand just yet. Diamond, for instance, recommends running your own nights. This was something he did back at Cellar, and was a big part of his own development within the music scene. Find a venue, be that one of the established clubs, or a welcoming non-club venue, throw some speakers in it, and get organising. Equipment can even be hired out cheaply from Simple. Diamond also suggests simply organising something in your bedroom – through this you can start mixing tunes, learning more, and forging your own communities. Specifically to Oxford University, you can also join the Oxford University Electronic Music Society; Diamond was himself a prolific member, and it is through this that you have the chance to meet like-minded people, to find more pathways into this exciting and lively world.
Oxford can have a tendency of making one slightly blinkered of anything outside one’s own studies, but Michael Diamond is a perfect example of how varied pursuits, interests, and practices can be followed and interwoven. With a lot of passion, and a lot of hard work, Diamond has forged original paths through the various spaces he has been a part of; he shows us exactly what can be made of the entrepreneurial, diverse, and dynamic environment which Oxford can be.
Michael Diamond in the Quick Fire round:
Playing or creating? Creating (they’re both the same though)
Talking or dancing? Dancing
Spotify, Soundcloud, or Bandcamp? Soundcloud
Oxford or London? London for breadth, Oxford for intimacy
120 or 140 bpm? Doesn’t matter
Bad music forever or no music forever? No music forever (there’s tunes going on in my head all the time anyway)