Staying in the shadows to protect creativity
DFOS Spotlight: A drum & bass private community
Hacienda has been open for a week. Spaces are forming, conversations are running, things are being made. Join us.
This week on the internet
- Google announced that AI Mode is now default in Search, the biggest change to the search box in 25 years. Ads will appear directly inside AI-generated answers. Related: DuckDuckGo (a privacy-first, traditional search engine) installation grew 30% after the announcement.
- Meta removed the option for end-to-end encryption on Instagram DMs, ending a feature it had buried in settings since 2023. The company cited low adoption — which advocates noted is a function of Meta never enabling it by default.
- Nine federal class-action lawsuits were filed in Chicago against Google, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft, alleging the companies scraped journalists' and voice actors' voices to train AI without consent.
This week in DFOS
We've been following the moves of two related spaces: Tech Itch Recordings, a drum & bass label out of London, and Sol Invicto, an experimental music collective and community founded by Richie Londres with collaborators from the Deftones and Cypress Hill. We asked Mark, cofounder of both communities, some questions about their work.
DFOS: Tell us about your project.
Tech Itch Recordings is UK Jungle / Drum & Bass / Techstep label and production company established around 1993 by Mark Caro pka Technical Itch. Pioneers of the darker, techier more serious side of the genre. One of the first labels and set of artists to tour outside of the UK helping bring the sound worldwide.
Sol Invicto isn’t a traditional project — it’s more of a visionary collective and private members club (Sol Invicto Comiti) founded by Richie Londres, with key collaborators Stephen Carpenter (Deftones) on guitar and Eric Bobo (Cypress Hill) on percussion and production from Technical Itch. It started as an experimental heavy music project blending cinematic industrial, electronic, and metal elements.
For years, we operated almost entirely privately, releasing music exclusively to club members rather than chasing public distribution deals. This DIY, independent approach lets us focus on raw feeling, experimentation, and long-term vision instead of commercial cycles. We’ve only recently begun sharing more publicly (like the Loosely Aware EP), but the heart remains the private comiti.
What’s your community like?
Our community is the Sol Invicto Comiti — a private members club for people who connect with the project’s uncompromising, immersive sound and ethos. It’s not a mass-follower fanbase; it’s a smaller, dedicated group that gets early/exclusive access to music, behind-the-scenes insight, and a sense of shared ownership in something bigger.
Members have supported us through limited releases and understand the value of staying somewhat in the shadows to protect creativity. It’s about quality over quantity — people who appreciate the grandiose, cinematic vision, the imperfections, and the resistance to industry norms. We’re building a space for real connection, not endless scrolling or hype.
How are you using DFOS?
We’re using DFOS as the foundation for our new private members club platform. It gives us the tools to create our own controlled, custom “internet” — a private space where members can connect, access exclusive content, communicate, and build together without relying on big tech platforms that dilute ownership or privacy. It fits perfectly with Sol Invicto’s philosophy of independence and operating outside traditional systems. We’re treating it like a digital extension of the Comiti: private feeds, group interactions, member management, and room for custom experiences that evolve with the community.
What specific apps are you using?
One key is creating subgroup “rooms” for deeper topics — like production talk, visual art tied to the music, or member-only listening sessions. The flexibility lets us design the experience uniquely (e.g., a homepage dashboard with pinned tracks, upcoming releases, and live interaction tiles). It keeps everything in one owned ecosystem rather than fragmented across different platforms.
What inspired you to try DFOS?
The same drive that led us to create the original Sol Invicto Comiti in 2017: a desire for full control and authentic connection. Richie has spoken about breaking away from industry machinery and slow, gatekept systems. Traditional social platforms and even many membership tools feel extractive or limiting. DFOS appealed because it’s built for communities to design their own private internets — with ownership, privacy, and extensibility through apps. It aligns with our experimental, independent ethos: build your own world, on your terms, with the people who truly get it.
What's one lesson you would share about building community?
Stay true to the core vision and prioritize depth over scale. We could have pushed for massive numbers early, but by keeping it private and member-focused, we built real loyalty and a space where creativity isn’t compromised. Don’t chase every trend or platform — create something that feels meaningful to the people inside it. Imperfection and patience are part of it; the raw, honest connections last longer than polished marketing.
What's the smallest, weirdest, or most specific thing your community does that wouldn't make sense to an outsider?
Probably listening to this style of music!
Explore for yourself:
A good read
Each week we’ll highlight something that positively stands out to us.
This week it’s a new presentation from a research nonprofit called New_Public that explores what happens online after feeds are done. The deck references the “Dark Forest Theory of the Internet” and anticipates the needs that DFOS addresses. Link
Invitation
Next Thursday we’re hosting the first Forest Monthly where we invite the DFOS community to ask us questions and hang out together.
RSVP to join the first one here.
In groups we become stronger,
DFOS
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