Ahmed Spins is spinning his talents into house-driven beats.

The Moroccan DJ – who studied finance at Northeastern University in Boston – has been pursuing a career in music for several years. Last month, the artist released his first song in three years with the Elderbrook collaboration “Waterfall.” He also performed at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California. The producer is set to perform across Europe throughout June.

Spins spoke with the Daily Bruin’s Reid Sperisen about his latest musical projects, his Coachella experience and the origins of his stage name.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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Daily Bruin: You recently released your single “Waterfall” with Elderbrook. Can you tell me about how you developed that song and what it represents about where your music is right now and where it’s going?

Ahmed Spins: That track was started actually a really long time ago, like two years ago, and I just had this beautiful piano chords that I wrote. I always wanted a really nice vocal attached to it. It was a bit of an emotional track, so I wanted to have something a bit more emotional to fit into the storytelling. And then coming into the summer, I’m going to have a bit more tracks that are a bit house-ier, a bit better for the dance floor. This one was really cool with Elderbrook – he killed the vocals. Super cool guy to work with. We went back and forth for a long time and super happy with the outcome.

DB: You were born and raised in Morocco but then came to the United States for university. In your exploration of house, electronic and dance music in your releases, where do those origins come from in the places you’ve traveled or the experiences you’ve had?

AS: Actually, I think the fact that you travel a lot and you’re exposed to a lot of multicultural environments, that 100% impacts your musical journey. A good DJ always adapts. You have to try to read the crowd, also give them something new, but also try to find common ground with them and try to put in some music that would be a bit familiar to their ear. Coming from Morocco, I have a lot of influences in my productions, especially in the drumming section where I like my tracks to be a bit more percussive, and obviously that’s due to my upbringing. But I’m not shy of playing any different genres, from house to disco. The more you travel, the more cultures you’re exposed to, your palette becomes wider, and you appreciate a lot more, and it makes you a bit more rich, and your sets just become better and better over time.

DB: Last month, you performed at Coachella at the Yuma Tent. How was that experience for you, and what has remained with you in the month or so since?

AS: Coachella was insane. It was a childhood dream of mine, and honestly it’s one of those far-fetched dreams when you’re 12 or 13, “I want to play Coachella.” You just manifest, and somehow things turn out, and the universe works in some magical ways, so it ends up happening. It was just a beautiful experience. I played with Pete Tong, electronic music legend, so it made it even more special for me. Coming out of that, I was just on cloud nine. I’m trying to take that energy into the summer. And I got to see a lot of bands that I really loved growing up, like Green Day. They smashed it. It was so good, and then Parcels as well. Sometimes, when you just have a busy schedule, you can’t really stop and go listen to other music. You’re just playing your set, leaving, then the next day you’re traveling, so you don’t want to stay too long. This was so good because I had time off and I could just really enjoy the whole experience.

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DB: You played around with several different stage names before settling on Ahmed Spins. How did you decide upon your stage name, and what is the deeper symbolic meaning that the name holds for you?

AS: My first track I made when I was 12. When I was 15 or 16, I was making music every day for at least eight hours. I was like, “I have to release something on the label.” That was one of my goals, but it was really tough back then. I was just every week making a different track, and then on the weekend, send it to the label, and then maybe get denied on like Sunday, and then do it again, do it again. And then at some point, the labels stop listening to the promos. So I just rebrand into something else. But I did that, I did that, I did that. And then at some point, I grew up a bit, and then I was like, “Hey, I’m going to make music for me.” So I stopped sending them demos for three years, and then that’s where I just focused a lot more on my productions, on the technicalities, improved my mixes, improved my masters. And then I just needed a DJ name. I was like, “Oh, I think I actually need my first name in the beginning of the flyer because my friends have to know it’s me playing.” And one day, a friend of mine is like, “Hey, man, you want to come over, let’s spin and share the decks together.” Spin maybe, I mean, “spins,” play around with it. I liked it, and that’s how it came along.