The night before I was scheduled to interview Rashaad Glasgow, the artist better known as LSDXOXO, we bumped into one another at Arena Berlin. I asked whether we were still on for the next day, and he replied with a warm "yes" before wandering into the darkness. We locked eyes again that night, this time at a burger joint, and he seemed rather playful. "Wasn't tonight so cute?" he asked. His smile was broad and infectious. His pupils glittered. We laughed and I mentioned our meeting again. He said he'd be in touch, but he looked like he'd be out for a while, so I was doubtful.

He was in touch, this time with an address and doorbell name. When I arrived at his friend's ground floor apartment in Friedrichshain he was at the CDJs, quietly racing through tracks for an upcoming set. He offered me a place at the sofa and pumped out gabber, Baltimore and booty house, never allowing a track to linger too long. It was a forceful, funk-infused soundscape. As he played, he seemed to have reverted back to a more sober, unassuming self.

Glasgow is the DJ, promoter and producer behind Body Mods, one of last year's best club records. By reclaiming queer space on the dance floor, authoring unique club sounds and curating parties beyond his hometown of New York, Glasgow has made himself an act in high demand. After just two parties at Bushwick's Bossa Nova Civic Club, he launched the first European edition of Floorgasm at this year's CTM Festival. The party made RA's Five Key Performances and gave Glasgow a chance to showcase his eclectic tastes. Floorgasm has since appeared in the UK and the US, with a few more in the pipeline.

"I'm pretty much booked up until September now, which never happened for me," Glasgow said. "My agent sent me an email saying, 'If you need a break just let me know', and I'm like, 'No, you just keep it coming!'" Close proximity to clubs across Europe, as well as his own hybrid musical tastes, have made Berlin the ideal home. In New York he would have to play at least five or six shows a month to make his rent. "I was used to being broke all the time, so it's nice to be secure for a minute. I don't know how long it will last but it's nice."

Glasgow's career began in his bedroom at the age of 14. Drawing inspiration from his childhood hometown of Philadelphia, he began marrying tracks by artists like Missy Elliott, Madonna and DMX with the sounds of the dance floor. "A lot of Philly and Baltimore club draws inspiration from mashing up different styles of music, so you would hear the SpongeBob theme song or the Power Rangers or the Cha Cha Slide on a Baltimore club track," he explained. These homemade cuts slowly made their way to the high school playground. Peer feedback was encouraging.

From recess through to college and into the workforce, Glasgow continued making tracks, but it would remain a hobby for some time. The mixtape series Spit Or Swallow, which featured catchy titles such as "Acid Trip," "That Chick's Pap Smear" and "Hunting For Bitches," showcased his mashup savvy and raunchy sense of humour, eventually earning him an online following. His ambient and mid-tempo tracks merged La Roux with Ratatat, Rihanna with Crystal Castles, and Bloc Party with Local Natives, with the odd breakbeat, mambo and/or merengue element thrown into the mix. Glasgow describes the production as "really crunchy and really bad," but their hazy, hallucinogenic atmosphere still make them worth the listen.

"This was the idea, that it would sound like an acid trip," he said. "I'm not trying to glamorise drugs or psychedelics, but the sensation that they give, I feel like my music can put you in that state."

The dreamy offerings of Spit Or Swallow, with their melodic bass and full wash of sound, have since made way for sparser compositions with frenetic, almost feverish beats, like the ones on last year's Body Mods. The self-released album, which sold for $2 on Bandcamp, lit up dance floors the world over and made it on to a number of top 2018 lists.

"I made Body Mods in a week and a half," Glasgow explained. "It was supposed to be a 20-minute mix on SoundCloud, but then I decided to flesh them out. The title came about because it was like a body modification of a bunch of different looks spliced together."

Tracks like "Burn The Witch" featured elements of Towa Tei's "GBI (German Bold Italic)" and Missy's "I'm Really Hot" over Pal Joey's interpretation of the timeless jazz cut, "Skain's Domain." "False Idols" married Depeche Mode with jungle, "Fentanyl" combined Massive Attack with N.E.R.D., all to propulsive effect. Body Mods distilled classic LSDXOXO themes with a more slick and sparing production.

Those themes also define Glasgow as DJ. His sets are hyper-adrenaline feats where Ballroom, old school rave and happy hardcore mingle, interrupt and at times disfigure one another. His booth presence is always a visual treat. One night you might spot Glasgow in a white lace corset and coloured contact lenses. The next he's sporting a transparent raincoat over an unadorned black bra.

Glasgow describes his looks as a hyper-feminine, intergalactic, black male avatar—he's even ordered a large set of flapping metallic wings, which he showed me on his phone. Considering how reserved he is in person, it's striking how unafraid he is to stand out, but this is not quite his aim.

"People think I dress the way I do to get attention," he said, "but it makes me feel more confident as an artist, to step into a room with my ribbed corset on and contact lenses. It's like Cosplay as the character I see myself as in my mind, you know?"

There's a cautious quality about Glasgow both in person and behind the decks, which is slightly at odds with the brash, high-octane LSDXOXO sound and his theatrical outfits. How does he reconcile the two? "My friends tell me that I look a bit afraid when I'm DJing," he said. "I have an attention deficit—I can't listen to the same track for too long. When one track has played for like a minute I'm already ready to transition, so usually when I'm DJing I'm onto the next blend."

The next LSDXOXO album promises a clear break with the past. The sex-positive lyrics will remain, but original compositions will replace samples and Glasgow will provide his own vocals. He promises it to be a conscious melding of older and newer styles, with the ideas more central and refined. "The elements are still there, but fine-tuned so that people aren't too confused when I give it to them. I wanted my words out there."

Promising as things may seem now, Glasgow is sensitive to the fact that being in-demand both as a DJ and producer doesn't guarantee sustained success, especially in a field where he's often the exception. "People always associate dance music with straight white men, but that's just not the history," he said. "This music comes from black communities with gay black men, and I want to reclaim my space as a queer black man in the music industry, no matter how small that space may be. A lot of artists like me are boxed up and considered 'experimental' and this can limit you in terms of what you can do in your career. They're not booking 'experimental' artists to play huge festivals. Yeah, it's real."

For someone with so much momentum behind him, Glasgow's current aspirations seem a little modest. "I just want to continue touring as a DJ, finish this album and release it." As we part ways I can't help feeling that he'll do all of that, and then some.