AZU TIWALINE
BITTER BABE
BUTTECHNO
CLEMENTAUM
DJ PLEAD
EHUA
FOREST DRIVE WEST
INVT
KIA
KIKELOMO
MI-EL
MSJY
SPEKKI WEBU
TOUMBA
 
Azu Tiwaline (Livity Sound, IOT Records)

Azu Tiwaline is an artist creating new worlds for us all to hear and see each other within. Conjuring a sense of cosmic belonging within life’s maelstrom, her music is an extension of her being transformed into abundant rhythmical energy - beloved for her wonderful ability to channel vast inner realms into the outward joys of dance & movement.

With an extraordinary musical vision firmly rooted in the freeing kinetics of Soundsystem psychedelia, her vibrations bring vivid influence from the El Djerid desert & her Tunisian heritage into communication with the transcendent spatial awareness of dub and the grooving, dynamic exuberance of techno. Uniting these spellbinding elements into an alchemic synthesis, she conducts Saharan frequencies into eclectic, entrancing rhythms with a nimble & profound elegance - contrasting microcosms of light & darkness immersed in mercurial depths, ecstatic percussive intonations, & the breathtaking enchantment of bass weight pressure.

It’s within this expansive palate that Azu is able to weave entire multiverses of sensation together - establishing herself as one of the most exciting entities in a groundbreaking zone of contemporary electronic producers, while invoking a bewitching sonic experience that is uniquely all her own.

Through much-adored releases on Marseille’s IOT Records & Bristol’s Livity Sound, she’s amassed love & respect for her practice the world over, bringing her hybrid live/DJ abilities to esteemed festivals like Dimensions, Freerotation, and Unsound Adelaide, as well as contributing podcasts to venerated mix series Dekmantel, Illian Tape, or Crack Magazine.

At its core, her music celebrates the beauty of nature & the potential to see understanding & connection in all aspects of life - transmuting the mystique & possibilities inherent to our existence, always urging us to find knowledge & insight within ourselves & the world around us.

Bitter Babe (TraTraTrax)

Is a multidisciplinary artist and DJ who hails from Bogotá, Colombia. Her cutting-edge selection blends Latin-inspired percussive rhythms ranging from dembow, raptor house, tribal, guaracha, reggaeton, and Brazilian funk, with bass-heavy, low-end groove club music.

Now based in Miami, Bitter Babe has been a key player and part of the new school of artists shaking up the city and putting it on the international sight, alongside artists like INVT, Coffintext, and friend + collaborator Nick León with whom she has co-produce 2 EP’s, Fuego Clandestino on Tratratrax and Delirio on Club Romantico, as well as participate on Air Texture’s compilation curated by Anthony Naples and Dj python.

Her solo projects can already be found on avant-garde label SVBKVLT where she collaborates on a remix for Rilla and on forthcoming compilations TraTraTrax, “no pare, sigue sigue” and “Homecare! Miami All-Stars” on Omnidisc. Bitter Babe also has a future solo EP release coming on TraTraTrax in the first half of 2023

Co-founder of LATITUDES, a multidisciplinary project focused on the unity and growth of the Latin American electronic music community. LATITUDES was created as a new space for conversation and coordinated actions where the diversity and commonalities of the regional countries are placed on the forefront, formed by a group of producers, promoters, journalists, and more, from places like Colombia, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, and Peru.

Buttechno (PSY X Records, Incienso)

Having achieved certain recognition with his dancefloor-oriented project Buttechno, the Berlin-based artist is currently focused on sonic experiments and artistic collaborations under his birth name.

Opposed to the aggressive imperial politics of his homeland, Pavel uses his work to acknowledge the historical and cultural context, delving into sociopsychological issues that haunt society, and addressing both collective and individual memory and its potential to change our visions of the future.

Working in various musical genres, he created collaborative works with artists such as Bendik Giske, Alex Zhang Hungtai, Yana Pavlova, and Richie Culver.

Pavel presented his live sets at such venues as Berghain, and Tresor and performed at festivals like CTM, Berlin Atonal, Terraforma, and Primavera Sound.

Working with different media, he created the audiovisual pieces “Infra” and “Haunted Mansion” commissioned by the Venice Biennale in 2020 and 2021.

Pavel also runs and curates the “psy x” record label — a platform for sonic and visual works by like-minded artists and for ‘non-format’ records of his own.

CLEMENTAUM

AVISAAA! Representing the Brazilian state of Paraná, Clementaum aka LA MAYOR is an up-and-coming artist who is conquering the world with one of the greatest stage presences and personalities in the underground electronic music circuit.

With her background in fashion and inspiration from the ballroom community, where she has earned the title of Overall Princess Harpya, she transforms the dance floor into her vision of an inclusive and exuberant world. In addition to being nominated Music Producer of the Year at the WME Awards Powered by Billboard, Clementaum has become a Boiler Room regular with her show at Primavera Sound Barcelona, which was highlighted as a key influence in the festival by WGSN, a global authority in trend forecasting.

Exploring Latin electronic sounds, Clementaum navigates through various scenes, including baile funk, techno, and even latin tribal. This journey has already resulted in global collabs, including with Brazilian drag superstar Pabllo Vittar, on the remix album AFTER, elevating queer Brazilian music to a new level.

This year, Clementaum took over her first European tour, making appearances in 8 countries and performing at major venues across the continent such as Antídoto, MusicBox, and Raum.

DJ Plead (Livity Sound, AD 93)

Who said bass-weight music had to be relentlessly moody? DJ Plead absolutely understands what to dial in when for maximum soundsystem impact, and he does so with a zest that cuts through the murk. In his ebullient productions and dexterous DJ sets he radiates flamboyance and flair with swagger to match, all in pursuit of slaying the dance.

Growing up in Sydney and now based in Melbourne, Jarred Beeler broke through as a producer first and foremost with a debut drop on Air Max ‘97’s DECISIONS label in 2018. From the outset, he put his Lebanese heritage in the foreground both in terms of rhythm and melody. If distinctive Eastern scales and snappy, intricately threaded drum patterns have since become DJ Plead’s calling card, they came through fully formed on that first EP, dancing the divide between traditional musical motifs and precision-engineered electronics.

Plead also co-founded the SUMAC label alongside some of his peers from Australia’s contemporary club scene – LOGIC1000, Cassius Select, and Utility – and worked alongside Cop Envy (aka Big Ever) for a follow-up release on DECISIONS. Meanwhile, the sharp accents of his sound caught on internationally, landing releases on revered labels Nervous Horizon, AD93, and Livity Sound. The drums got defter, the lead hooks more sprightly, and in the tumultuous days of 2020, he was invited to indulge a broader dimension of his sound through the widely acclaimed Relentless Trills LP for Boomkat’s Documenting Sound series. The space beyond the confines of a club release revealed an artist still absolutely clear in his creative intentions, with those aforementioned Lebanese roots shining through more than ever across a range of tempos and timbres.

With such notable releases came an attendant rise in DJ Plead’s presence in the club. His approach to DJing serves as a natural extension of his studio artistry, folding his exclusives into the mix with the work of his peers and sympathetic sonics across the amorphous plains of modern dance music. There are shades of techno, house-like grooves, broken beat angles, and dubwise anchors, but never one dogmatic style other than Plead’s own. It’s a sound that has comfortably juiced up parties from fabled festivals like Dekmantel and Meakusma to iconic clubs such as Fabric, Space Miami, Yu Yu, and De School.

DJ Plead’s piquant sound continues to bloom in new and unexpected ways, consistently making the club a more interesting environment to inhabit by splitting the difference between finesse and fierceness, landing heavy blows while keeping light on his toes.

Ehua (3024, Nervous Horizon, Femme Culture)

Italian producer and DJ, Ehua has been making waves since the release of her 2018 debut EP, ‘Diplozoon’. She has since played at some of the world’s most iconic clubs and festivals and she holds a bimonthly residency at Rinse FM, where she explores percussion-influenced sonic realms across a wide range of tempos.

Her recent releases include ‘Clouds EP' on 3024, ‘Aquamarine’ via Nervous Horizon, an EP inspired by the colour and motion of water, and ‘Giada’, a single part of Fabric Records’ V/A ‘Fabric Selects II’.

Away from club music, Ehua retains a life-long interest in the arts. She has composed various soundtracks for short and feature films, as well as for artistic performances. Ehua is part of SPAZIO GRIOT — a collective and influential online hub based in Rome focusing on arts from Africa and its diaspora.

Forest Drive West (Livity Sound, Rupture London)

Forest Drive West is the alias of producer Joe Baker from East London. His music has created a stir across the UK underground and beyond, with stripped-down, atmospheric and hypnotic techno tracks contrasting with his heavier, jungle-influenced sounds – all with a connecting thread that explores intricate rhythms and inventive percussion.

Since 2016, Forest Drive West has been building a rapidly growing catalog of releases, receiving critical acclaim for records on labels such as Livity Sound, Ilian Tape, Mantis, Echocord and Rupture London.

He co-runs the emerging label OODA alongside localhost. A project conceived to explore polyrhythmic techno, bass and ambient experiments in all forms.

INVT

INVT is the multidisciplinary art project of Luca Medici and Delbert Perez. The duo specialize in electronic music and fashion design. Their sound consists of a mix of Garage, Dubstep, Techno and various forms of Latin bass music, like Dembow, Cumbia, and Reggaeton. Luca and Delbert have grown their audience through their high energy live sets as seen at Fabric and Panorama Bar, as well as their DJ sets and various independent releases that are all produced, mixed, and mastered by the two.

In addition to their music, Luca and Delbert have launched a sustainable clothing project in which they repurpose vintage clothing through screen-printing, embroidery, cut and sew, and acid washing. Every piece is a one of a kind garment made by hand in Miami by Luca and Delbert. Their designs and stylistic choices, such as the color schemes and graphics, are highly influenced by Miami’s unique environment. Many of the silk screen designs are photoshop collages made from photos they have taken in Miami. Many of these designs are also seen in cover art for their music which is also designed by them.

Kia (Animalia)

Kia has a taste-making ear for digging, sophisticated knack for storytelling and bubbling energy that draws people to her whether she’s backstage, behind the decks or on the dance floor. The DJ and curator wields atmospheric and psychedelic sounds that produce entire pulsating worlds through the speakers and between global connections.

As label boss of Animalia and Cirrus, she is a Naarm/Melbourne local who’s one of the influences driving organic, kaleidoscopic shades of electronic music around the world. Behind the decks, she’s a master of playing to her surroundings, in a context-driven connection of time, space and sound. Kia can carry audiences through sunsets, sunrises, dark or sun-drenched moments. Her sets are filled with oddities and curiosities that’s good for the dancers and the chin strokers alike. She can lift listeners along curious sonic tendrils or lead them through swamp-like territories.

Animalia, as a label, mix and events series is an ever-growing platform for local and international talent. It’s proof that Kia has a knack for connecting worlds through her sets but also in real life. Her decidedly community-driven approach to her work has created a global network of forward-thinking producers. The platform influences spheres of the industry as much as it feeds and pushes her own musicality. Her sets play out like a diary entry showcasing a creative honesty and sense of catharsis. Kia’s sense of curiosity underpins the Animalia curation, her own musical style, and drives her ability to throw curveballs into the mix with instinct, confidence and energy. At once her music is futuristic, versatile and experiential and in a few short years has landed her well-respected international nods. Her set from Sustain Release Year 8 was named Resident Advisor’s Mix of the Day while her listening mix on the Dekmantel Podcast received Mix of the Year. Whether it’s through digital platforms,

Kikelomo (Oroko Radio)

Kikelomo is a critically acclaimed British-Nigerian DJ, Presenter, Curator, Boiler Room Host, and co-founder of Accra community station Oroko Radio. Kikelomo has experienced explosive growth, playing across multiple continents alongside industry heavyweights. She has launched t-shirts in collaboration with Adidas and Keep Hush, played and regularly hosts at Boiler Room, as well as continuing to showcase her sound at Festivals like Melt Festival and Dekmantel Selectors (forthcoming), world-renowned clubs such as Amsterdam’s De School, New York’s Nowadays and London’s Phonox, as well as regularly playing in Berlin’s prestigious Berghain/Panorama Bar. She was given the honor of playing to a crowd of 100,000+ people at the Brandenburger Tor national monument, broadcast on national television to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Kikelomo is renowned for her eclectic sound, which stems from many influences in her life, including her home city London and her Nigerian roots. As a result, her high-energy sets are packed full of everything from techno, house, garage, bass, deconstructed club, house, jungle, jersey club, electro, hip hop, and more. Her sound has become renowned for its ability to get crowds moving.

Through dedicated festivals, workshops, and one-on-one mentoring, Kikelomo has a wealth of experience establishing programs equipping marginalized identities with the skills and confidence to progress their careers, working together with support from Musicboard Berlin, Adidas, Zalando, Jagermeister and more. As a co-chair of the Diversity and Inclusion working group for the Association for Electronic Music, Kikelomo is actively involved with broader initiatives pushing for diversity and inclusion in the music industry, including the setup, development, and active management of not-for-profit community radio station in Accra, Oroko Radio.

MI-EL (NTS, Big Dyke Energy)

A deeply personal selector - with radars for the wacky, the moody and the lowercase - mi-el’s style is a deft balancing act, from sung soundscapes and explorations of her heritage to contemporary bass, electro, and vanguard electronics.

Those who’ve caught her live will know the former MOT booker and now NTS resident is apt to blur the thinning line between selector and sound artist, having torn up countless great nights, venues and festivals in just a few years: dare we say Panorama Bar, Field Manuevers, Boiler Room, De School, Big Dyke Energy and FOLD. It’s folk wisdom, almost a given at this point, that mi-el is killing it.

MSJY (Unposed, Femme Bass Mafia)

MSJY mines joy from the unlikely, manoeuvring through bass music’s exhilarating fissions with an infectious energy that carries through her work as a DJ, producer and talented merchant of digital soul under the Xades alias.

A nomadic energy fuels the Berlin-based artist’s craft, finding an honest home in any of her multi-disciplinary practices. Influenced by her mixed background, she absorbs influences with an open-mindedness that inspires fascinating hybridisation of global ideas. Encounter her playing a peak time DJ set day or night, delivering swooning vocal-led electronica pop, leading workshops for FLINTA identifying persons as a core member of the Femme Bass Mafia or raving in the corner of any dark club; it’s clear in her remarkably varied output that there’s a binding commitment to music and uplifting the communities surrounding it.

SPEKKI WEBU (MIRROR ZONE)

Versatile, resourceful, and with an edge of restlessness - elements that shape the limitless possibilities of multidisciplinary artist Spekki Webu. Hailing from the humble city of Delft in The Netherlands, the Mirror Zone head shapes an ever-expanding musical realm where past and present collide.

Formed by his involvement within the gabber and tekno movement, Webu cultivates a sound that can be described as persistent and ritualistic. Whether in his DJ sets, live performances, or music productions, he deconstructs time and space with fierce precision and tactility. With a natural tendency to challenge the status quo, his productions found a home on labels such as Amniote, Blue Hour, and Positive Source.

Webu can be described as a polymath. His sonic vision is translated through his Mirror Zone label / Optic Portal label. As a composer and sound designer, he traverses multidisciplinary dimensions with his Signal Transmutations AV project and spatial installations presented at places like Lunchmeat, FIBER, De School, and Nxt Museum.

High in energy but introspective in spirit, Spekki traverses the crossroads of experimentalism and rhythm in an avant-garde way.

Toumba (Hessle Audio)

Born and raised in Jordan, DJ and producer Yazan Zyadat, aka Toumba, is now based in London, where he fashions lithe club bangers that melt Middle Eastern elements with dubstep basslines and clattering breaks. Last year he experienced a flurry of interest when Ben UFO's Hessle Audio label released his "Petals" EP and Zyadat was able to broadcast his unique sounds on a larger platform. Tonally ambitious and deviously percussive, his music takes the essence of Arabic tarab and shelat forms (often seen as wedding music) and dilutes it in a dance floor- ready roil of booming bass and dissociated synths.

AD 93 / Whities is a London label run by Nic Tasker. What started with the intention of providing a platform for off-kilter techno has, in its four years, morphed into something looser and more eclectic while remaining committed to dance music.

The label has been lucky enough to find a space deviating between the compelling, floor-friendly offerings of Avalon Emerson, Lanark Artefax, Minor Science, Giant Swan, Tessela, Kowton, Terron, Koehler and SMX, and distinctive sounds of Jules Venturini, Quirke, Reckonwrong, and Coby Sey. Connecting all of them is a sense of musicality and peculiarity, and a commitment to emotion and rhythm. Whities has formed lasting relationships with many of the artists, working together on events and projects in art, film and fashion. Designer Alex McCullough, the man behind most of Whities artwork and beyond, has been equally as intrinsic to the label’s identity.

Records aside, Whities has been known to throw a good party. Establishing a solid grounding at The Yard in Hackney Wick, the parties have since gone worldwide, with DJs including Vladimir Ivkovic, Call Super, Bambounou, Courtesy, Skee Mask, Rroxymore, Galcher Lustwerk, John Talabot, Beatrice Dillon and Willow joining the regular label artists.

Incienso is a New York based label founded in 2017 by Anthony Naples and Jenny Slattery.

disconnect - transmissions from the basement

connect@disconnect.li


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