Welcome to Blog on the Dancefloor, Red Bull’s new weekly nightlife bulletin. This week, in light of International Women’s Day, Kate Hutchinson looks at the jockettes to watch in 2011...
When DJ magazine published the winners of their annual Top 100 poll last October, it reinforced an archaic misrepresentation of the electronic music scene: That there aren’t any good female DJs. Only one lady spinner - clocking it at number 93, no less - made the cut, one Claudia Cazacu, whom few people had heard of.
By comparison, Resident Advisor’s Top 20 of 2010 - arguably a more forward-thinking and ear-to-the-underground music website - did little better, with two female DJs, Steffi and Anja Schneider, securing a spot.
Of course, there are plenty more females in action than just the select few you read about in such polls - and their numbers are on the rise. “Although the vast majority of DJs are still men, a female DJ is no longer deemed a novelty act,’ says Nick Stevenson, associate editor of dance music bible Mixmag. “As such, you’ve got Annie Mac, who is one of the most in-demand DJs in the UK. While 99 per cent of DJs are still men and club promoters may have thought twice before booking a female DJ in the early ’90s, those days are thankfully long gone.”
Mary Anne Hobbs, dubstep’s high priestess, concurs: “Ikonika, Cooly G, Tokimonsta, Fatima, Ahu, Vaccine, Subeena, Shuanise, Kito, Mizz Beats, Anneka, Nikki Randa, Laura Darlington, Souljah, Melissa Bradshaw, Georgina Cook, Ashes…” she says, reeling off her favourite female DJs, many of whom I included in a look at women in dubstep for Time Out in 2008. “When people say there are no women in electronic music, I say, you’re looking in all the wrong places.”
Yesterday, which happened to be International Women’s Day, reiterated that point. In the world of clubbing, some websites like Beatportal marked the occasion by celebrating up their favourite female jockettes. But while we love a big up for the ladies, what was peculiar about these lists was that the majority of DJs in them had been digging around in the crates for quite a while. We’ve all heard of Anja Schneider and Ellen Allien, Magda and Steffi, Annie Mac and Mary Anne Hobbs, but what about the new generation of female DJs grabbing electronic music by the nether regions? Are there any to keep an eye on this year?
Luckily, there are loads - and they’re all blindingly excellent. Here’s our pick of the lot...
Deniz Kurtel
Of all the producers, male and female, on the hedonistic deep house scene, US native Deniz Kurtel is the most visually striking. Not least because, as an interactive sculptor, she makes dazzling displays from LED lighting and mirrors, a stunning show she took around the world for her label Crosstown Rebels’ Rebel Rave tour last year. A core member of Brooklyn-based collective Wolf + Lamb, she is cut from the same cloth as similarly electronic-fuelled females Cassy, Maayan Nidam, Anja Schneider and Dinky. But her debut artist album, ‘Music Watching Over Me’, which comes out on March 14, is set to charge ahead of the pack.
Maya Jane Coles
She looks like she might try and pick-pocket you at a bus stop, but 23-year-old ‘artful dodger’ (sorry) Maya Jane Coles is giving house a fresh update. The London-based DJ’s breakthrough single last October, ‘What They Say’, laces her deep grooves with UK garage and this, her latest track for Anja Schneider’s Mobilee label, continues that hypnotic energy with a stripped-back kick. Coles already has a podcast for Resident Advisor’s revered series (No. 241), a string of remixes for a diverse range of artists - from Maceo Plex and Tom Middleton via MSTRKRFT - and gigs from Fabric to a forthcoming US tour in April under her sizeable belt, but 2011 is the year that everyone will keep asking for more.
Emika
When it comes to future-thinking females, Emika is the very definition. The UK-born and Berlin-dwelling singer and producer has been fast gaining notoriety, not least through the series of field recordings she made from inside the city’s mammoth club Berghain, which were used as samples for the club label Ostgun-Ton’s fifth anniversary compilation, ‘Fünf’, last August. It’s no wonder that Ninja Tune have snapped her up and that she has caught the attention of one Mister Thom Yorke, who included her track Double-Edged on his October ‘Office Chart’ on Radiohead’s website.
Tokimonsta
The Queen Bee of Flying Lotus’ Brainfeeder label collective in Los Angeles, which counts Samiyam, Ras G, Daedelus and Gaslamp Killer among its core members, Jennifer Lee aka Tokimonsta makes squashed, instrumental hip-hop and electronic soul with beams of lush psychedelia. It caught the ear of the Red Bull Music Academy, of which she was a student when it was in London last year. This track, Sweet Day, is taken from her debut album last year, ‘Midnight Menu’, and bares her trademark, laidback sun-baked sound - soak it up during her US tour this month and next with Daedelus and Shlohmo.
J.Phlip
A member of Claude VonStroke’s San Francisco roost, Dirtybird, J.Phlip has been teaming up with the rest of the crew lately to peddle her tribal, fidgety and deep bass-led tech-house wares. Her latest track for the label, Aquarium, with Dirtybird’s widely-tipped Julio Bashmore, echoes that neon ‘Hyph Myngo’ synthy sound, but her deck skills take her solo from London’s Fabric to Space in Ibiza.
Kito
With names like Diplo, Skream and Mary Anne Hobbs behind her, Kito has huge support from within the bulging dubstep fraternity. In 2009, the Magnetic Man luminary released her track What If on his Disfigured Dubz imprint, and she has gone on to record mixes for Hobb’s former Radio 1 show and Skream’s radio show, Stella Sessions, on underground station Rinse Fm. In 2011, she continues her collaboration with vocalist Reija Lee, who are releasing an EP together. ‘Sweet Talk’, on Mad Decent on March 29 alongside a music video, which was shot on her home turf, Australia. That’ll be sure to ‘blokestep’ a kick up the backside, then.
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Track of the week:
Grizzly x Local Action Records: Sinden’s fledgling label Grizzly crosses swords with FACT writer Tom Lea’s new imprint Local Action Records for a free digital split single between Liverpool’s Melé and New York’s Contakt. They’ve remixed each other’s latest tracks, whipping up frenetic drum clatters with low-end oomph and throbbing 2step with acidic synth blips, into an irresistible afterhours soundtrack. Download it for free here.
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