A lovely, fragile lady from Vienna, whose sets smash you in the face instantly. But smashing it in style. Her sensitivity, high level of awareness and diverse fields of interest have made her even more respectful for me. A true rebel, with a huge heart
What can we know about you, your career?
I started pretty late, in 1997-98. I discovered jungle first, then the drum and bass of that time. At that time, I didn’t know about DJing, then I realised that there is a person mixing (laughs). In 1998, I started mixing as I had a friend who had turntables, also accompanied him when he went to record stores, so I had my first vinyls back then. Actually, the first time when I really mixed was in ’99 with my boyfriend. He had two really crap turntables but I had my first d’n’b records, so I did 1-2 mixes, as far as it was possible then. I had no idea about anything but I was so hooked up immediately that two weeks later, I had my own turntables – they are back there (points to the back), so they are my originals.
In the first two years, I was more or less a bedroom DJ at home, so just learning. Then I hooked up with DJ Pandora. I didn’t know anyone in the scene then; I went out but didn’t know any DJs. But I needed someone to teach me certain things because if you don’t know anything about mixing, it’s quite hard. I didn’t have internet back then (laughs). So she has been supporting me since then. Today, she’s running the Switch!-Events in Vienna successfully, where I play on and off. Another huge influence and support to mention: DJ Plak (formerly Bounce Records). In 2002-3, I had my first public gigs and from then onwards, it got more and more regular, with ups and downs.
I have never had a crew, like get together with friends, form one and then throw parties. I have always been more independent, walking my own way, depending on the bookings only. Still being here and having gigs, which I highly enjoy, proves that I am still part of the scene.
Apart from d’n’b, you also play nuskool breakbeat sometimes.
Yes, I had ups and downs with drum and bass. In 2007-8, I got the feeling that it was getting boring. The last couple of years got hooked me again, so it was sometimes distant, sometimes very close – the love of my life. Actually, the longest relationship in my life! (laughs) When I got tired of d’n’b was the time when I discovered nuskool breaks. This is the other genre I still madly love. It’s really hard to find something that is interesting for me; d’n’b got quite commercial as mentioned before, and it was hard to find the gems in it. Now it’s the same with breaks. Even now, I don’t like this lot of tins, it’s getting too tacky. But I always find the tunes that keep me inspiring and going.
Who are your current inspirations now?
D’n’bwise: Dub Phizix, Moresounds, Sam Binga, Sully, Special Request … Pure plagiarism sucks but then you can see artists who kind of quote the oldskool stuff and that is exciting. And I also like certain hardcore (hardcore rave/UK oldskool breakbeat) stuff, pre-jungle between 140-150 BPM. Breakwise: Krome & Time, Manix, Shut Up And Dance, Suburban Base Records to name a few influences. And The Prodigy, of course.
So would you say that you are also into oldskool d’n’b? Your set in Hungary was meant to be jungle originally, then turned into the former.
That is what I have been talking about! Starting from kind of 140 and hardcore jungle, getting to drum and bass. But yes, I was socialised in the oldskool era: there was Monday and Thursday nights at Flex. The former was DubClub, the latter SubClub, and I also went to Wicked, which still exists. It was in 1998, when I realised that jungle was transformed into dark d’n’b – that was the time when they split somehow. I remember being there and realising “That’s the sound!”. This deep bass, this vibe, minimalistic sound. Since then, I’ve been through all the phrases: I had my Renegade Hardware, techy style, and around 2004, I got caught by liquid and soulful, Defunked and Hospital at that time, for instance. A lot of music today is overloaded with tin for my taste. For me, they shrill. There are certain exceptions as Detroit from Rockwell, as that is huge. However, the danger of being around for long is that you are booked for oldskool only. However, the danger of being around for long is that you are booked for oldskool only. (laughs) So as much as I love it, I don’t want to be reduced to that.
But I sometimes also miss funk itself from modern music. It’s not a coincidence that it is called neurofunk or techfunk – it needs funk in it! Music is always related to sexuality, an experience full of pleasure – the rhythm, repetition, moving the body: it’s an affective and sensual experience.
So you mean it needs vibration – in both senses: for the ears and for the body?
Yeah, it has to be fun! If it’s tickling, it’s good. By the way, before I was listening to a lot of punk, hardcore and so on. Thus, broken beats were interesting: like a riddle, not too easy to solve. Jungle is not a consumer-friendly beat! It’s more complicated, more complex – for me, it was like punk: breaking listening habits. Sometimes I still see the reaction, especially of younger people, when I play jungle: they just don’t know where to put their feet. (laughs)
Due to its unpredictability. 🙂
Yeah, it’s very funny. But at least they try and educate, that’s good.
We had a common experience last year when Storm played in Vienna.
Sure, it was awesome! That party just filled my heart. It was also full of young people, which is very normal. In d’n’b, after a certain time, they seem to break away, then other youngsters come instead of them. That’s what I think is a pity because I know many people of our age who would actually like to go to d’n’b parties but it is different, the sound is not what they used to like. I think it’s a bit sad because at a techno party, you have a wide range of age groups, up until 60. The only explanation I have is that it’s 170-175 BPM, so it’s pretty fast, so that maybe too fast for older people, I don’t know.
As for me, a good DJ has great taste, so an awesome selection, too. If they grab the greatness, I don’t mind if it’s 1996 or 2016.
I totally agree with you. I have to add that I don’t get annoyed if the selection is properly selected but technically not mixed perfectly. But the other way round is not something I’d prefer. That’s what I appreciate about Storm: she was mixing really oldskool, it wasn’t perfect but her set was amazing!
An article published in January deals with an important question. Do you think drum and bass is still ruled by men?
(laughs out loud) Yeah, that’s the answer. Well, do you know any female d’n’b producers? Even those we had before like DJ Rap, who is doing something totally else nowadays. But she made a great birthday mix, in which she is having so much fun, you can clearly see it. From my city, d’n’bwise, when I started, there was only Pandora&Lighta and Shroombab – there was just them and me who had just begun. Over the years, we were joined – not by lots, to tell the truth. M-Jane, Doreez, Maxime, Niob, MiSsuki. On the international scene? What has happened to DJ Flight, for example? The line-ups are male usually, it’s a bit sad. In addition, the tendency for getting fame is to produce. Releasing makes you known, so you’ll get booked. You can’t see any A-list female DJs. It’s a male-dominated scene.
It seems to be a little mysterious here. Why aren’t there female producers? This question is definitely not due to physical reasons.
I consider it to be due to the male network. It’s just like the microcosm of the whole society. It’s about men being buddies with men, supporting each other, having their own cliques, like fraternity. It’s the same question as why aren’t there more female movie directors or female prime ministers and why do women earn less. Men rule the scene – and as long as guys don’t see themselves as part of the problem, things won’t change. And it’s not that there are no female d’n’b producers out there…
Is it possible that here is also a glass ceiling?
Yes. Also, drum and bass, compared to the techno scene, is more conservative generally. If you look at dancehall reggae and jungle, there are a lot of homophobic lyrics – this happens to be one of the roots of d’n’b. Consequently, the scene is more conservative. Probably it’s not a coincidence that not any A-list DJs/producer known to be gay. Even when John B was acting out his androgyny… he was massively dissed and looked down on. That somehow says a lot about the scene, I think.
And finally, he got married, not so long ago.
Ahh, I didn’t know that. But it is a very typical reaction of this male-dominated scene. Women do their duties in the background, as a journalist (laughs) or working for a label – many women involved but only for less important tasks. Definitely not a superstar DJ, who is appreciated for her work.
A lot of people asked me if I wanted to produce. Of course, I was thinking about it but I have never had the eagerness to express myself this way because I always saw and still see myself as a DJ, which is something else. It’s also kind of producing because you create something in your mix but it’s something completely different.
Producer DJs get their names and booked as well but sometimes their sets are just not lively as they don’t have their DJ experience. For the latter, you need to communicate with the crowd, create an atmosphere for them. You also need to have a good hand on self-promotion, which I actually don’t really have. 10-15 years ago there were not so many people around, so maybe it was easier to get on top but today there is a huge pull, everyone wants to be a superstar. I’m happy to be in the scene, keep on developing myself, using my old records, too, putting them together with new ones.
How many vinyls do you have?
I tried to count them a year ago but I forgot to jot it down, so I forgot. Somewhere between 1000 and 2000.
Where does your passion for vinyl come from?
Well, for a long time I refused to go digital. Especially in the beginning when mp3s were used, the difference was harsh and painful for the ear but it has definitely improved. But vinyl for me is artwork. Not just the tune itself but everything related. If I look for a record, I don’t always remember the title but I can always recall the sleeve in which it is.
Anyway, 3 years ago my friends gave me Traktor Scratch as a birthday present. I admire its vinyl feeling! There is a lot of music you can only grab in digital format – so it helped me to be able to play them. Wav files of course, due to the sound. To be honest, it’s also less expensive, which also counts. I still have my original setup: two turntables and a mixer, so I can easily switch between digital and vinyl. You will be hearing it in my mix. (laughs) I’m not really comfortable with CDs, every time I play with CDs, the first 15-20 minutes of mixing is basically shaky a bit. The only thing which annoys me about Traktor is that you have to plug in your interface when the artist before you is still playing their set, so I have bad conscience every time I have to do it, so there could be a better solution for this somehow. And I didn’t want to stare at my laptop all the time but now I just go with the modern times and don’t get left behind. (laughs)
What do you resist then if not the modern times? 🙂
In 2000, after being a bedroom DJ for a while, with no DJ name yet, I took part in the huge demonstration against FPÖ with the Conservatives. The electronic scene in Vienna had their own truck, and their project was called Electronic Resistance. All the big names like Electric Indigo, Patrick Pulsinger played, it was a buzzing period. I remember being at one of their demonstrations, I was just looking around when I glimpsed at “Resista”, which was visible from Electronic Resistance. I immediately knew that this was going to be my name. (laughs) I realised the importance of being visible in the scene, I didn’t know any other female DJs at that time, like Electric Indigo, the founder of Female Pressure. My name was meant to be an expression of being resistant to the male-dominated circumstances somehow… and it also has this “sister” thing in it, which is also easy to identify with. As a feminist, I also liked this side, so it just stuck on me.
You’ve been to Hungary once. What was your impression?
Unfortunately, I had not much time to spend in Budapest, so I didn’t see much. I liked all the people I had met, hope to get back soon. I wish I had more bookings but as I’ve mentioned before, I’m not good at self-promo. It’s about putting out mixes as well as going out often, networking with people, which I could do more often, I must admit, or I go to different parties. But to reveal something from the pipeline: me and a friend of mine are planning to start a Breaks Club – just 3 or 4 times a year, kicking off in autumn. We don’t have any nuskool breaks club in Vienna anymore, so no wonder that a few weeks ago, after me playing breaks the guys came up to me saying “Thanks, it was great techno!”. (laughs) Others say it’s cool… “slow drum and bass”. So we need to educate. 🙂 My diploma thesis was about the connection between music and psychology.
Wooow! Could you give us a short overview?
The idea came from two things. I studied political sciences, worked a lot with Freud’s psychoanalysis, which is a critical of society, together with the critical theory of the Frankfurter Schule, respectively Adorno & Horkheimer. I was asking myself about how music actually worked. Why does it have this kind of influence, why does it touch people, how does it function? This was the initial question, then I added mass influence because I wanted to see its psychology.
Masses do need certain musical elements, even it’s just clapping or marching. This merges the crowd together, just like music. So I analysed two crowds (Oktoberfest, Musikantenstadl) and one kind of music style, Schlager. Repetition, for example, makes the sounds more familiar, as sudden unknown sounds (or total silence) appear to be threatening. Being intoxicated is also an important part (laughs), to be open to constant repetition and thus regression. By them, the mass dynamics by Freud could be presented.
It’s good that we are talking about it now because recently, I have been thinking about going back and proceeding with the topic. It’d be cool to compare my results with some new research about parties. In the mass, the individual loses its individuality, which is a part of mass psychology, it becomes one. On the contrary, if you are at an electronic music party, everyone dances in a different way, so it rather becomes individual. Music has a lot to do with politics – in the sense of perceiving freedom. In many countries, partying is forbidden, which means people can be more easily controlled. So I might go on finding out the different aspects of music and politics combined.
Also, it’d be interesting to examine the inner dynamics of a d’n’b party itself. It has changed a lot over the decades. I don’t know about Austria but in Hungary, there is a clearly visible difference in people’s attitude during these occasions.
It was partying together! And now, it’s more of partying against each other. (laughs) In the beginning, we were celebrating music together, and since the music was new, we also shared the same experience. Then I realised the change in the way people go through the crowd. Back in the days, you touched the person on the shoulder and politely made your way, no-one got hurt. Today it’s rather “here I am now with my buddies, I don’t give a fuck what you’re doing. Get out of my way!”. It’s very egoistic but probably that’s the way kids are brought up. Too much pressure about being successful, a lot of effort, and less empathy.
Examining mass dynamics: there were some fundraising events for the refugees in Vienna last summer and you seemed to have found it very important to contribute.
In the summer, facing the inhuman politics against refugees and scandalous situation in Traiskirchen (refugee camp near Vienna), my friends from Groove Bagasch Soundsystem felt it was time to do something. So we organized a huge Benefit Party. The main point was to raise political awareness in the music community – we’re not living and partying “in vacuum” – and to raise money, of course. We wanted to get as many people and styles as possible. Everyone did a entirely voluntary job. It was just amazing how many people said yes immediately, as well as the Arena itself, with full staff. It’s a huge place, with 3 rooms and outdoors, so it was very crowded but still comfy in summer. There was this vibe that we are celebrating, having a great time and also raising money for a very important cause. Actually, there was another
It was just amazing how many people said yes immediately, as well as the Arena itself, with full staff. It’s a huge place, with 3 rooms and outdoors, so it was very crowded but still comfy in summer. There was this vibe that we are celebrating, having a great time and also raising money for a very important cause. Actually, there was another “Refugees Welcome” party before and after that, many others followed! Even now, there are still parties for the cause. It’s just everybody felt that we had to do something.
You can’t really listen to drum and bass AND be a racist or a nationalist; they just don’t go together. The roots of dnb are in multicultural society. I want to approach all the people in Hungary who oppose Orbán and oppose Jobbik, stand up keep freedom alive!
When the FPÖ made a coalition with the Conservative Party in 2000, the EU took steps which clearly showed that this went a bit too far. But with Orbán, it seems that there is no response from the EU. Now something very similar is happening in Poland, too. Too many things have already happened against democracy but still, there is no response to that. So now it’s evident that the EU is merely an economic unit, not of human rights, freedom, liberalism and enlightenment.
One can clearly see the parallel between the past and the present. Not even too old stories, only 60-70 years old. It’s probably the nostalgia that is dangerous. People don’t really have experience, just think that those were the golden ages.
Exactly. They don’t know anything, and /or they don’t quite want to know. Not in detail, because it’s about what your grandparents or – for the younger – great-grandparents did. Maybe there is a slight similarity between our countries in their attitude. Austria used to see itself as “Hitler’s first victim”. Till the 80s, people rejected to see what they did during WW2. It wasn’t until the 90s that Austria acknowledged its responsibility. Still, many people still reject this and we got a pretty strong extreme right-wing party in parliament. In Hungary, contrary to Austria and due to its different history, there was never a public discussion about the involvement in the Holocaust and the Horthy regime. So it’s rather you still see yourselves as victims and don’t want to know anything about the past. With this lack of knowledge and awareness, today Hungary has antidemocrats as Orbán and Neo-Fascists as Jobbik with their paramilitary troups in power. And antisemitism, antigyspysm and rascism is alarmingly high! So, getting to know the past is of vital importance. If you fail to observe, you are likely to repeat it!
What can we know about the mix itself?
It’s a 100% ReSista Style Mix! 😉 It’s diverse, goes up and down and never gets boring. I don’t like one style for an hour, I love d’n’b in all its tings. It took a while to put it together, I had certain tunes from different styles I definitely wanted to have in it, some hard, some junglish and complex tracks as well as certain oldskool tunes. So I had to figure out, how to build it and bring it down to a round figure. I’m bit of a perfectionist, so I’m my best critic and never fully satisfied. However, I think I did a pretty good job on this one plus tiny mistakes give you the feeling of “craft” that makes the whole thing full of life – but judge for yourself!
Could you reveal one of your secrets to your Hungarian fans? 🙂
Well, I’m a serious series junkie. From The Wire, Six Feet Under, .. to Orange is the new Black, Dr. Who, Game of thrones, name it. Next on my list: Vinyl by Martin Scorsese! Just can’t wait.
Thank you for the opportunity and mix – and see you soon in Hungary! 🙂
Photo credits: https://www.facebook.com/BetaPhotographie, https://www.flickr.com/photos/dentcys/
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