Babxi (Diskolusion) presents United We Rise Podcast Nr. 210

Babxi (@babxi / Diskolusion) presents United We Rise Podcast Nr. 210 ████████████████████████████████████████████████ ▌I What’s your history with music in general and DJ-ing especially? Since moving away from Canada at 20 years old, living in changing places (Asia, then Europe), dance floors have always been a constant in my adulthood. I’ve even been lucky enough to turn my passion for music and curiosity about the diverse characters of nightlife into professional opportunities, as a journalist – in Bangkok, I had a nightlife column for a major news website interviewing DJs, promoters and performers. In Berlin I’ve reported on diverse aspects of the local scene for international media from Lonely Planet to The Guardian and USA Today. That also brought me to a special connection to United We Stream in 2020 – I wrote about the platform in its earliest days for The Guardian and Thrillist, story about the creativity and perseverance of Berlin’s club scene despite the pandemic shutdown – a story I am very pleased I could help share to the world. During the pandemic, and time spent on a Thai island in a home frequented by touring DJs with no events but plenty of house parties, I was able to watch, learn, practice and really take the leap to translating my love of storytelling to production software and being on the decks. ▌II How would you describe your style? I describe my sound as a ‘Dreamcatcher of Disco and House’ – my aim is for my music to feel familiar, fresh… and of course, feel good. With high energy and positivity, I seek to appeal to the free spirits and old souls within us all. I believe that nostalgia is one of the most powerful forces in music, and though we often see samples misused and abused these days, we can all remember times when a certain lyric or melody connected us to beautiful past memories, different times and places. For me, nostalgia can mean digging for soul grooves, Motown samples, 90s vinyl tributing earlier sounds – in this way, I want my music to be a trip down memory lane that’s always intentional, and pay respect to dance music’s roots in amplifying lesser-heard voices. In short, my sound mostly spans worlds of disco, house (especially the early 90s), and when it comes to newer music, a special emphasis on producers who share unique perspectives with their music and provide diverse representation – for example, underground dance music from Asian and diaspora producers, Japanese house, etc. ▌III How did you prepare this mix and what was your main inspiration? Lately, I’m obsessed with the sounds of 90s disco house – in this mix, you'll find a lot of that, and hopefully, feel that sweet disco influence bridged to 90s house music laced with piano and synths. This mix aims to evoke nostalgia on different levels – bouncy 90s club energy and excitement inspired by earlier times. For me, the authentic feel of 90s vinyl and production with disco grooves is something that just can’t be replicated! This mix also resonates with me especially as a bridge between me and my dad. Everything I know and love about music has been passed down to me by him. Back in the 70s, he had a perm and danced in platform shoes. Playing tracks we always listened to together helps me remember his spirit carries on. He passed away in 2022. ████████████████████████████████████████████████ █ Babxi (@babxi / Diskolusion) SC - https://soundcloud.com/babxi RA - https://ra.co/dj/babxi IG - https://www.instagram.com/xo_babxi/ █ UNITED WE STREAM (Berlin / Global) FACEBOOK - https://www.facebook.com/unitedwestream/ WEB - https://unitedwestream.berlin/ INSTAGRAM - https://www.instagram.com/unitedwestream/ ████████████████████████████████████████████████ █ HASHTAGS #babxi #diskolusion #electronicmusic #melodictechno #afrohouse #organichouse #deephouse #house #techno #electronica #downtempo #disco #techno #ambient #italo #wave #psy #twerk #darkdisco #techhouse