One half of South West DJ duo, we have a Podcast Mix courtesy of Natz which promises full volume Techno. Natz says her mix stands against negative vibes and says people take things far too seriously. You can listen to her mix and read the full interview below.
Hi Natz, please introduce yourself to those unfamiliar with your DJ life.
Hi, I’m Natz, and thank you so much for inviting me to share some music with you and I hope you enjoy my offering. Lately my fans have been calling me a ‘Techno Princess’, but let me get this straight, I’m no princess.
Talk us through how you filled your time during the lockdown.
The start of full lockdown was all about the Live Streaming for me. Being stuck at home the live streams gave me a sense of connection to the outside world, and of course dancing around and playing music really loud is good for the soul anyway. It gave me an opportunity to experiment with my sound, and with views of up 10k it was obvious that it was going down well.
When the lock down started to ease up I started getting bookings for underground parties. Firstly in the South West and then further around the country. During lockdown its evident we’ve all been deprived of human connection, and the vibe at those first raves were insane. If you are a raver you’ll be familiar with the sense of unity you get from dancing in front of a massive sound system with a group of other people on the same wavelength, and it was just the medicine we all needed.
I know some people who have been in quite extreme circumstances during lockdown and have struggled with mental health. At a rave there is no thoughts of Covid, no worries about the money coming in, no worries about work; you are fully attuned to the present moment.
Apart from DJing I’ve also been playing with music production. I’m a physicist by trade which is helping me get my head around things quite quickly, and also helped by the fact I play musical instruments. I was lucky enough to have some time in the studio with two of my favourite acid techno producers; Darc Marc and Chris Liberator. It was such a privilege to see them working on their latest Stay Up Forever release, totally inspirational!
What events should you have played at this year?
Ah I don’t want to talk about it! I know I’m in the same boat as lots of Dj’s and artists but I had bookings for festivals all over the country including international enquiries. In addition, locally, I had launched my own night alongside Danae B, called Dead Disco. The first event was a sell out just before Big C hit, and its such a shame to loose that momentum. Everyone was buzzing about it, we had gone all out with the production including drag queens, dancers and confetti canons. It certainly shook up the local scene which was starting to get quite stale.
What’s planned for 2021?
Not a lot in terms of public DJ gigs. I know it’s important to stay positive. I see many of these 2020 festivals being rebooked for 2021 but I personally think people are dreaming. It’s going to be all about the underground rave scene for the best part of the next year. It sort of suits me down to the ground as the techno I’m playing sits very comfortably here and been welcomed with open arms. I’m excited to see what emerges out of this new scene!
Describe your current DJ sound.
Flat out techno. In particular ghetto/electro vibes are right up my street, along with fat 303 acid rippers. Also totally feeling the boppy, quick almost breaky beats coming from the likes of Partiboi69 at the moment, the bpm is quick and the words are pure filth, proper cheeky. I’ve also been totally immersing myself in acid techno, which makes up most of the mixes on my YouTube channel so please check it out if that’s your cuppa tea.
Talk us through your podcast episode and track selection.
This is a mix that needs turning up all the way to 11. The opening track is a cheeky ‘middle finger up’ to people who’ve been directing negativity my way. It’s tongue in cheek, no hard feelings, but there are a lot of people who take things very seriously and could probably do with lightening up. The main part of the mix is pretty heavy techno peppered with some ghetto sleaziness, culminating with Daje midway; an epic track which cuts right through. Towards the end we are welcomed into the loving arms of Aceeeeed Techno where the bpm and energy is raised to boiling point. I finish on a sassy remix of One Night in Hackney called Saturday Night in Shoreditch and I hope you love it as much as I do, its a corker.
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