"It was a collaboration!"
Five songs for the Friends of Fictions
Straight to the point, here’s a bit of my set in Sameheads last month (tears included):
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Oh hi there,
How are you? How are you entering into June? Are you sleeping enough? Drinking water? Taking time off screens and off the apps? Do you have a life, or are you just living?
Recently, I’ve been having this recurring dream in which I’m trying to beat match the codes of the vegetables I weigh at my day job with the BPMs of the tracks I’m playing at my gigs. I wake up tense because Apfel is 160 and I can’t seem to find a creative blend to segue into Azemad’s Aalam Talet (a current fave). There must be a way!! There always is a way. Or maybe, this time, the only way is a way out? If so where’s the exit (please)? (Do not let these questions strain or trouble you).
That was May. June is another beast altogether! Bye-bye holidays (5 bank holidays in Germany in May) and hello to 10 gigs across 4 countries in a month, not to mention 5 in one single weekend. Mhhhh… not exactly “slow gigging”.
Blaming capitalism and thanking friends might be amongst the tropiest trope of online DJ life but, hey, after all, I, too, am a product of my species. So after starting today’s newsletter with a huge middle finger to a system that is forcing us to operate on little sleep and loads of labor, I will also end with an essay including 5 tracks dedicated to 5 friends. For one thing I know already, I am happy with the people around me.
Be well readers, and as the brightest day of the year is getting near us in the Northern hemisphere, find your strength in the sound and MAKE YOUR TRANSITION!! I’m infinitely grateful for all the queers in my life who are showing us the way. Happy pride!
Xx
Nono
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Hold on a sec, do we know each other?
Welcome to quite a few new subscribers whom I’m not sure I’ve ever met before. My name is Nono and I play music as Gigsta. I don’t particularly relish in introducing myself as The-DJ-Who-Doesn’t-Fly but, if you’ve landed here, I should warn that this newsletter often serves as a space for me to research, reflect and sometimes even change my mind on topics related to music, mobility, and climate justice.
I’ve written a bit about destination festivals, for example. In 2021 I travelled to Croatia and tried to figure out how I felt about the experience. The following year, I drew a parallel between destination festivals and imperial modes of living. A few months ago, I wrote about Stop Tomorrow Land Alpe d’Huez, a collective fighting against an EDM festival held on a melting mountain.
I believe these issues should be addressed collectively and systemically. A group of French-speaking DJs recently shared a survey asking how other musicians feel about their mobility. (You can fill it here!) I hope more initiatives like this can help us share information, articulate political demands and foster industry-wide solutions.
Meanwhile, Northern European promoters be like:
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“This is where you’ll find me this month”
As specimens of my species like to say on The-Other-Platform.
07.06: Giri , Berlin 🇩🇪
Early eve: This is the release of a Shifting Basslines, a podcast series dedicated to creating awareness, sharing knowledge and diving into the complex relationship between the planet and raving. The project covers three topics so far: spaces and mobility (Grounded Travel On Space Ways, episode #1 curated and narrated by Nono Gigsta); data and digitalisation (Clouds Are More Than Water, episode #2 curated and narrated by Sarj Lynch) and bodies and emotions (Dance Floors As Portals, episode #3 curated and narrated by Camille Sapara Barton). I highly recommend, Sarj and Camille’s contributions!
5:30 pm doors open 6:30 pm conversation between podcast curators (Nono Gigsta, Sarj Lynch, Camille Sapara Barton) and producer Kerstin Meißner
8:00 pm - 1:00am DJ sets (Nono Gigsta, Sarj, Camille Barton and Sarah Farina)
07.06: Zur Klappe, Berlin 🇩🇪
With Akii, Lyndon Lewis and Marius Iris. My set starts at 1.30 am and Trip The Light Crew wrote a very cute bio.
08.06: Open Air, The Volunteer Sessions, Berlin 🇩🇪
Afternoon til night vibes with Kevin and Jan, Sarj, NagaDJ, Nono Gigsta, Ryota Oi, Spargelzeit, Blind Observatory and … Neutralised!! This truly is one of my favorite annual meetings. I’m on at 7.30pm, just after legendary digger-cutsie-bestie: the Naga. Follow this link to find out about the secret location and set times.
08.06: Acud Macht Neu, Berlin 🇩🇪
With Maendi, Olmatri, Jonas Z, Christoff Riedel, Dj Deejay, Lü and Tomtom Tom. I play 2.30 til 3.30 am.
09.06: Gnojki Samba, PL 🇵🇱
Do it together fest at a Polish lake.
15.06: Dans An Diaoul, Bretagne 🇫🇷
La belle petite fête du père Müller, where probably everyone I ever encountered during my 23 years spent in France will be gathering. Excited and terrified.
20.06: Fictions Radio Show, Cashmere Radio, Berlin 🇩🇪
You can join us for this! (7.30 til 9pm)
23.06: Museum Schloss Moyland, Bedburg-Hau 🇩🇪
Playing music at for the opening of an exhibition called “The Earth Does Not Need Us”. It will be my second time collaborating with The Institute of Queer Ecology.
28.06: Strange Brew, Bristol 🇬🇧
Playing with Larry Bruce!!! And Mackenzie! Yesss and thanks Eilidh for helping me out with grounded itineraries and being such a supportive friend!
30.06: Fictions at Ormside Projects, London 🇬🇧
Early eve vibes with Bakläxa, Ophélie, Sinan, Xin and myself. Ormside is my favorite venue in London and it is an absolute honor to be hosting a Fictions party there :) Zine, friends and deep cuts. Grab your tix <3
05-07.07: Freerotation Festival, Wales 🇬🇧
Get ready for the 2nd part of house of crocodiles.
13.07: Fluctuations, Brussels 🇧🇪
Transnational boat festival
18.07: Fictions Radio Show, Cashmere Radio, Berlin 🇩🇪
Same as usual! Follow the updates here.
31.08: Meakusma Festival, Eupen 🇧🇪
Was supposed to attend this as a dancer in 2016 but ended up in the hospital … Finally joining as a performer!! Woep woep, playing on the Saturday :)
14.09: TBA, Amsterdam, NL 🇳🇱
I am also looking for other gigs in the Netherlands, West Germany, Belgium or potentially the UK on the weekend and/or night before. Slow gigging, too, is a collaboration! Help out :)
21.09: Fictions at Sameheads, Berlin, DE 🇩🇪
Mark your calendars, shroom-lovers :)
I try to update these shows on my Instagram, Soundcloud and Website.
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Five songs for the friends of Fictions
At the beginning of Soderbergh’s Ocean's Twelve, the main characters reunite after they've been identified by Benedict, the owner of the casinos they committed a heist on. The crew finds out not only that they have to pay back the stolen money plus interest but also that they've been dubbed "Ocean's Eleven." Danny Ocean orchestrated the "job" but was supported by a team of ten accomplices who remain uncredited.
"It was a collaboration! That moniker is insulting!"
"Yeah, I mean, Danny, it was one job we did together. So, I don’t know where this proprietary stance comes from. It seems a little possessive."
Halfway through that discussion, apprentice maneuverer Linus asks, "Wait, when you have a problem, who do you go to?" Everyone agrees they go to Rusty, not Danny (Ocean).
Rusty, with his bottomless supplies of snacks, imperturbable cool attitude, and colorful shirts (“Ted Nugent called. He wants his shirt back".), reminds me of Ugo. Ugo’s name never appeared on a fictions lineup or (not yet) on one of our regular Cashmere Radio shows. Yet, it's hard to imagine how the whole (shroomy) story would have unfolded without him. After all, he does take trains between Brittany and Berlin to grace all our parties with his caring and energetic attitude. And how not to shout out Angus??? Or Nathan? None of it would have been possible without you.
The point here (and there's been more than one point made through the lens of Ocean's Eleven in the absurd world of fictions) is that, despite the fact that I, Nono, played all night long at our last party, Fictions is very much the work of a whole team. A low bow and a big hug to Aaron, Abeera, Cami, David, Edo, Eilidh Ele, David, Dev, Jeff, Moni, Ophélie, Paul, Sarj, Sinan, Susanna, Tash, Tobha, Yorai, Wanda, all our guests and whoever shared moves through the thick smoke of the filthy basement.
During the week leading up to the all-nighter, I was agonizing over prepping for the unpreparable. It was that I wanted to be ready for all situations (illusory), go through all my record collection (long and tedious), articulate all the emotions I’d gone through since the beginning of the year (ambitious, not uncharacteristic), hold space for all the grief and pain we’re currently going through (all of the above). During a conversation with my friend Susanna, I tried to explain that most importantly, I wanted to thank all the people who’d showed up for me in various ways.
I wasn’t sure what the arc of the night was going to be, but there were songs I really wanted to play, as they connected to these friends. Susanna thought the idea was cute, although she was worried that the person might not be on the floor when the track was being played (Sameheads is a labyrinth and the dancefloor is small). An added layer of pressure came from the anxiety that I don’t have enough time for my friends. Susanna thought that Gafacci track echoed that concern. When I played it that night it felt like different layers of time intertwined in the basement. Time wasn’t missing; it was suspended: everything existed all at once.
A few moons ago, David and I were sitting, watching the stars, and playing songs to each other. Naga might be the DJ through whom I’ve discovered the most music. We exist in parallel music realms, yet his taste never stops fascinating me. When he put that one on, David told me about the time he’d first heard it. A Mancuso classic, someone had played it at a Lucky Cloud Soundsystem party, which (my) David had travelled to London for. In a dreamy manner (David often has a dreamy manner), he said that hearing the song being played out loud made him really ask himself: “What are we gonna do with love? Because in a way it’s true, we have found it. But we don’t know what to do with it.” I honestly haven’t stopped thinking about that ever since.
Again here, 1/4 of the tracks on my usb sticks are somewhat related to Ugo. He’d sent me that one after I shared Alex Kassian’s Leave Your Life (Lonely Hears Mix). I played them one after another during the night and they blended like magic. Voulzy’s song soundtracked Ugo’s childhood: it’s nostalgia is all at once personal and universal. The arrangement is slightly unusual but the result somewhat poppy. The most unique tracks from my sets are always from and for friends. I’ve written it before and will write it again: the whole thing was a collaboration!
This was the pivotal moment of the whole night, the moment time and love liquified, the moment I cried. And obviously, it could be dedicated to no one else than Tash. Tash and I have a ritual of meeting for equinox and solstice: we process, celebrate and prepare. We pull tarot, share secrets and other witchcraft. We play music too. In the forest, Tash was dancing with her fingers to the arpeggio: “how did they make that sound!!?” she mused. There is something about someone playing a track that they’ve listened to on repeat by themselves: the goosebumps transfer onto the sounds and the whole thing enters a new vibrating realm. Are we playing music or are music and mushrooms playing us?
There was a moment during the whole night where all I could think of was “record, next record, and another record” til infinity. I first heard this one when Jeff, aka Spargelzeit, played it at The Volunteer Sessions, last year. I’m always fascinated by how some of my friends who DJ has a hobby seem to spend more time perfecting that craft than professionals. A social justice worker, Jeff’s sets are rare, precious and incredibly precise. Don’t miss him this Saturday in Berlin and also, here’s him reading our free zine during the party:
A final additional HUUUGE thanks to Aaron who wrote a fantastic essay about Fictions which we printed and offered during the night. We have a few copies left which I’m happy to share if you join us at Cashmere Radio on the 20th or Ormside on the 30th or Sameheads in September.
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Wait, what?
You mean you’re still here? How do you have an attention span that works its way through this kind of monologue? And then on screen! Tell me your secret!
Random bonus info as a reward: I’m most likely going to be away in the month of August and my flatmate will be gone for 3 weeks too. We live in a 2-bedroom flat in Neukölln. Reply to this email if you’re interested in Berlin accommodation over these periods!
Bisous bisous
Nonotje