RA.875 ISAbella

  • Published
    Mar 12, 2023
  • Filesize
    224 MB
  • Length
    01:37:44
  • Timeless rave tunes from the MARICAS cofounder.
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  • There's an old-school touch to ISAbella's sound. Breakbeats, rolling tech house, progressive house and trance pepper both her studio mixes and her debut EP, transporting listeners to a place of peak '90s indulgence. It's no wonder, then, that vintage rave sounds are a signature tenet of MARICAS, the club night and label that she helped start in 2018. Her love for the '90s is tangible on her RA Podcast, an emotional journey across breakbeat house, trancey techno and funky electro. First-rate throwbacks such as Canyon's "Move" and "Lightspan Soundwave" by The Shamen exude a carefree euphoria, while heavier cuts like Desert's "Moods (Club Mix)'' intensify the feeling of rapture. Even the contemporary releases, like Bashkka's excellent "C-quence Of Calamities," feel rooted in nostalgia. MARICAS mixes are usually energetic from the get-go, but ISAbella starts out (relatively) nice and relaxed this time around. The mix's most striking element is how personal each track feels—a reflection of her intimate relationship with these records. Each one evokes a special poignancy and though these ephemeral selections were largely improvised, ISAbella believes they "show what's going on lately and what's going on forever." What have you been up to recently? Where to start! Just moved to a new house so I'm trying to make it my home slowly slowly as this is my most precious place at the moment which makes me super happy. I've been on the complex eternal journey of deconstruction and understanding the importance of emotional responsibility in polyamory and finding ways to approach the year in the most healthy and balanced way. Learning a lot about that. Besides that, I'm looking forward to the 2023 gigs with a lot of amazing places and parties that I'm very excited to play and visit, feeling super blessed and thankful about that. At the same time, finding the time to put my ass back in the studio. Also continuing with my residency at Nitsa in Barcelona and Video Club in Bogotá with Club DOS, my new club night that this year I will take to a lot of cute places. How and where was the mix recorded, and can you tell us the idea behind the mix The mix was recorded at home with two Technics, a Xone 92, a cup of coffee and a CDJ that our MARICAS afterhours technician lent me (lol). I wanted to create something with a bigger spectrum and more diverse selection of sounds and genres to get a deeper and wider atmosphere which I feel represents me as an artist, besides what I play at clubs or festivals. I put together a few tracks for the start to build a slow, soft, kinda melancholic mood and from there, everything flowed into a much more organic direction and improvisation was easier. Improvisation was very important at the time to record this mix as this is the way I always approach my sets. I found that this is the way I can really connect with the dancers to create a communal energy in the room. In this way I could build something that felt very personal and could show what's going on lately and what's going on forever in my little music universe. You will find some records I have been playing lately, some that have a super important personal value and just don't wanna leave the bag. At times dreamy, cheeky, cheesy and easy, and sometimes more serious. I hope you all enjoy it! What's one club or party that had a major impact on you as an artist? I don't want to sound obvious but the party that clearly changed my life is MARICAS. I think every night that I have played, and each party, has been so special on so many levels that is beyond everything. To have the opportunity to develop my craft in a space like this is a very big privilege and a lot of work, haha. Also being part of this movement in Barcelona makes me feel very thankful and gave me a lot of purpose throughout my career. And apart from that, I think the first time I got into Panorama Bar. I cannot forget that moment around 2010. The FCL "It's You" edit was playing and it was just a magical and unforgettable moment. I recently started to play that track again—so many good memories. Tell us about why you started MARICAS, and how it's grown. Do you think the queer scene in Barcelona has gotten any better since then? MARICAS started out of a drunk night with my two best friends Eloisa and Gina, my super bebes! We wanted to throw a party where they played the music we love, but also had the crowd that we wanted. Barcelona was filled with straight electronic music parties and non-queer ones. We started the party pretty naive, since we didn't know how important it was to create a party where, in the end, we felt safe. And after our first night, we realised the need for this kind of space where you can go out and not feel harassed, and feel part of it as well. MARICAS has grown much more than what we have expected it to do, we have put so much energy, love and intention in it, and our whole community as well. Its success is due to the love that we have received of everyone who has come and we couldn't be more grateful. We have thrown parties in over 20 cities around Europe, evolved our party into a record label, an online platform and plan on doing so much more. Barcelona's queer scene has grown so much in the past years, and I think MARICAS was a starting point, but also the global need for these places to exist and for us to exist and be in them. There are so many more queer spaces, parties, bars, restaurants and queer peeps in Barcelona. I'm just proud of being part of this whole scene. As we evolved we learned the importance of creating safer spaces for LGBTQIA+ folks and trying to provide them to everyone that comes to any of our parties. We always have free spots in the guest list or discounted ones for peeps that lack money and try to help everyone have a chance to feel welcome in whatever we do. Lately we have also been striving to create a FLINT* focused space that priorities lesbians, trans and non binary folks, since MARICAS is run, done and created for us. As a queer lesbian and non-binary DJ, it makes my heart filled with joy to be part of a movement that is giving spaces to these communities to exist, collide, meet and dance together. To provide spaces where people fall in love, make out and discover sick tunes. It's everything I dreamed of when I started playing and I can only be grateful. What's coming up next on the label? This year is very exciting for us! We're planning our second digital compilation to be released in the summer with a lot of cuties on it. I can say we have a super hot track from FAFF that will heat the summer for sure. We will be expanding our digital releases with the debut EP from our babe SlimSoledad! And around the fall we are planning our third vinyl release from Octo Octa. So that's a lot of exciting stuff happening this year. What are you looking forward to in the near future? This year I'm more than excited to close Sónar at night going back-to-back with one of my favorites, Roza Terenzi. This is my first Sónar and I feel very lucky to have a debut like this. We have a very exciting year with MARICAS as well, going for the first time to Bassiani and having a very big rave for Dyke March in Berlin teaming up with Berlin's MESS, which will have an iconic lineup! We will be doing the closing of one of our favourite spots, Barbarella's at Dimensions Festival, teaming up with Planet Euphorique. I'm also working on my own label under Club DOS which will take an experimental music direction which is something I feel very connected with and want to explore in a deeper way. And trying to balance all the traveling and non-stop rhythm to find the time to put some music out. Keeping healthy and happy! Exciting year, right?
  • Tracklist
      L.S.G. - Cubic Stephen Brown 0- Spaces Fortunato & MontresorImagination - (Imagine 1) Kings Of Brasil - Dig Da Dub Dave Breenan - Drink Deepn Bashkka - C-quence of calamities Richer - La Reina De La Noche trUst - Unreleased Canyon - Move Brun - White Label Phasebase - That House Track Psychotropic - Hypnosis (Edit) Sin Limites - Sin Limites (D. Tiffany Remix) Sterac - P909 The Mackenzie - You Got To Get It feat. Jessy DJ Infiniti - Running Away Dessert Moods - Dessert Moods (Club Mix) Pepé - The Bomb Oma Totem - Sardana Sardana Eddie Fingers - Transilvania Trascendental (Knock It On The Head, Bang It In The Dub)
RA