This week’s interview & mix comes from Emily Dust
Introduce yourself and tell us about the part of the UK you’re from?
Emily Dust – DJ, presenter on Radar Radio (Thursdays 4-6pm) and a Londoner born and bred.
Can you tell us a bit about what you’ve been working on recently?
I recently launched my own night Flexx at The Waiting Room in London with my friend and collaborator Tasty Lopez – I wanted to create a regular night for the music I play on my show. On my Radar radio show this year I’ve been showcasing scenes around the world more in depth, so I went to Peru at the beginning of the year and also did a South Korea special recently – the underground scene there is amazing. I’m also working on something exciting for my Radar show around the Rio Olympics which involves teaming up UK producers with Brazilian ones.
And can you talk us through the mix?
I wanted this mix to represent the party vibe that you get when I play live – so I made this live in one take (no edits on a computer). Tempo-wise we start off slow before ramping up the pace. It’s a journey through different club styles that I love like cumbia, soca, dancehall, house, bass, gqom, grime, baile funk and future, and features some of my favourite new and recent tunes with artists from Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Trinidad, Jamaica, South Africa, Korea, Portugal and of course a healthy slice of UK!
Which British artists excite you?
What I love about the UK scene is the diversity – the UK artists I’ve included all have an international outlook like Jus Now (who are made up of a producer from Bristol and a producer from Trinidad and produced the Mr Killa track), Poté (a massive star in waiting who I’ve been a huge fan of for years and is doing big things), The Busy Twist (who travel the world working with musicians from Colombia, Ghana and Jamaica) and Mala (who is hugely influential and has just released his second album taking inspiration from Peru). Also new grime producer Mischief is wicked, as is Fox, an MC from Manchester who I love and has just released and EP with Swing Ting. There’s also tracks by Mina, Murlo, Flowdan and Kxngs – a recent discovery. I love this baile funk influenced track.
Nice, and talk us through some of your British DJ Heroes?
Being a Londoner I’ve probably been influenced by movements and scenes as much as individual DJs. I grew up with everything from drum n bass clubs to squat parties to Notting Hill Carnival on my doorstep and started going to clubs aged around 14, and festivals shortly after. It gave me an open ear for sounds from different scenes and continents – not just to stick in one lane.
Great and what’s on the cards in the immediate future?
The next Flexx is on 29th July and will feature the Busy Twist, Murder He Wrote, myself and Tasty Lopez (my co-resident).
And finally, where is the best place in the world you have performed and why?
I’ve DJed in France and Spain as well as across the UK, but I have to say my first ever Glastonbury set last year was pretty special. I’ve been going to festivals since I was 14 and always wanted to play Glastonbury so when the call came I was pretty excited – it’s an honour to now say I’ve played several sets two years running at a festival that means so much to so many people, and has such a positive feeling of togetherness – which is what music should be all about.