Mixes

Darwin NAAFI NTS Mix

Darwin (@darwinspec) juggles many different roles in dance music as well as she juggles her records in the DJ booth. The Canadian-born, Berlin-based artist runs her own REEF parties at Berghain, and has nurtured a wealth of emerging talents on her SPE:C label. She is also the founder of Clean Scene, a climate action collective that wants to explore a more sustainable future for dance music. They recently authored a stark report about the industry's carbon footprint, which you can read through cleanscene.club/report.pdf. 

Darwin's sound is rooted in various UK styles, from bass to dubstep, garage to breakbeat. That is evident in the 100-minute mix she lays down for us this week. It opens with thoughts about environmentalism and some indigenous jungle recordings before grinding through chunky Afro drum patterns and supersized bass. The pressure builds throughout, the cavernous rhythms grow ever more muscular as the urge to snake your body becomes overwhelming. It's a perfectly balanced, well-controlled mix that showcases the irresistible power of heavyweight bass music.

Dekmantel Podcast 

Dekmantel Podcast 351 - Darwin

BBC Radio 6 Mix For Sherelle

Next up on The EDWIN Music channel is Canada-born, Berlin-based DJ @Darwinspec globally celebrated for her distinctive, community-fostering take on all kinds of bass music. Since 2014 she has run her party REEF in Berlin, which today materialised into the city’s most sought-after club night for unmarked Sound System influenced dance music.

To read the full interview visit: https://edwineuro.pe/mix124darwin

N°124 - Darwin

𝔀𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓲𝓯 𝔀𝓮 𝓽𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓶𝓾𝓼𝓲𝓬 𝔀𝓲𝓽𝓱 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓿𝓪𝓵𝓾𝓮 𝓲𝓽 𝓭𝓮𝓼𝓮𝓻𝓿𝓮𝓼?

interview live on –>–>–> www.wav.world/ –>–>–> @darwinspec

wav.world emerged out of a long-running chat exchange of mixes, tracks, and some playful speculation: If you were going to make a platform for DJ mixes in 2024, what would it look like?

Mixes are a unique type of musical expression. They capture a specific moment in time, determined by the knowledge and style of the artist. A mix is as important a creative statement as an album, remix or EP. One mix can change an artist’s career, one mix can open a listener’s mind to something completely new.

𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓯𝓪𝓿𝓸𝓻𝓲𝓽𝓮 𝓶𝓲𝔁𝓮𝓼 𝓪𝓻𝓮 𝓽𝓲𝓶𝓮𝓵𝓮𝓼𝓼.

We miss the importance that mixes used to have. So, we made a platform for mixes.

Each wav.world mix gives one artist the time and resources to create whatever kind of mix they want, to share something sonic about who they are and what they love.

Every wav.world mix will feature a longform interview with the artist which gets to the heart of what moves them—in music and in life—through text, video and image. Each edition of wav.world will feature the commissioned work of music journalists, visual artists and graphic artists.

𝔀𝓮𝓵𝓬𝓸𝓶𝓮 𝓽𝓸 𝔀𝓪𝓿.𝔀𝓸𝓻𝓵𝓭

∿∿∿ WAV•WORLD • DARWIN.wav

Next up comes Canadian-born polymath Darwin, who’s been getting Berliners talking ever since she kicked off her event series REEF back at now defunct venue Griessmühle. Tired of providing partygoers with the same formulaic sounds they’d come to expect, she started to play around with others, dubstep and bass among them. It was a fresh approach that through persistence ended up paying off with a form that’s as animate, subaquatic and essential to its surroundings as the ocean reefs that inspired the name. A UK-leaning sound, that pays homage to breaks, drum n bass and garage and fuses it with a techno more indicative of her chosen digs. Nowadays that approach has really gained traction and her parties blossomed into something much larger, encompassing her own selections, whether at UNFOLD or closing Berghain’s Klubnacht, as well as the launch of her SPE:C imprint. Her loose selection and low-end frequencies are a modern take on a long tradition of rumbling bass and out-and-out techno, brought together with a killer instinct for the hourly requirements of a dancefloor with high expectations. Following on from her previous techno stints at Bassiani, Podcast 251 further explores this side and delves back into her roots; a studio mix brought to you from this true pioneer, mastered by bestie Esposito.

@darwinspec

Bassiani invites Darwin / Podcast #251

Darwin operates in the realm of low-end frequencies, delivering a tripped-out, sub-rattling blend of styles firmly rooted in soundsystem culture.

Her sets move with swampy intensity and hypnotic flow, drawing dancers in while maintaining a quiet versatility. A seasoned crate digger across many genres, she’s as comfortable playing back-to-back with DJ Storm, Mala or Lena Willikens as she is closing out Bassiani or Berghain’s Klubnacht.

Born in Canada, Darwin found her way into dance music after moving to London—first working at fabric in the mid-2000s, then experiencing a bass eureka moment years later at a Swamp81 party. That defining night set the course for her next chapter in Berlin, where she founded her label SPE:C in 2015 to spotlight emerging global talents like Decka, Carré, Axle, Beatrice M., and Tano.
In 2016, she launched REEF at the now-defunct Griessmuehle, a club where she had started a monthly techno-focused DJ residency 2 years earlier that helped develop her signature stripped back, sci-fi-infused sound. The boundary-pushing party brought bass music’s alien energy into the heart of the techno capital, which now calls Berghain home. 

2024 marked a new chapter in Darwin’s evolution with the launch of ABYSS, a Sunday evening soundsystem series centered on the restorative power of low-end frequencies. Blending transcendental dance music with breathwork, meditation and healing practices, the event creates a space where sound connects body and mind. ABYSS has also teamed up with Wuppertal’s acclaimed Open Ground club for an extended weekend takeover, with plans to expand the concept to other cities in the future.

PURE Guest.083 Darwin

Berlin-based @darwinspec is a resident at Griessmuehle and runs the REEF parties, which have taken up residency in Mexcio city for winter at YuYu club. She also runs the SPE:C (@specrecords) label, which has a string of releases lined up for 2019 including an EP from @sepehr-a. Two forthcoming dubs from Sepehr are included on this mix.

The Bunker Podcast 185

The Bunker Podcast 185: Darwin

Name: Fallon
Alias: Darwin (@darwinspec)
Pronouns: She 
Location: Berlin/ Puerto Escondido 

Influences: sci fi, waves, transcendental experiences, collective energy 

Affiliations/Residencies/Projects: Runs the REEF party @ Berghain and SPE:C Records, part of Clean Scene, an environmental initiative for our community

Favorite Quote: “For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love.” -Carl Sagan

Advice for the DJs, producers and artists of our community: This is your time! Dont let any-fucking-one tell you otherwise <3

With this mix Darwin asks to please learn more about and consider getting involved with: Clean Scene (https://cleanscene.club/)

About the mix: "This is to the summer lost, to going nowhere, the autonomic... this is for the lovers and all the wave jumpers" -Darwin

Daisychain

Daisychain 144 - Darwin

Darwin - Garage Hour - Rinse FM

SPE:C Records and REEF Mom

Bookings: emile@omni-artists.net