COMMUNICATE

A much missed Friday night session on the 1210s with a bottle of red. 

Tracklist:

Jamie Woon - Night Air (Ramadanman refix)
Kaiser Souzai - Foggy (Alex Celler quartz interpretation)
dOP - Take Care Of Me
Sasse & Phonogenic - That Philosophy Track (Catz N' Dogz remix)
Kiki - Good Voodoo (Subb-An remix)
Shenoda - Speak Easy (Franco Bianco remix)
Catz N Dogz & Monty Luke - They Frontin'
Can 7 - Cruisin' (Reboot Lays Down The Keel rework)
Basti Grub - Mirando Al Sol (feat Andres Zarzuela - Butch remix)
Santos & David GTronic - Deep Luv (Reboot's concrete jungle jam)
Einsauszwei - The Message (Patrick Lindsey remix)
Aki Bergen & Pezzner feat. Lazarusman - Get Better (Aki Bergen's future jazz band edit)



Back On Track Sessions Vol. 3 - House Broken

On Tuesday 17 August I was round at one of my friend's places for a catch up. It just so happened that on that particular evening it was announced NZ was going into another level 4 lockdown. I was feeling stressed and anxious as all get out, so I put myself in his studio to play some tunes to calm myself down. All I knew is that I wanted to play what I would play to a 2am floor. And this mix is the result, it's what a basement club would wear. 

On that very same day a beloved member of Wellington's dance scene and someone I had been dancing with and have loved since 1996 left us. I didn't know it at the time I was playing, but I feel like I channelled our beautiful Nick  as I danced during that jam session, ciggie in hand and all. 

Yesterday I wrote a piece about what it was like for me as a woman starting to DJ in the NZ scene 15 years ago. It wasn't easy but I had amazing support from very special humans and I am glad I spoke up so that maybe what I went through doesn't have to happen again.

So with all this in mind, with my thoughts harking back to 90s and early 2000s dancefloors, memories surfacing of humans who have come and gone (and some are still by my side to this day) and the knowledge of my musical dreams being an actual reality that I am so blessed to live, I decided to call this mix Foundations.

Thank you to Cooper for letting me unleash in his studio, James Jackson for yet another epic master, Vicki Watson for the photo, all my humans for being amazing, endlessly inspiring me and caring for me, and Nick Ryan, you wonderful and beautiful soul. Rest in peace and I know we will be on a dancefloor together again.

Be kind to one another and never stop dancing. 

Love,
Heylady. xx

Back on Track Sessions Vol 9

Back on Track Sessions Vol 9: Foundations

This new year I had the absolute honour to play on Aum's incredible main stage, The White Stag. It's been a bit of a journey to get here, I was meant to play this stage last new year but because of covid and the restriction levels my set clashed with another festival I was booked for so it didn't happen. I was heartbroken at the time, so being able to step onto the stage this year was a very special moment for me. 

There's a few people I need to thank for making this happen. 

Firstly, Mr John Paul Moss. Mossy, your support goes way back, you gave me my first ever solo club set playing after Antix all those years ago, so playing this stage for you at the incredible set time you gave me means the absolute world. Thank you for your love, support and belief in me, and for the incredible women you booked to play alongside me that night. What you, Anna and Steve have created with Aum is completely unrivalled in New Zealand. It's magic beyond words. thank you all for all your mahi to ensure we all have the best new year every year, it doesn't go unnoticed.

Thank you to Lara, Bronte, Ainsley and Yuna for being my before and after support crew, you kept me calm beforehand (and I will freely admit I was nervous to play this one!) and the love you showed me when I finished brought me to tears.

To my darlings Cyril Orson and Cooper Khan, teaming up with you both musically has changed my world over the last few years. I've learned so much, discovered incredible music and your support when I finally made the jump from Serato to USB's in August made it so much easier. This set would not be what it is without you two.

Thank you to Shelley Watson (AKA Miss Mixtape) for the photo, you always have such a great eye!

And finally to all the dancers and revellers, THANK YOU for allowing me to take you on this journey and for staying up for my set on night one. It was a privilege and an honour to play for you all.

Happy new year, everyone! May 2023 be filled with amazing music, incredible dancefloors, love, laughter, and good times. 

See you on a dancefloor soon.

Aum New Years Festival 22/23

Live on The White Stag - Aum 22/23

On Waitangi Day morning we were honoured to play the closing set for 2023's Taniwha's Den. It was a beautiful morning and the cathedral of trees was humming with the sound of cicadas, as it transpires, they like house and techno! There are a few people who we would like to thank for making this happen.

Grant and Leon thank you for trusting us with this years close, the Den stage is such an unbelievable setting and playing at the end of it all was such an incredible experience.

To Mike and Pete, once again the sound was out of this world! Every year it gets better, you are both magicians.

To the VJs, DJs, crew and volunteers, thank you for making our time onsite such a pleasure, we had the most insane amount of fun all weekend and already can't wait to do to all again.

Huge love and thanks to the amazing Miss B for the image, HAZARD WARNING!

TO ALL OF YOU DANCERS! Wow, what a floor to play for! Thank you for coming on the ride with us, we will never forget this morning and a huge part of that is because of your energy you brought. thank you, thank you, thank you.

And finally, our crew slash backup dancers, Bronte, Lara, Lawrence, Nikki and Tina, it was so much fun having you all in the booth with us, and so much fun out of the booth as well. The love, laughter and support you all gave us means the absolute world.

We loved every minute in that booth playing for everyone on that floor, it was a magical morning, it was a privilege and a joy to share COMMUNICATE with you all at the Den for the first time.We hope you all enjoy listening to this as much as we loved playing it. We can't wait to dance with you all again soon.

Live at Taniwha's Den

Taniwha's Den 2023 Closing Set

On Saturday 12 August we gathered with 300 or so other members of our Burn community at Neck of The Woods to raise money for our incredible Kiwiburn sound camp, Hijinxx. And what a night it was! 

There is something very special about the Burn community, it's freedom and acceptance, it's love and inspiration, it's kindness and hedonism, it's support and it's absolutely no ego. These are just a few of the reasons we go back to burn every summer and why our community of like minded humans create some of the best parties we've ever been to, and Saturday night was a perfect example of that.

We want to say thank you to our incredible Hijinxx family, life is so much better with you all in it, and my god do we know how to throw a party! Thank you to Neck of The Woods for everything you do for us and for providing the space for yet another successful fundraiser, to Patsy Skeet, Miss Mixtape, Cooper Khan and Becky & Rayza for all the epic music all night long, to everyone who rocked that floor, To Mike Weinstock for the photo and a massive happy birthday to one of our Hijinxx founders and favourite humans, Ange. 

We hope you enjoy this set, we had an absolute ball playing it and already can't wait to dance with you all again soon.

Let's get ready to burn!

Live at The Freak Show

The 2024 festival season was filled from start to finish with good times, incredible music and amazing humans across all the wonderful events we played. This season we were asked by Earth Beat Festival to run a stage takeover right at the end of the season, what a way to cap it all off!

We put together a lineup the we are incredibly proud of; it was diverse, fun, filled with talented musicians and didn't cater to just one type of four to the floor. We asked our artists to record if they felt comfortable, we are very grateful that most of them did. We are also very grateful they are all allowing us to release their work.

We had planned to release another one of our epic friend's sets this week, but we felt that in the lead up to our first XCOMMUNICATE this Friday (and the fact that it's Heylady's birthday today) we would release this recording into the wild.

When we programmed the line up for our stage, we nestled ourselves in between the amazing Rob Warner and Becky & Rayza, at the very respectable time of 9pm. This was one of our final sets of the summer festival season, and much like the others we had so much fun playing it. 

We want to thank Issac and the Earth Beat team for trusting us with the stage, the sound techs who kept it humming through out the day and night and were straight on it when we felt it needed adjusting, Kat Ellis for the incredible stage design, the stage managers for making sure we had everything we need, our epic crew for helping pack in & out and being so much fun all weekend, to Rachelle for endlessly putting up with us taking over the lounge, the house, the farm with our noise and for having everyone to stay on this particular weekend, we love you so much! To all of our AMAZING DJs, without you there would be no party, you all brought the absolute noise and we are so proud of what you produced from the opening tune to the very last. And finally, to everyone on that floor, thank you for coming for the ride with us!

We hope you enjoy this almost 3 hour set, we are at our happiest playing for you all, thank you all for your support. So, turn it up loud! We can't wait to dance wit you soon.

COMMUNICATE live at Earth Beat Festival 2024

On November 8 2024 we threw a party for Cyril Orson's birthday. Sonik Tonik consisted of us, MissB and Yunset on the decks, and it was a pleasure to play with two of our closest and most talented friends. It was a night of great music, in a space that means a lot to us, surrounded by a floor filled with some of our closest humans. Thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate with us.

As always, we are eternally grateful that we get to do this. Music means everything to us and in a time that is very uncertain in NZ's entertainment world with venues closing all over the country, it means so much that we are able to get out regularly and do what we love the most.

We would like to extend huge love and thanks to Yunset and MissB for both playing great sets before us, the Ink crew for always looking after us, Leslie for rocking the door, and to the floor for coming on this ride with us. 

Turn it up and enjoy, we hope to dance with you again soon. 


Sonik Tonik

It's been a while since I just jammed at home, an overdue session that's been slowly brewing.. For this mix I took it back to the drawing board, rethought what I've been playing lately, rejigged soundscapes, thoughts and ideas. All with some fine wine. The first part.. Enjoy. x

Back on Track Sessions vol 4: Draftsmann

Back on Track Sessions Vol 4: Draftsmann

This mix came about after a good friend of mine said that the mixes I record at home are very different to what I play out, and he wanted to hear the latter. So Jamie, this one's for you. I had a lot of fun putting this one together, as always it was recorded with some fine wine, and this time even finer company. I hope you enjoy. x

Back on Track Sessions: Vol 5 - The Fourth Floor

Back on Track Sessions Vol 5: The Fourth Floor

After an epic new years celebration with the most incredible people in a sublime environment I walked away beyond inspired and needed to just play. As always, a mix of fresh cuts and stuff from the vaults, music from the heart. This particular mix was laid down for someone very special in my life. Love you, Jones! Happy Birthday.

Back on Track Sessions

Back on Track Sessions Vol 6: Keeping Up With The Joneses

Splore 2018, what can I say? Simply the most magical, beautiful weekend that I am still reeling from. Hands down the best Splore yet! This year I was blessed to be asked to play a day set on Sunday at the amazing Lucky Star, which for me is a huge honour. 

Thank you to everyone who stayed through the heat, who stomped that dancefloor, who were a part of my amazing weekend, who endlessly walk by my side and constantly inspire me.. Especially Stella, you magical creature, this one's for you. 

And finally, very, very special thanks to Mels and Jonas for trusting me with some lunchtime party action in their incredible zone. 

Much love to you all, I hope you enjoy. Never stop dancing. x

Live at Lucky Star - Splore 2018

I've been sitting here while this mix uploads trying to find the words to convey what this one means to me. The last year has been one of achievements, adventures, growth, understanding, love, loss, grief, life and death. At times I felt I only just had my head above water, other times I was queen of the world. it was tumultuous, hard, wonderful, terrifying, incredible and more. I saw the year out with a small team of spectacular experts on a penthouse rooftop here in Melbourne and it occurred to me that after all the trials and tribulations I am still here, I am still standing, breathing and living, I am strong, I will continue and god damn it, I have got this! 

I recorded this in my kitchen in Melbourne a few days later without any intention of actually releasing it. it was a mix for me, a goodbye to last year, to a lot from last year, maybe even to a lot from many years gone by.. A final farewell, a final release to everything. 

I need to say a very heartfelt thank you to my friends who listened to this and encouraged me to put it out into the ether, I love you guys for your honesty, passion, kindness, belief in me and your absolute love for music.

Happy new year, everyone. May we all step softly, love deeply, hold lightly and let go tightly. Forever lovers and dreamers.

xx

Back on Track Sessions Vol 8

Back on Track Sessions Vol 8: Freehold

This year I was honoured to once again be asked to overrun the incredible Lucky Star on Sunday afternoon at Splore. It's a magic time of the weekend to play, the sun was shining and one of my favourite humans, Dim Shady, played before me. For this set I asked another amazing soul, Miss B, to join me for the latter part of it for a bit of a back to back jam. She jumps on at around the hour and a half mark and it's 2 for 2 from there on out. 

Thank you to the Lucky Star Crew, especially Mels, Jonas and Fred, you guys are the heart of Splore and your hard work and determination is an inspiration! A massive thank you to my amazing Alley crew, the dancers, the lovers and the dreamers. Till next year. x

Live at Splore 2019

Live at Lucky Star Splore 2019  with special guest Miss B

Every year a group of incredibly talented and hardworking individuals descend upon a piece of land in the Wairarapa, New Zealand and build us a techno church. This is my set from this years event, playing under the trees on a killer sound system to 700 or so people. 

Huge love and appreciation to Grant, Andy, Pete, Mike A, Tim and the rest of the crew who work so hard each year to bring us the Den. Thank you to all the dancers and party people, that was one hell of a floor!

Finally massive love to Jacko for the mastering, festival Mum and Dad and the insanely talented and inspiring Number 1. Flic, you were the most epic cheerleader right throughout this set! By my side , bouncing, just as you are in real life. love you, babe, this one's for you. x

Taniwha's Den 2019

Live at Taniwha's Den 2019

For the second Easter running the awesome crew at Murray Piha asked me to come play some tunes to close out the weekend. I was on the sunset slot and it was a pleasure to craft some floating soundscapes into chunky evening rollers, all right beside the majestic beauty of Piha beach.

Thanks to Matt, Su and the Murray Piha crew, Nicky and Brad for getting me there, my spectacular crew for all the laughs, sunshine hugs and after dusk dancefloor antics and my fellow DJs on the day; Andy JV, Milky and Dim Shady. Special shouts out to Taylor for the end of set scratching, we'll make a DJ of you yet! Roll on next summer by the beach! x

Live at Murray Piha

Live at Easter Fiesta Piha 2019

July was a great month for amazing music and gigs, and this one was one of my favourite nights. Inkahoots is the brainchild of CJ Funkowfield and Becky Roberts, the first of many more nights to come based at a fantastic Mt Eden warehouse. I played the closing set upstairs, and what a lot of fun it was!

A crew of my Welli family in the (ware)house, great music and awesome DJs in both rooms, a birthday celebration for CJ and epic dancers and revellers. Thanks to everyone involved for a totally rad as fuck night, and here's to many more. x

InKahoots July 2019

Live at InKahoots

I was stoked to be asked to play the launch of a brand new club night in Auckland, Locale. While the world is in lockdown, we are so lucky to have got ahead of the curve here in NZ. It's been amazing to be back on the decks playing to some incredible crowds since our lockdown finished. Locale was no different. 

Neck of The woods was packed, amazing sets from Nathan Ward before me and Cam Harris after, I danced my ass off and loved being on that floor just as much as I loved playing for it.

Big thanks to Collude for putting the night on and asking me to be a part of it. To my epic crew who made the night so much fun, you know who you are, and to the staff and everyone on that floor. You guys rock!

I hope you all enjoy listening to this as much as I enjoyed playing it. As usual, it's filled with loads of killer new sound and some old gems. It was so wonderful to reunite with everyone through music, our universal language. 

Let's never stop dancing. 

xx

Live at Neck of The Woods

Live at Locale

Heylady is an Auckland reprobate who is known for her speaker-rattling basslines and ability to light up the floor with a vengeance, she is all about slick, solid sound.

Dedicated to constantly improving the house and techno scene, Heylady has worked with some of the biggest and best over the past 25 years, as well as some of the smallest and coolest. She mentors, writes articles, works with groups to encourage social change and never misses a beat on the decks.

Cutting her teeth as a promoter, she has run multiple party series under the Casio Circus and Back on Track brands. She’s run festivals, stage managed, curated, collaborated and collected music and musicians, and she’s brought through some of the biggest names in house music.

She held a much desired residency at The 7 Deadly Gins at Burning Man, she rocked stints in LA and Melbourne, she’s a part of Kiwiburn’s infamous Hijinxx soundcamp, she is one half of COMMUNICATE and runs Sonik Tonik and XCOMMUNICATE with Cyril Orson and she’s one of the founding members of Taniwha’s Den. Heylady has cemented herself as one of the forces to watch, from big festival sets to small, intimate club spaces, from promotion to performance, her diversity, range, passion and drive always ensures a stomping dancefloor.

Born with a soul infused with a love of all things tech, ponies, sneakers and dressups, Heylady believes fun and frivolity is paramount. Which is why her sets never conform to one silly sub-genre, it’s all four-four isn’t it?

Heylady [COMMUNICATE]

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