I relate to sound through my ancestors part of which is in Crimea, and this mix is very close to my heart - it echoes the variations of Crimean Tatar folk music & dance, Qaytarma - it’s about returning & homecoming, the feminine energy symbolising natural cycles & eternal movement, it simultaneously combines balance, honour, as well as wild energy & sophistication. it’s that sensation of endlessness when one reconnects with their roots.

the artwork © 2024 NAT URAZMETOVA

crimea

introducing my self-invented DJ genre confusecore. music, whether mixed or performed live, has to be political, socially aware, sensual and breaking to the core - when the emotions are sky high and your ears are tripping all over.

the mix “breakthrU brainf*ck XX” is inspired by the Situationists International’ philosophy and habit of wandering around and seeing the world as a terrain of the chance possibilities seized in a snapshot, a flicker, a random synthesis of the words creating the new meaning. whether it is an eye, or a camera, or one’s brain speed of neurones. it all contributes to psychogeography.

one of the most influential books I read while studying Photography at University of the Arts, London is ‘La société du spectacle’ by Guy Debord. it criticises consumer culture & commodity fetishism, and addresses the issues such as cultural homogenisation & and mass media. “all that was once directly lived has become mere representation" - this is about the primary importance of the image in contemporary society. 

images have supplanted genuine human interaction: “the spectacle is not a collection of images; rather, it is a social relationship between people that is mediated by images. in a consumer society, social life is not about living, but about having; the spectacle uses the image to convey what people need and must have - exactly the society and the media platforms we are enslaved by now. 

I did the artwork for the mix in Paris, the city that became my second home where my family is, in January 2025, and it is my artistic interpretation of Guy Debord’s idea of détournement, "which involves using language to disrupt the flow of the spectacle.”

featuring the tracks by >>>

Ryuichi Sakamoto, Zoe Mc Pherson, Coffintexts, Andy Stott, Vessel, Blawan, Arca, Sepehr, Regal86, TSVI, Sandy’s Trace, Overmono, Not Even Noticed, Gipsyan, Belia Winnewisser, Kode9, CCL, Pan Sonic, Slikback, Rhyw, Peder Mannerfelt, Zuli, Klahrk, Jerusalem In My Heart, J.G. Biberkopf, Simo Cell, Samuel Kerridge, T5UMUT5UMU, Ivy Lab, Kamixlo, Ziur, Gabber Eleganza, Crystallmess, DJ Stingray, Toma Kami, A Strange Wedding, Despina, PTU, Metrist, Verraco and many others

breakthrU brainf*ck XX

the frenzy of intensity - mostly acid, with some accelerated injections of hard trance & twisted techno from the 1990s, mixed with The Prodigy, hip hop & industrial, a few favs from the Intrepid Skin record label, plus a dub encore.

this will ruin your party

130bpm electro & acid mayhem with lots of drops, breaks, twists & turns 

CLIMAX

In my DJ experiments & sonic exploits I am frequently layering 4 tracks essentially synthesising fresh music on the go - the skill I keep on mastering. I want the tracks to coalesce and sound unrecognisable. I am drawn to the idea and practice of intensifying the aural so it affects and alters the brainwaves - when it reaches the peak of the tension and then suddenly drops, entering the new territory of the sensorial, frequently alike to orgasm, almost cathartic. music immediacy in connection to the fluidity of body movement and to psychology of sound via shifting the gears while maintaining the consistent speed of about 130bpm. 
it can be as healing as it can also be destructive & destabilising. 
featuring the tracks by the artists CONCEPTUAL (IT), Basic Channel, Atrice x Shalt, Coffintexts, TSVI, SHXCXCHCXSH, Peder Mannerfelt, Quelza, LDS, Forest Drive West, Earth Trax, Rrose, Samuel Kerridge, Askkin, Lucy, Andy Stott, Helena Hauff, Luigi Tozzi, RHR, A Strange Wedding, Priori, Finalversion3 and many others.

DANSE VIRGOLOGY

‘Isthmus’ a narrow strip of land connecting two larger land areas. this mix is the resurrection of a harder industrial sound I got inspired by back in 2016. it is punching & slapping, zealous & feverish, edging on the knife blade - and ultimately physical. a lot of the featured tracks are the ISMUS label catalogue.

I first spun vinyls back in 2006 and around 2018 I rediscovered the craft of mixing thankfully to Lina Johnsson SPFDJ who became my primal inspiration in selecting the tracks and the technical precision. 

‘Isthmus’ is also a narrow organ, passage, or piece of tissue connecting two larger parts. DJs are the connectors - of the sounds which are the alchemy of a narrative. it is a journey for me, but the foundation remains. 

the artwork is the collage of the reworked, altered and re-processed images I took during my quick trip to Manchester, reflecting its industrial heritage.

ISTHMUS

it ain’t an easy task to caption a dj set within the tight framework of the words. 
namedropping and genre-tagging do not apply to the way I perceive music, or art. 
as I process many things through the metaphors -
they are like the magnifying prism.

when I mix there are arbitrarily & improvisatory - 
narratives in my head - in equal parts 
a wave of wild rhythms, sharp against the ankles,
the mind leaps into the heaviness of the sound
to patch the random patterns & slapping tempo
to lose beauty in terror, to find heart in inquisition 
to touch with the sound is the existence -
how to use it for a closer contact?
with many cunning passages, deceiving at first,
resulting in a lingering orgasm one drowns

SHARP AS A RAZOR

I recorded this mix, Split in Two, thinking of the unique musician from my hometown, Ufa, and the story we bound to - we are shifting the gears and switching positions, running away and coming closer, ricochetting against one another - there are so many crossroads we jaywalked, so many sunsets we drove into - same demons behind the wheel of the black BMWs, guided by the abysmal force and the energy which is eclectic, rebellious, raw & sincere. 

I haven’t seen her live on stage for 9 years, and finally it did happen - in Yerevan, Armenia. the mix features two of her songs. the sound gives off its droplets of the infinite light - we have this unfathomable sadness between us. we are indissoluble. and, most often, to grasp what music contains is impossible.
 
thank you ZEMFIRA for all these years. and even more ahead of us. time is an echo of an axe. only a few poets are the truth-seekers. thank you for making me cry at Hrazdan Stadium, yet again. to stay human is to break a limitation. you are doing it, I am following you - as I always did. 

the artwork to the the mix is the rework of the photograph I took midway through my 600km ride to Tatev. it is in my bloodveins - the fascination with electricity. more stories to be told soon. 

SPLIT IN TWO

I first tried spinning records more than 20 years ago and by now I have been DJing consistently for almost 2 years - this is my ultimate therapy and the craft I perfected. there are about 17,000 tracks in my rekordbox collection and it keeps on growing because I am always hungry for the fresh sounds which fail to be genre-tagged. the sonic spectrum ranging anywhere from post-classical to dub, electro, experimental, breakcore, acid, deep techno, hard groove, ambient and far beyond - this is my palette.

I recorded this mix almost a year ago and it is still one of my favourites. deeply sensual, brutally sad, somewhat twisted, eclectic at its core - exploring varied moods & surpassing the emotional orbits - familiar yet not fully known to many, it is all the dream the first tune to the last - the melodies which keep on replaying in your head, the recollections from the past, the sounds of the outside, hovering on the margins of one’s psyche. 

the artwork is a reworked photograph of me taken back in 2010, 15 years ago, near the sea of Azov.

featuring the tracks by Atrice, Abadir, Aloha, Authentically Plastic, DJ JM, Doctor Jeep, Emma dj, False Persona, Hassan Abou Alam, Hedo Hydr8, Ice Eyes & Locre, J.G. Biberkopf, Kavari, Lanark Artefax, Le Motel, Phasmid, Product Toss, Pura Pura, Sideproject, Simo Cell, Slikback, Sylvere, T5UMUT5UMU, Two Shell and others.

THE PURVEYOR OF LUST

my new mix is called ‘London Stories’ - after the artwork, which is from my graduation project I presented at University of the Arts, London in 2009. I mixed large format camera photography & projection. it was too ambitious and tutors could not get why I opted for assembling an immersive environment instead of using the medium of photography conservatively. I wanted to show the contemporary city, my chosen subject, as a field of overlapping intensities, as event where all that is solid melts into air, as a multiplicity of occurrences & reflections - so now, 16 years after, these concepts, I researched deeply while doing my bachelors & masters degree, inform the way I approach DJing & music production - to the same if not a greater extent. the sound for me exists in the state of flux, free from any definitive classification, it can be a matrix of human unconsciousness, an arcade leading to the purest of sensations.
as much as I want to break free from the brackets of styles, this mix has to have some arbitrary points. it is a fluid intermesh of genres such as my favourite tribal & dubstep shuffled together with slowed down breakbeat and played at 90bpm which matches the pulsation of a human heart.

LONDON STORIES

I narrate my story through the songs & tracks I fuse into a sonic landscape - a vicious one, rendering the heart beat, spiralling into the unknown abyss, but always spicy, temperamental, penetrating your anima and pumping the levels of endorphins. this is the story of empathy, of sadness, of dedication & unconditional love - a heart’s filthy lesson - the feeling that nearly splits you apart leaving a lingering punchy aftertaste like a well-aged red wine. 

if you feel too much, to the point there are the cracks in your bones, as if you are on a spaceship racing through the universe, when the melodies & rhythms turn you inside out, you are instantly labeled as ‘autistic’ nowadays. there are so many self-proclaimed ‘therapists’, lacking a relevant degree, who are impatient to diagnose you without knowing much about your life or personality. the one should know themselves first. also, does it pay you bills - diagnosing others? 

in fact, high sensitivity to music & arts paired with risk-taking & sensation-seeking and fuelled by increased emotional & aethstetic plasticity have  been associated with the opposite. based on the research, that has nothing in common with ‘disorders’ and the ‘diseases” of the current day, or socially reticent behaviour, or ‘neurodivergence’ - the buzzword I am disgusted by the most.

a piece of theoretical background from practicing psychotherapists, Elaine & Arthur Aron who identified sensory processing sensitivity (SPS) as the defining trait of highly sensitive persons - the individuals who process everything around them - physical, social and emotional stimuli - much more - and reflect on it, elaborate on it, make associations. this processing happens at both conscious & subconscious levels, and surfaces as a highly developed intuition. representing an innate survival strategy found in a many species, and always in a minority of its members, it makes humans stand out and go against the crowd.

music is there to take you outside. out of your stubborn shallow mind to the infinite terrain of senses. 

featuring the tracks by Andy Stott, Arca, Burial, David August, Grand River, Kamixlo, Lydo & Thomas Urquieta, Sha Ru, Tadleeh, Triad God, Yves Tumor and others

the artwork 2025 © NAT URAZMETOVA

I WILL STAND BY YOU NOW & FOREVER

a detour to my turntablism roots as a DJ in this hybrid vinyl set. I had a taste of spinning records in 2005 for the first time very much influenced by Miss Kittin. 

testing the magnitude of velocity via sonic ferocity 
on the threshold of collapse into the sensual mass
chop, whirl, lick the rhythm, release the knob - 
plunge upward & leap into the predatory amplitude 
get hooked in a swirling dance, fill in the emptiness  -
the sound is like a bullet train 
the echo of the groaning flame
breath of my breath, flash in my heart,
savour of thirst on gritted lips

the artwork 2025 © NAT URAZMETOVA

ROTARY XL

artist and sonic adventurer navigating confuse- & breakcore. influenced by turntablism, experimental electronica, dark ambient, post-minimalism & dubstep. exploring the hybrid & edgier sounds and sonic nuances traversing grime, tribal, hip hop, electro, bass and anything defying categorisation.

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