Instar (@camcamilla)

they / them
📍: London / UK

https://www.instagram.com/_cam_cool/

TM8 Q:  What’s the best and worst thing about being a DJ?
A: "As cliché as it sounds, I think the best thing about being a DJ is that you are put into a privileged position to find your community. As a teenager and even into my early adulthood I never went out clubbing, because I wasn’t exposed to the fact that there were many people like me, who would come together and dance to the music that I love. I would just dance in my room. It was only after I started posting mixes and forming bonds through putting myself out there like that, I realised there are so many people passionately entertained by underground music! It felt like coming home to me, I was convinced I was a lonesome hermit (still am in a way), but music has allowed me to express myself more clearly and loudly than I ever had.

The worst thing about being a DJ… am not sure. There are many privileges that I get and don’t want. Or that I feel are unfairly awarded to me and not others. There are also privileges that awarded only in compliance with some unspoken rules. 

I think we are not being mindful enough about the visual sense seeping into every dimension of the musical experience. Music is auditive and fleeting, fluid. Visuality imposes a fixed point of view. It crystallizes an experience which can’t be captured, but only felt communally, into a false image. This is inherently political. It surprises me how little attention is paid to the impact it’s having on our scene and what we could still consider ‘underground’. For me a successful night is one where you can lose yourself into the crowd, the music and the dense atmosphere of the party, all the while feeling safe to do so. I hope that despite the boundaries imposed around me today in nightlife, I can continue working towards that project. "

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Belgian-born, London-based artist Instar shines on their mix for us this week, welding witchy trance and tekno textures, reflecting their fascination with "small vacuums of silence amongst the noise" like the fleeting moment before a wave crashes the shore. "It's there that I feel the most, or maybe there are things that are situated under those feelings and are present before their eruption," they explained. This approach bleeds into their shoegaze band Sunchaser too, where Instar performs and produces dreamy, slow-burning sounds. As a DJ, Instar co-organises the party @burenhinder in Belgium, where they nurture the queer community by booking *FLINTA artists and providing a welfare team to look after the dancefloor, like guardian angels, implementing a camera-free policy, aftercare and harm reduction. The same philosophies extend to Instar's daily work behind the scene(s), whether they are writing, interviewing artists or running club events.

Music by: @vilde-wahl @lioalioa @isaramosx @nkisi @sonjatofik @dogsattack & more

Instar | TM8 #62

London-based *FLINTA+ label, club night, mix series + educational platform 

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* FLINTA stands for women, lesbian, intersex, non-binary, trans, asexual / agender

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@olesia-dj

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