Brooklyn’s incredible artist and writer Janus Rose recently came on Refuge Worldwide in Berlin for my ongoing program POST, and this is one mix you don’t want to mix. It’s one of those times you want to creep/trainspot over the CDJ display on every single track, and a lot of it is forthcoming music so – you heard it here first.
First, the music:
Janus Rose is just one of those artists you should know – “drawing heavily from the languages of cyberfeminism and queer rave culture,” she’s active as DJ and modular synthesist alike, equally comfortable with live and DJ sets. You’ll soon catch her music on LA’s queer label Delusional Records – home to some of our heroes like Trovarsi, Marie Nyx, and Maude Vôs – and she’s known for experimental club and bass music party SOFT_RESET back home in NYC.
While Janus contended with Berlin Sonnenallee bus delays, I opened the show with a few tracks – Toumba’s “Janoob” and Nour Sokhon’s “Manat Is Speaking.” (We did not coordinate on both playing Toumba, but I’m always game for more Toumba – check him out.)
Full playlist for Janus’ mix:
1. Toumba – Cabaret
2. Muskila – Bateekh
3. Despina – U Writhe
4. Ultrasyd – The Newschool Oldschoolers
5. DJ Motu – Red Devil
6. Sister Zo – The Tower i
7. No Sir – Sibling Rivalry
8. Maude Vôs – Hunnï (unreleased)
9. Le Motel – Raving Crew
10. Ayesha – Tactilia
11. Destrata – Clubmoss
12. Blu:sh – Miss Fonction
13. Danny Goliger – Gimmie That (unreleased)
14. Maude Vôs – Visceral Vessel (unreleased)
15. Luca Durán – Ojos Cerrados
16. Elpac x Mulholland – SugaBoo
17. Maude Vôs, Marie Nyx – In The Club Out (Janus Rose Remix)
Here’s that Ayesha release, too, on Kindergarten Records – a big favorite for this year on this ever-growing project. (Hi, Masha!)
I’m so grateful Janus reached out while she was in Berlin and that we were able to find this venue at Refuge Worldwide. I hope I get to enjoy more of her music live soon.
You will hear a brief mention at the end of the program, but we talked more at length off-mic about her feelings about Israel, Palestine, and war and her background as a Jewish person. That included some conversations about our shared horror at the staggering loss of life in the past weeks, which I think I can reiterate here without speaking for her. I do believe it’s important to hold space for all impacted communities and their heterogeneity and diverse opinions. I’m deeply disturbed by efforts in my home Berlin to try to stifle criticism and censor Jewish, Arabic, Muslim, and other minority voices, especially at a moment when those communities are in pain, and to try to treat these groups as monolithic when they’re not. We clearly need to be able to have open conversations – and you can hold me to this, that includes with people whose perspective is different than my own. (Relevant to this discussion, Janus had pulled a planned version of the same set for HÖR as that platform came under criticism – so she came to Refuge Worldwide and re-centered on how she wanted to frame the issues.)
Janus live / all photos courtesy the artist:
I also deeply respect Janus’ work not just as a music artist but also as a journalist and editor – she’s with VICE/Motherboard, and it’s worth digging through the archives of stories she’s worked on.
That includes this article from this week, which is not an angle on Palestinian perspectives I expected. Curator Amad Ansari talks about humanizing Palestinians through their Internet expressions – and a world that is far from the social media filter today, and all the deep depression and hostility social media seems to amplify. It’s a great read, as is Janus’ other writing:
The Palestinian Internet of the 90s Is Being Preserved, One GIF at a Time [Motherboard]
There’s more to say on all of this, but I did want to finally share Janus’ music and work.
Here’s Janus going modular with friends AJ XO and threehz:
And lots more links where that came from:
New Yorkers – hello – you can catch Janus live Saturday at the party We Are The Future, among other upcoming appearances.