Fact Mix 885: Tash LC

Courting chaos and curiosity through a continent-crossing bounce between dancehall, dub, tarraxo, techno, gqom and drill, this week’s Fact mix is a typically joyous dispatch from Tash LC.

“This mix is a real representation of me: a lil chaotic, curious, ambitious, gutsy,” says Tashan Leah Campbell of this week’s Fact mix. “It’s a snapshot of what I’m about as a DJ, always ready to try new things and explore new and unexpected ways of linking genres.” Courting chaos and curiosity through a continent-crossing bounce between dancehall, dub, tarraxo, techno, gqom and drill, it’s a typically joyous dispatch from one of the most exploratory and vital voices in a scene in sore need of exploration and vitality. Alongside kindred spirits Mina and Juba she is a third of Boko! Boko!, one of London’s most essential parties and DJ collectives, which since 2015 has been an incubator for all three of their influential, all-embracing approaches to music, as well a powerful force for good in the shape of a community of like-minded artists and ravers built on diversity, inclusivity and sustainability. It’s a project that Tash has continued and expanded upon with her own club night, community, radio show and record label, Club Yeke, which presents styles from the African Diaspora, South and Latin America, all channeled through the irrepressible sweaty energy of UK dance culture. “At my core, success is doing the things that I love and doing them with integrity,” she told Wonderland. “I want to be continually putting out artists that I really rate and continuing to build a platform for those people.” 

This same spirit lights up every second of her Fact mix. Whether it’s a recently unearthed disco mix of a UK dancehall gem from Sister Candy bubbling through screwed ragga and humid jungle dub from Seekersinternational, hiccuping tarraxo clatter from B1 Produções ricocheting off the seismic rumble of pioneering Cairene producer and rapper Rozzma and Bambounou’s dissonant percussive excavations, or an inspired whip pan from ‘Afrorave’ megastar Rema to ethereal psych throb from Daniel Avery and the deepest, darkest new rhythms from RS Produções lynchpin DJ Narciso, Tash LC draws wide and never misses, finding precise through lines in rhythm and mood with one ear while the other is tuned to a truly global frequency. She even finds time for a sequence exploring African artists experimenting with technology and sound in ways that present progressive alternatives to Eurocentric standards. UX designer Babusi Nyoni uses machine learning to create an algorithmically generated gqom track that bangs harder than your life with ‘Artificial Intelligence Gqom’, Nigerian sound and installation artist Emeka Ogboh threads together a creeping dub patchwork of field recordings, percussion and reverb on ‘Ayilara,’ which was heard echoing off the concrete walls of Berghain during their pandemic exhibition, Studio Berlin, while Brian Bamanya, better known as Afrorack, demonstrates the transformative power of his DIY modular system with ‘African Drum Machine,’ which uses a Euclidean rhythm sequencer to divide CV signals into intricate algo-polyrhythms that mimic structures that exist in many East African musical forms.

Moments that demonstrate a formidable knowledge and a sensitive finger to the pulse of global dance styles are found throughout the mix, a result of the deep care and consideration that Tash invariably brings to her work. “It sounds cheesy, but I’m creating a story through my set a lot of the time,” she says. “I love connecting with people in a crowd, knowing that you’ve got somebody’s attention or you can almost see their eyes light up when they discover something they haven’t heard before.” Not simply satisfied with her own expansive focus, it’s clear that Tash LC is determined to open up all of our ears, too.

You can find Tash LC on Instagram, TikTok and tune into her fortnightly, at NTS.

Tracklist:

Sister Candy – ‘Keep Bubbling (Disco Mix)’
Seekersinternational – ‘Ringringriddim’
Sevenbeatz – ‘Dis Way’
Ronan – ‘Geodesis’
B1 Produções – ‘Tipo Assim’
Rozzma – ‘Hareeka’
Bambounou – ‘Dernier Metro’
Rema – ‘Calm Down’
Atik2 – ‘Ocean Dream’
Daniel Avery – ‘I Would If I Could’
DJ Narciso – ‘Esqueice’
Spice – ‘Clap Clap (Selecta Killa Acap Intro)’
Flexfab & Killa Bas – ‘Hednzo’ [Feat. Sim Citizen]
State Offf – ‘Artificial Intelligence Gqom’
Emeka Ogboh – ‘Ayilara’
Afrorack – ‘African Drum Machine’
Menchess – ‘Loxion Techno’
Mfumfanakagogo – ‘Bongo’
Dennis Cruz & Riza Starr – ‘A Jem Be’
Jamaica Mnanda – ‘Kama Ipo Ipo’ (DJ Firmeza Remix)
Amazondotcom – ‘La Fiction’
??? – ??? ( Unreleased Club Yeke)
Kingdom – ‘Ryde Of Your Lyfe’
Taze – ‘Rinse It’

Listen next: Fact Mix 884 – TAAHLIAH