- A journey to the centre of techno from one of the scene's most creative crossover DJs.
- Teneil Throssell has never hid her outsider status from the rest of the dance music world. In fact, she's proud of it, and her psychedelic rock background—"My rise in music was a bit of an anomaly," she recently told Gay Times, "I was picked up when I was casually playing records in a little bar that I worked in"—actually works in her favour. Her productions and DJ sets are brawny, melodic and crossover-friendly, bearing the mark of a musical lineage steeped in the art of songwriting. And though she had almost instant success a DJ, her skills behind the decks are not as well documented as her productions. Enter DJ-Kicks. Subtitled Always Ascending. It's a spiritual successor to last year's debut album Baby, We're Ascending, and it carries itself with the same mix of positive vibes and chugging, muscular grooves. But it also has the rejuvenated energy of a DJ on the road. HAAi's DJ-Kicks takes a far more straightforward techno route than you might expect from her own music, but it's loaded with personality—specifically her personality, a sort of endless drive forward and indefatigable energy.
The mix features a handful of tracks from HAAi's friends made with the idea of ascension in mind. Of her own originals, "Ziggy" starts things out strong, following a Pan Sonic instrumental with a thrusting 2-step beat that sounds powerful enough to kick a door down. Her DJ-Kicks is surprisingly minimalist, often harnessing the power of a single drum sound or one melodic lead or bassline, each element given ample room to shine. The Blessed Madonna's "Strength" is a stark drum-and-vocal duet that sounds both vulnerable and tonnes-heavy. I. JORDAN's surging, technoid "Life On The Wing" and Surusinghe's "Bet" are huge tunes that don't need a ton of elements to sound big. The result is a lean, powerful mix that surges forward with a momentum that makes it feel a whole lot shorter than its 62 minutes.
That also comes down to HAAi's mixing style. She plays records with the tension and pacing of a live performer. Her blends are neither predictable nor ever sudden or jarring—she knows just how long to let a track play out, and which ones need less time to make their mark versus which tunes to let sprawl out. (The brief flash of Manni Dee and River Moon's "HOT" is a good example, or how she lets Christian Smith and John Selway's short-circuiting play out for over seven minutes.) These are basic tenets of DJing, but HAAi has a special touch. It's the same thing that made her an overnight success at her first residency at Phonox. There's a thread that runs through all these tracks, like a baton being passed between producers sprinting at full speed. True to the theme, the mix literally ascends for most of its runtime, with galloping tempos and ascending arpeggios culminating in the exhilarating rise of Perc and Fractal's "Up," the most literal moment on the mix.
Following that, HAAi throws in some vintage trance (Radiotrance) and dubstep (Tunnidge) to show off the more physical aspects of her sound—punchy midrange and guttural bass—before cruising the mix to a finish with a handful of tooly tracks focused on sound design. DJ-Kicks finishes on its title track, a collaboration with fellow crossover producer Jon Hopkins and vocalist KAM-BU. It comes off a bit like a grime motivational anthem spiked with Wellbutrin. It's an earnest, glorious finish to a mix that highlights HAAi's dance floor bona fides, and while it might register as cheesy to some, it lets DJ-Kicks glide off into the sunset at just the right moment. Both a wild and carefully controlled ride, DJ-Kicks distills HAAi's wild and adventurous spirit into something that should satisfy both diehard clubgoers and armchair dancers alike.
Tracklist01. HAAi – Intro
02. Lähetys/Transmission – Pan Sonic
03. HAAi – ZiGGY
04. The Blessed Madonna – Strength
05. Jaco – Show Some Love (Rhythm Invention Remix)
06. Agoria – Boomerang
07. HAAi – ShiNE
08. Manni Dee, River Moon – HOT
09. I. JORDAN – Life On The Wing
10. Perc & Fractal – Up (Perc Remix)
11. Radiotrance – Plasma
12. Tunnidge – Geddeon
13. Surusinghe – Bet
14. Cocktail Party Effect – Make It Undone
15. Koreless – Seven (Drumhell)
16. Christian Smith, John Selway – Total Departure
17. HAAi x Jon Hopkins x KAM-BU – Always Ascending