https://systemsofrelease.com Systems of Release Wed, 02 Jul 2025 19:26:03 +0000 https://systemsofrelease.com en https://systemsofrelease.com/ISSUE-ONE Tue, 11 Mar 2025 00:48:01 +0000 Systems of Release https://systemsofrelease.com/ISSUE-ONE SOR: ISSUE 1PUBLICATION #2 JANUARY 2024 - DECEMBER 2024 FEATURING: JAVI SUH, WTCHCRFT, KYRUH, DAKOTA VELASQUEZ, JUSTIN SANTANA, ASHE KILBOURNE, VANYA SUCHAN, AARYA KINI, ANDREA RODRIGUEZ, ROSIE ARMAO, ERIC CHUNG, ARVIN T., NOUR KHALIL, DJ VOICES, DJ DAR, DJ INFOHAZARD, X3BUTTERFLY, KATIE REX, AND MORE! <img width="2550" height="3300" width_o="2550" height_o="3300" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/71b6e22e2012742183b4dc9df6ee0e4e08f698c0deb147aa99f0d6001387f5b4/SORCoverIssueFinal.jpg" data-mid="228011323" border="0" data-scale="99" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/71b6e22e2012742183b4dc9df6ee0e4e08f698c0deb147aa99f0d6001387f5b4/SORCoverIssueFinal.jpg" />EDITORS LETTER: Dear Reader, I have danced and seen beauty, too. So have you. And we’ve been freed— seen bliss and the utopia built with it, seen that utopia lost. We’ve cried in the club and seen ourselves in a crowd among many. One body. A collective, pulsing recognition: I feel this all, too. Systems of Release [S.O.R] is our record of that one body and its many iterations; a printed, curatorial archive that aims to document present-day New York’s electronic music ecosystem. Ravers and raves, renegades, clubs, collectives, nightlife labor, bouncers, bathroom doors, politics, humanity, and the music which takes us there. The world is in a state of excess digitization and that’s why print is the most appropriate way to record it all. Printed material interacts with the senses as the dance floor does beneath our swaying feet. Our 25 page promotional zine, released in winter of 2023, was only a snippet of the cataloging range we want to do. Now, the Systems of Release team eagerly presents you with an official full length chronicle of who, what, when and why you had to be there… Electronic music is a flourishing scene, especially now, and a community that is more than 40 years old. This is our experience of New York City’s slice of electronica and the people and places that hold it – making it so. It can't go without immense gratitude to those who have been key components to this project. A deep thanks to the close, enthusiastic team who documented, created and designed all these pages. Thank you to all the contributors. Thank you to DJs, artists, and music producers who sat with us and had intimate conversations. A thank you to nightlife labor, the reason this whole system we love functions. To our visual and audio engineers, making our events and promotional content run smoothly. And thanks to you, the readers, friends, and supporters of SOR, since this whole idea was scribbled on a whiteboard and a lonely discord. My co-founder, Cooper and I forged this idea out of our mutual obsession with this ecosystem; this system of release. We’d come home every weekend feeling pride in our blistering, sore feet. Here are our SORes. https://systemsofrelease.com/ISSUE-TWO Thu, 19 Jun 2025 19:39:54 +0000 Systems of Release https://systemsofrelease.com/ISSUE-TWO SOR: ISSUE TWOPUBLICATION #3 JANUARY 2025 -JUNE 2025 FEATURING: JOHN BARCLAY, DEMOROBILIA (RIVER HYDE), MARIA GROSS, JESÚS HILARIO-REYES, COOPER SPERLING, KARLA “LITA” VINUEZA, OMAR AHMAD, VANYA SUCHAN, BUZZI, DAIYAH, KATIE REX, FORTIFIED STRUCTURES, HXCTC, JUANA, ERIC CHUNG <img width="5400" height="4250" width_o="5400" height_o="4250" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/811bd5ed12cf772c35313b8e6b18ba5a06fed57311c26220fcbe7d92d2a22ab8/EditorsLetter.png" data-mid="234773597" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/811bd5ed12cf772c35313b8e6b18ba5a06fed57311c26220fcbe7d92d2a22ab8/EditorsLetter.png" /> <img width="5400" height="4250" width_o="5400" height_o="4250" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/5e48b770b0f8fab7a45907553b6cc3156c22ca3d87a25942230454edf00da154/ParagonExtract.png" data-mid="234773598" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/5e48b770b0f8fab7a45907553b6cc3156c22ca3d87a25942230454edf00da154/ParagonExtract.png" /> <img width="5400" height="4250" width_o="5400" height_o="4250" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b9f2f9504203205fac7db2dce9799bb22bd8ff082d33a158f8a8a3a4abe56f83/BacteriaExtract.png" data-mid="234774276" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b9f2f9504203205fac7db2dce9799bb22bd8ff082d33a158f8a8a3a4abe56f83/BacteriaExtract.png" /> <img width="5400" height="4250" width_o="5400" height_o="4250" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e4c99c988a255f8e911bb4904e23c881427f3bd041504c7146705933fa18c5f7/JesusMainPage.png" data-mid="234773600" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/e4c99c988a255f8e911bb4904e23c881427f3bd041504c7146705933fa18c5f7/JesusMainPage.png" /> <img width="6619" height="4228" width_o="6619" height_o="4228" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/893bd00fd4daeab6ccd0a77c812d5998cd8eb8608fc114c8c7a4650757992f34/sor2_mainissue_scan_cover_red.jpg" data-mid="243898048" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/893bd00fd4daeab6ccd0a77c812d5998cd8eb8608fc114c8c7a4650757992f34/sor2_mainissue_scan_cover_red.jpg" /> <img width="5400" height="4250" width_o="5400" height_o="4250" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/6042ac1273799c128fccf20d884ab8ef07da2332e8c6a137be20b6e7b9aef8ab/EphemeraExtract.png" data-mid="234773795" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/6042ac1273799c128fccf20d884ab8ef07da2332e8c6a137be20b6e7b9aef8ab/EphemeraExtract.png" /> <img width="5029" height="3357" width_o="5029" height_o="3357" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e7661efb03ae398a5654ef33601e5cfeb5f7d973682365ebfba34fb5ada4da4c/NightofLaborExtract.png" data-mid="234774037" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/e7661efb03ae398a5654ef33601e5cfeb5f7d973682365ebfba34fb5ada4da4c/NightofLaborExtract.png" /> <img width="6673" height="4276" width_o="6673" height_o="4276" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a59c2773abeeb8b8fc076e1d3914b2682044d60a0adae61d720f82e1f860a4f2/sor2_mainissue_scan_cover_orange.jpg" data-mid="243898049" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a59c2773abeeb8b8fc076e1d3914b2682044d60a0adae61d720f82e1f860a4f2/sor2_mainissue_scan_cover_orange.jpg" /> “My body seems to have shed its burdens of human existence, its limitations reduced: free at last, free at last. Time is now and always, fragments of seconds, breaking to a blur of party weekends, then smoothing out into a transcendental sense of forever. Bodies of fellow dancers brushing, strangers have gone, we are all friends, in it together; we are as one.” Dear Reader, How can we make that moment last forever? The moment on the dancefloor when we bathe in strokes of light and sound. When reality sheds, time suspends, and movement is all you know. Sweat beads on my forehead like a crown. Don’t stop. This is a marathon, not a race. Listen. Listen closely. Dance. Dance harder. And when the strangers have gone and we are as one, what is left? Vital, breathing and rhythmic —New York City’s nightlife is alive and well. This project is how we make those fleeting moments last a little longer. Systems of Release (SOR) is an archival magazine, aiming to document electronic music, night/rave life, and dance culture here in NYC. SOR has humble beginnings, starting off in 2023 as a quiet Discord server and a small zine. So it is with great excitement that we share our second issue. Inside you’ll find our ever-expanding archive. Through written word, photographs, drawings, and beyond, these are the people, places and parts of this ecosystem that keep it alive. We’ve had the pleasure of closely documenting and conversing with artists who build beyond themselves. We are dedicated to documenting their work thoughtfully, and providing our readers with something they can hold in their hands. Something as tangible as the dance floor. The SOR team has only gotten bigger and brighter since the last issue. Behind each page is a group of dancers, dreamers, creators, and workers dedicated to this community. It can't go without a hearty thank you to all those who make this magazine possible, from start to finish. We have endless gratitude to the artists who have been so willing to engage with us. Thank you to … Lest we forget, whatever utopia created in these nights cannot function without all its parts: the bouncer, the bartender, and the barback all help to create a communal machine. The music, the DJ, and the spaces that cradle them arose from a lineage of resistance, a communal soul, and those who create with legacies on their mind. Many thanks to the front of the club and to the back… It takes a village. More to come, SOR https://systemsofrelease.com/ARTISTINDEX002 Thu, 19 Jun 2025 20:27:08 +0000 Systems of Release https://systemsofrelease.com/ARTISTINDEX002 SOR: ARTIST INDEX 002 THE PALESTINE DRUM LIBERATOR: &nbsp; DJ LITA &amp;&nbsp; OMAR AHMAD PUBLICATION #5 JANUARY 2025 -JUNE 2025 all proceeds are split with the artists <img width="1284" height="1600" width_o="1284" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/65e03ed7a590dcfa5fb7c57d24706ab1569a155856e9e4d1b8449a43468e44a7/DJLitaProfile.jpg" data-mid="234774481" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/65e03ed7a590dcfa5fb7c57d24706ab1569a155856e9e4d1b8449a43468e44a7/DJLitaProfile.jpg" /> LITA: My name is Lita, and I am a DJ, audio-visual artist, designer, creative technologist, alchemist, and scholar.Rooted in experimentation and care, my practice bridges electronic music, visual storytelling, and open-source technology. As a constantly evolving artist, I explore how sound, design, and code can be used as tools for resistance, accessibility, and reimagining liberation. My work includes building socially and politically conscious instruments, crafting immersive performances, and designing experiences that center marginalized narratives.I move through a rhythm of learning, unlearning, and dreaming — committed to expanding what’s possible across disciplines and beyond borders. Whether through analog circuitry, generative visuals, or hand-coded instruments, I’m always searching for new ways to tell stories that hold memory and spark collective imagination.For collaborations or inquiries, please email me at contact@djlita.com - Lita’s WorldINSTAGRAM SOUNDCLOUD LITA.SYSTEMS&nbsp; Project Website: SONICLIBERATIONDEVICES.COM <img width="2000" height="2500" width_o="2000" height_o="2500" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/0df943c94fb5007a179546dfebbd9b83e4ed759422bb7ca7a7f7c2102f5da65b/OmarProfile2.jpg" data-mid="234774488" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/0df943c94fb5007a179546dfebbd9b83e4ed759422bb7ca7a7f7c2102f5da65b/OmarProfile2.jpg" /> OMAR AHMAD: Omar Ahmad is a Palestinian-American composer, producer, DJ and sound artist. He is a self-taught multi-instrumentalist whose desire to derive the essential elements of sound has grown towards found-sound immersions, globally-influenced musical storytelling, and lush atmospheric compositions. He has been a stalwart member of the underground Brooklyn electronic scene for many years and has been a guest performer with Radio Alhara, The Lot Radio, Karachi Community Radio, and more. His debut solo record, Inheritance was released in 2023 by AKP Recordings to a wide spectrum of praise, including Electronic Sound, Bandcamp’s Best Ambient Music, and DJ Mag’s “Eight Emerging Artists You Need to Hear.” A full remix album entitled Inheritance • Remixed was released in 2024 with contributions from Tammy Lakkis, Sam O.B., Otodojo, and more. Ahmad has not rested in his support of sonic resistance and collective liberation through the Palestinian lens via live performances and new improvisations, and his single Tala’ al-Badru ‘Alayna was highlighted on Resident Advisor through PTP's Palestinian Resistance compilation and featured via The Wire. - Pioneer WorksINSTAGRAM SOUNDCLOUD WEBSITE <img width="2126" height="3246" width_o="2126" height_o="3246" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/4e06f935aa54fd870d468033bb545157821a42aba9327eed9a56c5e3acdb6f7b/sor2_litaomar_scan_frontcover.jpg" data-mid="243898053" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/4e06f935aa54fd870d468033bb545157821a42aba9327eed9a56c5e3acdb6f7b/sor2_litaomar_scan_frontcover.jpg" /> <img width="2048" height="1568" width_o="2048" height_o="1568" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/4b026e87e2348185459842b78160053eb55fee1c82ee8b360676bf9b3f00dfbc/img20250616_16425094.jpg" data-mid="234776962" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/4b026e87e2348185459842b78160053eb55fee1c82ee8b360676bf9b3f00dfbc/img20250616_16425094.jpg" /> <img width="2048" height="1586" width_o="2048" height_o="1586" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/554d29a3eafbf0164db9c87e373d208ec7a424a8a8fb099cea6ca28c0667053d/img20250616_16281732.jpg" data-mid="234776708" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/554d29a3eafbf0164db9c87e373d208ec7a424a8a8fb099cea6ca28c0667053d/img20250616_16281732.jpg" /> <img width="2048" height="1600" width_o="2048" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/6824ea9d11e7be992e230fa73077eb8fdbe399758d4317c78b5ce17d58311315/img20250616_16291362.jpg" data-mid="234776963" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/6824ea9d11e7be992e230fa73077eb8fdbe399758d4317c78b5ce17d58311315/img20250616_16291362.jpg" /> <img width="2048" height="1542" width_o="2048" height_o="1542" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/1ec0e91b930734a8587d11fdf895c6c085b4d3df2c5f9aa3b3ac97d85dca4832/img20250616_16535686.jpg" data-mid="234776706" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/1ec0e91b930734a8587d11fdf895c6c085b4d3df2c5f9aa3b3ac97d85dca4832/img20250616_16535686.jpg" /> <img width="2048" height="1553" width_o="2048" height_o="1553" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/645e3b9e0db7ab995106113a9d8655ca30fbdd1bc3b43d6be8778491a6487ccf/img20250616_16492602.jpg" data-mid="234776964" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/645e3b9e0db7ab995106113a9d8655ca30fbdd1bc3b43d6be8778491a6487ccf/img20250616_16492602.jpg" /> <img width="2130" height="3237" width_o="2130" height_o="3237" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/4ca08ddac0b56a11453c70144e0528c022e40494359f7ad7a42ec55c5c4fce27/sor2_litaomar_scan_backcover.jpg" data-mid="243898052" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/4ca08ddac0b56a11453c70144e0528c022e40494359f7ad7a42ec55c5c4fce27/sor2_litaomar_scan_backcover.jpg" /> Pioneer Works Brooklyn, New York 11231 05.10.2025 Lita and Omar greet the SOR team at the steel doors of Pioneer Works, a nonprofit cultural arts center located in Red Hook. The group weaves through an extravagent wedding celebration that happens to be taking place in the center’s outdoor space. Perched in the midst of it all is Omar’s studio, provided for his month-long music residency. The group ascends a spiral staircase reaching the top of the lighthouse-esque tower and sets up for discussion in the studio.&nbsp; Read about their collaborative Sonic Liberation Device and the art of decolonizing sound and self.&nbsp; https://systemsofrelease.com/SOR-EPHEMERA-BOOK Wed, 02 Jul 2025 19:26:03 +0000 Systems of Release https://systemsofrelease.com/SOR-EPHEMERA-BOOK <img width="3369" height="2631" width_o="3369" height_o="2631" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/af2287217edcb91c11a5bb70ccb9f87fc7cc1d74a3be7f379b37961fd0b7b461/Scan-79.jpeg" data-mid="235327590" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/af2287217edcb91c11a5bb70ccb9f87fc7cc1d74a3be7f379b37961fd0b7b461/Scan-79.jpeg" /> <img width="3413" height="2659" width_o="3413" height_o="2659" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a02a6a74acee2b5899c224777f68d9bc57c03cf4e242aa8501eb2aaa1862e5e7/Scan-81.jpeg" data-mid="235327589" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a02a6a74acee2b5899c224777f68d9bc57c03cf4e242aa8501eb2aaa1862e5e7/Scan-81.jpeg" /> <img width="3432" height="2597" width_o="3432" height_o="2597" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8a93afccaaf5cf483c5882ba04853ebdc2305f0c771f8fc24bb1470c1e6a5a68/Scan-109.jpeg" data-mid="235327591" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8a93afccaaf5cf483c5882ba04853ebdc2305f0c771f8fc24bb1470c1e6a5a68/Scan-109.jpeg" /> <img width="3369" height="2643" width_o="3369" height_o="2643" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/6eec09710ea38a5923b74cb3bb49ecef384d9e6bae1fa72238591ffdfc57dfc8/Scan-103.jpeg" data-mid="235327117" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/6eec09710ea38a5923b74cb3bb49ecef384d9e6bae1fa72238591ffdfc57dfc8/Scan-103.jpeg" /> <img width="3315" height="2592" width_o="3315" height_o="2592" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/959e5c378708527a7ff4602842b2bf16dcbca165cd2cfd6b945de305b495cadb/Scan-102.jpg" data-mid="235327593" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/959e5c378708527a7ff4602842b2bf16dcbca165cd2cfd6b945de305b495cadb/Scan-102.jpg" /> <img width="3347" height="2631" width_o="3347" height_o="2631" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b6ba7e6518e7f0b724d1326a52870030e94820dd6131864e7db9edb4b303843b/Scan-96.jpg" data-mid="235327594" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b6ba7e6518e7f0b724d1326a52870030e94820dd6131864e7db9edb4b303843b/Scan-96.jpg" /> EPHEMERA BOOK&nbsp;(001) A zine curation of nightlife photography, surface scans &amp; 3D mappings of Paragon, wristbands, tickets, and other physical ephemera. PUBLICATION #6 JANUARY 2025 -JUNE 2025 https://systemsofrelease.com/ARTISTINDEX001 Thu, 19 Jun 2025 20:40:58 +0000 Systems of Release https://systemsofrelease.com/ARTISTINDEX001 SOR: ARTIST INDEX 001 SLIP INDEX: &nbsp; JESÚS HILARIO-REYES PUBLICATION #4 JANUARY 2025 -JUNE 2025all proceeds are split with the artists <img width="1365" height="2048" width_o="1365" height_o="2048" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/5e0e7df72b582997d82be005a46ee95857fb5f60544ac5e52963ddcfb84a4b27/DSC_0488.jpg" data-mid="234774618" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/5e0e7df72b582997d82be005a46ee95857fb5f60544ac5e52963ddcfb84a4b27/DSC_0488.jpg" /> JESÚS HILARIO-REYES:&nbsp;Currently based in Brooklyn, New York, and New Haven, CT, Jesús Hilario-Reyes (San Juan, Puerto Rico) is an antidisciplinary artist with a Bachelor’s in Fine Arts Studio from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a Masters in Sculpture from Yale University. Recently a recipient of the Drawing a Blank Artist Grant, the Leslie Lohman Museum Fellowship, the Lighthouse Works Fellowship (2022), and the Bemis Center Residency (2022) program. Jesús Hilario-Reyes has exhibited/screened/performed most notably at BOFFO Performance Festival (Fire Island), Frieze (London), e-Flux (NYC), Gladstone Gallery (NYC), The Kitchen (NYC), Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Black Star Film Festival (Philadelphia, PN), Mana Contemporary (Chicago, IL), Real Art Ways (Hartford, CT), Rudimento (Quito, ECUA), Parasol Unit (London, UK), and Gladstone Gallery (NYC). Primarily rooted in sculpture, their practice navigates the intersections of sonic performance, land-based installation, and expanded cinema. Through iterative engagements with carnival and rave culture across the West, Hilario-Reyes takes a reparative approach to the concept of destierro—an untranslatable Spanish term akin to being "torn from the land." They use this concept to explore Black and Queer fugitivity, examining the im/possibility of the Black body and its entanglement with photographic and cinematic optics. Informed by an evolving engagement with sound systems, lighting, and atmospherics within nightscapes such as clubs and raves, their work transforms tools of urgency—like the siren—into modes of embodiment and transcendence. Hilario-Reyes embraces masquerade, satire, and spectacle as strategies to interrogate systems of hypervisibility, while their object- and installation-based practices reflect a broader search for belonging within states of flux. These environments gesture toward the Blur: a shifting space of refusal, resonance, and recontextualized materiality.INSTAGRAM SOUNDCLOUD WEBSITE <img width="2095" height="3210" width_o="2095" height_o="3210" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/13ff53f4f0d9bcd9a4459489186c2fc5dc108aa0d08c7ba0bcf067ece154938f/sor2_jesus_scan_frontcover.jpg" data-mid="243898067" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/13ff53f4f0d9bcd9a4459489186c2fc5dc108aa0d08c7ba0bcf067ece154938f/sor2_jesus_scan_frontcover.jpg" /> <img width="2048" height="1554" width_o="2048" height_o="1554" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/aac48080d0779720e7a6e721d6087a845ea536d6abcd44ab65faa3b689371a81/img20250616_16180482.jpg" data-mid="234776710" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/aac48080d0779720e7a6e721d6087a845ea536d6abcd44ab65faa3b689371a81/img20250616_16180482.jpg" /> <img width="2048" height="1539" width_o="2048" height_o="1539" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/359304806ebea00c1735a075faa235efdbee3ee244ce57f3a529c0c502c33fcd/img20250616_16190502.jpg" data-mid="234776711" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/359304806ebea00c1735a075faa235efdbee3ee244ce57f3a529c0c502c33fcd/img20250616_16190502.jpg" /> <img width="2048" height="1542" width_o="2048" height_o="1542" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/bba26fc5c532fc786499611d97d19aeb18088cd14d1e0996f6a59621f51b423b/img20250616_16100167-2.jpg" data-mid="234776713" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/bba26fc5c532fc786499611d97d19aeb18088cd14d1e0996f6a59621f51b423b/img20250616_16100167-2.jpg" /> <img width="2048" height="1526" width_o="2048" height_o="1526" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/1523fec1b2d85432774556b51862efbc874e91d0fb54cf4aa8096d8270b877a9/img20250616_16324683.jpg" data-mid="234776967" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/1523fec1b2d85432774556b51862efbc874e91d0fb54cf4aa8096d8270b877a9/img20250616_16324683.jpg" /> <img width="2048" height="1552" width_o="2048" height_o="1552" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/978eaf2c4837530170e7d9bfde2db97895f9d7a211d039d131f8374e0e95844f/img20250616_16160687.jpg" data-mid="234776714" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/978eaf2c4837530170e7d9bfde2db97895f9d7a211d039d131f8374e0e95844f/img20250616_16160687.jpg" /> <img width="2048" height="1541" width_o="2048" height_o="1541" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d316367ccf590eba1bfcd1a8dfa161e961fbaeeea86973478a3a625699a71f81/img20250616_16244825.jpg" data-mid="234776726" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/d316367ccf590eba1bfcd1a8dfa161e961fbaeeea86973478a3a625699a71f81/img20250616_16244825.jpg" /> <img width="2099" height="3215" width_o="2099" height_o="3215" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/bd53161d63296e6cbab504dcfdf4987c3dc7aed2baf38e9c02d70be954cb3930/sor2_jesus_scan_backcover.jpg" data-mid="243898066" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/bd53161d63296e6cbab504dcfdf4987c3dc7aed2baf38e9c02d70be954cb3930/sor2_jesus_scan_backcover.jpg" /> 36 Edgewood New Haven, Connecticut 06520 04.24.2025. 2 PM. EST.&nbsp; The SOR production team caught a train headed to New Haven and posed as Yale students for the day. Jesús Hilario-Reyes, a.k.a. MORENXXX, greeted the team at Yale’s MFA sculpture building. They welcomed SOR to their studio and guided them through their senior thesis, visiting each instillation.&nbsp; Read about their experience navigating a rave and studio-based creative process with an in-depth discussion of each piece featured in their thesis exhibition: Slip Index SLIP INDEX DESCRIPTION: To evidence the corporal embodying of the dancefloor and its participants, one must look down. The dancefloor is the membrane that accumulates data, whether strands of hair, earrings, sweat, or sweet alcoholic mixtures. It accounts for both a literal and ontological slippage. Their thesis cements this gesture by extracting a dancefloor from Nowadays - a club in NYC - which then acts as a central fixture for their installation. Simultaneously, other works ruminate on the abstraction of space through atmospherics. Each work permeates and blurs towards one another, as thresholds opaque through overlay and fog. Materials enmesh to illustrate a communal embodiment - both aesthetic and affective. https://systemsofrelease.com/MADNESS-OF Tue, 11 Mar 2025 00:48:01 +0000 Systems of Release https://systemsofrelease.com/MADNESS-OF MADNESS OF: WTCHCRFT &amp; KYRUH We sat down with MADNESS OF (KYRUH &amp; WTCHCRFT) to discuss their individual musical journeys, the evolution of their DJ duo, and the role artists and DJs play in shaping New York’s political and cultural landscape.May 1 2024The Lot Radio AUDIO AVAILABLE <img width="1440" height="1440" width_o="1440" height_o="1440" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f85b0964e9c07e118b62fcf0d32205c486051ac7a2927bfaa039ef27614469c0/KyruhProfile.jpg" data-mid="228061660" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/f85b0964e9c07e118b62fcf0d32205c486051ac7a2927bfaa039ef27614469c0/KyruhProfile.jpg" /> KYRUH: Native to Brooklyn, New York, KYRUH is no stranger to hard, gritty, and high caliber techno. A purgative, high energy raver turned DJ, her style has punched through many hearts. Her residency performances at BASEMENT (NYC) are relentless statements of intent, wringing every drop of energy from her audiences.INSTAGRAM SOUNDCLOUD BANDCAMP <img width="1440" height="1440" width_o="1440" height_o="1440" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8f293d582cafd6b7b91309ea0c9d79b661bd3e9b3d7be57375606b2a6f36e990/wtchcrftartistimage.jpg" data-mid="228061713" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8f293d582cafd6b7b91309ea0c9d79b661bd3e9b3d7be57375606b2a6f36e990/wtchcrftartistimage.jpg" /> WTCHCRFT: Acid fiend, Techno heathen. Occasional rap producer. It's All Your Fault.INSTAGRAM SOUNDCLOUD BANDCAMP <img width="3130" height="2075" width_o="3130" height_o="2075" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c72ab1de67d8ccfea5514a49c6a0afae9f4c4d7a0541d68b1469b683b281e4bd/FLINTAPANELCOVER-6.jpg" data-mid="228014387" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c72ab1de67d8ccfea5514a49c6a0afae9f4c4d7a0541d68b1469b683b281e4bd/FLINTAPANELCOVER-6.jpg" />*Some words have been cut or jumps have been made for readability’s sake* SOR: Starting off slow, what’s an update on your personal projects? KYRUH: For me, it's been going really well. The past year has been a metamorphosis of figuring out what KYRUH was when I was younger. I was 23. And now I'm 27. I know how to use more buttons on the mixer and I know more tools about how to produce. I’m figuring out how to make those tools be me and go on the journey of who I am now. So I feel really introspective right now. SOR: What was the staple of KYRUH then vs now? K: I think my career popped off when dance floors reopened up to the pandemic. The energy I had then was very freewheeling and there wasn't any rhyme or rhythm to what I was doing. That pent up energy really reflected in my music. Now I don't have pent up energy anymore. A lot of my sound now has become more technical, challenging myself to play with different genres, different speeds and tempos. SOR: Anthony, how has your producing journey been? WTCHCRFT: I have a disgusting amount of tracks. The best ones are slated for release this year. But aside from that, I've been really messing with samples. I came out with “1 4 U” and “What Do You Call A Flood”. Right now I'm focusing a lot on my voice, in the literal sense, like recording my voice. It’s something I started doing in 2020, and it’s evolving into a more fleshed out form of using my voice, instead of just using a couple phrases. On top of that, I'm listening to and studying a lot of Arabic music. I feel like I'm getting to a place where I've always wanted to be where I'm able to express what I'm actually feeling through the music. And that's always the goal. I've become very calculated with what I release now. SOR: How do you curate your guys' vision as individuals? And as a duo? K: I think it's changed a lot because we've changed as individual artists. So MADNESS OF is also changing. The idea behind it was that we fucked with each other so heavy, and we liked doing it together. And then we just kind of got more bookings together. Since we've known each other for so long, I just feel that little kid energy. It's not supposed to take itself too seriously. So the work that goes into MADNESS OF is coming from a place of: What the fuck do we feel right now? [It’s] very soulful. Not just in the music, but also in performance. When people come into our shows, people feel like it's two kids playing together. W: MADNESS OF is a pure expression of our friendship, and also the way we relate to each other, and communicate as well. Specifically, KYRUH, great communicator. I feel like MADNESS OF is that pure expression of years and years and years of friendship. K: It just feels so good. If it doesn't feel good, then we're not into it. You knew me before I even hit my first cue button. It's such a grounding presence. This project is like an homage to life. SOR: That's so sweet. I think that's a perfect transition to what's your guy's origin story and how did you meet? K: We met in 2013. You're like my longest real solid friendship. I’m from Brooklyn, and he's from Westchester, and we both did a summer high school program. It was high school students going to college. So we went to Syracuse University for the summer. And we were in two separate programs, but staying in the same dorm. And that's where we met and it was all downhill from there. SOR: What was your very first impression of each other? W: Well I thought she was cool as fuck. I thought she was cute too. Yeah. Let's keep it real. It's gonna be real. Remember in the elevator? K: Yeah. I would walk around campus with my headphones on and not play music so I could peep into people's lives and without having to talk to people. I'd see him in the lounge and he was so extroverted and just bouncing off the walls with people. And then we met in the fucking elevator… W: So me and my dorm mate roommate were doing laundry and we both had our shirts off. We thought we were so fucking cool and everyone was young and in a heightened sexual state. So we got into the elevator and KYRUH comes in after, and you were like, Why do you guys have your fucking shirts off? And we're like, oh, because we're doing laundry and she pointed to my roommate and said like, Well, you don't look good. And then pointed to me Well, you look good. It was really funny. I don't really remember exactly what happened in my classes. I almost got kicked out because I got a vape. Yea, it was so dumb. My parents were so mad. SOR: Where does the name come from? W: My girlfriend, Katie, came up with it. “Madness of two”, Folie à Deux, is a mental illness. I won't name any names, but some people in my family have it. SOR: Can you explain the term some more? W: It's when two people, specifically one, has delusions, you know, and then it spreads to whoever they're spending most of their time with. And then it becomes a shared delusion, where one person is genuinely having a mental break and the other person is like, not pretending to, but believing that they are seeing the same things and yeah, it's like a frenzy. SOR: What does the madness look like? K: I don't know if this sticks out to you, that one day you came to my house and we played six hours together before Basement. It was like, just for fun. We were practicing and I was learning. But we played one to one. It was like six or seven hours straight and then we had to call it. It was one of the best days of my life. SOR: What do you guys think of duos? Any that come to mind that inspire you. W: It doesn't even have to be techno like, I'm thinking OutKast. Big Boi and Andre 3000, they could not be more different in their rap styles. But when they come together, it's insane. It's a great, great thing. K: I think it's really interesting that you brought up rap because before I fully immersed myself in techno like, I was a rap head; big head like smoking weed, vibing for fucking hours. And I think when you're a DJ, and a producer producing electronic music you can kind of never collaborate. Like it's not like a band, or like in rap music, when you're just kind of like, riffing off of each other. And to be honest, I think those types of artists fall flat… if you don't collaborate at any point in your career. SOR: Any drawbacks to interacting with a crowd? K: I will say that during a show, it feels so sacred, it sometimes feels like it's magic happening and I don't want any intrusion on the magic. I do think sometimes like I get a little sort of selfish with it, maybe even territorial. The more popular we get, the more that people feel like this project is theirs. And like, understandably, it is theirs. And there are times where I'm like, I don't want anybody near us right now. SOR: Interesting separation, though. How do you define what becomes a crowd and what stays yours? K: I think it also depends, especially when we're traveling. New York crowds tend to have a healthier respect than some other places that may not get techno shows as often, or have as robust of a scene. I get more protective when we're traveling. W: You can't separate our identities from what we're doing as well. Like you are a black woman. I am a black man. You need to work with it, and you need to be empowered by it. K: And if it is a queer space, it's a white space. Being protective over what MADNESS OF is, particularly when we're not in New York is on our plate a lot. SOR: Do you guys see a correlation between how frequently you put it out with how much you're getting booked? W: Honestly, yeah, it feels kind of random. I feel like getting booked has a lot more to do with your social media presence because at the end of the day the club's want to make money, right? They want to have the bottom line, that's really what it is. There's money to be made and alcohol to be sold. they want people to come to the club and that's understandable. If it was the case of worker owned clubs, that'd be fucking sick. But we're not there yet. So for now, we have to deal with this, like a capitalist bottom line mindset. I think a lot of that stems back to what you can offer them, How many people can you bring in? K: Being an artist now, It's not just about the art, you also have to be a good curator. And that includes social media and branding. It's picking the album art, how you do press photos and picking how you present the shows that you just did. I feel like the curation is one of the biggest things in terms of getting bookings SOR: I wanted to touch on the recent songs that you've put out, KYRUH? K: I waited so long to make music because everybody wanted me to make music. Like every set I do, a piece of me is gone after. It's just gone. It's in the ether. It's for you now, it's gone. It was always something that I've wanted to do, but didn't have the tools or whatever. I found this out recently like less than 2% of electronic music artists are women. And so, you know, there was this pressure to produce, but not necessarily because people wanted my music, it was also to show that women can do it. When I put out “IMAGINARY BUTTS” a couple days ago, I was kind of going through it the last few weeks. So it took a lot of journaling, a lot of listening to music that has nothing to do with techno, a lot of post punk post industrial stuff is what inspired that. I've been figuring out what inspires me, you know, the humanness of the scene inspires me. SOR: Speaking of humanness, let's turn to some politics of the scene. What responsibility do you think artists and DJs in the New York ecosystem have in the political scheme? K: If you are guiding a party, you are guiding it culturally, musically, you are a cultural purveyor…you must understand what is happening in culture. And that is not just the happy sides of culture. Techno came out of darkness, it came out of poverty, it came out of resistance, it came out of struggle, it came out of people not being allowed to express themselves in the way that they feel like they could. It came out of restriction. Those roots are very fucking important. I believe, even if it is detrimental to the musical success that you might have, I think that's what I want my job and my legacy to be.&nbsp; &nbsp; Before I was a DJ, I worked in public health. I worked in community health, I worked with homeless populations, I worked with the most underserved and overlooked communities in New York City, and that shit doesn't go away. &nbsp; &nbsp; And even if I don't understand what's going on in culture, I educated myself and read about it and figured it out. Because I have fans who are Ukrainian, I have French fans, and fans who are Russian. And I personally want to take a stance on that. if the original question was about Palestine, you need to have a voice in it. W: And I agree fully, to that point. I don't think we have a responsibility as artists to speak out, I think we have a responsibility as humans to speak out, and educate ourselves, and know about these topics and know where we stand on them. I'm not going to shit on anyone who doesn't know or maybe isn't involved in any of that. But I know that I'm going to be involved in that. And I would hope others follow suit. And if one of us isn't free, none of us are. If you think that terror won't reach you, you're sadly mistaken. And history will show you time and time again, if you look back. SOR: Have y’all noticed any harsh realities of politics within the scene? Or realities of how people have reacted or the lack of movement? W: 100%. It must be hard… at least for me, seeing how they decide to use their platforms or lack thereof. I think it's important to humanize and understand where people are coming from. And I think that's a very beautiful part of our music and our scene, it's like a come as you are sort of thing. But I think on the flip side of it, too, it is also hard to watch the way that people decide that they could best use their voice or not. &nbsp; &nbsp; When I was at the New School encampment recently, shout out to Cooper, we watched a documentary and spoke about it afterwards. And there was a quote that one of the people brought up from the people who did Occupy Wall Street back in 2008/2009. I'm paraphrasing here, but it was like, ‘let us come together without the illusion of unity’... it means like, let us all come together for the same shared goal. Despite our differences, we don't have to pretend like we all have the same political views or that we all have the same exact way that we want to go about or the same tactics. But we need to come together and show that we're together as people, as workers, as black and brown folks, as white folks, as Jewish folks as Arab, Islam, Muslim folks. Everybody comes together, without that illusion of unity. Not everybody needs to be on the same exact page. But we need to have the same goal. It's not easy to come together, but there are people who can do it. And I think it's important to have those people and center your movements around love and acceptance. K: You know, just as an artist I am touched by things and I want to make myself feel touched by things. I want to not only feel touched by the moment someone is losing themselves on a dance floor and it's the first moment they're on ecstasy and they’re hearing the music and the bass and dancing for the first time. I also want to feel touched by someone who lost their entire family and is suffering systematically and does not know whether or not their existence will go on past the next day. I need to feel both, and I'm inspired by, and want to be around people who feel both.&nbsp; &nbsp; If you look at all of the emotions on the feelings wheel, there are way more negative emotions than there are positive…there's like happy and excited, but like most emotions you're going to feel as a human are sad. Like disgruntled, like annoying or upset or agitated, those are most of the feelings you're going to feel. If I'm engaging with music and art, and people are not engaging with all spectrums of emotion, that's a red flag to me. I think the only way that we're going to progress past all of this suffering is if we acknowledge what's going on. I think this is actually just my call to DJs. W: Yeah, I think that's how you keep your humanity 100% which is important. SOR: I feel like techno could be almost the most human music, even lack of lyrics and everything, because it is so up to interpretation. There's all those range of emotions, just in the songs themselves. W: I agree. I remember when we were at Tresor, and there was a museum… K: Yea like an anniversary, and they had an exhibit in the original Tresor bunker. W: listening to some interviews with different big technical artists, I remember one of the things that they were talking about is like, how techno is computers and music, right? It's this futuristic sort of thing. But there is that human element that people bring to it. You can present your political ideas and you can present your emotional ideas even through all that rigidness and computerization, which we're getting more and more married to. But as rigid and technological as it can feel, there is a human aspect to it, because we're the ones using it. Even with fucking AI, where's AI getting those ideas from? Where do they pull from, from human ideas, right? They pull from human artists. So I think it all comes back to that humanity feeling. expressing it, centering it, because I think if you forget it, you allow really bad things to happen. SOR: So we have one more question. So thank you guys for sitting with us. And thank you for giving such thorough, detailed, really thoughtful answers. What's on the horizon for MADNESS OF? Do you plan on making music together? K: I want it weirder. I want to be feared. W: I love the ideas that you're coming up with on your own. And like, it would be an honor to add to that, you know, and even build on top of that. I'm always saying that you dismantle it, put it back together, do whatever the fuck you want to do, you should do that in every facet of your life. You should be dismantling your ideas, your notions, the way you view things, and then maybe putting it back together and seeing what works and what doesn't work. And I would just love to be like building on top of whatever ideas you come up with, and love to see what you can build on top of whatever ideas I come up with. SOR: Any final to shout outs? W: Free Palestine. SOR: That’s a wrap. Thank you guys. https://systemsofrelease.com/HELLTEKK-HAMMERHEAD Tue, 11 Mar 2025 00:48:02 +0000 Systems of Release https://systemsofrelease.com/HELLTEKK-HAMMERHEAD THE NEW HARDCORE: HELLTEKK + HAMMERHEADWe spoke with Dakota Velasquez &amp; Justin Santana (HELLTEKK) and Ashe Kilbourne (HAMMERHEAD) about pushing the limits of hardcore, building underground community in NYC, and the ethos behind their collectives. May 9 2024KILBOURNE Studio AUDIO AVAILABLE <img width="1080" height="1080" width_o="1080" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7a7f8a9c27e3a64d1553c0a542b304ad2e45a989710bd5b5e267eba0606f8834/DakotaBioProfile.jpg" data-mid="228061784" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/7a7f8a9c27e3a64d1553c0a542b304ad2e45a989710bd5b5e267eba0606f8834/DakotaBioProfile.jpg" /> DAKOTA VELASQUEZ: a Honduran American born &amp; raised in Brooklyn N.Y, is what you think of when you think NYC hardcore. Known for her fast paced sets and killer breaks with no plans on letting up when given the chance to dj with mixtures of Jungle, jungle tekno , Frenchcore, Free tekno, Gabber and other genres alike. As the Co-founder of the free party collective HELLTEKK they strive to push the limit as much as possible and give the people what they want. INSTAGRAM SOUNDCLOUD <img width="1080" height="1080" width_o="1080" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/cb208e0c7055bf2a01839959472918529f0494d808826ef2a4b616c4d5ee216c/JustinBioProfile.jpg" data-mid="228061811" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/cb208e0c7055bf2a01839959472918529f0494d808826ef2a4b616c4d5ee216c/JustinBioProfile.jpg" /> FORITIFED STRUCTURES (JUSTIN SANTANA):Fortified Structures brings the pain with a mixture of all things free tekno/hardcore. Pushing the boundaries of every sound system she’s on it’s a staple in her sets to flow throw squelching acid and punchy kick drums. INSTAGRAM SOUNDCLOUD BANDCAMP <img width="960" height="1200" width_o="960" height_o="1200" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/6ae436b320d0334aa799bb189dcec4af61cf4a0742f69cea48cabde2d5c8f674/AsheBioProfile-.jpg" data-mid="228061820" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/960/i/6ae436b320d0334aa799bb189dcec4af61cf4a0742f69cea48cabde2d5c8f674/AsheBioProfile-.jpg" /> KILBOURNE: Destined to devastate, Kilbourne has established herself as a leading visionary of American hardcore techno. Her DJ sets showcase an unrelenting drive and spontaneous selection, and she has toured widely across the Americas and Europe at venues such as Tresor, Defqon.1, and Boiler Room. After critically acclaimed releases on PRSPCT, Industrial Strength, and Evar Records, 2024 sees her launching Hammerhead, a new label and party showcasing the most psychedelic and brutal sounds of the genre.INSTAGRAM SOUNDCLOUD BANDCAMP <img width="3130" height="2075" width_o="3130" height_o="2075" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e0138b9d4b7028c06e48e1b6e5410c636da3d06b53b0cb9fdeb70f7ada6c406f/FLINTAPANELCOVER-5.jpg" data-mid="228015703" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/e0138b9d4b7028c06e48e1b6e5410c636da3d06b53b0cb9fdeb70f7ada6c406f/FLINTAPANELCOVER-5.jpg" />*Some words have been cut or jump cuts made for readability’s sake* SOR: It seems like there's a lot of moving parts to Helltekk and a lot of different people. I just want to know how it began for you guys? HELLTEKK(Dakota Velasquez): At first, it just started with us two. And now we added recently, our homies like that's been there since day one, Psychs, better known as Fuck The Psychs. Yeah, it's awesome. SOR: When did you guys start it? HELLTEKK(Justin Santana): Uh, 2021. We started. I was DJing at home. And I was like, I threw a line out where I was like, oh, like, anybody want to book me to DJ. I think I waited like three months and nothing happened. And Dakota was like, I'm pretty sure we could just do this on our own. I’m like word. Dakota mentioned that punks usually use the spot to do shows and that we could probably do a free show there. And that's how we started off our free party side of Helltekk. Normally when we speak about our collective we’re like, yeah, we do paid shows but our main thing is a free party. That is our main. HELLTEKK(D): When we’re able to afford… HELLTEKK(J): Yeah, obviously because of the weather and stuff, but that's our main better bread and butter is the free party. HELLTEKK(D): So if we could do that almost all the time. That'll be awesome. SOR: And what about Hammerhead? When did that start for you? Because you've been doing solo stuff for a while? HAMMERHEAD(Ashe Kilbourne): Yeah, I've been doing that for a while. But actually that name is Hammerhead and that idea, I think two years ago, I started talking with friends about it. I was like I play often here (New York) and not here. And obviously have opinions about how I think a show should be. And there's artists that I like that don't play here normally. I think at a certain point it makes sense to have a party, to have a label, to have some kind of vessel for putting people's music, or people who I like and support out there. Obviously, it's not a huge operation but being like, here's a physical copy or we get some photos taken. You know, send it to music writers. Basically, get it the attention that I think it deserves. A year ago, that was the first party. It was like last April. SOR: Oh, yeah. I was gonna ask about the record label. What’s that aspect of it all? HAMMERHEAD: Yeah, I think that was actually my first thought and then the party happened alongside it. For me, it's hardcore that I like. It's mostly people that I have a personal relationship with. I'm not aiming to do a lot of releases, but to make them quality. It's also for me to put out my own music as well. It's a nice thing when you don't want to wait like a year. I also wanted to do something that was not vinyl, at least not exclusively vinyl, because by the time it was out the tracks were like two years old. But a CD, you can make that in two weeks if you want. And that's just so simple. But yeah, we've done two releases so far. I think the third one will be out in a couple months. It's really good. SOR: I also wanted to ask, what would you guys say the ethos is of your collectives or like, your mission statement? Like, what are some values that are really meaningful to you guys, when you create your party? HELLTEKK(D): Mainly to bring everyone together no matter if you have money or not just come through and dance the whole night. Add to that? HELLTEKK(J): I don't know. Like, I've never thought of a mission statement. But mainly that. The reason why we do the free party stuff is to give people a space to party for free. Because we understand why certain parties in Bushwick, in the whole rave scene in general, cost a certain amount of money. Like I have no problem, I'm not saying that just because she's here, I have no problem paying Ashe $30 or $40 to go to her parties. I have no problem with that. But there's way too many parties that are $20 to $30 that I'm like, there's no way. I know how much this costs. I know how much you wasted to get here. There's no way that this party is $20 to $30. HELLTEKK(D): Also some lineups are really oversaturated. HELLTEKK(J): Like, I'm not paying you so much money to see certain people. It's just you're pricing people out. There's a bunch of parties we would love to go to sometimes but we’re like, eesh, $30 before tax so after it's $38. I just, I can't afford that. But people could afford to find us somewhere in Queens where we normally do our stuff or meet us at Trans Pecos for 15 to 20 bucks. SOR: Yeah, I totally get that. There's a lot of things I paid for where I was like, Yeah, I didn't need to pay that much for this shit. Well, what would you say your ethos or values are? HAMMERHEAD: Musically, I feel like I'm trying to get to something that's kind of psychedelic, kind of sexy, open up a portal vibes. I like all kinds of music experiences, stuff all around electronic music, outside electronic music, but I think at this point, the most powerful stuff has been when it gets really freaky and you can't even tell what's real anymore. I think just being somewhere for a long time, having a really loud sound, Loud enough that you don't have to hear people, like no one can even talk. SOR: And it kinda sends you into a freaky mentality? HAMMERHEAD: Exactly. Exactly. SOR: Sort of meditative, like a drug. HAMMERHEAD: Yeah, like that. And it's also an excuse to get my friends under one roof and dance together. SOR: So it seems like community is a really big moving component for you guys. Was there anything missing from the scene that you wanted to bring when you started thinking of a collective and doing parties? HELLTEKK(D): More New York natives, especially people of color running shit in the rave scene. That was one of our main goals. And that's what this whole group is, we're all just native New York kids, doing this shit. So I think that's hard. And queer, that’s another bonus. HELLTEKK(J): For the most part when it comes to our parties, there's a lot of New York native kids who are there, like kids who are from the city that felt like they couldn't go to raves. Because for the most part, it's always the same thing. Even before I got into hardcore when I was 15, I was like, that’s white people music. Once you understand that it's not white people music, even if it happens to be categorized as that, you can still participate in it, you can still come to that type of thing. Our stuff opened the door for those kids to be like, Oh, we can actually come and party with you. I'm like, yes. You don't have to be afraid of raves. There's no reason to shy away from coming to this stuff HELLTEKK(D): Yeah, they literally come up to us telling us like, yo, we feel seen, especially seeing the people running it. We're all in the same age group. And it's like, alright, I can connect with you. You know what I mean? We're from the same type of area. We're both non white. You know what I mean? That's cool. SOR: Was there anything that you saw that was missing that you wanted to bring back? HAMMERHEAD: I guess it's a different scene now than seven years ago or something, where it felt like there were no hardcore parties at all. Now there's obviously so many, and there's a variety. But when you hear a powerful sound system, that's something that was missing. SOR: That makes me think of the quality of these parties, and how that can turn people off to hardcore because they're like, What is this crazy noise?, but then you're bringing in a really good sound system…oh, this is what it’s supposed to sound like. HELLTEKK(D): I've been to Hammerhead, that shit is amazing. It's like what you just said, like the sound systems, you make sure it's good like it's great. Like the whole night is just amazing. You know what I mean? Literally no talking on the dance floor, it's just dancing the whole night. SOR: Yeah, definitely. I had so much fun at each one I went to. Are there any other hardcore collectives that you want to shout out? HAMMERHEAD: Helltekk HELLTEKK(D): Hammerhead lineups are fucking amazing, it’s like three artists doing two hour sets or something, it’s like bringing power the whole night. HELLTEKK(J): Yeah, there's a lot of hardcore parties. But there's not a lot of good hardcore parties. Which is why I don't go out very often. Hardcore isn't just loudness. HELLTEKK (D): Or goofiness. SOR: Like happy hardcore? HELLTEKK(J): Yeah, and even then, like there's good happy hardcore sets, like our homie Seth (Valestrand), or Flapjack. Obviously, he's the main happy hardcore guy. But like Seth does great Happy Hardcore sets, and I liked him, but then I'll go to go see other people who do Happy Hardcore sets. And I'm just like, I can tell you don't care for this music. I've heard the songs before. There's nothing wrong with playing songs that everyone knows. But if I go to your set, and every single song is songs that when you first look up happy, hardcore, is what I'm hearing… You have to have a certain level of care for things when you start doing them. A lot of people don't have the care for hardcore, happy hardcore, or jungle stuff like that. They just don't have the care for it. And that's fine. But I'm also not going to go and see you play because I know you don't care about this music as much as I do. HELLTEKK(D): It's always really obvious when you like to tell us someone crate digs or not. If I can name like, your whole set, or half of your set at least, it's like, lock in with the genre you want to play. HAMMERHEAD: I feel like when I would go and see hardcore parties, or even when I was playing hardcore parties everyone I'm playing alongside is trolling right now. I don't want to sound reactive or like things need to be pure. Obviously, all these things are meant to be broken down. And we can tell like you said, when someone doesn't have love for the music. Like, you went on Spotify and did the first three tracks on the hardcore bangers editorial playlists? You know. HELLTEKK(J): You looked at the old school gabber pack on Spotify? I love Neophyte as much as the next person but I don't want to hear that. I've heard it enough. SOR: Well, what are some genres that you guys think of for your collectives? What are you attracted to when you're playing? I know Dakota just did a sick Drum and Bass jungle mix. HELLTEKK(D): Definitely what you just brought up. Definitely jungle. Free Tekno is one that we really love to play. HELLTEKK(J): I really love Hard House. Yeah, part of the LA hard house scene is one of my favorites. HELLTEKK(D): Yeah this one (Justin) crate digs like a motherfucker when it comes to hard house. HELLTEKK(J): LA hard house scene is something I really love because like, looking through their history, it was just a big melting pot of Latinos and black people that really ran that scene for a while. And all the songs are super hard to find because they were not well documented at all. There's a couple of YouTube pages that have all the songs, but even then the songs won't be properly recorded like they're still fuzzy and hazy, which speaks to the genre because they were making it on really shitty samplers. That's one of my favorite genres that I really really love, along with jungle and the rest of them, but free techno, hardcore, and hard house is like my main thing. HELLTEKK(D): And gabber for sure, it's really fun to play. SOR: What is free tekno? I don't think I’ve heard that before. HELLTEKK(J): Free tekno is a genre that spawned from the free party scene. So it's people like suburb bass, 69 DB, Chris liberator, Ben Nine Millimeter. That genre is my favorite because they make the songs eight minutes long and a lot of it is just straight hardware recording. HELLTEKK(D): Spinning free tech is really fun too. Because it's just all about blends. Like you got to make sure the whole thing goes together. Really fun. SOR: Ashe, what are some genres that you're attracted to? HAMMERHEAD: I think the smooth brain answer is probably industrial hardcore. This is sort of like a fake term to me. If you unpack, what does it mean? Not much, but I don't know, dark hardcore. I like a lot of stuff within that. Like all of hardcore techno, like more technoey stuff, or like the Millennium sound, I love mainstream hardcore, like, early and old school. I don't like crossbreeding at all, or hard drum and bass, but just about everything else like in the spectrum, terror, speed core it's all good. And like yeah, like free techno techno okay, too. HELLTEKK(J): Why don't you like crossbreed HAMMERHEAD: I don't know, the sound design is nasty. I love jungle, I like some drum and bass. I like old UK breakbeat hardcore. I hate the like, (making a sound) chk chk bl-ink chk chk bl-ink. *Laughter* HELLTEKK(J): Like the drum and bass break and then a really loud K right in the middle of the mix. HAMMERHEAD: Even like the hat. Everything is so clean. And obviously some hardcore is really clean in a similar way. But it's so shiny and perfect. You know what I mean? You can tell this person's a genius, like, in a bad way. I like tracks with breaks in them like drum and bass or jungle or like, club music and Baltimore club and stuff because the breaks sound human to some extent. A lot of crossbreed sounds so anti human and not organic. SOR: Speaking of humanity and human touch in electronic stuff, what does that sound like to you? How do you bring like human-ness into this music? HELLTEKK(J): I'll speak from my own sweet experience when it comes to me making music. I feel like what brings the human touch to it is making all my own sounds. That's what I try my best to do. I have a Mackie 1604, and it has an old technique where you do the direct outs. So you gain, uh, distort all the kicks and make your gabber kicks and stuff like that. That adds a human layer to it because it brings a really, really raw sound that I'll end up fixing in post. One of the songs that I released, Analog Static, a lot of it is what I recorded when I was outside. So it was a lot of field recordings of me just being out. And that's my favorite song because it sounds like something I did, not something that I grabbed from somewhere else. Samples and everything is fine. That's hip hop. I love it. I sample all the time. But there has to be a level of like, crafting from your own self in order to make it more human. SOR: What are some images, feelings that come up in your mind's eye when you listen,play and dance to hardcore? What do you see in your brain? It could be anything abstract or concrete? HELLTEKK: Honestly the one of the images that comes up in my head is the thumping from my monitors and drivers when I'm playing or listening to hardcore. That's the feeling that I get, the pumping from my chest. HAMMERHEAD: Some like goofy stuff like the rapture or really like overblown high drama the earth opening up. I'm not feeling that all the time. Or like when I first heard hardcore, sonically I was like this is the most insane sound like the apocalypse were to happen this is what would be the soundtrack. SOR: I was gonna ask about your wristbands for each one your shows have. Hardcore is a Feeling. Can you elaborate on what that phrase means to you? HAMMERHEAD: I wrote down the wristbands in part because I was turned off by how segmented a lot of establishments are, especially like European Hardcore. Someone was like [after a set], You played a lot of like, this sound in your set, but also this one is like, And they're like, Well, which one is it? Which one are you doing? And I was like, Whoa, that's like, such a twisted way to approach music of like. Oh, I need to play like a pure Millennium set? It's actually a feeling and something that's continuous across a lot of different sounds. Hardcore is not just like gabber or Dutch hardcore, it's actually a whole spectrum of sounds, distortion and power and speed. SOR: Do you guys feel that there are limitations to seeing things through genre? HELLTEKK(J): Yes, but there's limitations for a reason. Not a reason to stop you. I see it like a herding dog, it's like they're pushing you towards the thing you're supposed to be. I feel like all the rules are really, really soft. But if you want to make the specific genre, you would have to abide by them a little bit. HAMMERHEAD: For me, genre does matter. And history does matter. It's shaped how you understand music. At the same time, I don't want to idolize genres as the most valuable way to understand music. You're not going to hear this song if you're only judging it on what check marks or boxes it ticks. HELLTEKK (J): I think the only box it should be ticking is if you like it or not. I don't need genre help, instead Do you think this would hit on a dance floor? I don't need you to think about the genre. I need you to let me know if this is going to hit on a set of speakers. If it does cool. If it doesn't let me know because that means that I have work to do. SOR: What was your first encounter or earliest memory with hardcore? HELLTEKK(J): If y'all ever seen that meme of the little kid dancing in the club, that was a Thunderdome video. I saw Thunderdome 1992 and all the Thunderdome videos, from 15 to around 17/18, but I didn't care to look for anything else past that And then, yeah, I started dating Dakota. Dakota was like There's a whole scene for this. HELLTEKK(D): When I was 16 I went to a rave. So I was like, Yo, I'm fucking with this and my homie was there and asked him [the DJ], Do you know what this is? And then you know, they were like, yeah, it's gabber. I was like Yo, you gotta put me on. Thunderdome was like the entry. I grew to love it, you know got more into it so we're here now. HAMMERHEAD: For me, I had a friend who would send me tracks or burned CDs in high school that would have a lot of trance and happy hardcore. And at one point they sent me a Scott Brown Bonkers, which was like a Happy Hardcore mix series. I probably was like 14. I was hearing it more and I wanted to know more. SOR: How did you guys learn about each other? And how did you guys start off playing together? HELLTEKK(J): Well, it's kind of hard to get into hardcore and not find Kilbourne in the first place. In the current state of hardcore hardcore, you do definitely run into your songs very easily. So yeah, at first we were like, super like, oh my god, do we say hi to her? HAMMERHEAD: I think it must have just been through the internet. Like I feel like I was just like I mean, I don't know I have the experience recently where I was like, found like a few like people doing hardcore like in the city that I didn't know. SOR: What is the relevance of being a young, queer, women, and people of color in the genre/scene? HELLTEKK(J): Being young in the scene is important because other young people don't think they should come here because for some reason people have convinced them that raving is an old people's game. They feel like it's like a weird place where they can't compete or be in and I'm just like, No, you can. We're here. Like, the reason why we're here is for that reason. You could also do this, like that's the other thing where people all like to offer to help us. Or they're like, Oh, how do we get started? I'm just like, you're asking the wrong questions. You can just be started. The moment you start asking how can I do this is the moment you've already started. Just do it. HELLTEKK(D): It's cool to see more Puerto Rican kids, Hondurans, Latinos, Black people in it. HAMMERHEAD: There's one thing I thought about. I once played in the Netherlands, and I was feeling pretty alienated. Especially for queerness and straightness. I'm here to play. And it's only for straight people. And that is like, kind of odd. Like, would I be friends with these people? Like if we weren't just in this room right now. So I'm in the crowd at this point. Like, I'm waiting to go on. I'm just kind of in my head like, damn. And then as I'm doing this, these two totally like Gabbered out guys like, Australians, shaved head, tracksuit, shirtless really good Hakken… as I'm just like, having this big quandary, one of them, like grabs the other back of their head and they start making out. I'm just like, Oh, my God, like shut the fuck up. Just chill and enjoy this. SOR: What are some of the benefits that come with starting a collective from scratch? What are some drawbacks? HELLTEKK(J): The benefits of starting from scratch is you're able to build your own community; your own ecosystem. You got to do your own thing with it. Get to play your own music that you want to hear or the artists that you're actually in love with. HELLTEKK(D): Make sure you pick the right people to work with and make sure those people that you pick are going to be down for the long run because you don't want to run into issues with them because they don't do their part. HAMMERHEAD: Sharing what my vision of Hardcore is; my sort of perfect night imagined, my favorite artists. People playing long sets as the standard, not booking anyone because it's political or I feel like I need to bring this [certain] crowd in. It's just literally, musically, who I would like to see. That is a real blessing. I don't know, it's nice to work with my friends. Most of the people that make the flyers, that setup and run different parts of the party are friends and that's obviously special; It’s touching... HAMMERHEAD: Throwing the parties has really made me rethink about what I want to DJ, what kind of music I want to hear. Because once you're at a venue for like 15/16 hours, from the very start to breaking everything down, that's a really different energy than like, pulling up an hour before you play, dancing for a couple hours, leaving. SOR: What is the difference in the energy? HAMMERHEAD: In the mood and affect you’re trying to create. I think hardcore can suffer from this drop mentality or like EDM shit where I need to be blowing your mind like every other second. So much hype to like a point that can no longer sustain itself you know what I mean? If you only have an hour to play, you kind of just want to go in there and play all the bangers. Having a longer set for example, you can play stuff that you normally wouldn't because you know it's not going to get the most crazy crowd reaction; it's not going to be that song with an acapella that people know and then they can be like, ahhhh, sing along. I think the long term energy of the party may be something you think about. SOR: What are the crowds that each of your respective collectives bring in? What are some similarities and differences in the people, energy, etc.? HELLTEKK(D): The crowds we bring in are mainly POC, native New Yorkers. And the other half are a lot of young people, some candy kids, you know. Some punks also pull up so that's always sick to see because I'm like, come through to the raves it's not you know, fuck techno or whatever the fuck you're describing. That kill the disco mentality is wack, I think punks definitely enjoy the renegade aspect of it too. HELLTEKK(J): I think [both of] the crowds that are coming are there to enjoy the music, rather than just going there for a photo op. Because that's a huge thing I think people sometimes tend to miss with their own parties, you should create an atmosphere where no one wants to pull their phones out. Or if they're gonna get a picture, they get their picture in and that's it. I don't need to be seeing a sea of phones, I sound like I'm 60 years old. HELLTEKK(D): We’d rather see people connect on the dance floor with each other or with the music. HAMMERHEAD: I feel like both parties, it's not a lot of people who are like, I'm wandering down Myrtle Ave. let me go to a techno club. It is self selected in some ways, it's a particular kind of music. I don't know if y'all would characterize your party this way but to me both of them are friendly. There’s an unspoken nature if you really fuck with this music and are giving yourself to it then you have a place in that space. Compared to a lot of other parties, a core concept is creating scarcity and some kind of sense of clique, which is a really dark mentality. SOR: What is something that you wish you could change about the scene? HELLTEKK(J): I wish we could be more selective as to who comes in. Not in a way to push anyone out, but I do feel there's an oversaturation of college kids who move here and are like, there's no community in the rave scene. So I created my own thing. If all of your crowds are transplant college kids, you are doing something very wrong. That's where we come into a lot of our issues with people who feel very entitled to the New York space because they moved here. Just because you paid to go to fucking NYU does not mean you're fucking entitled to my goddamn native space. I don't have a problem with people that are coming from colleges to stay here. But the entitlement behind your words is what bothers me. HELLTEKK(D): People take the ‘New York is your playground’ thing too seriously. It's not a playground. This is a city full of people who care for and love the city. It's either you're going to care for and love the city, or you're going to feel jaded and want to do your own thing. And when that thing you started does not work out because, guess what, none of the people in this scene like you, because you have an entitled, rude attitude. And then, what, you're going to stop doing your collective and you're going to be like, “Oh, the New York scene sucks,” which we've heard too many times over. “Oh, the New York scene sucks.” “You guys are so jaded.” I'm like who jaded?! Because I love this city. I love my collective, I love my scene. It just didn't work out for you because you don't know how to speak to people. HAMMERHEAD: For me, I'm trying to show what I think a hardcore party could look like and things that I find musically and artistically valuable and special to experience. I think that's my attempt at change. SOR: On the flip side, what's something you would never change about the scene? HAMMERHEAD: I value that people don't take the sound for granted here. It's rare compared to a lot of other kinds of dance music. And that's really different than, you know, a Dutch festival or just the Netherlands in general where you can go to any of these parties any day of the week kind of thing or it's always there for you. I think the energy of excitement and wonder around it is really special. SOR: As natives, how do you feel about a lot of old mainstays, like The Grove for example, getting closed down and having to do more legal events. HELLTEKK(J): It sucks to see it go because it was just like, that's where a lot of people got some of their first shows, especially with experimental electronic music. Or places like Chaos Computer because that space was just so organic. And for that to go and not come back up is hard. You know, I touched on this earlier but you college kids come here and y'all come from money. Start putting your money towards start putting your fucking money towards DIY spaces. HELLTEKK(D): If they actually want to take part in it instead of acting like nothing exists. How about finding out for yourself and see what's going on and how you can help. Instead of having this the colonizer mentality once you move here. SOR: What's the future looking like for HAMMERHEAD? HAMMERHEAD: Well, I think we're gonna do the next HAMMERHEAD party on June 21. [The Magazine was originally slated for a June release] We're going to do the 5th HAMMERHEAD party bringing the legends: The Outside Agency &amp; Mindustries. These are the people that made industrial hardcore what it is, it's both of their first times playing in New York, so that's history vibes. The next release for the label is going to be out this summer, it's RABBEAT who played last October. Yeah, seven tracks, incredible futuristic hardcore. I think he's maybe the best in industrial hardcore right now so I can't wait for them to come out. SOR: HELLTEKK, any shoutouts? HELLTEKK(J): Stay in tune with our Instagram (@helltekk.inc) so you could get the coordinates to where our free parties will be. We won't post them of course, but you know, you can hit us with a DM. Hopefully we're also going to come out with the HELLTEKK CD’s, it's all going to be mixes. HELLTEKK(D): Shout out to the other third group member who wasn't able to come through but, Chris, Fuckthepychs (@wheresthepsychs), we love you. Shout out UNITED JUMP FRONT (@unitedjumpfront), another collective. Shout out to Shane K, Jess, Jules, they’re pushing the jump style hard house sound. Definitely shout out to the people that help us out during the Renegades. They show up early with us and help us lug everything. HELLTEKK(J): And if you have your own free time, you should be looking out for the liberation of the Palestinian people. You should be looking into donating and helping the protesters. HAMMERHEAD: 100%. To that end, all this like art and music is totally tied up with what Israel is trying to do by whitewashing itself as a cultural, tastemaker beacon and that's all just to like distract you from genocide. So keep talking about it in music spaces. I also wanna shout out to Juan and Aine who have been so helpful and crucial and tapped into making Hammerhead stuff happen pretty much from the jump. SOR: Thank you guys so much, y'all rock and that's cut. https://systemsofrelease.com/DANCESAFE Tue, 11 Mar 2025 02:05:38 +0000 Systems of Release https://systemsofrelease.com/DANCESAFE HARM REDUCTION: Andrea Rodriguez,DanceSafe NYCWe spoke with the Community Cultivation Coordinator for DanceSafe National &amp; NY Chapter Lead, Andrea Rodriguez, to get a better idea of the intersection between harm reduction and nightlife; and to learn how organizations like DanceSafe can be a source of information to ravers. May 31 2024ZOOM AUDIO AVAILABLE <img width="1657" height="2483" width_o="1657" height_o="2483" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9bcb63c0ea7661ad07073bb265d3a99ccfdcb9238df7c3c436e70238eee7bf28/AndreaProfile.jpg" data-mid="228061895" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/9bcb63c0ea7661ad07073bb265d3a99ccfdcb9238df7c3c436e70238eee7bf28/AndreaProfile.jpg" /> ANDREA RODRIGUEZ:Andrea (they/them) is the Community Cultivation Coordinator for DanceSafe National and the NY Chapter leader. They are also a nightlife liaison for OutSmartNYC, which is a collective that provides training to nightlife, party and hospitality spaces for sexual violence prevention in NYC. They are a Mexican trans immigrant whose life experience gave them purpose to help the community that showed them what belonging is. <img width="940" height="940" width_o="940" height_o="940" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/6864ef5dab46d9e6cdf8ad3aa740f03ac8a25613e178faf0f061e17e70353172/DanceSafeNewLogo.png" data-mid="228061908" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/940/i/6864ef5dab46d9e6cdf8ad3aa740f03ac8a25613e178faf0f061e17e70353172/DanceSafeNewLogo.png" /> DANCESAFE:DanceSafe is a drug checking, earplug slinging, party servicing nonprofit that was founded on social justice principles. Our programs include drug education, sexual health and consent deep-dives, political advocacy, and event outreach, where our amazing volunteers distribute information and resources at the fabled DanceSafe Booths.DANCESAFE.ORG INSTAGRAM <img width="748" height="506" width_o="748" height_o="506" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/2dd530f9458566997f83df0f009c262088505cdd07f422bfd577a15dd9c5e73a/DanceSafeTEstIt.jpg" data-mid="228070613" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/748/i/2dd530f9458566997f83df0f009c262088505cdd07f422bfd577a15dd9c5e73a/DanceSafeTEstIt.jpg" />*Some words have been cut or jump cuts made for readability’s sake SOR: To start, can you share a bit about your background and what inspired you to become involved with DanceSafe and harm reduction efforts in the dance community? Andrea Rodriguez: I’ve always practiced harm reduction since the early 2000s. I’ve been raving since 2001 or 2002. Even back then, I would take vitamins, hydrate, and mitigate harm after parties. I truly realized the power of harm reduction after a two-year chaotic meth use period. Coming out of that through a 12-step program and seeing how long it took others to recover from what’s called the “meth fog,” I recognized the importance of harm reduction in my own life. &nbsp; &nbsp; Before the pandemic, I started a mindfulness personal development group called Anjuna for the AnjunaFamily, which blew up internationally. During the pandemic, the group kept growing, and I realized how much our community needed spaces beyond parties to come together. Eventually, someone sent me a DanceSafe job posting. I didn’t get that position, but they were impressed with my work in the community, so I started doing Spanish translations for them. A year later, they offered me the role of Community Cultivation Coordinator, where I work to implement cultural initiatives and develop chapter leaders and volunteers with intrapersonal skills, social justice, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. SOR: Shifting focus to New York, can you speak a bit about the history of the New York DanceSafe chapter? Andrea: I don’t have much history, but I know Mohawk was one of the pioneers for DanceSafe. They did great work but eventually stepped down. Jared and I were co-leaders of the New York chapter for a time after Mohawk stepped down, but Jared later left to do their own thing. Now, I’m the sole leader of New York DanceSafe, which is a lot for one person. We’re working on a volunteer drive because we need more volunteers and people to step into leadership roles. Typically, a chapter should have three to five leaders. SOR: A friend and I recently attended an event at Knockdown Center and picked up some of the fun, informative drug information cards. Can you talk about the work you’ve done in drug education at events and what those interactions are like? Andrea: When we’re at events, it’s really important to keep our information factual. If we don’t know something, we’ll say, “Let me check on that,” and consult someone with better knowledge. Our mission is to provide unbiased information—neither glorifying nor stigmatizing substances. One of our main goals is to destigmatize drug use. &nbsp; &nbsp; For example, when people look through our cards and see the heroin card, they sometimes react with, “Why is this here?” because it’s a rave space. That’s when the most important education happens. By labeling drugs as either “good” or “bad,” users may internalize that they’re either a “good” or “bad” person. When there’s shame and stigma attached to drug use, it often leads to chaotic use and isolation. We want to teach people that drugs are neutral, and it’s our responsibility to manage the consequences. SOR: What services do you offer to people who want DanceSafe present at their events? Andrea: People need to go to the DanceSafe website and submit an event request form to see if we have the capacity to support it. Right now, we’re collaborating with The Psychedelic Assembly in Manhattan. We’re also hosting volunteer drives this summer, so stay tuned on social media. If anyone wants to volunteer, they can sign up at dancesafe.org/volunteer and complete our training online. SOR: Do you find that DanceSafe serves bigger institutions more, or do you also cater to smaller collectives and individual parties? Andrea: Jared, our former chapter lead, still has a presence at venues like House of Yes and some Knockdown Center events. But I really want to focus our volunteer drive on bringing in more diversity, especially queer BIPOC folks, as they are often underserved. It’s important to support big events, but it’s even more crucial to serve queer BIPOC communities where there’s often less information and more stigma around drug use. They need harm reduction services just as much, if not more. SOR: What challenges have you encountered working with New York’s dance community, whether with city politics or community interactions? Andrea: One challenge is that some venues and promoters fear that harm reduction services will attract attention, especially for underground events. They worry it signals to cops that drug use is being endorsed. For us, it’s about getting the venues and promoters on board. Some are totally fine with it, but others need convincing. &nbsp; &nbsp; Another challenge is transportation—getting everything from the storage unit to the event can be tough since our setup is pretty big. DanceSafe isn’t just about drug education or testing. We also promote overall safer partying. For example, we have a “We Love Consent” section with bystander intervention cards and consent guidelines for the dance floor. We also provide information on preventing heat stroke and protecting hearing. We start with what people are comfortable with, and as they see the value, they often request more services. SOR: What are your hopes for DanceSafe in New York? Andrea: I hope we can build a diverse, robust volunteer base with several chapter leads, allowing us to serve all communities, from burner and queer parties to drug education in gay bars. My dream is to bring harm reduction to places like Jackson Heights, Harlem, and parts of the Bronx. We’re starting to develop more Spanish-language materials, so I’d love to see us support more Spanish-speaking communities and BIPOC spaces. &nbsp; &nbsp; It’s going to take time, probably one to two years, but we understand volunteering is free labor and can be a big commitment in a city like New York. We aim to have a large enough volunteer base to make shifts smaller and more manageable, so volunteers can enjoy the party too. SOR: What are one or two things you wish people knew about harm reduction education? Andrea: The way we approach people with chaotic drug use has been institutionalized. Media like “Intervention” and 12-step programs give the message that people aren’t “good enough” until they’re sober, which can be really harmful. Instead of pushing people away, we should meet them where they’re at. &nbsp; &nbsp; For example, when someone is in chaotic use, I’d suggest asking them, “Do you have food? Water? Are you testing your drugs?” Providing resources like fentanyl testing strips, needle exchange programs, and safe consumption sites can reduce harm and offer better quality of life without judgment. Shame only leads to further isolation, but love and support can help bridge the gap. SOR: What’s your biggest concern with New York City’s dance community and its relationship with substances? Andrea: The fentanyl crisis has been devastating, especially since the pandemic. Newcomers to the scene who aren’t familiar with harm reduction often go from zero to full without understanding the risks. We have a responsibility to make sure everyone is safe, not just those with experience in the scene. &nbsp; &nbsp; There’s also been a rise in incidents of roofies, which ties into the importance of consent work and sexual violence prevention. We need to train nightlife staff and partygoers in bystander intervention. Collectives like OutSmartNYC are doing great work in training venues like Elsewhere and Avant Gardner on sexual violence prevention, consent, and how it intersects with racism and gender violence. Harm reduction is connected to all of these issues. SOR: Conversely, what brings you the most joy in working with this community? Andrea: There’s so much joy in seeing how harm reduction has positively impacted people’s lives. People come up to me and say how it changed them, or how they got involved after losing someone. I love my co-workers and feel incredibly supported by DanceSafe and OutSmartNYC. Working with people who have the same passion and the same drive, who want to leave the world a better place through recognizing people’s humanity is extremely powerful and fulfilling. https://systemsofrelease.com/DJs-Against-Apartheid-Panel Tue, 18 Mar 2025 20:30:04 +0000 Systems of Release https://systemsofrelease.com/DJs-Against-Apartheid-Panel PANEL DISCUSSION:NIGHTLIFE AS A POLITICAL LANDSCAPE FOR PALESTINIAN RESISTANCE w/ DJs Against ApartheidVIDEO UNAVAILABLE&nbsp; <img width="3004" height="1701" width_o="3004" height_o="1701" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9033e0b86cd44c4b9fa3c122c13f279f4c53e360221974f9a1972d3dded7a9bd/FLINTAPANELCOVER-4.jpg" data-mid="228439621" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/9033e0b86cd44c4b9fa3c122c13f279f4c53e360221974f9a1972d3dded7a9bd/FLINTAPANELCOVER-4.jpg" /> On June 3rd, 2024, we gathered a group of DJs and nightlife people actively and unconditionally organizing for the Palestinian liberation movement, moderated by Kartik Gupta. The session began with the panelists opening up to the audience, situating themselves in their ancestral/familial backgrounds, organizing history, and the anti-imperialist principles that ground them. The conversation revolved around the dancefloor as a site of consistent learning and unlearning, building communities of care, and cultural resistance. Moderator:&nbsp; Kartik Gupta Sound engineer: Krish Pitaccio Camera lead: Grant Owens <img width="3753" height="2815" width_o="3753" height_o="2815" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d662bd3076ce4b39cb0531e4b2c0b1aa6eef0e1afa6ebb53e30e3f9e30a7e992/FLINTAPANELCOVER-1.jpg" data-mid="228439683" border="0" data-scale="100" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/d662bd3076ce4b39cb0531e4b2c0b1aa6eef0e1afa6ebb53e30e3f9e30a7e992/FLINTAPANELCOVER-1.jpg" /> Panelists: (left to right) NOUR KHALIL: an Egyptian filmmaker, dancer, and Co-Founder of DJs Against Apartheid based in New York &amp; Berlin. WTCHCRFT: Acid fiend, Techno heathen. Occasional rap producer. It's All Your Fault.soundcloudinstagram bandcamp DJ VOICES: DJ Voices is a DJ, co-founder of Working Women, Nothing In Moderation radio show host on The Lot Radio and former Nowadays booker.soundcloudinstagram DJ Dar: Derrar Ghanem, also known as DJ Dar, is an international Palestinian DJ and co-founder of UNION Collective - a Ramallah-based group of DJs and artists aiming to provide a free space for artists and a learning environment to learn from each other and teach their skills to others. soundcloud instagram https://systemsofrelease.com/Gender-Sexuality-Panel Wed, 19 Mar 2025 01:26:32 +0000 Systems of Release https://systemsofrelease.com/Gender-Sexuality-Panel PANEL DISCUSSION: GENDER &amp; SEXUALITY IN ELECTRONIC MUSIC AND NIGHTLIFE SPACES WATCH HERE&nbsp; <img width="2920" height="1642" width_o="2920" height_o="1642" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/475c814ae48da22de51967faad882dd3903c943e5db89a70275d0db81397a07b/FLINTAPANELCOVER-3.jpg" data-mid="228451501" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/475c814ae48da22de51967faad882dd3903c943e5db89a70275d0db81397a07b/FLINTAPANELCOVER-3.jpg" /> On June 4th, 2024, we invited a group of New York based femme, trans and non-binary DJs to explore identity on and off the dance floor, moderated by Gretel Dougherty &amp; Vanya Suchan. The panel began by discussing how personal identity serves as resistance, transitioning into the intersection of queerness, nightlife spaces, and the commodification of sexuality. The conversation then moved through how gender and sexuality influence the dance floor and sound creation, before closing with reflections of safe(r) and unsafe spaces, navigating crowds and envisioning the future for women, femme, and non-binary DJs. Moderators:&nbsp; Vanya Suchan Gretel Dougherty Sound engineer: Krish Pitaccio Camera lead: Grant Owens <img width="3909" height="2932" width_o="3909" height_o="2932" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8047af55d28f5a4b7fc8a15901191225b5fca122c597bb7fe7857e9f60431d89/FLINTAPANELCOVER-2.jpg" data-mid="228451498" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8047af55d28f5a4b7fc8a15901191225b5fca122c597bb7fe7857e9f60431d89/FLINTAPANELCOVER-2.jpg" /> Panelists: (left to right) KYRUH: Based out of Brooklyn, KYRUH is no stranger of hard, gritty and high caliber techno. Purgative, high energy rave shawty that makes love on the ones and twos. soundcloud instagram bandcamp DJ INFOHAZARD: DJ Infohazard is an NYC-based producer and DJ making hazardous dance music. She is drawn to unusual sounds, honing in on slurps and squelches, blending them with forward-thinking techno and bass music. Coming into the hardcore scene in 2018 through involvement with Melting Point, she's now one of the founding members of Kitty Collective and routinely throws experimental, techno, and hardcore parties around Brooklyn.soundcloudinstagram X3BUTTERFLY: x3butterfly is a Mexican/American DJ and producer from Detroit, currently based in New York. While studying at California Institute of the Arts, they began their career in music as an experimental performance artist.soundcloudinstagram KATIE REX: Katie Rex is a music producer &amp; DJ based in Brooklyn, New York. She holds club residencies in New York City at Basement with BOUND and Le Bain for Midnite Request Line. soundcloudinstagram