Coming in HOT. Boo Lean’s back for her residency Fri 8.05 with a spicy, international selection of producers to keep your mind, body, and soul captivated on the dance floor. Opening the night is Mexico City’s Tristan Arp with a solo live set, followed by NYC’s secret weapon, Kellen303, who will be selling his 12” collaboration with Arp for the early birds. Boo Lean herself turns up the heat with some freaky drum play and getting our fire fully stoked is Lisboner and Naive label-boss Violet to meld breaks, extraterrestrial jacking rhythms & more. The crew sat down and answered some questions from Boo on the past, present, and future. Read below:

Boo Lean: Let me start by saying how much it means to me that we are all together 🙂 This residency is a place to draw out unique connections. I love how this one came together sonically & socially. For me what links you all (aside from being amazing artists) is that you are multifaceted, generous souls in how you give to music communities. 

 

Past ~~ 

How are we all connected? 

Boo Lean: Tristan the first time I saw you play was when we shared a bill at Elsewhere in 2018 — I remember buying Pipeline after that which made its way into lots of my sets and made them more spatial. When I ran PRTV during COVID, I learned a lot chatting with you about your work at SPLICE supporting producers with sample pack commissions. Violet, our Big Aquarius Energy linked us through the interwebs, and you’ve been a source of deep conversation, shared sensibility about creative scenes, LOLZ, and delivering albums that always stoke my fire — it’s hard to believe this is our first IRL jam. Kellen303, I’m so glad Mitch (Sheepshead) booked us at NewTypeRhythm — I just remember head banging along with you to your set, thinking this bitch is wild I love him. Could y’all share some thoughts on how we are connected? 

 

Kellen303: Sonically, we all have a love for bass driven music from different walks of life.

 

Violet: So excited and to be honest honored to play with everyone. I agree with Kellen303, bass-driven music definitely is our common mother figure and I think that’s already saying quite something. The love of a warm big bass is a mode of life! A whole lot could be said about basslines and our wish to be connected to and love each other. It will be so special to finally hug Boo Lean IRL, it feels unbelievable that it hasn’t happened yet. We’ve definitely metaphysically hugged in so many ways though – from our music passions to our approach to cultural work to political thoughts and praxis. Also we’re Aquarius sisters with a penchant for the weird, funny, futuristic things the world has to offer and that bond is so comforting.

 

Tristan Arp: Boo! So happy to be connected and reconnected :~) And Violet, psyched to meet for the first time! Joe (Kellen303) and I met about five years ago at the Lot and he was just about to release his next record on Spec at the time. Fallon was playing with me and Simisea and played Joe’s record a few weeks later and I just remember being very struck by hearing the kind of freaky polyrhythmic bass that I was wanting to hear more of in New York. Flash forward to a move to Mexico City, followed by a pandemic, I stayed in touch with Joe, who immediately came to mind as a friend I wanted to explore remote collaboration with as an exercise in staying social through music during lockdown.

 

Present ~~ 

Violet — this is your first trip back to the US since 2020… what has changed in your output or perspective on music culture during this time? 

 

Violet: I was there early 2020! I think late Feb… just before chaos ensued, that moment in time was in hindsight such a little gem, hugging friends for the last time in 2+ years… in the meantime I made two albums and two EPs and few remixes which I was very happy with. I think it might have served as a coming of age of sorts as a music maker.  Also with no touring for many months I naturally had more grounding time which I think I needed – delved deeper into my musical inclinations as a DJ and even within my downtime I went through phases and obsessions with sub-genres and movements. All of this not only enriches my musical sensibility but also gives me a much-needed glimpse of hope for the future – more and more I feel like bridging old and new influences is my love language when it comes to music. And I can’t wait to share my evolving DJ iterations with you all – it’s always such an incredibly sweet time when I come to the US, I really click with your underground.

 

Tristan & Kellen303 — you’re doing a special live set & premiering your latest record collab. How did you work together on this release? 

 

Kellen303: To me, the record came about out of wanting to stay creative during the pandemic. I love Erin’s organic sounds and wanted to work with him in order to grow myself. We basically just traded stems from NYC – CDMX. I think we married our sounds pretty well. 

 

Tristan Arp: This record is special to me in that it feels like a very New York record. I think it inadvertently outlines the kind of club music we’d both been pushing in our years of working in New York with, especially in the A1, sprinkles of New York nightlife history going back to the 70s and all its hand drummy vocal freakout goodness.

 

Future ~ 

How are the connections you made over COVID manifesting in your life (for me, obvi this show!). What feels important to keep in mind going forward as our industry grows back?

 

Violet: Everyone in music having more time on their hands and a brand-new shared struggle created and strengthened artistic and personal relationships, in my case taking the time to have longer talks with people I’ve briefly bonded with in the past, working on collabs… It was a time of cementing the real connections. And most evidently it also brought things back to my home scene even more – meeting and working with the usual suspects alongside a beautiful new generation of artists with mind blowing ideas and incredible music. Started a venue with my friends in Lisbon as a non-profit, started working on a new label to be announced soon, worked on Rádio Quântica’s projects especially the festival ano 0 which we now are doing yearly. All these speak to me in very personal, full-circle ways, where I feel like we all managed to regroup and reassess what’s really important to us and pour energy into bringing meaning to our gestures as a politicized artistic community. Creating, collaborating, organizing, loving each other and doing the most we can in our local ecosystem were all notions that were recalibrated during the pandemic and we are determined to keep in our practice. 

 

Kellen303: There are a few people who I knew of before the pandemic who have now become good friends. As tragic as it was, there were a lot of bonds created and I’m glad I stayed in NYC during that time. I feel a sonic renaissance beginning to emerge here and people in Europe and the UK are starting to pay closer attention to us.

 

Tristan Arp: Joe’s absolutely right and I feel it too: there is a renaissance in New York club sounds and everyone I’ve spoken with around the world on tour this year is more interested in the New York sound than ever. It’s bittersweet to now be living in Mexico City but I also want to honor the new bonds I’ve made with my partner and the incredible people in CDMX who have welcomed me and inspired me to think and live in new ways and in turn form a new bond with myself. This just means I’ll have to visit New York frequently for the time being :~)

 

 

Tickets for Violet + Boo Lean + Tristan Arp x Kellen303 (Live) on Dice + RA. We’ll see you on the dance floor.