Combining music, video and dance —in the freest sense —Alis approaches each with the same weight. Otherwise known as Sabina Plamenova, the Italian-born artist based in Berlin has already released music on Astro:Dynamics and Fifth Wall, homes to artists such as Dynooo and Physical Therapy. That is, after renouncing her former alias Subeena, which saw music released on Planet Mu and her own Opit Records, albeit a project she’s keen to part company with.
It’s interesting to think about colour and movement in relation to Alis’ music, which sound together as part of an indispensable harmony over the intricate assemblage of space and time. Represented in rolling percussion and delayed rhythms, drums are a sound of preference, likely due to their own meticulous and implicit frequency content, like earth moving to air and so on. Deeper still, whether of a person or body of persons, or in terms of abundance of events, progress and narrative, movement is always at the forefront of her work. Her mix for aqnb follows suit and includes tracks by Arca, Imaabs and Gaika interspersed with a number of her own tracks i.e., ‘Strong’, ‘Pieces’ and ‘Replicas’.
Alis is at the same time more personal and more universally musical —not solely concerning itself within music’s sonic boundaries, but rather embodying its extensive, ubiquitous nature. In her own words, it’s not just “music about music” but “the result of me taking in more personal things, such as where I live and where I grew up and so on”, she tells Dummy Mag. Her four-track EP Things Fall Apart, for example, a series of one-take experiments on a trip to Sofia, was “creatively liberating” with a “greater level of personality and intimacy”, she says. Meanwhile her A/V work, such as the recent SO.N.OWHITE, probes music’s motive qualities in a simultaneous miscellany of sound, dance and image.
Listen to the mix above.**
TRACK LISTING:
Svetoglas – Lord,have Mercy On Us & Arca – Monstruosidad
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Alis – Strong
Imaabs – Dispositif
Gaika – Lick the knife
Vybz Kartel x Akito – Tek Buddy Aqua Tryst
DVA – The End (Tsvi RMX)
Dj Helder – Paname
BWWWOYS × 4BIDDEN × TREBOL CLAN – GUILE (APRETADA SPACESEEDS BOOTLEG)
Akito – Degrade gracefully (Templeton Closer Mix)
Te’Amir – Vai
Miss Red – What would you like
Gut Nose – Crafty Gambit
Alis – Pieces
Hysterics – Club Life [Kush Jones Edit] (Scheele Remix)
[ TMP ] – Araab
Mr. G – Lex Flip Flopping
BOngo BOngo Afrohouse – DJ PutOo Helder 2015
Alis – Replicas
