Curatorial platform A—-Z (Anne Duffau) has teamed up with DJ and artist Chooc Ly Tan to create Décalé: a club night series devoted to otherness – to be Décalé is to be displaced in space and time.
Hosted by London’s DIY Space, the event is back for its second edition on June 8 featuring Karnage Kills, Fauzia, Imran Perretta, Chooc Ly, Alpha and NX Panther in conversation below. The progressive and inclusive ethos of DIY and its dedication in supporting underrepresented groups fit our drive to produce events as platforms for too-often marginalised voices to be heard in the club environment.
Despite the countless venues and promoters experimenting every night across London, there is still a lack of environments where we can explore the boundaries of performativity with live music & DJ sets dedicated to non-binary and people of colour. Our mission is to create a safe and fun space where we can break down fences and boundaries towards an ever inclusive atmosphere. Inspired by sci-fi, rebellion and non-conformist ideas explored in both our practices, we write:
When dusk arises, agitated spirits awake
A night on planet earth, Décalé
A platform for nocturnal creatures, loud existential insurgents, disobedient children will come together & rise from the dark to encounter experimental collapsing & flawless sounds / visuals / people to declare together the unspoken & embrace the hybrid and reactive nature of our collective experience. Together we re-write reality now, against distorted norms, for an alternate tomorrow.
On our radar for a while, London-based producer and rapper NX Panther speaks with A—-Z ahead of their performance at Décalé.
** Your new EP ‘Black Forest Ghetto’ just came out at the beginning of May, can you tell us more about it?
NX Panther: It’s a hip hop album referencing grime and world music samples. The music reflects what’s on my mind at the time of writing it, the absurdity of our world, how I experience digital technology, consumerism and cinema.
** Where does your love for music come from?
NX P: I grew up with music all around me. My father is a percussionist and played in fusion bands, my mother loves her Hindi film songs and my sister and I used to sing together all the time. The elders in my family would get together and sing Naat and qawwali (Islamic devotional songs). I loved how discordant and raw it sounded and it still moves me now. When I was a kid my older cousin from Chicago introduced me to Tribe Called Quest and Bone Thugz. By age 8 I was already listening a lot to Tupac Shakur. Growing up in the 90s we travelled up and down the UK to visit family and I was exposed to a lot of reggae and dancehall. There’s much more to that journey but those are the moments I remember first.
** You are a visual artist too, do you consider your music and art projects as part of the same aim?
NX P: I’m a visual artist, I also make films but I was producing and performing music first. These are all outputs I choose depending on what I wanna convey at that moment. Every output informs the next in some way as I move forwards, so if the aim is to develop myself as a person then yes absolutely, that’s where the two meet.
** What are you listening to at the moment?
NX P: Listening back to ‘the Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.’ My sister used to play it so much when I was a kid and I wasn’t grown enough to realise how important that album was – and also to the Black Panther Album, like on repeat!
** What’s your advise to kids wanting to be artists/musicians/producers?
NX P: Keep practicing and ride the highs and lows. Choose good role models who represent you and get who you are – or guide yourself on your own path. Be yourself and develop in your own time. Also, stay in school. Even if it’s hard for you, it will shape how great you are going to be later on.**
The second edition of Décalé will take place at London’s DIY Space on June 8, 2018.
