RA.942 DJ Flight ⟋ Podcast RA

First-class drum & bass.

DJ Flight has been a constant throughout the many peaks and troughs of drum & bass. She's one of the genre's key chroniclers, with a real-time history of drum & bass in her archives as a radio presenter, and a level of behind the scenes involvement that spans decades. While DJ Flight's advocacy for equitable gender representation in drum & bass through her EQ50 collective is the most visible, it's by no means the sole initiative. Her work also extends to the Prison Radio Association—the world's first national radio station made specifically for incarcerated people—as well as the Windrush Stories series, which focuses on the cultural history and contributions of Afro-Caribbean migrants to the UK. DJ Flight is also, plainly, a wicked DJ, who doesn't prefer one scene or sub-genre over another—which also makes her a font of knowledge. (Her history of 2000s drum & bass is among the best genre deep dives we've ever published.) This RA Podcast is two hours of majestic, freewheeling beats that touch on every corner of drum & bass: from the minimalistic and razor-edged to ragga looseness, with a killer downtempo outro to smooth out the final landing. RA.942 is a first-class journey from one of the scene's most enduring heroes. Big up DJ Flight. What have you been up to recently? DJ'd some cool events: Nowadays in New York, Cross The Tracks Festival in London (a standout of the year so far), debuted at Sónar Barcelona, among others. Continuing my residency on Kool FM. EQ50 work, supporting prep for our Mentorship Programme's third year and slowly getting started on a big documentary project, for which we were awarded funding via AEI Media's Orbit Fund a couple months ago. Also getting everything in place for my record label play:musik's relaunch! It's been dormant for so long, I forgot how time-consuming putting out music can be but I love the process, especially music and artwork curation. How and where was the mix recorded? And can you tell us the idea behind it? I recorded the mix at home on two Pioneer CDJs, a DJM 850 and one Technics turntable. When I was first asked to do this, I considered different themes or styles to focus on, but quickly found myself spiralling into overthinking mode rather than just doing me. I spent a lot of time listening through potential tracks and working out sequencing. The result is a typical "Flight" through the sounds I love, featuring music I've played out and on radio. Some brand new, fresh out of the studio, some from the last few years but still unreleased, and a couple from years back. What are you looking forward to in the near future? A holiday, hopefully! Haha. Really looking forward to playing two sets at Glastonbury: SHERELLE's BEAUTIFUL takeover at Sistxrhood, Shangri-la with Shez herself, Mantra & VXRGO on Saturday. I'm closing IICON on Sunday which is a huge honour. I can't wait to be back in that Block9 field after playing so many times in the former London Underground venue (shouts to Miss Pink). We have another EQ50 takeover at Outlook Origins in July where it'll be nice to hang out with some of our Year Two mentees. We Out Here in August (my favourite festival with incredible artists every time), more festivals, and another TBA show that will end up being an all-time fave lineup to appear on. Also very eager to get play:musik fully rolling again. What's one club or party that had a major impact on you as an artist? From the past, I always say Sunday Sessions at Blue Note. The energy from those years is rarely comparable and I learned so much musically. In more recent years, I've had some inspirational times with Rupture, and as mentioned earlier Cross The Tracks–playing Handson Fam's Heritage Stage alongside iconic names like Charlie Dark, Terri Walker, Lyric L, Vanessa Freeman and more, to the loveliest crowd, felt electric. Last Saturday was Windrush Day, which marks the influence of Afro-Caribbean migrants on UK culture. How has the Windrush generation impacted UK dance music, particularly jungle and drum & bass, in your eyes? In every single aspect. From the use of sound systems and ensuring speaker boxes emit a heavy and clean sound; DJs selecting tunes and MCs toasting or hosting proceedings (although the term Deejay was previously used by people on the mic, riding the beat); to dubplate culture and the friendly rivalry in trying to collect as many "one aways" as possible; producing your own or being given special or VIP versions of tunes; rewinds/reloads (AKA forwards) and banging walls or making noise to call for them. The way music itself is made! Using FX like delays, reverb, dropping out sections of a beat. Fashion, style, swagger. The language, slang or phrases that come from Patois, such as "puuuuuuull uuuuuup," "skanking," etc. Tune reactions like gun fingers, "screwface." Literally everything you can identify as jungle or drum & bass comes from Jamaican sound system culture, and I wish more people would take time to learn about and understand the origins and reasons why it all came to be. You recently played the US for the first time in a while. How was that experience, and do you feel like there's more interest in drum & bass from that side of the pond in recent times? I just played the one gig in Brooklyn, it was seven years since my last time there and it felt good to be back. My sister came with me, we both love New York, she actually lived there for a spell. It was interesting to notice the changes in demographics, skyline, more closed stores. I haven't done a full US tour for even longer so can't say from my own experience, but the people I know there are still pushing the culture. From what I see online, hopefully those finding the music now at festivals or from some of the bigger artists' shows delve a bit deeper into the whole wonderful history of our music. Tell us more about why and how you're relaunching your label this year. It feels like the right time. Musically, there's a lot of excellent stuff around and my profile is in a good place. I also think some styles are being overlooked, there's definitely room for more subtle and nuanced takes on the genre, label-wise and event-wise. The first release is a four-track EP by Nectax, an artist I've been supporting heavily over the last three to four years and I'm so happy with it. For me it's his best work to date and the tunes have garnered great support so far. I hope he's proud! Designer Andreas Brooks has done an excellent job too. Look out for it in the next few weeks! What's one social or political cause you want the world to pay more attention to? I guess the overarching effects of white supremacy and colonialism that permeate and control the way we live at all times. From the extremities of current genocides, land grabs, murder and pillaging in Palestine, Congo, Sudan, Haiti and elsewhere to the abhorrent treatment of refugees seeking safety, the disgusting dismissal of Windrush generation compensation, down to the most insidious and gaslighting forms of exclusion and appropriation throughout music and other creative industries.

Tracklist

Unknown - Untitled King Britt Presents Firefly ft Ursula Rucker - Superstition (Acapella) Halogenix, dBridge & Steve Spacek - Take Me Away HLZ & Cleveland Watkiss - Untitled Alibi - Dismissed Kuttin Edge - Onyeabor Marcus Visionary - Nexx Ting DJ Sofa - Coming In Artificial Red - Come Again Sweetpea & Settle Down - Watch the Ride ASC - Heaven's Night Flytronix - Journey to Xtraordinaire Deft - The Fix Nectax - Twin Turbo The Sauce & Fox - First Class (Flight VIP) Kamanchi - Hostile Watch the Ride - Mad! Kumarachi & Liam Bailey - On Sight Shy FX, Mr Williamz & Double O - Keep On Skankin Unknown - Untitled Lemon D - Danger OverHolsLinz - Squad Ting Spirit - Raygun (Digital & Kiljoy Remix) Quartz - Russian Roulette Torn - Into the Abyss Craggz - Operator Loxy & Resound - Infectious La Dame - Kinnara (The Untouchables Remix) Unknown - Untitled Nectax - Sentinel Runner Antagonist - Spherical Need For Mirrors - Tower Block Feelings Bungle - Distance Jem-One, SR & Sofi Mari - Let There Be Light Unknown Face - Circles Kid Drama - Corporate Underground Eva Bee & Shona - Room208 Lady Blackbird - Blackbird (Dub Phizix Remix) Deep Blue - Hear My Sound Marcus Intalex - Dat Music Satl & Brandy Haze - Unfortunate Kuttin Edge - Overthinking Unknown - Untitled