⋆˚࿔ untitled 909 podcast 280: annebel ⋆˚࿔

“i wanted to make a mix that went from 170 to 100 bpm because i had never done that buildup before. recently, i have started appreciating build-ups of sets a lot more, especially with bass and dub. sets from people like beatrice m. and my friend rosa have made me realize how trippy bass music actually can be, and i have tried to incorporate that trippiness more in my sets. the set builds towards some weird and glitchy stuff, which is my favorite feeling: where you can completely surrender yourself to all the weird sounds and go with that flow; it’s a different kind of trippiness in that way.”

today we welcome tilburg-based producer, dj, radio host and live-artist annebel to the 909 series <3

recently contributing to the woozy compilation, willow_pitch, annebel’s productions flitter between the worlds of ambient and experimental bass music with heavy influences from leftfield techno, uk-inspired breaks, dubstep, jungle and high-energy rave. drawn to the psychedelic sides of these sounds that merge the synthetic and the organic, annebel uses this to play with the juxtaposing worlds of introspection and extroversion. this shines brightly on her latest 100% production mix for woozy’s rinse fm residency. a resident on rotterdam’s much-loved radio station, operator radio, annebel has quickly become a staple within the country’s nightlife scene with sets at draaimolen x sustain-release, poing, kabul à gogo, kanaal40, de school (sound sessions) and radion. annebel will be making her debut at the mothership edition of draaimolen festival this year, going back-to-back with carré. she’s also a memeber of the rooibosch collective in brabant who hosts raves in the south of the netherlands.

hey annebel! how are you doing? what have you been up to lately?

hey there :) i’m good, a little overworked, but my vacation is almost starting, so i’m looking forward to that. right now i’m working three days a week at a labor union, and the rest of the time i can spend on music and loved ones, so i’m very blessed with that. music-wise, i’m doing a lot of different things right now: djing, live performances, and i’m trying to finish an album (which will be more ambient and shoegazy). i also would love to make another club release, but i would have to make some space for that. other than that, i have been (re)connecting a lot with my friends and loved ones, which has been the best! hope to have more time for them in the coming months because they are the loves of my life.

let’s start from the very beginning, what was your first introduction to music in general and then more specifically electronic music?

i think my family got me into music when i was young. when i was 14 i bought my first guitar, and i would get so heartbroken as a teenager that i started to write my own songs hahaha. it wasn’t very good, but it was a great way for me to blow off some steam. when i was a teenager, i got into more “alternative” bands and acts and started to go to more festivals and concerts. my love for electronic music started more with acts from other genres that incorporated electronic elements, like for example with vince staples’ big fish theory and acts like lcd soundsystem. then, when i was 19 my friends took me to de school when i was in a very transitional period, and it feels silly to say, but that experience kind of changed my life if i look back on it. the sense of belonging and freedom i experienced there was something i had never felt as strongly before, and i immediately knew i needed to get closer to it.

who was the first artist or band that you were a fan of?

oh god, that must have been ramses shaffy when i was four years old hahahaha, he is a dutch singer. but the first bands i was a fan of that i’m still a fan of must have been my bloody valentine and the microphones. perfect albums to yearn to in your teenage years.

was there a formative moment growing up, whether that’s seeing your favourite band live or an incredible dj set, that led you to this path?

oh so many! i think that seeing all these femme djs like ki/ki and afra at spielraum when i was 19 gave me the final push to start djing. then i became a massive helena hauff fan, which got me into more breaky styles. after that, early inspirations were people like objekt and sherelle; every time i would discover someone who would completely change my view on what music could be. recently i’ve been super inspired by the whole druid step movement.

what is the most meaningful part of being an artist to you?

probably how it enables me to connect with myself and others. how i’m functioning in my artistic practice always tells a lot about how i’m functioning in the rest of my life: it feels like the struggles and joys i experience in my artistic practice are applicable to my whole being. and what i love is that it brings me in contact with other people who are on their own artistic path, and that we can connect over our art, happiness, struggles, fears, etc. having this artistic practice is such a crazy thing if you think about it: you devote yourself and your time to this process that is often amazing but also often a struggle and a learning curve, often just for the sake of it. a lot of the time you can’t expect anything in return. but still, this weird life force remains that is bringing me back to it. in that way it’s a very spiritual thing to me.

where do you look for sources of inspiration outside of music?

i think just life itself as it is. the human experience is just such a bizarre thing, maybe i experience it very intensely hahahah, but it never fails to inspire me! also, i’ve been trying to get into reading and watching movies again instead of doomscrolling (harder than one might think hahahaha) so i hope that that will bring something as well.

how has the netherlands influenced or informed your sense of self and artistic output?

i think that living in the south of the netherlands specifically has shaped my sound a lot. when i was 19 living in eindhoven i had basically two options if i wanted to go out: either i would go to whatever party there was in eindhoven (and those were definitely not occurring every weekend as there were no clubs in eindhoven when i was living there), or i would go to de school or spielraum in amsterdam, but i would have to commit to a long night as there were no night trains and it took quite a while to get there. this meant that i would really have to surrender myself to the party and the music being played there, which meant that i came in contact with a lot of different genres and styles in a very short time.

what i specifically love about the scene in eindhoven and tilburg (where i live now) is that it’s very bass oriented (i (re-)discovered a big part of bass music through local legends like french ii, jeroen erosie and martyn) and very community driven: the scene is very small and it won’t survive if we don’t support new people and each other on their way in. when i started, i was so amazed by how supportive people from the scene were, and i don’t know if i would have continued in the same way if they hadn’t given that support. experiencing that taught me to give that support to others as well, especially for people more marginalized in the electronic music scene.

also, the lack of options for going out in the south of the netherlands gave the pull to start rooibosch, a collective i’m part of where we organize mainly illegal parties in the area. this has brought me so much joy, community, and inspiration, music-wise. i can’t wait for the next edition in august.

what has been your most recent musical discovery that you’re obsessed with?

i haven’t gotten as obsessed with something as i got with aya’s hexed! last year, i saw her perform at roadburn this year and it was mind-blowing. dj-wise i have been really obsessed with a producer called isolated material, supercool stuff, very textured and bassy. also love the ep spikes by damna, some really weird dubstep. i also love producers like chewlie, herbalistek soa420 and jmoy, people who make this super textured, trippy bass music. also, i’m obsessed with everything gyrofield puts out.

what has your production journey been like? do you feel like you’ve found your artistic voice now?

i have been making music since i was 14, but somehow i always thought that working with programs like ableton would be too difficult (probably through some internalized misogyny), so i stuck to playing guitar and singing, which i was also not schooled in. but when i was 22-23, i had the privilege of doing a course at the willem twee studios that gave me the stepping stones for ableton and music production. as someone who is not male living in noord-brabant, it was quite hard for me to find a community to do so in (i didn’t know any flinta+ producers, and to be honest i still don’t know anyone in alternative electronic music who is still living in noord-brabant at the moment); it was quite a lonely process at first. but lately i’ve found that more and more thankfully, through my studio in tilburg where a lot of other talented producers make amazing stuff, through my friends in other cities and through the 3024 mentoring program.

as for my artistic voice, i feel like my tracks do have a distinct style, but i’m still discovering a lot about my direction with it. i try to really free what’s inside instead of putting boundaries and boxes on myself, which is cool but does mean that it usually turns out a lot weirder and “undancable” than i wished for hahaha. lately, i have been making a lot of shoegazy, noisy ambient where i also sing and play guitar, incorporating my 14-year-old self with my current knowledge in ableton. i have no idea what it’s going to lead to, but it had to get out so i’m trying to just follow it without too much judgement :) which is very scary but a very good process to put yourself through as a human being.

you’ve also contributed a mix for the 909 series, what’s the concept behind this one?

i wanted to make a mix that went from 170 to 100 bpm because i had never done that buildup before. recently, i have started appreciating build-ups of sets a lot more, especially with bass and dub. sets from people like beatrice m. and my friend rosa have made me realize how trippy bass music actually can be, and i have tried to incorporate that trippiness more in my sets. the set builds towards some weird and glitchy stuff, which is my favorite feeling: where you can completely surrender yourself to all the weird sounds and go with that flow; it’s a different kind of trippiness in that way.

how does your approach to dj sets differ from studio mixes and radio shows? is there a narrative in mind that you’re always trying to tell through your sets?

i would say so! i think in the club you’re usually more in conversation with the audience, and usually you also have better gear available, so you’re able to mix on 3-4 cdjs, for example. at home, i’m limited to 2, but i do have the freedom to make a narrative in my set that’s not focused on a crowd. usually, the narrative of a set flows out by experimenting for me: it’s all about the process and the feeling!

when was the last time you were on the dance floor?

this week, at het lesbisch lentefeest (the lesbian springfest) in tilburg. it was a-ma-zing to share the dance floor with so many (local) queers! my last club dance was two weeks before that at raum, which was also fantastic, had the pleasure of opening the night and stayed for the sets of darwin and peder mannerfelt with a lot of friends around me, which was a delight. oh, and in between that was slagroom x future intel, which was more of an experimental live day, which was also amazing! was done early performing again, so i could immerse myself in the rest of the performances. feeling very grateful for all these amazing experiences. <3

what are you most excited about right now?

some days off!! hahahaha, but i probably won’t know what to do with myself. i have some really nice summer gigs coming up (some live stuff, a palestine fundraiser and draaimolen festival), and i am looking forward to hanging out with my friends and going to the club as well!

what’s on your vision board at the moment?

i would love to make an album with live drums one day. i have some amazing drummers in my friends circle, and i would love to collaborate with them. i also would love to incorporate some “harshness” in my music as well one day: people like aya and death grips inspire me a lot, and i would love to see how i can incorporate my style in a more gritty setting, especially live! on the other hand, i am very chaotic, and i love starting a lot of new projects, so maybe the challenge will be to first finish what i’m working on before starting anything new. we will see where it goes to :)