This Friday’s FACT mix comes from Sabina ‘Subeena’ Plamenova.
Subeena’s been releasing music for several years on her own Immigrant Recordings label, and caught FACT’s ear on the merit of her melodic, shimmering sound that often recalls Detroit house and Selected Ambient Works-era Aphex Twin before it did the dubstep producers she found herself grouped in with.
Her production reached new heights twice in 2009; first with the gorgeous ‘Bokst’, and then with her first 12” for veteran electronic label Planet Mu which paired space station R’n’B (‘Solidify’) with gently melodic Dial style house (‘Analyse’). Let’s face it, Subeena’s only going to get better and the formation of her new label, Opit, is only going to help, so if ever there was a time to get this extremely talented individual on the FACT mix, it’s now.
It’s a bit of a tasty mix to boot – tracks are mixed deep, and played in ways you wouldn’t expect (check Hot City’s pumping house anthem ‘No More’ used as an under-the-surface bubbler rather than played for the drop like usual). New material from Hyetal, Sbtrkt, Appleblim and of course, Subeena features.
Tracklist and interview over the page.
(Available for three weeks)
“I only realised lately that my music sounds quite housey”
Subeena – how’s it going?
“Very well thanks, looking forward to the academic semester to be over next week.”
Even from your earlier releases, you’ve always seemed to come from quite an interesting place. What’s your musical background like?
“Quite confused I’m afraid. My parents are both professional violinists, which made me like music but have a refusal towards classical music for years.
“I studied a bit of piano and violin but can’t remember much of it…! I also sang in a band for a couple of months, didn’t go very far though! Other than that I’ve been producing for about six years now.”
You got grouped in with dubstep – mostly because you were building at 140bpm I guess – but is it fair to say there’s always been a house influence on your sound, long before it was the in thing to have that in London? And why do you think that is?
“Funny because I only realised lately that my music sounds quite housey, I didn’t think about it myself until someone told me. I guess I liked some bits and bobs of house but to be honest I’ve never been a massive fan. I think what happened is that I used to like a lot of electronic music that had amazing melodies but really ‘glitchy’ beats, which I used to like at first but at some point they became a bit too much for me.
“I totally loved those melodies and atmospherics but I wanted some sort of groove as well which is why I think I ended up doing this kind of stuff.”
Continuing with that, your music seems to have gone more and more in that direction – last year’s ‘Analyse’ single could have been a Lawrence track. How do you think your sound’s changed over the years, and where do you think it’s going?
“Partly it changed depending on where I was living and what was happening in my life…Other than that, it definitely had a big change when a friend of mine (who is also an amazing producer) came over from London to Berlin and gave me some very good constructive criticism…I had never thought about EQ-ing or mixing my tracks before, so that definitely made me change my attitude towards it.
“Making 140bpm dubstep sort of stuff was really good practice, I learned a lot production-wise and had a great time, but musically I can’t say I was entirely myself, even though it was a special moment for me (I’d just moved to London from Berlin, etc. etc.) I think when I stepped out of it a bit and decided to do whatever was coming out of my head, it improved a lot.
“Not sure of how my sound is going to change exactly, but I definitely don’t want to end up making the same kind of tracks for much longer…!
“I’ve been trying out a few different things lately, but I’ll wait to see what actually happens with them.”
How comes you changed your label’s name, and what’s going on with it?
“Well, Opit is a new one that I am running myself, while the one I used to co-run with Dot had to change name from Immigrant because of another Immigrant record label. It worked out fine eventually though!
“As for Opit, the first release is by myself, but I am looking into releasing more people on it.”
Tell us about the mix you’ve done for FACT.
“I tried to put both tracks that I would play out at a gig, but also tracks that I really like regardless and which are produced by friends or producers I think are making some really good stuff. Some of them were at Red Bull Music Academy with me, like Pepepe, Tsiridis and Evirgen, while a few other ones I only found out about in the last few months, for example Blue Daisy, Photonz and Ricorb.”
What sort of music, and which artists, are you really interested in, or inspired by right now? And who’s inspired you most over the years?
“As a child I was recording tapes off the radio, or buying them etc etc, but unfortunately apart from a few major influences, I realised I’ve forgotten about lots of bands, singers, producers and songs I used to like.
“So when I mention the few ones I remember about, I kind of feel guilty towards the others – especially because many come back to my head the straight after I answer this question! Early ones I could say are Bjork, Jamiroquai (the first album and maybe the 2nd), Morcheeba, but then I also liked lots of cheesy 90s dance hits, bits and bobs of hip hop, some r’n’b, had my bands era as well when I was 16-17. Then free parties started for me and I got into a lot of electronic music, i.e. Warp stuff, Warp-sounding stuff if I can call it like that, etc.
“Lately I’ve been picking random stuff I used to like years ago and getting back into more music with vocals…I feel like I had an overload of strictly electronic music over the last few years. I think meeting Jamie and Om’Mas [Keith] and other people at Red Bull Music Academy was a great input for me in that way too.
“As for producers I have been enjoying recently, I would definitely say Samoyed – whose production I think is amazing, Ghosts on Tape, Blue Daisy, Pepepe, Slugabed, Loops Haunt… I’ve been playing a few Stereotyp (and KuBo) tracks lately as well.”
Any new releases, or ones on the horizon that we should know about?
“The first one on Opit is coming out next month (tracks on it are called ‘Picture’ and ‘Spectrums’), and hopefully the one after won’t take too long to be ready.”
And are you intending to make an album any time soon, or are you content to stick to singles / EPs for now? How do you think you’d approach it if you were to make an album?
“I thought about making an album for a while, and I am still not excluding the option. I don’t know if it’s the right time yet, but hopefully it won’t be too long either until I actually decide to make one.
“I’m saying this now and then I’ll probably end up doing the opposite, but I think I would like to make it with a concept in my mind, or I’d like it to represent a moment of my life…However I think I’d try and make it the most varied possible and choose tracks that all fit together, but that are different at the same time.
“I see an album as a sort of representation of what you do and what you are in a way, so hmm..I’d probably have to take some time to think about it!”
Tracklist:
Somfay – Averroes
Dañez – Spacecraft (Pepepe Remix)
Subeena – Picture
Greena – Tenzado
?
DVA – Ganja
Computer Juice – Computer Juice
Hyetal – Neon Speech
KuBo feat. MC Fefe – Turnerment
Hot City – No More
Planetary Assault Systems – X Speaks to X (Appleblim & Al Tourettes Remix)
Photonz – Aquarian Ball
Udachi – Phunk Skank (Ricorb Remix)
Orrphan 101 – Tonic
Throwing Snow – Un Vingt
Fantastic Mr Fox – Sketches (Sbtrkt Remix)
Untold – No one likes a smart-arse
Tsiridis & Evirgen – Cotton (Dub Version)
Baobinga – Ride It
Ghosts on Tape – Midnight moves
Blue Daisy – Strings detached
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