On her restless Fact mix, what started out as a jam for Nene H mutates into something altogether sexier and more emotional.
Nene H has been ploughing her own furrow through Berlin and Copenhagen’s techno landscapes ever since she became embroiled with the irresistible allure of Berghain’s infamous parties. Following a stint at the Izmir State Conservatory, which she attended at a prodigiously young age to train as a classical pianist, the artist born Beste Aydin moved to Stuttgart to continue her training. Over the next six years of hard study electronic music steadily crept into Aydin’s sonic palette, a passion that would eventually lead her to Berlin and a total immersion into the city’s club culture, an experience that shattered any musical preconceptions baked in during her classical training. What came next was an outstanding string of releases, initially as Nene Hatun, a name borrowed from a Turkish folk heroine, for labels such as Bedouin Records and Eotrax, and then as Nene H for Intrepid Skin, Standard Deviation and Possession.
Not only are Aydin’s shows legendary, perhaps most notably her performance with The National Choir of Georgia, Ensemble Basiani at Berghain for the 2019 edition of CTM, but Nene H has fast become one of the most thrilling DJs working the world over. On her debut album, Ali علي, a haunting and deeply personal reflection on the loss of her father released last year on Incienso, she swerves between incorporating her classical training into mind-expanding club compositions and layering her own vocals in two languages into her singular avant-techno sound, bringing the personal, the historical and the future-facing aspects of her music practice together. The arresting intimacy of Ali علي was captured perfectly by multidisciplinary artists Jared Marks and Mara Ploscaru in the dreamlike video for album highlight ‘Gebet’, which draws upon the esoteric practices of traditional Turkish culture.
Of her stunning Fact mix Aydin says simply: “It was a jam that became something quite special for me”. Over the course of a restless masterclass in relentless tension and effortless dynamism, it’s clear that what started out as a jam mutated into something altogether sexier and, ultimately, more emotional. What originates as breathless foreplay between throbbing techno, twitching jit and steamy ghettotech soon gives way to a fluid trip through euphoria and melancholy, the seething and the sweaty. Driving relentlessly, like the final set of a three-day rave, the amorous cruise to climax collapses into Nebuchadnezzar’s anxious rework of Faithless’s timeless ‘Insomnia’, in which said track’s monolithic synth stabs are worn down to brittle stubs, skeletal plucked strings that make Maxi Jazz’s lethargic delivery sound even more strung-out. In a genius coda, we’re all sent home to the sounds of Iranian experimental icon Sote, who’s ’90s electronic pop anthem ‘Flesh & Blood’, recorded alongside Shadi Ziaei as Aastiage, wind things down with some well-aged swagger.
You can find Nene H on Bandcamp and Instagram.
Tracklist:
Symrun – ‘Caleb Interlude’
DJ BEVERLY HILL$ – ‘Divine Request’
Thibault – ‘shawty stepmood mux’
LESHUTLER – ‘OUT YA HOOD’
DJ DISRESPECT – ‘VOODOO RHYTHM’ (DUB MIX)
Francois X – ‘Fear No More’
SMUSIE – ‘VIP’
WTCHCRFT – ‘SHAKE IT’
Ottonian – ‘WORK THAT SHIT (THIS SHIT AIN’T REAL)’
Azan Caro – ‘Madworlds’ (François X Remix)
Roza Terenzi – ‘Stylish Tantrum’
DJ GUSCH – ‘Der Weg von meiner Wohnung ins Uber und vom Uber ins Berghain, ist schon anstrengend’
Asquith – ‘Check Mate’
Ronan – ‘Crystal Viewer’
DJ Godfather – ‘Lets Jit’
Brunoso – ‘Césio’
Faithless – ‘Insomnia’ (Nebuchadnezzar Rework)
Aastiage – ‘Flesh & Blood’
Listen next: Fact Mix 851 – Nikki Nair
