- Two hours of ambient, techno and jungle.
- Just over a year ago, Brianna Price, AKA B.Traits, announced that she was leaving BBC Radio 1 after six years. Her reason? She was squeezed for time, due to a recent surge in DJ bookings, label commitments and production work. Since then, she has segued seamlessly into the latest phase of her career, touring the world as an in-demand techno DJ, as comfortable going back-to-back with Sunil Sharpe as joining Adam Beyer and co. at Drumcode raves. Her only release of 2018, the People's Nation EP on her IN.TOTO label, was a perfect snapshot of where she was at musically: dark, eerie, subtly euphoric.
This is one of several sounds in the mix on RA.703, a two-hour odyssey through ambient, breakbeat, techno, rave and jungle. (Watch out for the tracks by Baby T, Price's revived hardcore/jungle alias.) Because she put it together while grieving a tragic death, it throbs with raw emotion. "It includes a bit of everything that I'm feeling right now," she told Resident Advisor. "Rage, bliss, anger, sadness, laughter, loss."
What have you been up to recently?
Sadly, the last two months have been rough as someone very close to me passed away suddenly in a tragic accident, so I took a few weeks off to spend time with my family and grieve. More recently, I have been doing a few gigs and although I have found it difficult to get back to club life, I can also feel that my focus is coming back.
I've also just left my beloved home in London to live in the countryside for a few months. After everything that's happened, I’m hoping it'll come as a welcome shake up and I think I'll enjoy the fresh air and slower pace. I've just set up my studio in the country house and am looking forward to some inspiration from nature and getting my head down without the distraction of the city.
How and where was the mix recorded?
I recorded the mix at my home in London, on the setup in my living area. I used 2 x 1200s, 2 x CDJs, a Xone 96, and a delay and reverb pedal. I then took the mix into Logic to add a few edits and decorate.
Can you tell us about the idea behind the mix?
I initially had a specific idea or I suppose journey I wanted to explore with this mix, but after the accident all of my previous ideas went out the window. My emotions are all over the place currently and I think the mix is reflective of that. It includes a bit of everything that I'm feeling right now. Rage, bliss, anger, sadness, laughter, loss.
Musically, it's a journey through the genres I identify with the most. It's manic at times, a bit of a rollercoaster with fast mixes and spin backs. Putting it together was hard and took me longer than usual but it's also been very cathartic. I've always sought comfort in music and this certainly provided some.
Earlier this year, you released a guided meditation on your label, Paciphonic. What was the response like? Do you plan to do more?
The response to the meditation and the Paciphonic project as a whole has been overwhelming. Meditation has had a significant impact on my life and in combining it with my love for ambient music and the healing properties of sound and frequencies, I was inspired to share these experiences with other people.
I've always been told I have a relaxing voice. I think six years on radio really helped me to master the use of it. So to be able to write a long ambient piece and pair it with my voice and a meditation I'd written was daunting but ultimately very rewarding. Discovering that I've contributed to helping make someone else's day a little easier is a great feeling—and of course a very different feeling to the one you get from the more tangible reaction of dropping a record in a club. It's been a learning experience too, being in the ongoing pursuit to bring our awareness back to consciousness is a long, uncharted road, but is incredibly fulfilling. I plan to do many more Paciphonic focused releases and events in the future.
Your mix includes a few tracks under your new alias, Baby T. Can you tell us more about the project?
Baby T is an alias that I am breathing new life into. Originally, my name was Baby Traits (as in baby "features"—I was 18 when I started touring in North America) and as I began to get more DJ bookings within the jungle community, I abbreviated Baby to B so that the name was more androgynous, to prevent the unnecessary attention and bad-mouthing I got whenever people found out I was female.
In a sense, it's a reclamation of my original alias—I played faster back then: hardcore, drum & bass and jungle—and that's where I’m going back to with Baby T, but this time I'm not 18, and I have zero fucks to give.
I've always been a shapeshifter as B.Traits but sometimes eclecticism can be confusing. I feel I need another outlet to create music that has no specific expectations. I want to get back to my jungle roots properly. Hardcore/junglist shit only. So Baby T features quite heavily in this mix, with a few tracks, mixing stye and sound.
What are you up to next?
I'm keeping it pretty low key for the rest of the year, I have a few dates in the USA and a short tour with stops in Mexico, Columbia, and Chile. Most of my time will be spent in the studio in my new digs trying to get a few tracks finished by Christmas. Early 2020 will see the release of the first Baby T EPs and another B.Traits EP on In.Toto, plus a new Paciphonic meditation in the spring.
TracklistLow End Activist - New Beginning
Petit Singe - Komm Wieder Mit
Evan Caminiti - Arc
Boreal Massif - Low Forties
Yves De Mey - Bleak Comfort
Wax Worx - Raised On Acid (R.O.S.H.’s Rising Remix)
Jeigo - Flurella
Max Ulis - Go/Stop
AQXDM - Requiem
R.O.S.H - AMG (CLA45 Mix)
TRP - All Against Us
Garneau & Max Ulis - Do It
DJ Sodeyama - Unreleased track 38
Peter Van Hoesen - Face Of Smoke 2015 Edit
Grenier - Radiant Damage
Barnt - Local Fame
Asquith - Gang
Surgeon & Regis - All Boys No Girls
Q-Cumb - Dreamers
Regis - Purification
Aiken - Stratum
Space DJz - Humanize
Keith Carnal - Not Your Ordinary
Jay Clarke - Renegade
Asquith - Let Me (Rave Mix)
Makaton - Last Wish of a Dying Man (Fumiya Tanaka Remix)
Space DJz - Action 1
Surgeon - Magneze
Makaton - Module Man
Knarz - Kind Der Nacht
Brame & Hamo - Dust (Private Press Remix)
VTSS - Sober Raving
B.Traits - I’m The One
Milimetric - Welcome To The D.D.R (Remix)
96 Back - Knock Out (Jensen Interceptor Remix)
Baby T - Acid Science
MCR—T Stxxpid Dumb
Erta Ale - SLN013B2
PTU - Go Go Telepath
Baby T - I Wish
AQXDM - Leisure Techno
Claus Schining - Wizard
Felix Leifur - Brot 11
J Sparrow - Hold and Pull
J Sparrow - The Chase VIP
Adiel - Jungle
Krampf - LSD XTC (Dj Gigola and Kev Koko Paranoia Mix)
Mars 89 - Successor Project
Wormfinger - Ruff
Atari Teenage Riot - Cyberpunks Are Dead
SUNN O))) - Black Wedding
Nuel - Biopunk
Last Life - The Minimal
Es.tereo - Flying Disc
Homemade Weapons - Svalsat (Donato Dozzy Remix)
Skanna - Find Me (Mac - V Mix)
Baby T - Portra (Homemade Weapons Remix)
Lemna - Thusness
PTU - Beobachtungsfehler
Baby T - Portra (Hybrid mix)
Ryan James Ford - Bad Lands
TRP - Time Slows
Overmono - Salt Mix