- An adventurous and excitable mix that makes the case for the Canadian artist as skilled a DJ as she is a singer and producer.
- Recorded this summer after moving in a campervan from New York City to the West Coast, Jessy Lanza said that with her DJ-Kicks she wanted to deliver something both joyful and personal. The mix features four new tracks from Lanza (two with San Francisco producer Taraval, one with fellow Hyperdub artist Loraine James), but she also threads her breathy vocals through the rest of the mix. Lanza's ad-libs add her own stamp to all the music she plays, most notably over Crystal's "Jungli-la (Joe Howe Club Mix)," where a sugary refrain of "freak like me" teases the next track, Masarima's "Freak Like U (Club Mix)"—a fun little sleight of hand that hints at her talents as a DJ as well as a producer and songwriter.
The mix opens with three of those four new Lanza tracks. After the shuddering, atmospheric footwork of "Guess What" and the pop-club hybrid of "Seven 55" with Loraine James, Lanza hardly pauses for breath. There's slippery techno, thumping ghetto house (Dance Mania legend Dee Jay Nehpet's "Na Na Na" is a highlight), fizzy tech house, moody gqom, Jersey club, squirming acid and the propulsive sounds of NYC's DJ Swisha. This fast-paced, almost rapturous energy is only intensified by Lanza's mixing style, usually only letting tracks play out for around 90 seconds before the next one comes flying in. The result is exhilarating.
That is, until CN's "Anubis" from 2014, which stretches out over seven minutes. The beatless aquatic textures bring the mood back down several gears, until it unfolds into glistening electro, preceding the closing number by The Raining Heart. Lanza said that her DJ-Kicks was inspired by bleary 4 AM feelings, and in the eerie synth pads and wonky melodies of "Raining Heart," Lanza captures the blur and haze of a long night of dancing.
Before Laurel Halo delivered her DJ-Kicks in March 2019, the last woman to contribute to the iconic series was Nina Kraviz, in January 2015. Since 2019, the iK7 curation has made a start on addressing this imbalance, with Peggy Gou, Avalon Emerson, Jayda G and now Jessy Lanza having been asked to contribute (as well as a reissue of Kemistry & Storm's landmark instalment from 1999). Even so, at the time of writing, women make up less than 12 percent of the DJ-Kicks archive. The series has been running since 1995, and, as our recent feature celebrates, enjoys an esteemed position amongst DJs and dance music fans alike. However, there is always room for improvement, and here's hoping DJ-Kicks continues down this path moving forward.
Lanza's instalment also happens to be one of the most adventurous in recent memory. The artwork was inspired by beauty advertisements plastered on the side of buses. On the cover, she's pictured against a bright blue background, with a perfect stream of water frozen in time and glittering in the light. The image has a synthetic, hyperreal feel to it, Lanza like a doll with flawless airbrushed skin. It's a play on the unrealistic "cult of wellness," she has said, but it also speaks to the sound of the mix: glossy, elastic and radiant.
Tracklist01. Jessy Lanza - Guess What
02. Jessy Lanza - Seven 55 feat. Loraine James
03. Jessy Lanza - Wet x3 feat. Taraval
04. DJ Spookie - Twilite
05. Michael J. Blood - Lip Biter
06. Mr Ho - Bail-E
07. Crystal - Jungli - la [Joe Howe Club Mix]
08. Masarima - Freak Lke U [Club Mix]
09. Golden Donna - Foaming
10. Mafia Boyz - Teaspoon La Qoh
11. Markus Mann - I’m Losing
12. Jim C. Nedd - Maleka
13. Maarten Van Der Vleuten - Nightshift
14. Secret Werewolf - Yage
15. Grain - Untitled B2
16. Gant-Man - Distorted Sensory (Loefah's Southside Rmx)
17. G3 - Drum 2 [Peanut]
18. Lolina - A Path of Weeds and Flowers
19. Dee Jay Nehpets - Na Na Na
20. Oyubi - 140yaku
21. DJ SWISHA - If the Shoe Fits
23. Jessy Lanza - Heaving feat. Taraval
24. TAH - Beat It Up Like (These Drums)
25. Kanyon - IDFWS
26. CN - Anubis
27. The Raining Heart - Raining Heart