The EDWIN Music Channel is back with it's first guest mix of 2022 curated by Berlin-based DJ Yeahlena.
Born In Estonia, spending formative years in St. Petersburg before settling in Berlin, Yeahlena's love affair with bass music began listening to Russian pirate radio and scouring social networks in the early 2000s for obscure DnB classics. The longlasting impact of European rave imprints on Yeahlena's curation, and for EDWIN she finesses an honorific clubhouse mix that shifts between atmospheric breaks and hardcore jungle, interpersed with jazzy interludes and nocturnal notes courtesy of Jazz Juice and Peshay.
Last year, EDWIN Music Channel celebrated a landmark 100th mix, attracting renowned pioneers from the electronic world to bring forth their crate-digging sorcery with the likes of Phillip Jondo, Hadj Sameer and now Yeahlena stepping up to the mixing decks.
Tune into Yeahlena's mix and read her interview with EDWIN Music Channel below…
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Yeahlena, you are relatively new to the vinyl DJ game. When did you start to buy records?
Back in Russia I did not buy records. At that time, I did not have an idea about DJing. I was going out a lot in my teenage years, but I had no idea about genres really or what was going on. I was still only a passionate dancer, and even today, that's mostly what it's about.
I already loved the music that I heard on local radio and it was difficult to buy vinyl in Russia back in the day, so we checked Russian social networks for music instead. At that time, you could find anything and it is still the same today. I started to buy records in Europe but mostly jazz to begin with.
So that was when you moved from St. Peterburg to Berlin?
Yes, after St. Petersburg I then spent three years in the Swiss mountains but the rose tinted glasses slowly fell and I needed something very different. Maybe also music attracted me, but I never really liked the music in the Swiss clubs and then suddenly in Berlin it started to be a lot about dancing again, like in my childhood.
Did you hear much DnB in Berlin?
Almost never. I was hooked on DnB back in Russia as a child. When I drove with my father to figure skating classes, we often listened to a nice radio station. That was the beginning of the 2000s and it was a pirate radio station dedicated to DnB and rave music.
Back then it was mostly liquid old school UK DnB that they played, and as I remember, other leftfield stuff. Because western music used to enter Russia with a delay somehow. That's why I could encounter the golden jungle/DnB tunes already when I was eight years old. And I liked it a lot. But one day they announced in the morning that from now on they will only play Russian DnB and dropped some very cheesy tunes. My Father didn't like it and played a Thunderdome CD instead.
So, from that moment on I disliked Russian DnB, too. I only remember it, because I missed my liquid trips out of the car window so much, that I had to represent this injustice into a graffiti tag at my English school that said "Russian DnB sucks". After this I did not listen to DnB for a long time. But at one point it happened again, and jungle is now my all-time most favourite music to play. Especially in Russia. Because they really love fast and hard stuff there. It's very common for Eastern Europe.
Why is that?
I was thinking about it. If you look at traditional Russian dance music, it's also very fast. Music from Caucasus is quite fast too, and so on. And they know how to dance and let go. But there are not many other reasons for it as well. And I must say that DnB and other bass music made in Russia is actually very good, so my school tag is cancelled.
Did you perform your first DJ gig in Russia too?
No, my first real DJ gig was in Berlin at About Blank. This was in 2018. A friend was doing parties there and asked me to play last minute because one girl couldn't make it. So, I had to fill in the one-woman-at-least-quote. At that time I just had a small collection and didn't really buy music constantly. I had to open before a b2b of my friend and Skee Mask, so knowing what they like I was courageous enough to play hard, low frequency loaded stuff, mostly on 7inch. I was playing technically very bad but everyone still loved it somehow, and the bass was heavy. Then accidentally a party at Golden Pudel Club on the date of my birthday came up and I played only jungle and DnB. Back then I had no idea how to mix DnB at all, but the Golden Pudel Club was a beautiful crowd that knows how to dance and sing along to ragga lyrics. It was very energetic and I was hooked.
What are some recent gigs you remember vividly?
In early autumn I played at the Dub.Raw camp high up in the wild nature of the Caucasus mountains on a huge sound system. Being and playing there with my friends was like a dream.
And what are your future plans?
Uff.
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Raid EDWIN Music Channel's previous mixes here.
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