One of my favourite things about DJ Gina Turner is her ability for musical versatility. Able to blend classic house sounds with new material without any dischord, Gina opts to skip focusing exclusively on “the big thing of the day” or blog haus trends. Instead, her sets weave together narratives honoring the sometimes forgotten 4am basement house jams that have carried dance music to where it is now.
2010 has brought great things for her as well- a standout single on Sound Pellegrino as half of the multiculturally dope dance outfit Nouveau Yorican, and the recent Morena Mix, created live on two CD-Js in one take.
Pulling some serious power moves these days, Gina is about to release the second Nouveau Yorican single “Jackit” on May 27th through MixMash Records, backed by some powerful Drop The Lime and Tony Senghore remixes.
I got a chance to ask Gina a bit about the past, present & future of dance music. Also included is a free mix for New York sexploitation fashion label HellzBellz!
Questions by Brendan Arnott (my text in bold).
Teki Latex called your last release “A modern take on New York’s Puerto Rican artistic identity seen through the eyes and ears of an asian Dutch house virtuoso and a half-sicilian/half-latino part-time NYC, part-time LA resident” but puts a question mark at the end of it, kind of like he’s stumped about how to label it. How would you label your sound?
Well being a born and raised New Yorker, you are in a melting pot of cultures for sure, when going into making Boriqua with Luke, I brought everything that inspired me growing up in the NY House scene. The jacking sound mixed with Latin flavor, we also wanted to bridge the gap between the underground house scene and of course the big room house scene that’s so relevant in NY.
What are three things that a record label needs to do to stay relevant and alive in 2010?
It’s funny you should ask that, because it brings me back to something you mentioned in your first question, I think it’s important to create tracks that blur genres and open peoples minds to new and different things. I think that music and tracks in general should be made without borders. I find the tracks the most interesting when people from different genres play them, for example a track that Crookers, Derrick Carter & Steve Angello could play, like “La Mezcla” or something like that.
Also, when buying records or mp3s or putting together DJ sets, I always pick tracks that have a long shelf life. I want a song that I can play in every DJ set and it never sounds played out to me. Longevity in records = survival of a record label.
Can you talk a bit about your first DJ gigs? What was the community and feel of those spaces like?
My first DJ sets/gigs were in radio stations and my bedroom or a friends bedroom. So entering the world of actually seeing your audience was a new thing to me, though I would have thousands of listeners tuning in, I never saw them, but I am a born performer, growing up dancing and etc, so I know how to turn a switch on.
What’re your plans for 2010? Solo productions on the horizon?
Yes! Stay tuned! I do have solo productions coming out! On the DJs Are Not Rockstars label. And much more Nouveau Yorican productions on the way, our next release is on Mixmash in may. And we also did a remix for Drop the Lime’s new single on Trouble & Bass.
Looking back on the year (2009), what do you approve and disapprove of?
I look at every year as a new learning experience and that way I approve of it all. But my biggest thumbs down for 2009 if I had to choose one, was the loss of a great person and great DJ, Adam Goldstein, DJ AM.
Look into the future and project a vision of what dance music will be like in ten years.
We will be in floating cars and dance music will always be as magical and exciting to me as the first time I heard it.
Thanks very much to DJ Gina Turner, whose Nouveau Yorican EP “Jackit” drops May 27 on MixMash Records. Download Gina’s mix for Hellz Bellz below!
DJ Gina Turner – Bad Girl Hustle Mix For Hellz Bellz (sendspace link)
Tracklisting:
Booka Shade – Bad Love (Tim Green Remix)
S H D W P L A Y – Donde After (Edu K Remix)
Cubic Zirconia – Josephine (Egyptrixx Dub)
Rihanna – Rudeboy (Damo Walsh Rubeboy Thym Mix)
Kaduukradio – Discops
Two Without Hats- Storm Layer
Cassius – Feeling For You (Les Rythmes Digitales Short Remix)
Analog People In A Digital World- Rose Rouge (Vocal Edit)
Palmez – Black B (David Jones Remix)
D. Ramirez, Matt Tolfrey – Bounce To Me (Lauhaus Remix)
India – I Can’t Get No Sleep (MK Dub)
Marcashken, Matt Tolfrey – Babygirl (DC’s Nu-Vo Rub)
Nouveau Yorican – Boriqua (Douster Remix)
Oliver Twizt ft.Maluca – Loca
Darius Syrossian, Nyra- Luis Conte
Pizetta – Klezmer Feat. Reagadelica
Dj Gina Turner & Dan Oh – Cane Che Abbia Non Morde (Flinch Remix)
Nouveau Yorican – Boriqua
Nouveau Yorican – Jackit
Marc Romboy, Stephan Bodzin – The Old Alchemist
Wolfgang Gartner – Latin Fever (DJ Gina Turner Remix)
Beyonce – Diva
Benga – Crunked Up
DJ Tonka – Old Skool
Shakedown – At Night (Mousse T’s Feel Much Better Remix)
Moby- Wait For Me (Laidback Luke Remix)
