Untitled founder Basic Chanel traverses the abyss with 1hr 45 of texturally rich and hypnotic techno. London-based DJ Chanel Kadir channels a sound that is anything but basic. She has also helped curate wav. Her mix is a slow blend of sonically tactile psychedelic techno tracks that gradually merge and evolve into one another.
Tell us a bit about your background. How did you initially get into music? Going back to the very beginning, my mum took me to my first ever gigs Blue, Pop Idol and was always playing music in the car. Our family parties were also always filled with music, with my cousins trying to get my brother and me into some old 80s bands whilst we were wholly disinterested and only wanted to listen to current pop music.
After that, I became a fan girl. I had my Justin Bieber and One Direction moment β some very embarrassing stories and photos from that era. Like most things I love, I became obsessed with discovering everything I could about electronic music and seeing what I connected with the most. So many rabbit holes! It was such a transformative time where fabric every weekend became a big part of my musical education, seeing the likes of John Digweed, Ricardo Villalobos, Ben Klock and Marcel Dettmann, Robert Hood, the Hessle Audio nights β so many fond memories in that club!
Can you summarise your sound and style for us? What techniques are you using behind the decks, and what is your approach to music curation? I plan on doing some sessions with Mix Nights to get to know the equipment better and learn some techniques that would benefit my preferred way of mixing, which is usually long, trippy, loopy blends. My approach to curation is that there must always be an emotional connection to the music I play. I use curation as a way of processing how I feel at any given time, so the way I approach sets, and mixes is very dependent on mood or the kind of emotion I want to convey or process.
Once the gig offer or mix series comes through, I usually visualise the space I will play in or mix for and go from there. It also depends on the rest of the line-up of course. When it comes to the recording process or gig, I will organise the playlists by theme, mood, or sound for sets or arrange in order for the mix recording. Your popular mix series Untitled started 7 years ago now. What impact has that series had on you as a DJ? Being able to speak to these artists directly about their craft is so inspiring.
