FOCUS: Octo Octa b2b Eris Drew

OCTO OCTA:

It shouldn’t be surprising that Brooklyn-based producer Octo Octa (née Maya Bouldry-Morrison) had already logged tireless years as a fringe IDM artist and sound designer before her debut EP Let Me See You lasso’d a mighty wave of international house-heads to the dance-floor and helped push underground house label 100% Silk onto everyone’s radar in 2011. Seven records later, which include a misty deep-house slow-burner in the Where Did You Go/Through The Haze 12″ for Chicago-based, Smartbar DJ Steve Mizek’s Argot imprint and the soaringly luxurious More Times EP for German powerhouse Running Back, Bouldry-Morrison’s finely-tuned marriage of exquisite compositional flare, meticulously-sculpted sonics, and primal dance-floor functionality has earned her a Red Bull Music Academy residency in Manhattan, which found the producer working closely with Harald Bjork and Throwing Snow, as well as tours across the world that included coveted gigs at Berlin’s Panorama Bar, Frankfurt’s Live At Robert Johnson, and Barcelona’s Sonar Festival.

Fresh off of having SPIN Magazine herald percussive floor-burner “Cause I Love You” as one of the 50 Best Dance Songs Of 2014, Octo Octa currently has forthcoming coming 12″s prepped for DeepBlak and Stay Underground It Pays and is preparing for another year of pushing her unique sonic perspective and shimmering club-ready earworms through soundsystems across the world.

ERIS DREW:

Eris Drew is a DJ, producer and trans ecstatic from the prairies of Illinois, USA. She is a recording artist on Naive Records out of Portugal and conducts the Psychedelic Rites of the Motherbeat at various locations, including Pittsburgh's Hot Mass and TUF in Seattle. Eris is a long-time resident at Chicago's Smart Bar, plays b2b sets with her partner Octo Octa, and is a DJ for the Bunker NY. She gives talks around the world on rave history and shamanism. In addition, Eris is an advocate for her people and mentors aspiring DJs and electronic musicians.

The Motherbeat was first beheld by Eris following a rave in 1994. She has helped Eris to heal, create art and find her friends for over 23 years. Motherbeat is a fundamental primordial pulsation—an archaic goddess at the gateway of the Mystery. She is there to remind us that:

I. Ritual dance music has been here since the beginning, before historical time.

II. Each of us is made for better things than the cultural download we receive provides.

III. We can use the music as a technology to unlock our bodies, dissolve boundaries and models, and find each other.

LAUREN LO SUNG:

Liverpool-based DJ and producer Lauren Lo Sung is revered for her groove-laden sound. A fusion of warm textures and stripped-back percussions, flavoured with a little Parisian flare, it’s the prime force behind her flourishing career, one that thus far has not only taken her to an array of club and festival hotspots like Junction 2, fabric, Tobacco Dock, Club Der Visonaere, Hi (Ibiza) and The Warehouse Project, but has also earned her accolades along the way like Mixmag’s 'One to Watch', DJ Mag’s ‘Get To Know’ and Liverpool Echo’s 'DJ Of The Year’. 

A key pillar behind the Liverpool-born producer is her LOLiFE brand. First a club night, LOLiFE began as a regular flex at underground haunts across Liverpool, London and Manchester, recently inviting lauded artists like East End Dubs and Dyed Soundorom while also supporting up and coming talent. The party has always upheld a strong ethos, one that prides itself on quality music; cultivating an intimate, fun and inclusive space for like-minded party goers. This year will see LOLiFE further establish itself as a seminal party, with a nine-date tour across the UK and Europe, bringing Lauren and guests like Raresh and Fabe to cities like Frankfurt, Bucharest, Manchester and Leeds. 

The same intention has been installed into her latest LOLiFE venture; LOLiFE Records. Newly announced, the vinyl-focused imprint - which launched with JSTFY, a four track EP from Lauren (as well as remixes from Fabe and DJ Steaw) - will strive to boast the best in burgeoning talent as well as operating as an outlet for her own productions. The anticipated EP will join a solid repertoire of releases, including her last solo output, the hugely successful ‘Worthless’, released by DJ Steaw’s Rutilence Recordings as well as releases on House Puff, Hector’s Vatos Locus imprint, not to mention remixes for AdMaiora all in which have been heavily supported by the likes of Rhadoo, Archie Hamilton, Seth Troxler, East End Dubs, Janeret, Varhat, Seb Zito, Audrey Pushkarev, Hector and Fabe. 2019 will also see Lauren drop an EP on Lazare Hoche's imprint this summer.