For this season’s Minted Chaos theme, Refraction asked four DJs who have a creative relationship to chaos to explore the full spectrum in their mix — both from a selection and technique standpoint — and to reflect on how it relates to their practice.
Bergsonist's Chaotic Mix starts and ends with two titans of electronic music. She starts with Mark Fell, a producer who has always been a champion of the more experimental tendencies of dance music. And she ends with Daft Punk. This oscillation between the strange and the recognizable is central to how Bergsonist approached her contribution.
"I was inspired by the idea of chaos as complete disorder and confusion when I selected the tracks I worked with," she explains. "However, the actual performance of the mix was deterministic as I was constrained by the initial conditions which illustrates well the physics of chaos." Chaos, in other words, is only chaotic within a continuum.
The tracks here move without regard to genre, tempo or era, as Bergsonist touches on everything from Swedish field recordings to classic Detroit house to percussive African workouts. But there's also a sense of direction and purpose that holds the mix together. When the swing of Rochelle Jordan's new UK garage banger, "Got Them" shifts gear into the hyperreal shine of Broosnica's "masterminds," it feels surprisingly intuitive. Bergsonist finds a small common emotional point between them, like a glimmer in the pitch black. The mix is a reminder that there are moments of stillness and wonder even in chaotic disintegration.
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Tracklist:
Mark Fell - Intra-8
Bjnilsen - Rough Grazing
El Hachmi El Houari - Track 1 (Fes Maatic)
CVN - Snippets of heaven
Notte Infinita - I lost all My data
Boy Harsher - Yr Body Is nothing
Terrence Parker - Love’s Got me high ( Tribute Mix)
Dave ‘Rockin’ Duke - Dat Colita (Original Mix)
Corrupted Cru feat. MC Neat - G.A.R.A.G.E
The Dub Monsters - Sweet Thang
DKMA - Creepin
Guem et Zaka - Liberte
DJ Co.kr - Samulnor.E
DJ Yumyum - Decisions
Rochelle Jordan - Got them
Broosnica - masterminds
Digitalis - Osho Drums
AbAdir - Kabbut ft ZULI & 3Phaz
John Object - Drake/Future
Dj /rupture - Nass El Ghiwane - Qandile M’Daoui; Dabrye-Game Over: instrumental
Orange - Aem Rhythm
Daft Punk - One More Time (Romanthony Edit)
Selwa Abd (Bergsonist) is a New York-based artist and musician originally from Morocco. She hosts a monthly show on NTS Radio & is the founder of the community resource Pick Up The Flow.
This March, together with LUKSO, we had an incredible evening at Austin’s favorite natural wine watering hole LoLo, exploring themes of identity, ownership, and the New Creative Economies through immersive art by Cibelle Cavalli Bastos and Tabitha Swanson.
