Aude.dB is the project of musician Aude de Bellefond – a commitment to sonic and rhythmical explorations dedicated to all lovers of the dance floor and its pure form of social gathering around our counterculture that is techno music. Having lived in several countries around the world, and connecting with different scenes, the scope of her influences is very vast but always driven by the pure love for the dance floor, sonic exploration and a certain spiritual dimension. Besides being trained as a pipe organist, she was exposed from a very early age to ambient and 90s techno where she found a resonating energy and other dimensions and possibilities that classical music did not offer to her. Most of her times beside work is spent making music, studying it and digging it. She has experience playing as a DJ in South Korea, Germany and recently Chile where she played a hybrid live set with musician RawC. Personally, I met Aude on the dancefloor and instantly connected with her. It was an immediate match, as I could actually feel her vibe with the music. It’s with great pleasure that Aude shares her musical self with us and takes us on a journey full of sonic discoveries.
Check the mix after reading the short interview with her. You will find the tracklist in soundcloud’s info.
What did you have in mind for this mix?
The countless hours on dancefloors of course! In particular, this day at CDV after Ricardo and Zip party dancing again all day, when you asked me to do this mix for you 🙂
Is there a theme to the mix?
Rhythm hypnosis – Or “Groovin in a cave” (that is actually the title of a track by Luke Slater, which I played in this mix). All I want to do is “groovin in a cave” !!!
Can you name some of the artists you were inspired by?
Jeff Mills, DVS1, Margaret Dygas, Luke Slater, Zip, Ricardo Villalobos, DJ Nobu, Marcel Dettmann.. Also my friends from the LFO Seoul crew from Seoul, South Korea.
How long do you spend digging each week?
Many hours. I am lucky to have a job where I can be most of the day listening to music. I mostly dig online because of that and then go pick up in record stores in Berlin if possible.
How many records do you have?
I don’t know. I stopped counting at 200 and this was years ago. Maybe 400? Maybe 500? Maybe more 🙂 And it will only go up! To the next 500 🙂
Name a record you are likely to play more often than another?
Planetary Assault System – Arc Angels (OSTGUTLP23)
Last record you have bought?
I bought 7 records last time at Hardwax. Here are 3 of them:
KR 035: Various Artists: Dissect
This track “Subterranean Anomaly” by Zadig is really powerful, the concept of subterranean is very well expressed.
Zadig – Subterranean Anomaly [KR035]
Token 113 : Altinbas: Illumination – this is more like a trip in space 🙂
And 1 house LP, because we all need sweet house music:
Modal: Lovers Remixes Sounds017 Modal – Lovers (Boom Box Mix) Sounds. 1996
First record you have ever bought?
I can’t remember well. I must have bought several records together, but I’m almost sure that Dasha Rush – Unspoken EP (Fullpanda 016) was part of this first batch. I still love this record! Super special, proper ghost vibes on it !! booo!
Tracklist:
The 1st record that I have owned was actually offered to me by its producer when we met in South Korea around 2015 after his gig at Vurt. (Please, go to this club if you go to Seoul.)
Really cool dub techno:
Deepbass & Nax_Acid – Exomoon PHORMA010
How did the last years (especially covid) affect you and your creative process?
I took it as an opportunity to go inward and reflect.
We did not have to go to the office anymore and were able to work from home, which was all I wanted… It meant less stress from work, more time for myself, and as a consequence, a better mental space for creating and learning about music.
This is the time we also had a studio with my 2 friends Will and Jon from Artful Records. As everything was closed, we spent a lot of time there, making music or playing records.
Yes, not going to clubs, not socialising was hard, and very sad to see friends and many others losing jobs. Yet, I knew that it would be only temporary (as everything is temporary anyway), so the only thing in those cases is to try to see the light, take the good sides of things, stop listening to the “news”, and stay focused.
Thank you so much, Aude. For your time and expressing yourself through music. One final question though. What does music mean to you?
Rick Rubin said in an interview that music is part of the definition of how we see ourselves, and I think that it is interesting but I would also add that it is simply channelling our most spontaneous, primal energy. In that way, it is enabling us to reconnect with ourselves, with others, and also probably to other realms.
More simply, I think that it is one of the most powerful communication mediums, and a universal language.
Music has always been one of the most important elements in my life and was always one way to escape, travel and to express myself. The music instruments shops have always been my favourite shops (now with record shops 😉 ) and I studied piano and pipe organ for many years, before starting to mess around with music production softwares and now synths.
In the end, anything about music, records, theory, instruments, technology is what I am the most curious about and what brings me the most amount of joy… and fun!
