Polymathic artist, writer, DJ and journalist Flora Yin-Wong sets her sights on the more experimental side of the dance floor for her Fact mix.
Like so many of us, Flora Yin-Wong really misses the dance floor. Over the last year the polymathic artist, writer, DJ and journalist has been operating in a distinctly reflective mode, releasing her beautiful debut album, Holy Palm, amid the confusion and anguish of yet more lockdown restrictions imposed upon her base of London and putting the finishing touches on her first book, Liturgy, a hybrid work of abstract fiction and non-fiction that forges connections between “religion, modern lore, paradoxes, and delusions”. Created using a similarly patchwork approach, the 12 tracks of Holy Palm make up an intricate diaristic audio collage, with Yin-Wong weaving together deft Max/MSP processing techniques, carefully assembled samples and six years worth of field recordings recorded across the globe, from an abandoned Arctic settlement in Svalbard to a lonely radio signal in rural Chania, Crete.
Yet, with the promise of clubs opening back up in the UK slowly coming into tantalising sight (touch wood), Yin-Wong moves towards a looser, more dance floor-orientated mood for her Fact mix, exploring some of the garage, footwork and techno that has been inspiring her recently, as well as some more esoteric fare from Cam Deas, Jung An Tagen and Vladislav Delay. Kicking things off with ‘In>Pin’, from Leon Vynehall’s excellent new album Rare, Forever, a track that shares emotional and textural DNA with Yin-Wong’s own work, the artist proceeds to meander through Octo Octa’s joyous remix of DJ Q’s ‘It’s You’, brutal industrial grind from Adam X and Gabber Modus Operandi’s signature blend of breakcore, gabber, funkot and dangdut koplo.
A truly inspired blend of Bendik Giske’s galaxy brain take on Caterina Barbieri’s essential ‘Fantas’ and ‘Gasp’, a standout track from Slackk’s cult footwork side project Patrice & Friends, marks a leftfield pause for breath, before Yin-Wong course corrects into pitch black, heads down, dirty basement territory, ploughing through Overlook’s horrorshow beatscape ‘Ultra Violence’ and the crushing dub pressure of Beneath’s ‘Lesser Circulation’, taken from the producer’s thrilling debut on Hemlock Recordings, On Tilt. Closing out with the cortex curdling loopless techno of the aforementioned Cam Deas & Jung An Tagen collaboration and an ethereal ambient construction from Amsterdam-based duo Know V.A., Yin-Wong’s selections hail from the kind of exploratory dancefloors that we’re also desperate to get back to.
Holy Palm is out now on Modern Love. Liturgy arrives in June and will be released by PAN and Primary Information. For more information about Flora Yin-Wong and her work you can check out her Bandcamp and SoundCloud and follow her on Instagram and Twitter.
Tracklist:
Leon Vynehall – ‘In>Pin’
Vladislav Delay – ‘Rakkn’
DJ Q – ‘It’s You’ (Octo Octa Slammin’ Remix)
AHCorp – ‘Pipeline’
Adam X – ‘Desolation’
Morah – ‘Voltage#2’
Lilocox – ‘Mr Zgori’
Al Nather – ‘Bil 3asaya’
Gabber Modus Operandi – ‘Dosa Besar’ (Reissue)
Bendik Giske – ‘Fantas for Saxophone and Voice’
Patrice & Friends – ‘Gasp’
Overlook – ‘Ultra Violence’
Beneath – ‘Lesser Circulation’
Cam Deas & Jung An Tagen – ‘That (nGridC)’
Know V.A. – ‘Trauma’
Listen next: Fact Mix 808 – LCY
