BASEMENT: Shifted / Chloe Lula / Bryan Kasenic
STUDIO: HAAi / Sterling Juan Diaz / Sister Zo
Shifted makes his long-awaited return to BASEMENT. The Avian records founder is one of the landmark artists of the last 10+ years, playing a key role in techno’s seismic evolution. On seminal tracks like “Control,” he pared back the palette to only a few core elements, letting them speak with a minimum of interference. In this stoicism, there were parallels to be found to foundational works by artists like Basic Channel, but Shifted has his own signature. He balances the austerity with a frenetic, if focused, viscerality. The title of his “Arrangements in Monochrome” series speaks to the ethos, and the stark, elevated sensibility that framed these tracks. But within that frame is a music that is fully alive, lunging with unbridled vitality. His development over the last decade has seen him branching out into experimental works and a type of sonic sculpture, enhancing the fundamental dimensionality of all his works. Chloe Lula runs in similar circles: her scorching, shattering tracks have found home on labels as esteemed as aufnahme + weidergabe and Tresor. Her vision of techno stretches into the industrial and monumental, with punishing percussion and a paranoid, breathless fervor. Bryan Kasenic is the founder of The Bunker, New York’s long-running techno institution. As a curator and community leader, Kasenic’s impact and importance cannot be overstated; his party has been a home for forward-thinking techno through many epochs in the city’s history, never veering off course. As a DJ, his years of listening and performing show. He has a versatility that’s matched by his deeply rooted taste, and he can move anywhere from bubbling ambient to roiling deep techno vortexes.
On her debut album “Baby, We’re Ascending,” for Mute Records, HAAi comes out swinging. She crafts an incredibly unique soundworld that’s both frenetic, ultra-silk and deeply strange, evoking alien textures and unexpected sonic landscapes that seduce the listener with their perplexing specificity. She’s a true original, at times calling back to the careening breakthroughs of big beat, the ecstatic cool of 2 step, the strange memory mash of hypnagogic experimental music, deconstructed club’s manglings and much, much more. But it all flows. As the title suggests, there’s a levity and a communal joy fully baked into these tracks that infuses every twist and turn with flowering life. Playground Radio resident Sterling Juan Diaz returns to STUDIO. A consistent figure in the city’s queer underground, Diaz’s mixes rip with pure movement. Simply put, this shit bangs, with saucy vocals, knocking kicks and tons of fizzy, naughty accents. Sister Zo’s thick bass weight workouts thread the needle between UK syncopations and thick techno with an expert touch. Both a standout producer and DJ, Sister Zo’s vision stands apart, with a spacious immediacy and a gleaming yet shadowy intrigue.
■ No photos or videos
■ No phone use on the dancefloor
■ The dance floor is for dancing, not conversation
■ No glowing/flashing clothes or items
■ Respect other people's space, no shuffling
■ Consent is mandatory
■ Zero tolerance for racism, homophobia, transphobia, sexism, ableism or any form of discrimination
■ Take care of each other, alert our staff if somebody isn't feeling well
■ Violating the house rules will result in removal
■ Ticket purchase does not guarantee entrance
