Sundowner. Mix #11 by Costa + Interview

The Sundowner Mix #11 comes from Spanish and Berlin based Dj Costa, who’s having his debut at the new weekly residency of @sundownerberlin at Hoppetosse. Costa’s sound characterised for being naughty, acidy and trance and always on the loop for the groove.

Ines: Hi Sergi, how are you?

Sergi: Hi Ines. I’m good, having a hot chocolate, and really excited for what’s coming this week. I’m gonna play my first gig at the lovely Hoppetosse boat! I’m writing from the living room facing Warschauer Strasse, which is not too busy today. This is in Berlin, where I moved in March 2021. The city, the people, the music scene trapped me and I voluntarily surrendered.

Ines: What was it that triggered your interest in music?

Sergi: This has been a journey. I would go back to 2018, where I started connecting with my body in a deeper level, after discovering contemporary dance. And needless to mention we were dancing to music. The healing and ecstatic aspects of dancing I guess were the things that guided me to discover the art of mixing and creating these experiences for others. From that point I felt and understood raving/clubbing in a different way. Ultimately, visiting a friend in Berlin in 2020 gave me the opportunity to understand how music mixing works and started playing with it. In parallel I started also reading the theories about the raving experience from Eris Drew, and could relate immediately to that. To me, mixing music is a constant conversation with and within yourself, and yourself with others.

Ines: What’s your digging process?

Sergi: Interesting question! The first time that I wanted to get a vinyl was at Marla records: www.startnext.com/savemarlarecords. I arrived there and I had a little idea of what I wanted to get. I asked for some recommendations for music genres and after listening to a few of them I selected two, just because they sounded good (whatever that means). Let me say that one of them I have never played again (it made me cringe the last time I tried to play it haha), and the other one I still love it. Digging is also part of this conversation and likewise, you also learn to listen differently. Nowadays I feel I can listen better (in my own way), and though I still go to specific genres, now I’m more interested in if the music is speaking the same emotion/sensation I’m looking for.

Ines: What was your inspiration to record the Sundowner podcast?

Sergi: I wanted to take you to the atmospheres and places in a journey from sunlight to moonlight, with a final celebration as if ‘we made it!’. Like a sundowner, going into the night and seeing the first rays of the next morning. I translated the tracks to my own interpretation of levels of lightness and darkness. And above all that, I just wanted the mix that I’d like to dance at a party!

Ines: Who’s the latest artist you discovered that impacted you? Let me mention two. This summer I went to surely one of the best queer techno raves this year for me, Fluid Vision. In both of their editions I felt really inspired by VINVAR, one of their residents. Fast, euphoric and shameless in the mixing, she brought a full ecstatic experience to the audience at the end of both editions.

Couldn’t leave this paragraph without mentioning Roza Terenzi, who I recently had the pleasure to see live for the first time in Panorama bar. Incredible selector of groovy, trance oriented sounds and mild techno.

Ines: If you could pick any DJ or act to play with, who would it be and why?

Sergi: I would 1000% pick Eris Drew. The night I saw her in London in 2020 (before the virus situation took over), I understood the power of the Dj, the crowd completely changed, I couldn’t leave the front row, It felt like a very long trip of joy. I would love to play with her to get contagious with her wisdom and dance floors experiences, have a conversation without speaking, dance with her.

Ines: What has been the most memorable dance floor moment and why?

Sergi: One of the most memorable moments I’ve had lately was precisely in this Fluid Vision rave. I was dancing in the front and I was making eye contact with a guy a little bit behind me. I could recognise that he was part of my friend’s group, but I didn’t know him directly. After a little bit, he came to compliment my dance moves and I complimented back and he suggested we exchanged contacts. But since he was not using social media, he handed over to me his phone saying “Maybe write your name, phone number, foot size, favourite food, a poem…” To which I decided to write him a poem on the dance floor! It was a pretty cheesy poem, but this is more or less what I came up with within a couple of minutes. “The bright in your eyes, is light as the sky, have fun on the dance floor until the night”. Needless to say, I had never written a poem on the dance floor before. We had a date after that, and we’re going to have a second one.

Ines: What is one thing that you can’t live without?

Sergi: It’s definitely Tahini (for now). I sadly don’t have any left in my counter. But I just had an idea, I will buy two or three pots next time, so I don’t run out of it too fast haha. Did I mention that food it’s another of my greatest passions in life?

Ines: Thank you so much for sharing your inspiration and anecdotes Sergi, we are very looking forward to listen to you this coming Thursday at Sundowner. party at Hoppetosse.

Follow Costa:

instagram.com/sergi__i/

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