SKY H1 Merges Gristly Pressure with Vaporous Melancholy on a New Mix

Last Thursday, Brussels producer SKY H1 released her lustrous and gloomily drizzling Motion EP on Bill Kouligas and Visionist's Codes label, and today we're delighted to follow that up with an exclusive mix highlighting her favorite contemporaries. It finds the Bala Club affiliate caught in an exchange between vaporous, sun-dappled melancholy and gristly pressure, stylistically running the gamut from amorphously ambient club to dembow trance and grime at a slow, steeping pace. Unreleased material from Copenhagen/Berlin producer Why Be features, as well as a handful of tracks from Swedish crew STAYCORE's recent Erelitha compilation.

We caught up with SKY H1 via email to learn more about the mix, as well as her net-native introduction to the electronic music world, upcoming projects, and relationship with the Brussels scene.

THUMP: How did you approach making this mix? What sorts of things were you thinking about?
SKY H1: I collected tracks made by some of the people by who I feel most inspired by at the moment combined with tracks from my own EP that just came out. I like how the moods of certain songs change when you combine them with different melodies of other tracks.

In general, what do you find yourself getting most excited about when listening to music in the mix format?
I'm mostly listening to mixes to hear new music because I'm not often enough taking the time to look through all the new stuff that is coming out or that people are putting online, so I let mixes guide me in that. I like listening to YYAA's mixes on BCR, Why Be's Famished series, PAN's NTS show, and Endgame's Precious Metals show for example.

Now that your Motion EP has been released, what do you plan to focus on for the rest of the year? You've said that its production process was an emotionally intense one. How does it feel for that to now be over with, and memorialized in this work?
Right now I'm preparing my live shows, been busy working with Kareem Lotfy who is helping me with some visual elements that'll accompany them. I collaborated on a soundtrack together with Why Be for a movie called Lumapit Sa Akin Paraiso by Stephanie Comilang, that'll come out soon and also features Elysia Crampton.

I'm really exited to start working on new music, the EP was made during the winter and also symbolizes a dark period for me. I'm definitely in a different mindset at the moment, and ready to explore what this will do when I start working on new tracks. Next to my own tracks, I'll work on another soundtrack and collaborate on a dance performance [before the] end of the year.

Are you part of an artistic community in Belgium, or do you mostly turn to the internet for that? What's the scene like in Brussels?
I feel that Brussels lacks the artistic community of other bigger cities, which made me automatically turn to the internet. I couldn't really find what I was looking for in what was programmed here in Brussels, or I didn't really relate to any other musicians out here. It definitely felt like I was on an island. When I started putting my music online I immediately got a lot of support from people like Uli K, Kamixlo, Why Be, and Shanti. My first bookings were all abroad, and it wasn't until later that people here in Belgium picked up my music. About a year ago I met Liyo and Stef, who recently started the Heartbroken events, they succeed in creating a small scene here and are definitely doing the most interesting parties in Brussels right now.

SKY H1 mix tracklist:

1. Shanti - Broke in ft. Oxhy
2. Yayoyanoh - I can't feel my legs remix
3. SKY H1 - Land
4. Ryo Murakami - Disobedience
5. Fatima Al Qadiri - Breach
6. Nunu - COG
7. Toxe - Bite
8. SKY H1 - Air
9. WHY BE - Heroin Milian (Rabit/Mistress edit)
10. Resla - Nitro
11. SKY H1 - I think I am
12. Three 6 Mafia - Late Night Tip Instrumental
13. Zutzut - Phone Down (ZZ edit)
14. WHY BE - Elysian Keys
15. Kareem Lotfy - Drakechilla
16. Mechatok - See Thru
17. Kareem Lotfy - ?

Follow Alexander on Twitter.