DJ Winggold Mix
DJ Winggold, artist, writer, radio host, speaker and mental health advocat is joining us to take over Tapes #107.
He’s also one of the key minds behind Unbound Events, a London-based events platform using underground music as a vehicle to elevate minorities and raise awareness of social issues. He draws inspiration from Afrofuturism to guide his creative pursuits, focusing on the intersection between race, identity, history and culture.
As a DJ, the guiding principle of Afrofuturism manifests through the fusion of techno with angular rhythms and UK-inspired club sounds to create something respecting the black roots of electronic music whilst remaining firmly forward-facing and unique.
TRACKLIST
Kincaid – Don’t Get No Sun
INVT – CUARTOS OBSCUROS
Kaval – Firing Devices
Sister Zo – The Fool
Dominowe – Rah (Core Gqom)
Piezo – jRj
Mez feat Merky Ace – Babylon 3
GUNDAM – Shaat Ya Maat (Maniac Mash)
Takaaki Itoh – Rig3 (Unknown Thoughts Hard Remix)
DJ Sodeyama – Makura
D.Dan – Mutant Future
DJ Double Oh! – Tidal-Skinn
Porter Brook – unreleased
Ayesha – Downpour
Yanamaste – Damage
Despina – Blure
Maara – High Rollerz
MoMA Ready – THE HEEBEE JEEBEEZ
LoJai – Never Did
Blasha & Allatt – 8AM in Salford
Badsista feat Jujuliete– BAGUNÇA MINHA B* (forthcoming TraTraTrax)
Burna - Stargaze
Manni Dee ft ANGEL BBY– Pillow Princess (TAAHLIAH Remix)
E-Saggila – Alrmr
Kombe – unreleased (forthcoming Somatic Rituals)
Hey Charles! Welcome to the Tapes series - its great to have you on. Can you start by introducing yourself?
Heya :) I’m the founder of Unbound Events, an events platform which uplifts minorities and uses music as a vehicle to raise awareness of social issues. After initially starting it on my own, my collaborator Aidan Ray got involved, helping with the planning of the events.
I initially started the events as a creative outlet, acting as an exercise in tapping into different facets of creativity. To that end, as well as DJ’ing, I also write, speak on panels relating to race, identity and culture and host a monthly radio show. I see myself as a (very tired) cultural activist!
Talk to us about this mix - what’s the ideal setting to listen to it? Is there a mood you were going for?
Big Bangers Badman Style. In all seriousness, there are many different pockets that make up the sound I’m transmitting, but the specific aesthetic I became interested in during the pandemic was hitting the sweet spot between deep, danceable but also easy to listen to at home. I’m leaving that behind for this one and just going for all-out peak-time mayhem.
Been blessed to play in a wide-range of time slots, but I naturally gravitate towards the speedier end of the spectrum and have recently been booked to play a lot of closing sets, so am chanelling that NRG. It’s still not as hard as I could go haha, but I love hammering listeners while keeping things lithe and sleek. You could say pummeling with panache :)
Typical mood for the quintessential Winggold set/mix is good for the gym/a run/if you need to power through a ton of work - this v much fits the bill. It ends pretty abruptly (I had a few more songs to play before my session at Pirate Studios ended lol) but hey, maybe it keeps you wanting more…
You’ve become known as an advocate for mental-health & spreading positivity through music, which is mainly how your club night & mix series Unbound was born. Can you talk to us a bit about your journey with the platform and how it all started?
What a journey it’s been… I’ve been battling burnout for quite a while now, and the last 8 months has basically been me recovering. As a result, I’ve been very reflective and have been giving myself my flowers for managing to achieve so much in a fairly short space of time (though it’s felt like a lifetime tbh).
I first started it in 2017 following my first brush with depression - I was working at the world’s largest law firm and, though I’d been pretty easygoing before that, depression hit me like a ton of bricks. It was - at the time - true rock bottom and I was truly helpless, floundering around and trying to find some sense of self while painfully lost.
When thinking about what I loved, I’d always been into music, so thought I’d pour my depressed energies into throwing just the first event and seeing what happened. It’s all been a way to explore the concept of healing through art on a large scale, transmitting pain and transforming it into something visceral and beautiful in an effort to open people’s minds a bit. After feeling like I was on to something good following the first couple of events, I had big (delusional!) dreams but, six years later and it’s opened all sorts of crazy doors that I literally never could have imagined would be open to me. Feels nice to look back and realise that I’ve ended up where I always wanted to be.
It’s somewhat bittersweet, since it turns out that taking on a huge, all-consuming project while recovering from severe depression and anxiety maybe isn’t the healthiest thing to do… It’s also ironic since one of the initial goals was to get people inspired to live their best lives, but taking on so much work has meant I absolutely haven’t been. I spent a good few years disassociating since it’s been a heavy burden to take on + the level of busy-ness took me aback, but I *think* I’m starting to have a semblance of balance. Shout out to therapy as well, that’s defs helped me get some perspective - I literally can’t believe I’ve built something like this while suffering the way I have been.
You also work a full-time job as a lawyer which is no easy feat! How do you manage to balance a demanding full-time job with your music career? Do you have any advice to share?
Ha. I defs haven’t been balancing it - I’ve been a mess for quite a while. Things have gotten pretty dark at points and I’ll bluntly say that there’ve been times when everything’s felt like so much and so crushing and never-ending that I haven’t felt like living.
I think I’m coming out the other end now though. It’s been a long time of balancing multiple competing interests and spinning several plates, but I think the key is discipline and rigour. It’s all a process and I’m defs not there yet, but it’s getting there. As a recovering people pleaser, I’m learning to say no a lot more. I’m naturally quite chaotic lol and I’ve leaned into that over the years, but I’m finding that structure and groundedness makes everything much easier to handle. Remember why it is you’re doing what you do! You also can’t make anything work if you feel awful – there’s a limit to how much you’ll be able to do.
I’ve previously run myself into the ground (many times over…) since I take what I do very seriously, but I think it’s also important to remember that this is all supposed to be fun. Again, perspective is v useful - music can be healing and result in beautiful communal experiences + art has an important place in society, but DJs aren’t curing cancer or anything. People get so twisted trying to chase their careers (music or otherwise) but a recent realisation has been that a sense of lightness defs makes it easier.
You often talk about the intersection between music, therapy, and escapism - how does this influence your approach to DJing?
I play in such an uncompromising fashion since it used to be a way of channelling the inherent rage of being a minority in society - I wanted to move away from this during the pandemic and tap into creating from a softer place. Now that I’ve reconciled both approaches and am in a more stable place mentally, I enjoy playing hard and fast with a focus on keeping things challenging but fun.
DJ’ing absolutely was never a path that I saw as available to me tbh. A few months after having the idea to start the events, it occurred to me that the best way to share the sound I had in my mind was via DJ’ing but, even then, when I first started playing, it was a way to soothe my depression-addled brain after work. As someone whose mind is always racing, getting lost in the flow while DJ’ing is a really good way for me to focus and to get my mind to quieten down.
Digging deeper into the artform of DJ’ing meant I could really go in crafting a whole aesthetic which ties in to the mythology of Unbound. My style is Afrofuturist and - at the risk of sounding crazy - it basically came to me in a vision I had one night. I don’t usually remember my dreams, but I can still remember this one in searing clarity. In line with those mystical origins, I keep things trippy, mindbending and diverse as possible to try and get people to envision new, unfamiliar horizons - a core aspect of Unbound is looking beyond a standard greyscale life and embracing new ways of living that are in line with your true self. In my mind, this means going for whatever it is that gets you into that flow state - that could be cooking, birdwatching, gardening, judo or whatever.
Afrofuturism is all about actualising and creating a new life for yourself, so the sonic universe I draw from is constantly evolving. I’m very inspired by nature and space so, even when playing quite gritty, intense sounds, I like there to be a very textured, naturalistic edge which contrasts the synthetic sounds. I like playing around with contrasts (hard/soft, dark/light) since it’s my way of reflecting the duality of life. Even when playing quite disparate sounds, I try and tie them together with a light touch to reflect the flow mindset that I’m trying to represent.
With Unbound you also place focus on championing minority communities & artists - what are your thoughts on the current state of the music scene in London? Do you think we’ve come a long way or is there still more work to be done?
Looking at this specific niche of underground electronic music, it's better than it previously has been but there’s always more work to be done. There’s still a lot of uninspiring stuff and people who don’t seem to understand why it’s so important to platform minorities. I don’t think there’s been quite the sea change that was expected/promised after the events of June 2020, but it’s nice to see things be a bit more progressive, especially around the UK as a whole. I used to get quite frustrated thinking about the people who just don't get it and who'd stay booking the same stale, pale, male pool of artists, but now I just protect my peace - any imbalance is reflective of deeper societal issues and that's not really going to be solved overnight, is it?
Those holding the keys to power are starting to realise that minorities can be profitable + can draw in crowds, but it still doesn't come from a place of truly understanding why there needs to be diversity. You can educate people as much as possible, but they'll never fully understand since it's not their lived experience. I understand that London is a tough place to make things work, but everybody ultimately benefits from a diverse dancefloor, with new sounds and ideas being incubated.
Real lasting change typically comes from minorities themselves (often with the help of allies) and it's been awesome to see a bunch breaking down barriers. Big shout out to Sherelle and her BEAUTIFUL platform, Shannen SP and Nine Nights, Thempress and Riposte, Pxssy Palace, Daytimers, Oh Annie Oh and all the work she does, NIKS, Baby K and the Black Artist Database crew, T Dunn and Timehri Records, + everyone who's given them a helping hand along the way. It takes a lot to tear down and rebuild existing structures, and I've realised that nobody can truly effect change without wider support.
Lastly, any exciting projects or gigs in the pipeline?
Sleep! Seriously, the main project for me is taking better care of myself ha.
Musically, there’s always some stuff cooking in the background… I think this is the year when everything really comes to fruition. I’ve just come off a really special run of gigs that I’ll cherish for a while, and I’ll be closing out Kallida festival in a few days.
I’ll be taking part in a panel talk alongside Nadine Noor from Pxssy Palace on September 22nd at the Halley Space for an all-day conference/series of workshops, then a few weeks later, playing Transmissions Festival in Hackney alongside bigtime inspirations like Aurora Halal, Kia, Spekki Webu and Wata Igarishi. Also super excited for a gig in Liverpool at the end of the year with one of my recent faves NVST! After a hiatus of sorts from putting on events, there’ll be a pretty epic Unbound at FOLD at the end of the year + there might be some dabbling with live music in the months before.
After moderating and speaking on a panel at Amsterdam Dance Event last year, I’m now curating and speaking on a few this year. There’s also a big editorial piece on Unbound that’ll be out by the end of the year aaaaaand I’m trying to squeeze out a few writing pieces. I also have some video projects I’ve been wanting to get off the ground for a couple of years now, but that might need to wait til next year ‘cos… yea, I just got tired typing all this out.