Brussels based musical activist and collector/selector DJ soFa aka soFa Elsewhere joins us for the 30th edition of our Off The Record mix series after a short break, and what a mix to get it all back kicking off. Known for his excellent Elsewhere compilation series he curates, soFa shows his diverse selection here travelling from chuggy industrial and percussion-y rhythms to acid baselines and pumping house. We had a quick chat with Chris(as he is known in the real world) about his mix and what he’s got going on lately:
Hey Chris, thanks for joining us! Can you tell us about your recording and what the idea was behind it?
Hello and thanks too;) well its a bit of clubby stuff I put together for your series which is more club-oriented as what I usually publish for home listening.. its some new and old stuff, many tracks by friends and a sneak peak into my upcoming EP also..
Could you tell us a little bit about your background, perhaps where you grew up and what first got you interested in music?
I grew up in the east of Belgiums countryside til I was 18 and then moved to Brussels where Ive spent most of my time since.. I got into music and I was fascinated by that DJ world, something I didn’t knew back then with 14. 10 years later I saw a possibility of making this my job and thats what happened and I’m very grateful I can spend pretty much all my time doing what I love since about 15 years now.
Can you tell us a bit about how you usually approach recording a mix or a set?
Mostly it starts from one or 2 tracks which make me dig out similar (or not) stuff in my own collection and then I knit them together the best way possible..
What’s your preferred method for finding new music – do you still enjoy digging around in dusty crates or do you prefer to buy online?
Everywhere I travel to I can’t avoid to dig into the shops or flee-markets although in the last 10 years I am much less obsessed by it. I mostly get records from more specialised sources and friends with whom I trade all over the world now. To me trading is the easiest way to find outstanding stuff in these days. I’m quite addicted to new daily discoveries so in the meantime production replaced this hunger a bit. It allows me to create stuff daily with much less effort as the digging was for so many years. After producing a bunch of records now I realised that, in my sound, I unconsciously reproduce many small elements from these outsider records I searched after so much.
What do you have up your sleeve for 2022?
Well as I said my focus lately is on production and there is a few nice collaborations coming out later this year. First an EP and album of Sexo Y Fantasia, along with my friend Boochie from Kiosk Radio, Nyati Mayi & The Astral Synth Transmitters on Bongo Joe Records and another album I produced with the great Japanese dj, singer and musician Saeko Killy on Bureau B. Also Planet Trip in Melbourne is gonna put out my solo EP hopefully before summer..
I am planning to dj only occasionally to save my energy for production. I m always excited to collaborate with singers and musicians, and hopefully some day I could produce a whole band.
