FEATURE:
Saluting the Queens
and celebrated Jamz Supernova before. You can follow her on Instagram. Label owner at Future Bounce and recent winner at Music Week’s Women in Music 2023 Awards, I wanted to revisit this music icon and leader. Someone, too, who announced Ezra Collective as this year’s Mercury Prize winner. A head judge who made that incredible delivery. Someone, clearly, who is very important and influential in modern music. Broadcasting on BBC Radio 6 Music, there is no doubting the fact that Jamz Supernova is a queen of the music scene! I am going to come to a few interviews with her. One is a very recent one. First, here is some background and biography about a remarkable D.J., broadcaster, label boss and champion of new music:
“For Jamz Supernova, her goals in the industry are about more than sheer entertainment. “I'm playing this artist so far in the future, but we're remembering that it started right here,” she says. Rather, she’s using her position to inform, link musical timelines, and tell a story through sonics. “I’m trying to link the past, present and the future.”
A multi-hyphenate force in the UK’s music space, the labels she holds are as numerous as they are formidable. She is a label head, radio host, DJ, podcaster, and overall tastemaker broadcasting in the industry for over a decade at the age of 32. She’ll be known to fans for slots on BBC Radio 1Xtra (Best Specialist Aria Gold Winner 2021), BBC 6Music (Broadcast & Press Guild Best radio show of 2022) & Selector radio for the British Council, reaching over 4 million global listeners.
Known for selecting sounds that span musical genres and subcultures, what she enjoys is the intimacy of sharing music with her community over radio. BBC 6 Music is where she sits as a storyteller, exploring global communities and unearthing exciting scenes through platforming underground music that rarely graces the mainstream. On Selector Radio she gives her listeners an overview of British music as a whole, keeping her audience hip to growing trends and scenes as they emerge in real time. And throughout her time on 1Xtra she has been celebrated for picking out the most left-field modern music and giving an incisive look into the alternative music scene.
“There's the double prong-ness of supporting artists that I love, and then playing it to ears that I want to excite. I love being able to provide a platform for them, and then following them all the way from the beginning of their career,” she says, having been an early champion of the likes of Hak Baker, Greentea Peng, Pip Millett and more.
Set up in 2018, her label Future Bounce is another facet of her drive to support emerging artists. Working with musicians like UNIIQU3, Sola and Scratcha DVA amongst others, Jamz works in both an A&Ring and consulting capacity, helping her signees to progress their artistry where the industry can be thorny for up-and-comers.
“I do the due diligence of looking for music, but I know how hard it is for artists to get their music to me if you don't know me, or you're not on my radar,” she says. “So it's about selecting those artists that I'm going to shout about; I'm going to put you in front of this person, give you my phonebook – we attack it together.”
In her live DJing and club appearances, she plays an eclectic genre mix from broken beat, UK funky to Bass, techno and beyond. Inspired by sound system culture & music from around the globe, she has toured worldwide and is a mainstay on the UK festival scene, playing at the likes of We Out Here Festival, Worldwide Sete, Love Saves The Day, All Points East and more.
Her podcast DIY Handbook outlines the stories of how herself and other featured creatives got to where they are, including the ups and the downs. It’s a winning antidote to a perfectly curated social-media world, where the likes of DJ and Producer Conducta, Sunday Times Best Selling Author Otegha Uwagba and presenter June Sarpong can get real about the challenges and the slog. “I kind of made it for the 19-year-old me that entered the BBC for the first time, those who maybe just put their foot in the door,” she says.
“It's the openness and vulnerability of talking about things behind the lens of everything looking perfect. We see the end destination, but this is about all those hurdles, moments and life lessons you learn en route.”
Born Jamila Walters, Jamz lived the early months of her life in Birmingham before her family relocated to South-East London at around 9 months old. It’s here where she’d soak up her multicultural settings, something that would forge her musical identity. “It has all culminated in the kind of DJ and tastemaker that I am,” she says.
“A big part of my identity on air is learning about how people resonate with their heritage. I'm really fascinated by those intersections because I've been around so many different types growing up; African, Turkish, Vietnamese, Caribbean, Somali. It's so nice to be able to share that,” she says, herself being of Jamaican, Cuban and Irish heritage.
Music was a language in the household, a means of how her family communicated both then and now. “Sound system culture just kind of runs through us,” she says: this would be christened by her grandparents who met at a blues, and a love for music would trickle down over generations.
She spent her childhood dancing for hours in the living room with her mum, her dad turning up the music so loud she could feel bass vibrations on their windows. She’d watch her uncle DJ and groove to 7’’ vinyls, and her aunt would take her to raves. Her early clubbing experiences opened her up to a taste of UK funky and dancehall, genres that would lead her into d’n’b, hip hop and more.
Getting into the first steps of her career would prove less direct, though. “I feel like radio chose me,” she says. As a teenager, she wanted to be a TV presenter at first, only taking an interest in radio after accompanying a friend to a visit to BRIT School. It was an “epiphany moment;” Jamz enrolled in their BRIT FM at age 16, eventually joining the BBC aged 19 as a producer.
She’d spend time at Reprezent Radio learning the ropes and hosting her own show, culminating in her first show on BBC Radio 1Xtra at 24. It wasn't an easy path though, and Jamz faced a lot of no’s along the way. “ I loved production, but I knew what I wanted. I had to fight to be on air,” she recalls. It’s testament to a supreme work ethic, summarized in an outlook retained over the course of her career: “There will never be a plan B. Plan B means you don’t believe in plan A.“
It is a vision that will only continue as she moves forward. Jamz will be moving into further TV. She has already filmed and developed documentaries for BBC Three & Newsbeat, also recently co-hosting music show Jazz 625 on BBC FOUR. For 2022, she has been announced as a guest judge for the Mercury Prize. Future Bounce are due to release Vol.II of their Future Bounce Club Series, and she is looking at further podcast ideas in music and the topic of motherhood, having recently given birth to daughter Forest.
World domination will continue to be in her orbit. But Jamz will continue to rise by doing what’s always worked for her – staying true to herself, and to those that resonate with her craft. “I don’t need the numbers and metrics,” she smiles. “But I want you to listen the shows, to come see me DJ and buy the music from the label because you're genuinely invested, and I'm doing something for you”.
Whether you are looking to have your Friday night playlist taken care of or want to hear her celebrate and discuss the importance of global music, then there are precious Jamz resources available. Since I feature Jamz Supernova a year or so ago a lot more press has comer online. She has achieved even more, so it is well worth dipping back in. Rather than featuring interviews from 2021 and 2022, I am going to keep it fresh. 2023 has been a very important busy one for this legend. I am going to come to a very recent (last month in fact) interview, where Jamz Supernova talked about five years of her Future Bounce label. I will end with that. I am going to start with this Beat Portal interview. Among other things, she discussed her philosophical approach to music, and the effects of her (then) recent trip to Colombia:
“Her approach to finding music to play as a DJ goes back to that Rodigan sense of trusting your gut – “and really listening to it, you know if a song is good or not”, but for her label it’s slightly different. “There’s the ear of potential, like can you hear where this is going, does it need a little bit of development? Is this a longer-term project?” It was really important for her to work with women who produce, who, like her, might struggle with feelings of imposter syndrome and might want to take a little longer to send over tracks. “Every release from 2018 up until now, I can hear the label’s gotten better. The artists have, but the label in terms of sonics, too.” Bianca Oblivion, whose fierce fusion of baile funk and grime (“Bad Gyal“) was released on the label last year, Jamz describes as “really the future of dance music, I think – her name will keep on popping up.” Sola’s ‘Abide In U’, the latest release on the label, is a reflection of the jazz-inflected side of things, all rich production and fluttery drums courtesy of British drummer Moses Boyd.
PHOTO CREDIT: Emily Almodovar
Pulling together watertight releases from the likes of Lorenzo BITW, quest?onmarq and Murder He Wrote, the second installation of Future Bounce’s Club Series was created while Jamz was pregnant, having a baby and navigating motherhood. She was running the whole thing “like a crazy professor” from her living room, doing the PR, radio plugging, ingesting and uploading. At times she’d been quite literally flitting between breastfeeding and DJing (when she takes Forest to her sets, she says, she naps in the green room and seems to instinctively wake up during the last track). “It actually was really, really hard,” she says about running the label as a new mum, “but when I listened back to the whole thing – I just had the test presses back for the vinyl and I’m like, ‘This is really good club music that’s really strong and representative of me as a DJ’.” Gilles Peterson, who she just delivered a test pressing of Volume II to – and with whom she often exchanges gifts, like old magazines from the 2000s – gave her the seal of approval by instantly selecting four tracks.
Jamz might be a radio fanatic, but she’s not averse to the camera-led side of broadcasting. She’s a keen TV host and has presented live from Glastonbury 2022, and fronted documentaries like BBC3’s Is This The End of Clubbing? Moses Boyd and her teamed up on BBC Four show Jazz 625, a one-off celebration of the UK jazz explosion that looked at the grassroots movement that Jamz had a part to play in amplifying. Before wanting to be a radio host, she wanted to be a TV presenter, and her radio producer background meant she’s always been developing ideas. “I’ve never wanted to just be a talking head,” she says. People liked her and Moses as a double act, and she’s working on pitching something that sounds like a music version of Travel Man – a “very indulgent TV show that allows us to travel as friends, experiencing music and culture”.
PHOTO CREDIT: Emily Almodovar
An avid music documentary fan – she mentions one about ‘70s Brixton band Cymande and God Said Give ‘Em Drum Machines, which looks at the Black origins of techno – Jamz sees documenting music culture as something of a “higher purpose”. “I’m sure some family members think I piss about all day, but when you watch these moments captured in time, you realise the power of music and what it can do for people,” she says. “It goes back to, what do I want to do with my platform? And for me, it’s telling stories. How do I tell the best stories through music?”
Centering herself is something that doesn’t come naturally to Jamz, but she’s working on taking herself out of her comfort zone this year. In April, she’s taking to Shoreditch’s Village Underground to throw the ‘Supernova X-Perience’, along with a mega selection of guests that are still under wraps, but looking at her bursting-at-the-seams contact book, you can pretty much guarantee it’ll have a gold standard line-up. “I’ve been running club nights for a long time, and I always built a line-up around everyone else, then inserted myself in there somewhere. But it was never about me, and I think there comes a time when you need to actually shout about yourself.” Even if that does mean having a few “anxiety dreams,” she adds, laughing. She’s working on a set “that feels like a live show,” she explains. “Like, I’m a DJ, I never gonna make music, I don’t want to make music. But I want to create that euphoria of dancing and I want to create moments within a set that make you lose your shit, basically.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Emily Almodovar
But before that is the 6 Music festival which takes place in Greater Manchester next month, her second year doing it as part of “the family,” she says. “I love that element – I remember last year with Craig Charles, Radcliffe & Maconie and Steve Lamacq all drinking downstairs in the hotel ‘til like 5am, so I want more of that – more team building,” she says with a smile.
When Jamz broadcasts her carnival special on 6 Music, it’s a show celebrating the riotous holidays taking hold all over the world, informing listeners about the blocos and bandas in Rio carnival that play early ‘00s trance and brass band covers of Madonna. Jamz’s selection jumps from Daddy Yankee’s “Gasolina” to New Orleans brass bands, which she tops up with a half-hour mix of Soca bangers at the end (“if you stay moving at the end of this mix, I’m not your friend any more!”) Dissecting the sounds with a warm quality, she has that rare ability to translate music for both an audiophile and casual listening audience.
Talking about her show a week earlier, she talks about the “immense privilege to be on national radio”. “I’ll never take it for granted,” she says, “but I’ve always wanted it on my own terms as well. I’ve always had this headstrong-ness of, ‘This is who I am and this is what I play, and I won’t bend.’ And I think it’s finally kind of paid off. It’s got me to a place where now I’m on national radio on a Saturday afternoon, I programme the whole thing and there’s no playlist. I do it all myself. Not many people get that opportunity to do that at this level”.
I shall come to the Music Week honour now. Receiving such a high and converted honour, it is not a surprise that the fabulous Jamz Supernova was awarded the Music Champion prize. Someone who is restless and always working when it comes to giving us the best and most interesting music coming through, they spoke with her about her incredible career:
“The winner of this year’s Music Champion honour is radio host, DJ, label head and podcaster Jamz Supernova.
Jamz, of course, has been a trailblazing tastemaker throughout her career. Known for her current slot on BBC Radio 6 Music, as well as her shows on BBC Radio 1Xtra and Selector Radio for the British Council, she brings fresh and diverse music to new audiences every week, reaching over four million global listeners in the process.
And that's just for starters. Her label, Future Bounce, was set up in 2018 and sees Jamz working in both A&R and consulting, releasing records from the likes of Bianca Oblivion, Suchi and Giulia Tess. Through her DJ sets, she is also a mainstay at festivals and clubs worldwide, spinning an eclectic mix of broken beat, UK funky, bass, techno and beyond at the likes of We Out Here Festival, Worldwide Sete, All Points East and more.
Having also hosted television shows for BBC Three, Four and Newsbeat, as well as music awards ceremonies such as the prestigious Mercury Prize, for Jamz, she has made a huge impact.
Here, we meet Jamz to reflect on her amazing career so far and talk the importance of pushing for positive change in the music industry…
PHOTO CREDIT: Alex Lambert
How does it feel to be honoured as a music champion?
“Awards are always a funny thing, and I’m quite an introverted person so I would never put myself forward for something, so it’s so nice to get a nod for doing the work I do! Being Music Champion feels like a great award to win because that's what I try to do, put the music first and trust my instincts with what I want to play, what I want to shout about on the radio or in my label, and my DJ sets as well, it feels like a very personal expression. So to have this award for it is really amazing.”
You have championed so many upcoming artists throughout your various radio shows. What made you want to dedicate your career to spotlighting artists?
“I was always that kid at school getting the hottest music and making mixtapes with people, I’ve always loved that element of sharing music with people and I really get a kick out of the discovery of it. I remember being in my late teens and my idea of a fun evening would be sitting on the blogs and coming across all these different things happening around the world and going on soundcloud – it’s always been how I spend my free time! To have an actual platform to share what you’ve discovered is just another element, so I kind of always knew I’d work in music, and because I was so enthusiastic about talking about new music, it just made sense that radio would be my first vehicle to do that.”
Who inspired you growing up in terms of the tastemakers and supporters of new music? Did you have a mentor?
“I had so many, I’m so thankful for all the mentors I had. I started off on Reprezent Radio, and I had a guy called Gavin [Douglas], who was a DJ I used to listen to called G Child. A lot of my generation and the generation after me credit him as being the mentor, and I was sort of one of his first radio children! From the age of 19, he was my mentor, in terms of getting out what I wanted to express within a radio show and teaching me the principles of radio. We had a really intense couple of years of really developing me as a broadcaster. It was like, ‘You know the music, but how do you share the music?’ and ‘You’re going to have to learn to DJ now because you’re a specialist and specialist DJs DJ!’ So that was really helpful.
“When I got to the BBC, I was surrounded by all these people who I admired. Meeting people like DJ Target, the dedication and passion that he had in finding all this music for his Homegrown show, I really loved watching him put it all together with his CDs, being really specific about the music he chose. There was also Toddla T, who did a really good job and showed [me] that being a music champion is not always a personal expression, it's also about leaning on different people and scenes around you, and learning how to spotlight them. I was very lucky to have different mentors throughout my career, even now, Mary Anne Hobbs, Giles [Peterson], they’re my music champions.”
You mentioned learning the importance of learning to DJ as a broadcaster. What is the relationship between the music you spotlight on radio and the music you choose to mix on the decks? Are the processes intertwined for you, or are they very different disciplines?
“To begin with they were quite separate, I had a DJ persona and I had a radio persona, and what I was playing had quite different expressions. Radio was a lot more down tempo and DJing was a lot more electronic leaning. As my career has grown, and I've had different spaces to explore, like in Radio 6 Music, it feels like all those worlds are coming together now and I’m coming across tracks like, ‘Oh I want to talk about that, but I also want to hear it in the club!’ They are quite interconnected now, but for me it’s all just about the education with both of them. I'm coming across so much music all the time, and that feeds my label as well, the people I sign and people I meet. It’s one big circle.”
Talking of your label, Future Bounce, what was the inspiration behind setting it up in 2018?
“It started off as a launchpad for artists that I was discovering through the radio, so much music comes out and it can be so hard for music to always get the attention it deserves, even if it’s really great. So for me, it was like, ‘Okay, I want to pick out a few artists, and what’s the next layer of support I can give them?’ That was setting up a label. Since then, the label has grown and also become more of an expression of my own taste, and it's an incubator for new talent, and for me to tell the stories of these artists and shine a spotlight on what they’re doing.”
What has your experience been like joining BBC Radio 6, has there been any resistance to you bringing in new music and voices?
“I mean, it’s such a privilege in terms of being a specialist woman to curate everything myself, everything I play on radio I have 100% picked, and to have that slot on a Saturday afternoon is massive. I was always very certain that the only way I wanted to do radio was in this way and I couldn't have been on 6 Music at the start of my career, but I can now because of everything that’s been leading up to it. I’ve been on daytime radio, I know how to make things feel accessible and comfortable, but I'm also a DJ so it’s important for me to stay true to what I play and not overthink whether people are going to like it. If someone doesn’t like it, I’d hope that they go somewhere else rather than trying to put me in a hole. There is always pushback when there is change, but I know that we’ve made some incredible radio and what I love about 6 Music is that I am constantly reaching new audiences.
“When I first started, there weren’t that many DJs of colour on the station, so you do get the pushback on that side of things, but I think that Saturday spot for me is a very safe space to be and I feel comfortable in being me. And I love 6 Music, I think it needed it, it is alternative music – whether that’s through the African diasporic lens or the SWANA lens, or anything, it’s new and exciting music we should be shouting about and hearing about.”
Especially with the dance music world, it’s quite male-dominated, so it’s my responsibility to make sure that we are spotlighting women or non-binary people to shift that balance.
As a DJ breaking new music, you are known as the person that's always bringing the next great thing first. What are the kind of pressures you face as a tastemaker?
“With the 1Xtra show I felt like I came in with a mission which was to broaden the conversation around what Black music could be. We started off with the alternative R&B scene and we went into jazz and more electronic stuff, and when I was coming to the end of that I almost felt like I was coming back around again, a lot of the music we had been playing had become mainstream, especially with the alternative R&B. With 6 Music, there is new music constantly of course, but it's more about deciding what’s right for that specific show. I'm in this nice position where, on one hand I’m introducing an older listener to new music, and I'm also talking to a younger listener and they can learn about the stuff our older stuff would have been raving to! I’m also in a position now where I don’t have to always play stuff that’s new, I’ve built my name as a tastemaker, so it’s also about thinking, ‘What came before that might have informed what the DJs are playing right now?’ and, ‘What happened to these genres when they went underground?’ – things like that.”
Do you think the industry is championing racial and gender equality enough? What can be done better? And what role does radio play in this?
“I think we’re definitely doing better, you can see the progress. But I think it’s important to keep the pressure on so we don’t go back! We’re already starting to get the eyerolls around diversity, and some of pledges that were made around Black Lives Matter, how many of them are still being upheld? When it comes to gender equality, you’re still seeing big lineups that aren’t very reflective of diversity. It almost feels like it’s still quite a grassroots thing, when it shouldn’t be, and I think a lot of that comes down to infrastructures behind the scenes, which we need to be really transparent about. If the infrastructures aren’t changing, there won’t be long-lasting changes that are tangible. There’s no reason at all why we shouldn't be seeing equal lineups! The talent is out there.
"Radio is the easiest way to be inclusive, it’s really tangible. You can see when you’ve done five males in a row, at that point you have to think, ‘I need to do my due diligence here.’ Especially with the dance music world, it’s quite male-dominated, so it’s my responsibility to make sure that we are spotlighting women or non-binary people to shift that balance. Not to say we always get it right, but it’s installed me and I’m always trying to address the balance, and being aware that we all have a role to play in making things [more equal]. But I would like to see more change in the wider industry and the infrastructures in place to make them more diverse.”
And finally, what artists are you excited about right now?
“I’m loving Bikoko. She’s an artist I’m working with right now, she’s done a few events I’ve done, and I came across her on bandcamp like two winters ago. Some artists just have it, and she just has it! Her music is kind of glitchy, and she produces her own thing. She really just has the star factor and I’m excited to see where she takes the experimental lens. Also Lizzie Berchie, a soul singer, she is wicked! The UK scene for R&B and soul hasn't always been that easy, so that’s great to see. There’s also this band called 15 15, who are based in the outskirts of Paris, they have members from Haiti and they make this sort of warped [music] – it feels like it’s going backwards! It was so nice to be one of the first to support them, I’ve literally been their groupie! They’ve just signed to XL Records. There’s just so much amazing music coming out, it's really exciting”.
I will finish off with Sound of Life and their November interview with Jamz Supernova. I would compel everyone to do as much Jamz digging as you can. Tune into her BBC Radio 6 Music show. Check out everything happening at Future Bounce. I think she will go down, in years to come, as one of the most important people and tastemakers in music:
“Jamz Supernova (born Jamilla Walters in South-East London) is the epitome of a very particular kind of modern renaissance person.
In a music world too often driven by cynicism and algorithm-led lowest-common-denominator homogeneity, she is a beacon of positivity and belief in modern, diverse and thrilling sounds.
Jamz Supernova is best known to the wider public for her BBC Radio shows which dissolve the boundaries between experimental electronica, more hype club sounds, soul/jazz and modern “urban” styles.
But just as important is her Future Bounce label, a hyper prolific outlet for sounds from these same interzones. Now celebrating its fifth birthday, Future Bounce remains, as it always has been, a celebration of community and grassroots subculture.
Jamz Supernova’s partner Sam Interface is also a label head – running the More Time imprint with his fellow bass music producer Ahadadream – and the pair are both in demand as DJs, so it’s entirely appropriate that Future Bounce has a family feel, nurturing unique individuals and micro-scenes within the wider flows of the music world.
To celebrate the label’s big birthday, we caught up with Jamz Supernova to find out what drives this musical powerhouse.
PHOTO CREDIT: Alex Lambert
Hi Jamz, what are you working on today?
Well this big Selfridges [London department store] residency I'm doing – we've opened this listening lounge, so I've been programming six weeks of events for them.
We're on week three now, so working on that: tonight, we've got a poetry night, and a sound bath this week, a creative workshop... all sorts!
Right, so as ever, you've got loads going on. How do you define yourself among all that? Are you a DJ first, or...?
Sometimes I do switch around the order depending on what I want to be more prevalent.
Sometimes I'll be broadcaster/DJ/label owner, or it might be label owner/broadcaster/DJ/curator. Those are the kind of ways I might describe I it – to me they all interlink anyway, it's the sharing of music, that's what we do.
Did you always have the ambition to work across disciplines like this?
Initially, when I was younger, I was a bit more one-track-minded and it was always radio, radio, radio.
Then, as I got into the industry – I started when I was 19 at the BBC, things were moving so fast.
The technology was moving so quickly, and also being around other broadcasters and seeing how many projects they always had on the go, I realised you can't just be one thing – financially partly, but also just filling your time unless you're the rare person who's doing a five-day-a-week show.
So, on a lifestyle tip, looking at someone like Gemma Cairney who was a broadcaster but also writing a book and working in fashion as well, or like Toddla T, who I worked really closely under: the broadcasting was almost a back seat for him because he was a music producer and working DJ too.
Being around people like that made it feel more acceptable to wear different hats.
I remember someone saying to me when I first came to the BBC, “Don't be a Jack-of-all-trades, be a master of one” – but I quickly thought, I don't think that advice works now, maybe that's how it used to be but not anymore.
I definitely think it's been the best way for me. I've got a lot of ideas, lot of things I want to express, so having all these platforms is perfect for me. I feel creatively content.
And when did Future Bounce as a name and idea come about?
That was at Reprezent. It was a radio show. I did a lot of different shows at Reprezent until I found my feet – I did a show that was trying to be Mistajam, then I did drivetime for about ten months, then I went to more specialist music...
And I was spending so much time on SoundCloud at the time, I needed something to define what I was playing, then this artiste called LAKIM had a track called “Future Bounce” – and I was instantly like, yes that's it, that's the brand!
So, I ran with it. It started out as a radio show, I turned it into a club night which ran for a few years at Dalston Birthdays, and then it became a label.
PHOTO CREDIT: Alex Lambert
Has the idea of what that represents sonically evolved over time?
Oh definitely, as my tastes evolved really. I always make a joke on radio about how I used to be so basic – but I do feel like the older I get, the more breadth of the music and my understanding of the music increases and grows.
Even if I listen back to some of the early releases on the label, it was very much in that SoundCloud world and quite linear – but as the label's developed, it's been more about how I'm into bands and stuff, so I might sign a funk band.
Or as my DJs accelerated a bit, I wanted to be able to have music I could play in my sets on the label as well.
So, we moved into the electronic space fully with even harder stuff – and now we're at a point where all those worlds are coming together: the R&B, the club stuff, the soul stuff, and the alternative stuff.
I think about all the labels I love, like a Ninja Tune or XL or Brownswood where they have a feel to them, but they're not necessarily genre specific, they're not just an electronic label or a jazz label.
It feels like 21st century music has steadily moved away from genre separation and towards different ways of mapping the connections between styles, right?
Yeah, again as a broadcaster or DJ I was told not just to try and be a master of one thing, but constantly asked what it's going to be.
Like, you've got a specialist show so what's it going to be? Are you going to be the hip-hop girl? The R&B girl? What is it?
But I just don't think that's how my generation consumes music. I think some of the best genres to come out of the generation that was raving and partying in the 2000s – things like dubstep and funky [also known as “UK funky” the bass-heavy house sound that absorbed African, grime and other influences] – they've all been hybrids of sound.
I think as a person of colour as well, it's easy to be boxed into what people think you should be. I've had assumptions made from the get-go.
For example, I worked with the Balimaya Project who describe themselves as West African folk-jazz, and people would be saying, “I thought you'd be doing drill,” or whatever
So, we're taking back the autonomy, showing we can be so many things.
My artiste Sola has a project called Warped Soul. That's her saying, “This is my version of soul music, I'm classically trained but I love Burial, this is my warped soul offering.”
So, letting artistes explore all those sides of themselves is important and Sola is a perfect example of that. When we met, we connected on all the different influences in the music we love.
And finally, do you have a long term plan for Future Bounce or is it contingent on what's working in the moment?
No, I do try and think ahead. It can be hard sometimes when you're so in it, and people will always say, “Be present, be present” – but sometimes you're so present in the firefighting that you forget to look ahead.
So, I have actually signed some stuff for next year. We've got the release schedule mapped this year, starting to think about next year.
I want to do another Club Series – this'll be Volume 3, but switch it up a little bit rather than doing the same model, which was 12 producers with one release every month.
I think streamline it with six producers, it's a four-track EP, and it really is with the intention of the artiste development side of it, and I want to focus on black and brown women and non-binary producers for that series.
And touring! I've never properly toured as a DJ, I've done gigs, regular gigs, but never toured.
So, while my little one is young, I want to explore touring and seeing that side of DJing. Radio can anchor you to one place, so I want to find pockets in the diary where I can take two weeks at a time off to go and play all these places.
I'm talking about global communities all the time on radio, but I need to be there as well! I think it'll enrich me as a broadcaster, and as a DJ – and for the label, I'm gonna meet so many amazing people!”.
I have a load of love and respect for the mighty Jamz Supernova. A legend, queen and modern icon, she is one of the best broadcaster and D.J.s we have. This year has been especially successful and exciting for her. I wanted to come back to her and add to what I wrote previously. In my new feature celebrating queens of music, I could not overlook Jamz Supernova. The music industry is so much richer for her being in it. We are all…
SO lucky to have her.