IN2STELLAR Mix
Taking over Tapes #78 is Interstellar Fugitives, DJ Sarah and Georgia Bird. A DJ collective born out of Melbourne, they are largely influenced and inspired by 90’s rave and jungle, futuristic electro sounds and breakbeat. It comes as no surprise that they named themselves after the seminal 1998 album from Underground Resistance.
Since joining forces, they've been made a name for themselves around the competitive Melbourne scene with appearances at clubs Boney, Gasometer, Lounge, Revolver and xe54; plus larger scale events like Pitch Music and Arts Festival, Beyond the Valley and Falls Festival.
On top of DJing, the two also co-founded the party Neurotiq Erotiq which gives them and their like minded community a platform for their sound.
TRACKLIST
Millicent - Show U Up
Yak - Don Greno
Vitess - Okay Fox
Picasso - Knees-Up
Harley Ferris - Atom Splitter (Sam Alfred Remix)
Abdul Raeva - Melbourne Mint
Autonomech- Strength in Numbers
Ellen Stokes - Heading North
D- Foundation - Wormhole
Hyden - The Beat Bandit
Mad-tek - Immortal Machines
Fasme - Bad Weather
Andy Garvey - Heavy
mpeg - Slot 16
Hey both - welcome to the Origins Tapes series! Can you start by introducing yourself?
Hi! Firstly, thanks for having us. You’ve had so many amazing guests so it’s a pleasure to be here. We are Sarah and Georgia, two Naarm/Melbourne-based DJs that came together around 5 years ago to form our duo IN2STELLAR and our party ‘Neurotiq Erotiq’.
Tell us about this mix - what's the ideal setting to listen to it?
This mix is designed for before the club, in the club, and after the club. It’s definitely reflective of what we’re playing out right now and is a bit of a mix of both international and local artists that have been inspiring us over the past little while.
How was IN2STELLAR born? Tell us more about your influences?
We were both DJing separately around 2017 and became naturally aware of each other as we were playing similar music and shows. We were both heavily influenced by 90s house, late 90s/early 2000s prog/trance, nu-breaks plus a bunch of techno, and leftfield bass coming out of Germany and the UK. Not many people know that we actually started ‘Neurotiq Erotiq’ first, and then became a duo a couple of months later after a chance b2b set. We realised quickly that being on this ‘journey’ is way more fun when you have someone to share the highs and lows with and now the duo project is the main focus for both of us. When we started out we were heavily influenced by other women and gender-diverse DJs in the scene at the time. DJs like CC:Disco, JNETT, DJ Kiti, Pjenné, Millù, Katie Pearson, Toni Yotzi, and heaps more. We didn’t really know of many female promoters in Melbourne at the time though, so were influenced a lot by Discwoman in NYC to kick off our club night and basically give ourselves and our friends a safe and inclusive space to play sets. These days, the buzzing local scene is a continuous source of inspiration for us and sonically we draw a lot of influence from the same sounds and scenes internationally.
And your club night Neurotiq Erotiq that places focus on up and coming artists in Melbourne - where do you see the future of that platform?
We’re really proud of how far the party has come over the past 5 years. During the pandemic we really delved into the local scene due to being so isolated in Australia and it was a really great opportunity to place a lot of headliners from Aus on our lineups. Now that borders are opening back up we’ve got some really exciting internationals penciled in for the next few months, and we’re looking forward to reconnecting with the scene outside of Australia. There is so much talent here on our shores though that has flourished over the past couple of years so we’re keen to continue tapping into that whilst also hosting acts from overseas that have inspired us for years.
Being a promoter as well as having played for us a few times, how would you compare your clubbing experience in the UK to Australia?
In a lot of ways, our experience in the UK felt familiar, probably due to the cultural parallels between to 2 countries and the fact that the clubs/venues we play at in Australia feel like they draw a lot of inspiration from the UK and Europe when curating parties and spaces. When we played in places like London, we almost felt like it was just a bigger version of Melbourne, with similar energy, but with more venues and more people to fill them.
Summarise IN2STELLAR in 3 words.
A bit silly.
Dream line-up to play with?
Ok how about Andy Garvey, Main Phase, C.Frim, Or:la, Ciel, Darwin, DJ Fart In The Club, X-Coast, Byron Yeates, Roza Terenzi, Sweely, plus the Shanti Celeste / Moxie / Peach / Saoirse supergroup and maybe Calvin Harris if the budget has no limit???
Thanks for being a part of the Tapes series!