London DJ
Josey Rebelle's rise throughout the 2010s has been nothing short of astounding, filled with one landmark after another. She began the decade a resident DJ at Plastic People, a much-revered club that was the epicenter of the U.K. bass scene at the time, then started broadcasting at Rinse FM in 2011, where she gradually became one of the station's most popular hosts. Numerous well-received mix podcasts and appearances at major festivals and clubs followed as
Rebelle was featured in several lists of up-and-coming DJs or top radio shows. Her 2019 session for BBC Radio 1's Essential Mix was voted the program's best mix of the year, and her first commercially issued mix appeared through the label connected with another long-running, influential dance radio broadcast, New York's
Beats in Space.
Josey in Space is a fine display of her fearless, passionate mixing style, which connects several eras of dance music, threaded together with socially conscious soundbites and spoken word pieces. Building from dislocated, simmering electronics and the urgent poetry of
Tenesha the Wordsmith and
Daniel B. Summerhill's "I Dream So Loud," she selects tracks that are propulsive, raw, and full of life. This is not a seamless, clinically produced mix suitable for background ambiance --
Rebelle favors tracks that sound live and in-the-moment, and she highlights their individual personalities, moving from the skittering acid house of
Fotomachine's "BBoy" to dark-room techno like
Automation's 1991 track "Electricity." Midwestern America's house and techno legacies are touched on with the prismatic abstraction of
Hieroglyphic Being's "Bird Songs 4 Amelie" and smoother tracks by
Titonton Duvante and
Reggie Dokes. Uplifting vibes are spiked with flashes of paranoia -- a few tracks after a burst of hardcore terror from
Rum & Black (aka rave pioneers
Shut Up & Dance),
Access 58's stunning "Jazz Drama" slides into a busy, bongo-heavy cut from Detroit's
Andres, which is cut out by a siren and a very foreboding vocal sample, spelling out the planet's impending demise. Summing up the mix's intense yet blissful feeling is a classic slice of mid-'90s atmospheric jungle by
Rogue Unit, followed by laid-back, jazzy optimism from North London lyricist
Lex Amor. ~ Paul Simpson
![Sunrise Bang Ur Head Against tha Wall [Red Vinyl]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0602448441263_p0_v1_s90x140.jpg "Sunrise Bang Ur Head Against tha Wall [Red Vinyl]")
![Home [10th Anniversary Edition]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/5054197388651_p0_v2_s90x140.jpg "Home [10th Anniversary Edition]")
