Inéz’s voice that cuts through instantly. Smoky, weighty, emotional when it needs to be, but still carrying that sharpness dance music needs. Whether she’s drifting across deeper electronic cuts or sitting over full-blown dancefloor pressure, she’s completely locked into the mood of a track rather than just sitting on top of it. After collaborations with John Summit and Solomun, she now steps into the drum & bass sphere alongside Luude on ‘Never Adds Up’. Wobbling low-end, chopped vocals and hands-in-the-air energy. the kind of tune clearly built for festival season damage.
But the interesting stuff is underneath all that. The records artists obsess over, the vocals they grew up around, the sounds that quietly shape the way they write and perform. We believe the best way to get to know someone is to look through their record collection. Today, we want to get to know Inéz, so we’ve asked her to talk us through the tracks that influenced her.
Photay – No Sass
Whenever I am in a writing session and it comes to the point of sound design and haptic of music this is the track describes best my taste. I mean listen to these evolving little beautiful cracky sounds and then the movement of the beautiful balanced basses. Photay has such a unique way of making electronic music feel organic and alive. There’s a real sensitivity in his production that makes every detail feel intentional and human.
Malugi feat. Inéz – Chiggy Chiggy (Rohaan Remix)
The first time I heard Rohaan’s remix of that track, I was instantly obsessed with his approach and especially his bass sounds. He’s a really exciting newcomer, having just released a collaboration with John Summit and toured the US, and I’m super curious to hear what comes next.
DJ Luck & MC Neat – A Little Bit Of Luck
This is one of my absolute all-time favourite UK tracks. I first heard it as the last song they played to gently push people out of the club at closing in Cologne when I was 18, and it stayed with me ever since. That mantric tananitananitananitananitinboy, the super essential and minimalistic drums, and that perfect chord progression… it’s like calming sugar for my ears.
ÄTNA – Turn Back Time No More
ÄTNA is my band, it’s Demian Kappenstein and me. He plays the drums, processes my voice and I play synths and sing. It’s just the two of us on stage and we play everything live, no click, no USB, no projects, we love to experiment with sounds.
In this track we sampled a flute intro from our show with the NDR Bigband at the Elbphilharmonie, and then I improvised a bass line with an octave-down pitched vocoder over Demian’s beats.
Daft Punk – Technologic (Fred again.. & Thomas Bangalter Rework)
When I had a bit of time at Coachella to catch some shows before going on stage, I walked past a set by Joy (Anonymous) and immediately fell in love, especially with that track. It’s a remix of daft punks Technologic by Fred again.. and Thomas Bangalter, and I still couldn’t figure out who exactly made this version, but the bass and the drums feel sooooo amazing to me.
Philip Glass – Opening
I’ve always had a big crush on minimalism, and this track still amazes me. It feels so calming to the nervous system with its mantra-like repetition, yet it keeps shifting the mood through these beautiful, unexpected chord progressions. And even though it sounds super simple, there’s this interesting three-against-two rhythmic pattern going on, when I tried to learn it on piano it actually took me a while.
Joni Mitchell – The Dry Cleaner from Des Moines
That whole album is such a breathtaking piece of music. This supergroup of Joni Mitchell, Jaco Pastorius, Wayne Shorter, Emil Richards, Peter Erskine and Herbie Hancock came together for a tribute to Charles Mingus, and the way they play with each other is just insane.
They move around the themes so freely, always staying connected even while improvising, and the sense of freedom in how they approach a song is incredible. I rarely hear such long, evolving arcs of tension in music. The Dry Cleaner from Des Moines might not be the best example of that extreme freedom, but it’s my favourite track on the album, so I really recommend listening to the whole record.
Underworld – Born Slippy
I’ve never seen the movie Trainspotting, but I’ve heard this track about a million times. It’s just a classic, I love its rawness, the big build-up, the beautiful chords and the almost meditative vocal. It’s a timeless masterpiece.
Subtronics feat. Inéz – Eyes Cut Deeper
This song is the latest release by Subtronics and me. Jesse sent me his version just two days after I shared the stems, and I was immediately impressed by his creativity, the cinematic world he built around this self-empowering song, and I instantly fell in love with his drop. It was amazing working with him, he invited me to release and perform the track at Coachella this year, where I also got to see his set for the first time.
I was completely blown away, he feels like a Thelonius Monk of dubstep to me. The set was mind-blowing, I’ve rarely experienced anything like it, such a dynamic rollercoaster, constantly surprising you, one moment it feels orchestral, the next you’re hit with a massive bass drop, and the sound of his show was insane. It was such an honour to join him on stage for his remix of John Summit and me, and to close the set together with our new track Eyes Cut Deeper.
The King’s Singers – And So It Goes
Just voices, a beautifully sad song, and a great arrangement by Bob Chilcott. I’ve been listening to a lot of choir music recently, and this is one of my favourites.
I love how you sometimes discover great songs through someone else’s version that really moves you. I’m especially in love with the reharmonisation Bob Chilcott created from the original chords of Billy Joel.
