Under Arrest and Viola Vitali are leading « Melting Stars », an ambient event at Les Ateliers Wonder, 109 rue de Paris, Bobigny, on June 28th from 5 PM to 2 AM. On the rooftop of Les Ateliers Wonder, you will discover this unique project of 6000-meter squares of art and curation.
10 emerging producers from Milan and Paris will perform in a cosy nest of fabrics and pillows. The organisation team is composed of Viola Vitali, a DJ and set designer from the Macao squat in Milan, known for her tireless creativity within the fashion industry, she would perform as well with her musician partner and singer Carlotta Menozzi. Under Arrest is the CEO of the Latinxbass label Cuntry Club, she loves making connections inside her music community, she’s a well-known DJ, visual artist and producer, and she would perform live during « Melting Stars » event.
Part of our various hosted artists will express to us their connection with ambient music and live performances. You can still discover Epsilove, DJ Gösta, Cotopax (Viola and Carlotta Menozzi), and Leila Rufus on June 28th at Les Ateliers Wonder.
Get your ticket >>>> https://t.ly/S2pFe
AMBER TAMBOUR
« I think of ambient as a door, leading to intimacy. It’s an opportunity to accept myself in a situation of fragility in a public space, which, most of the time, is not even remotely a possibility when living as a trans woman in a big city. My conception of idealistic live music blends vulnerability and warmth.
I think I started to discover ambient music thanks to hardcore/club music, by listening carefully to emotional bridges in club records. And I feel that this starting point has helped me carve my emotional link to ambient music, by blending it with loud impacts and violent noises. I feel like it is when I’m listening to records oscillating between softness and violence that I can get more in touch with a full range of emotions.
‘Spandrel?’ by Evita Manji might be the one, especially ‘XYZ/Labyrinth.’ It’s the perfect blend of warmth and chaos. I have been a huge fan of their work since before seeing them play live, and I felt really overwhelmed with emotions as I attended their show. I remember giving Evita a really tiny letter saying thank you, as I was too moved to say a word. »
4TUNA
« Preparing a live performance is particularly delicate for me. It all starts with what mood I want to convey, what part of myself I want to reveal in this particular performance and expose to the audience—insights into my feelings, experiences, memories of the past, and dreams of the future. I often find inspiration in nostalgia for things that have not yet happened. Something like a feeling of haunting. I am also inspired by literature; the last thing that greatly influenced me were the works of Philip K. Dick. I read a series of his books in a row. ‘The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch’ has a very special atmosphere.
I think my connection with ambient music began when I first heard William Basinski’s ‘The Disintegration Loops.’ I think I was 15 then, and I was already attending raves in St. Petersburg. I remember one evening a guy who worked at the club invited me to take a walk through the morning sheets after the rave. We walked and listened to this piece on our headphones, then my world just turned upside down. In general, I really like riding in the Paris metro without headphones. Sometimes the train goes around a turn, the windows are open, and air passes through them, creating something like a wind instrument. I really like listening to the ambience of the city; it’s like the world is talking all the time, and you just need to be able to listen.
I think the album ‘A00/NoMind’ by Superposition best suits my mood right now. I like to turn it on when I’m doing my daily routine, and it’s also very pleasant to read along when listening; it helps me dive deeper. Also, the classic I’ve been listening to like Mazzy Star, ‘Among My Swan.’ In general, I love melancholic elements in music. I’m romantic. »
FRANCESCA HEART
« I try to build a space for contemplation and wonder. I usually play with a digital set up and a conch horn, but it can also take the form of dance performances and scores.
I am interested in how paganism remained alive in Italy during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, and how references to pagan cults are often found in Christian places. I am curious about how these elements remain alive in our Mediterranean consciousness. I almost always start from an image and from there I create a soundtrack that extends the sensations that that image transmits. In the architectural games of the gardens there is often an initiatory journey desired voluntarily or not by those who created them, an adventure. This is also present in video game culture, where you have to collect gems, overcome obstacles and encounter guide animals that help you.
Right now I’m listening to a lot of Vangelis and my friends tapes. »
DJ UNDER ARREST
« As the mother of the Cuntry Club label and a 3D CGI video game developer, for me, it has always been about gathering communities and leading them into visual worlds like an exploration into celestial nature or weird creepy corridors. With a certain form of gameplay, for me, ambient is directly linked to the art of the OST. My favorite is ‘Silent Hill 2’ by Akira Yamaoka and also ‘Dark Souls Daughters of Chaos.’ From a young age, I have been possessed by the ethereal and bright sound of video games. Then I discovered many music composers who were also into trance. I have also to confess that I love sound design and the sounds of swords or monsters moaning.
During live ambient, I mostly work before from home. I play randomly with my favorite VSTs, and I jam for hours. I love major chords, trance, dancehall, and reggaeton beats. I just do random tests like maximum dosing then I fold everything and select, cut, multiply into something that at least sounds good. My favorite VSTs are Spire, Vital, Scaler, and the major chord feature from Ableton. My music, despite my label that is super clubby, is more emotional. I’m a romantic and nostalgic. I love to make music for the soul while I mostly work with music producers who make music for the body and some of them are into brain music. I think music shouldnt be emotional or brain or bodily, it just show a limit of the spirit that is rationalising the spectrum of music. Music should activate every part of you.
I have been haunted for a long time by Space Afrika’s ‘Honest Labour.’
I love long-delayed vocals with slow paradoxal creepy bright pads like KMRU. I also recently discovered Olé through the SoundCloud community. I love SoundCloud. I’m thankful every day that this platform exists, particularly when I find this kind of music on it. I remember listening and crying on « Keisha.. djbboy.. aldous.. » at Barceloneta beach after some big parties in Razzmatazz. « I feel your love! I feel the times is uppp » «
MALENA
« I think my approach to DJing has been shaped by my experience as a performer and model. When I play, I often find myself balancing between my personal style and the specific vibe I want to create. On stage, there’s always this conflict between staying true to myself and delivering a performance that resonates with the audience. But at the end of the day, it’s always about finding that spot where my individuality shines through while still serving the vision I prepared.
Working for a DJ set, I approach it like crafting a story. I start by deciding on the mood or theme I want to convey, then meticulously select tracks that fit the narrative I’m aiming for. It’s a mix of technical things like tempo and key matching, and instinct to ensure each transition feels seamless and natural.
My connection to ambient music started innocently. As a teenager, I was a huge Justin Bieber fan and I came across an edit of his ‘U Smile’ slowed down by 800% on YouTube. I thought I was just listening to a different version of a pop song I loved, not realizing it was actually ambient music. I think what I find beautiful about this experience is its unexpected nature. True beauty surprises us. This might be why, for me, ambient feels like a form of freedom.
My mood RIGHT NOW is Bungalovv – Glued Armor (fr Efe Ce Ele) «
AVIZOHAR
« My relationship with ambient music began with my background in metal and noise music, which exposed me to deep sonic experiences where the sound was so rich and powerful that it became space. Through the energies of metal riffs and walls of sound that are usually linked with violence, density, and anger, I was able to find abstract textures and energies of relief, healing, and compassion. This is where I found myself attracted to ambient music, inviting us to experience it in different listening stages, whether the music’s space surrounds us or embodies our own spaces.
This is the seam I am trying to create when I perform my music as Avizohar. It is this delicate border that I am after, creating an emotional tension between the healing elements of ambient while also preserving the dense dynamics of sound until they become an abstract sonic experience. Playing live always puts me in the most vulnerable position, as I invite the audience to listen to my compositions, which I have been working on for months, and the performance is the first time it touches and connects with others. Even when I play the same composition, it always resonates differently with each performance and each audience.
‘I Do Care’ by Daniella Ljungsberg is the album I enjoy the most nowadays. Daniella creates a beautiful mix of weird ethereal folk with her childish and playful approach to music, accompanied by her beautiful voice. She is one of my favorite musicians, and her new album gives me hope and warm feelings even on the darkest days. »
We check that every of our artist is against genocide, transphoby, racism, homophoby as well as the Wonder is a welcoming space, open to everyone, where discrimination of any kind has no place. We will not tolerate any sexist, racist, LGBTQIA+phobic, fatphobic, ableist behavior or any type of discrimination.
Get your ticket >>>> https://t.ly/S2pFe
