Wemoto Radio - 032 - Ariane V

Ariane V is a selector hitting her stride. Over recent years she’s bolstered a reputation for igniting dancefloors, and with it her sound has become ever more assured. Equally comfortable playing eclectic balearic sets and dialing it up at peak-time with breaks and acid cuts, Ariane’s selections are rooted in a deep sense of groove. She’ll pull for emotive house cuts that give way to driving 808s, punctuating things with leftfield disco, glistening Italo and big piano moments. It’s all laid down with a joyful appreciation of and profound connection to the music.

A three-year stint behind the counter at Phonica Records upon her arrival in London helped to broaden her taste, building an enviable collection in the process. Here she was exposed to jazz, soul, balearic and classic disco, as well as music from the wider reaches of the globe. The thread running through all of these sounds was beauty, melody and emotion: all foundational to what you can expect to hear Ariane V expressing in the club or on the airwaves.

Could you please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your background, perhaps where you grew up and what first got you interested in electronic music?
Hi, I'm Adriana, I DJ as Ariane V. I live in London, have lived here for almost a decade now, but I'm from Prague. Electronic has always been around me - my mum used to have trance mix CDs that she would do home workouts to and play them on long car journeys. We'd often listen to Gigi D'Agostino, and I'd listen to Scooter with my dad. My two older siblings loved drum'n'bass, so that was the first proper scene that I got into, and then as I got older and started discovering music for myself I discovered house.

I got obsessed with digging for new music when I went to uni, I would spend my lectures hidden in the back of the room sifting through Youtube on my laptop making playlists. Everything was new and exciting to me and it felt like I discovered a whole new world. I started learning how to DJ then as well, to be able to play all this new music that I've been collecting. I had never really been out clubbing or raving properly before that though, which I guess is somewhat unusual. I only started going out after that because I wanted to see the DJs I became a fan of. I know most DJs start out by being ravers first and then fall in love with the music which makes them want to give DJing a go, but I kind of had it the other way around.

How do you think living in London has influenced you both musically and personally?
Entirely. Everything I know about the music I'm into, everyone I know in the scene, all the opportunities I've been given are all due to me being in London. I was a very different person when I was in Prague, I was a child. I moved to London to go to university which are some of a person's most formative years and have spent my entire adult life here. This is where I got into DJing properly, started exploring the scene, learned loads about music by working at Phonica, landed my first radio show. I only started DJing in Prague quite recently because I'm not part of the scene there, I don't know many people, I don't contribute to the scene, so I only join in as an outsider and that's ok. I try to follow the scene there as closely as I can, Prague has some incredible DJs, clubs, and parties.

You know how sometimes on lineups people add (UK) or (CZ) after the name to show which country the DJ is from? It wouldn't make sense to add (CZ) after my name, because although I am Czech and am proud to be, I am a London DJ through and through.

For people who have never been, how would you describe the scene in London and how does it differ to some of Europe’s clubbing hotspots, such as Berlin?
It's incredibly diverse. Although I think clubs in Berlin are objectively better and you can go to an amazing party at any hour of the day, the scene in London is incredibly rich and you can really find all and any genres. Jazz, broken beat, house, garage, disco, balearic, trance, techno. The diversity is what makes it so unique, it isn't just about the heavier side of electronic music. The lineups are also insane, you get absolutely spoilt by choice that you almost get desensitized to how lucky we are that we get to see all these incredible artists right on our doorstep.

I overheard some Australian tourist on the tube complain to her friend that the London electronic music scene doesn't have a sense of community but I completely disagree. I think because it's such a huge city and the scene itself is enormous, it gives rise to these small micro scenes and sub cultures where once you find that little pocket that really resonates with you, it makes the city feel tiny because you keep bumping into the same people. I often go alone to the types of parties that I love because I know for certain that I will bump into people I know. If all you do is go to Fabric every weekend then you'll never find that pocket or your community, you gotta try harder.

Do you have any hobbies or passions outside of music?
Not sure if passions, I think music is the main one. I have loads of hobbies though. I love art, photography, and theatre. I play DnD with my friends at work lol, and probably spend too much time playing RPGs. I love a good book, although I've been struggling to focus on them compared to how much I used to read when I was younger. I am constantly researching potential travel itineraries for trips and holidays, I love hiking and exploring. I suck at surfing but really enjoy it too. And I love cats.

We are big fans of your radio show on Balamii. Can you talk a bit about how that came up?
Thank you! I appreciate you saying that. I've had a show on Balamii for 5 years, I had several guest slots before joining as a monthly resident. Then around this time last year I asked if my hourly slot could be increased to two hours because I wanted to focus on bringing more guests on. They said they'd be happy to give me a longer slot, but asked if I'd be up for doing a weekly show and really lean into bringing as big guests as I can think of and become the station's core dance music show. I have a full time job and DJ on weekends, so committing to a weekly show on top of that was a lot, but it wasn't an opportunity I could say no to. I thought I could just give it a go and see if it's manageable. I was surprised by how quickly I got used to the new rhythm to be honest.

Before we launched the new show I wrote down a list of ten dream guests as a starting point, thinking as big as I could, and emailed or DMed most of them. I couldn't believe it when many of them said yes and joined me on my show. I have been a radio host for seven years and never would have had the guts to reach out to these people prior to having the weekly show. This way I got to spend one on one time with some of my idols like Moxie, Sean Jonston, Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy, Mr Ho, Fett Burger, and more. I got to chat to them and have a private DJ set from them right in front of me when I was used to paying money to see them play haha. I consider many of them my friends now. It's genuinely crazy thinking about it.

However, after 7 months of hosting the weekly Balamii Club Show I am now stepping away from Balamii. The station has changed direction and the show is no longer the right fit for them. I am already working on something new though, which I'm very excited by but cannot say much about at the moment (I know, I know, I hate that I have become one of those annoying people but it is what it is).

Which artists made the biggest impression on you lately and why?
I saw Mike Starr at Panorama Bar a few weeks ago and he absolutely blew me away. He played after Boo Williams as well which was an unbelievable set, so following that wasn't easy and he smashed it. Pano was super busy and he had the entire room in a trance, bouncing and smiling.

I've seen Orpheu the Wizard several times in the past year and he always floors me as well. Most recently at Giant Steps in London where he played a 6 hour long vinyl only set. Always a pleasure seeing him play.

What are your preferred methods for finding new music—do you still enjoy digging around in dusty crates, or do you prefer to buy online?
I love going to record shops, but mostly to discover new labels or artists then I then research more at home. I often get overly excited in physical record shops and buy things that I probably shouldn't and don't really play out after. Somehow my critical thinking just goes away. But I love to have a dig and note down things I want to check out digitally, labels that I haven't heard of and want to go through their back catalogue etc. I try to really only buy records if I truly love them and will play them out, or if I find a track that I have on my usb stick that I've been playing out loads and is a staple in my sets, because then I feel like I owe it to the record to own it physically as well.

Bandcamp is where I buy 90% of all my music. I love discovering new music there, both new releases, reissues of old tracks, as well as looking at what else was released by a certain label or artist. When I find a track I love that hasn't been bought by many users, I like to click into the user profiles and go through their collections because it's likely we have a similar taste. It's a more organic way of having music suggested to you than through an algorithm.

How do you approach a DJ set? Do you plan what you will play, or do you decide spontaneously?
I plan recorded mixes, like this one. I try not to play the same track twice in radio shows or recorded mixes, and I want to make sure the mix tells a story of some sort so I'm very meticulous with the selection. But when playing out it's all spontaneous, you never know what the crowd will be like, what the vibe and the energy in the room will be, what the DJ before you plays. I like to prepare a big playlist of tracks that I'm currently really into and that I think would be a good fit for that night, and then I also have all of my other playlists to fall back on. But then it's all about being in the zone and reacting to the crowd.

Can you tell us a bit about the mix? Were there any particular thoughts or themes behind it?
The mix is between 120-125bpm which is my sweet spot. All the tracks are quite driving, with big basslines, synths, and drums. Tracks don't need speed to have energy, and I think this shows it, although that wasn't necessarily the thought or theme behind it. I often struggle to record mixes when I try to stick to a theme, because I set imaginary constraints in my head and the whole thing ends up being forced and not sounding like me. My main goal is always to show the type of sounds that I love, full of tracks that I found recently, and a common theme often arises from that naturally. Whenever I record a mix I want to be sure that I'm excited by all the tracks in it, that's always the main thought.

Hope you enjoy it :)

Tracklist:
Fantastic Man - Dream Machine (Utopia Mix) [LOTR]
Red Axes - High Speed (ft. Fantastic Twins) [fabric]
Thunder - Speed Cross (Mystic Jungle & Whodamanny Rework) [Best Record]
Franco Galán - Discovery Edits 09 [self released]
Daichi - You Got Me [self released]
Natalie Smash - New Start (Loose Control Band NY Club Mix) [Still Music]
D'Julz - Hip House Soup (Main mix) [Honchos]
Anto Dito & Mansa - Close Your Eyes [SCRUBS!]
Matrix - Can You Feel It (Original Mix) [Vicious Muzik]
Otaku - Percussion Obsession (Back To Basics Trucker Mix) [Rawax]
Voodoos & Taboos - Action [Duality Trax]
Luke Alessi - After Five [Life and Death]
Micaela - Si Señor (Extended Mix) [Goody Music Production]