HNYPOT 222: DJ Holographic's Don't Hurt My Conscience Mix
A month ago, we made a pilgrimage back to Kendig's hometown of Detroit to play a party at Marble Bar. Throughout our day in town we kept getting asked, “Are you are going to the afterparty at Grenadier?" That pressure to afterparty on tour is often the same feeling you get when someone points to a cake case after a long and fulfilling meal — GUILTY. But we felt like a slice of pie on this ice-cold night in the D, and the promoter drove us to this spot everyone was hyping in a neighborhood not far off. Outside, Grenadier is an unassuming two story corner building, maybe once home to a laundromat and accounting offices. Nightowls of all ages and colors huddled by the entrance itching to get in. Once inside Kendig uttered "I haven't felt this vibe since I was out here raving as a teenager, this is what it used to be like." Amongst the light bass shuddering off every loose item in the place was a proper after-hours — raw energy and a sense that people needed this place and would defend it to the end. We gravitated towards the first floor dance-area, the sound of a jazz-sampled bassline being knocked around by drum-machines. The party was called BAK DØR, it was a queer night at Grenadier, the crowd was certainly mixed, but the space was ruled by queers, and it was demanding an inclusionary attitude. The DJ sucking us closer and closer to the DJ booth: Holographic. Hair pulled back, a tank-top clinging for dear life to her jacking body, this young savant was tossing a room of dancers around like she had strings attached to 'em. We looked over at Shaun J. Wright for some explanation who shot back “This is what I have been trying to tell them, she is the real thing, she has got it." That is really all you can do to describe Holographic without sounding like an aging house-head past your prime: Holographic has "got it." After her set, we watched as new fans, old friends, and scene heads surrounded her by the bar. Her earnest honesty and willingness to entertain even the drunkest admirer was a sign of someone dedicated to her gifts. We begged for a podcast and got one... It's one thing to have a collection of Detroit-based music, to be a fan and to recognize its influence on the music cannon, but it is something entirely different to go there and experience the city's frequencies in the flesh. If you get the pleasure to hear Ariel, aka DJ Holographic in person, you might just catch that reality. She embodies not only the evolution of the queer spirit but a new generation’s interpretation of a sound we thought we couldn't fall in love with again. Get Holographic this Saturday at CMYK in San Francisco at The Stud for Marke Bieschke's new party celebrating the more colorful side of techno + house.
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