FAST 10: Mabel
Katy Perry, tequila + sodas, and all the other things Mabel loves, as she goes 1 on 1 with us for our Fast 10 series…
Squished amongst the masses in a sweaty heap on Colour’s downstairs dance-floor, I’m furiously two-stepping away as the rooms’ BPM peaks well above 140. It’s fucking hot in here, but the mood in the room is electric. Mabel is playing. And as usual, she’s got the dance floor on lock.
Mixing quickly and confidently with the ease of someone who’s danced this dance many times before, Mabel pays her full attention to the mixer in front of her, while the room pays full attention to what she’ll bring next. Jumping confidently between breakbeat, techno, acid, prog, and even left-field experimental, it’s no surprise that she regularly rubs shoulders with Naarm’s finest creatives - Handle Soundsystem, Hybrid Man, Toni Yotzi, Shedbug… the list goes on. Whilst her regular contributions to Skylab Radio’s Friday morning ‘Brekstacy’ show allow her to move through the softer hues of dance music, in the club she’s in her element, and her mixes showcase this well.
Her original works reflect the same sentiment. As an avid music producer, the creative child she spawned during Melbourne’s 2021 lockdown came in the form of her debut 2 track EP ‘Underwasser’. A project born upon “the subaquatic theory that maybe humans once lived between land and water”, the EP contains all the elements of every chuggy crowd-favourite track you hear being played on the Naarm circuit, whilst remaining stylistically unique to her own sonic identity. In the realm of music, she’s got everything going for her. And if you’re not already a big fan, you shortly will be.
* Side note, her dog is cute as 🐶 *
We’re very keen to have Mabel feature as the next instalment of our female-focused Fast 10 series. Read on for the 411 on who she loves, what she listens to, and what advice she always lives by.
1. THREE WORDS TO DESCRIBE MY MUSIC
Feral, hypnotic, epiphanic.
2. A FEMALE ARTIST EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW:
Different Shades, I’m obsessed with women playing psy.’
3. A TRACK I’M EMBARASSED TO LOVE:
‘Bon Appétit’ - Katy Perry.
4. THE LOCAL INDUSTRY NEEDS MORE:
Attention to creative minds.
5. MY DRINK OF CHOICE AT A GIG:
Tequila soda all the way.
6. WHAT EMPOWERS ME:
Playing at doofs but also just being behind the decks in general. I feel like I'm communicating with a group of people through audible telepathy.
7. THE BEST GIG I’VE EVER PLAYED:
I will always say Moonfield, a doof we ran with mates. I got the opportunity to play as recklessly as I wanted to a crowd that became wildly animalistic. I knew from the second I got let behind the decks at a doof, the bush was where I craved a residency the most.
8. IF I WASN’T IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY, I WOULD BE:
Living on the surf coast. As much as I love music, the one thing the music scene takes away from me is surfing regularly.
9. SOMEONE I LOOK UP TO IS:
Roza Terenzi. She just gets it.
I look up to her because of her ability to create tunes that are tough and unsympathetic. I’ve always seen her as a master of effortlessly contemporising breakbeat and progressive house with ultimate fem finesse. Her sound empowers me as a woman producing dance music.
10. THE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE I’VE EVER RECEIVED:
‘Not my monkeys, not my circus.’