Suzi Analogue here from Never Normal. I founded Never Normal Records 4 years ago when living in the Bronx, NYC and I’m very happy to say up to now – the sounds have travelled all around the world: tapes, mixes and tracks. All of which is why I was very excited to debut the label’s artist collective, the Never Normal Soundsystem amongst music lovers at this past MoMA PS1’s “Come Together” music label festival.
The Never Normal Soundsystem is a global group of multi-talented friends & producers including DJ Earl, Ted Kamal, Amani Fela, JWords, RAFiA, Mastah William, Ziggee Gold, Nappy Nappa, Opal Hoyt and more who all make and perform one-of-a-kind electronic-based music, derived from hip-hop and beyond – together, building and representing a new wall of sound.
As a part of the Come Together Fest at MoMA PS1, Never Normal shared music in two ways: First, with a dedicated listening station powered by SUBPAC upstairs on the exhibition floor where listeners could stop by and listen to the music from tapes and releases on the label. Some of the reactions to hearing the music while wearing the SUBPAC M2x were priceless!
Second, Never Normal closed the fest with an hour-long workshop called ORIGINAL SOUND MEETS BODY: A LISTENING – featuring a music video mix created by our collective members where each member showed their communities and cities they create music in. For us, it was important to show this, because these days we listen to so much music but we rarely get to understand where creators are coming from on a human level. In our workshop, people had the chance to not only hear and feel the Soundsystem beats, while sitting in a gallery hooked up to SUBPACs, but they also had a chance to see and share the world of the people who made the music. One goal of Never Normal is to unite people, not only through sound and vision but by showing the beauty in our differences. It is amazing how that unity can push our world forward in a positive way.
All and all, our workshop was wonderful. Huge thank you to SUBPAC for working together to help people feel the music we care so much about. You can see the re-cap and official Never Normal Soundsystem Mix Video (edited by Felix Abeson) below. Stay tuned for more.
RECAP VID:
Learn more about Suzi Analogue HERE