Max HeyraudThis week’s Mix of the Week soundtrack comes from rising Belfast techno artist Keeva G, who supplies a straight-up mix of driving, hypnotic, and head-scrambling techno for Redd Ophis’s Aaja on London community radio station Aaja.
Keeva G has been rising through the ranks of the Irish techno scene over the last few years. Having been involved in the scene for many years, it felt like a natural and almost necessary step to start DJing, bringing with her a rich tapestry of knowledge from the other side of the booth to the decks. Her sets are an amalgamation of countless nights spent in dimly lit clubs, channelling a rawer, darker, and more driving approach to techno. She tunnels through industrial soundscapes like those from Mord and crosses into the trudging, pummeling power found in the corners of Clergy, often threading her way through the more dizzying edges of the techno canon.
Her latest mix, guesting on Redd Ophis’s show for Aaja Music, is a testament to that style. She opens with a jarring, stripped-back, meandering, and hypnotic approach, carefully selecting tracks—or so it seems—that vary from slick contemporary minimalism, in line with the sound currently favoured by Berghain, before shifting into more complex, textural techno.
It’s as if Keeva tightens her grip and sounds the alarm. From there, the mix dives into sinister sound design and clambering synth sequences as the intensity rises higher and higher. By the end, it feels like the gloves are off. What remains is straight-up, no-nonsense techno hammers, shifting from the spirit of Berghain to the energy of Tresor, with tracks from the likes of Deas and Surgeon.
Despite ramping up the intensity, Keeva G controls the energy with precision, letting it rip when the moment calls for it. Sometimes it feels like a knee-jerk reaction, but it’s never overdone.