Di Hu is a really memorable individual and behind much of that inspiration is her style and charm, which is ever present in her DJ sets. You might have seen her at the front of some brilliant Boiler Rooms or even in Corsica’s room two on a Sunday morning, dancing away at the Jaded after-hours parties. For someone with the profession she has and her background, she has an unusual but determined passion for hard, eclectic and psychedelic techno music.
I first met Di in Phonox in the summer of 2018. She had that night travelled down from Oxford for one of Haii’s Coconut Beats residency parties. Not only has she picked up DJing since then her taste has changed drastically.
G: Hello! Long time no speak. How are you?
D: Yeah I am good.
G: To those who don’t know, do you want to quickly explain who are you, where you are from?
D: My name is Di, I’m from Canada. I was born in China and moved to Canada not speaking any English and grew up there. My parents tried to send me to a regular school, but I had too much energy. Even without speaking the language I was all over the place causing trouble, and so my parents sent me to an arts school. Whilst at art school I naturally veered towards music and that was where I had a lot of my musical education, learning piano and violin.
When deciding what to study at University I could either choose an artistic subject like most of my friends or try doing something else. Studying music at university did not appeal to me so I wanted to try something else. Going from studying at art school to biology at University was something I really enjoyed. What I really enjoyed about studying biology was taking established knowledge to probe the unknown.
I then moved to England to complete a PhD at the University of Oxford and that was what brought me to the United Kingdom.
G: Is there anything about living in those two locations, Canada and Oxford that have influenced your music taste now? Or has moving and living to London been the biggest musical influence.
D: No not really, I had very little musical inspiration living in Canada. I was classically trained whilst at school but that has not had much of an impact on my taste today. In Oxford again not a lot. Oxford was really satisfying in terms of studying but for my musical and party side the place didn’t do a lot to satisfy me. That is what led me to party in London, one of the first times was actually when I came down to London and met you in Phonox!
G: I remember that night so well, I feel like your taste has changed a lot since then?
D: Yes that is definitely true. That was a house event, and my first exposure to dance music was house really. Funny story, someone told me that I reminded them of Peggy Gou. I checked her out and liked some of her music. So I first started listening to house and a bit of disco, and by chance going to FOLD, as well as in the meantime going to Berlin and going to clubs like Tresor, I found I was naturally drawn to harder sounds. Since I have moved to London I have been to a lot of venues and clubs, and a lot of Boiler Rooms! Yak, Nyra and Djrum’s, Djrum’s in fact. Djrum’s is the one where loads of people have seen me at the front and messaged me about it!
G: So you mentioned Yak, Nyra and Djrum, are there any artists you have been listening to recently who have caught your ear?
D: In terms of DJ’s my absolute favourites are viscerale and High Future, and the more psychedelic Copenhagen side of techno. Very trippy sounds with layers upon layers, complete wizardry. That is something I really like, when you listen to a DJ and you have no fucking idea what they are doing. I am also very much into French gabber at the moment, a lot of my mixes have a really French influenced sound. The scene in France is phenomenal, and most of my rekordbox is comprised of France based producers.
G: You mentioned FOLD, I wanted to ask you about Corsica, and specifically the party Jaded. How did you start going to those parties and why are they so important to you?
D: I only discovered Jaded when I moved to London, I went for the first time because my all time favourite DJ viscerale was playing. Jaded is amazing, it is where I learnt about most of the hard techno I am into today. Before Jaded I DJ’d a lot at University Balls and various bars, playing disco and house but now I obviously play harder and faster and Jaded is a big part of why. I have so much respect for it as a party, every week the lineup is just incredible, the industry leaders in hard techno. There is something about that event that is really special, I have heard viscerale in FOLD and at Jaded and at Jaded I think the artists just are completely free to play whatever they want. Because of the nature of it being an afterhours party it is solely all about the music.
A: Some of those reading this might not know what Jaded actually is, do you want to quickly explain to those unaware the brilliance behind Jaded?
D: Yeah so it is a hard techno party that happens most Sunday mornings from 5AM to 3PM at Corsica Studios in Elephant and Castle. It is a beautifully loud and heavy event focussing on industrial sounding techno as well as some even harder or weirder sounds. Current residents are Lorenzo Papini and Melissa D’Lima who are both doing phenomenal stuff. Another focus of Jaded is they do collaborations and take-overs with record labels. It can be a strange place to go but it is amazing, I always wake up and go completely sober and having had a full night’s sleep; ready to receive a musical education.
Di under her alias clarity has been recording some ridiculous mixes for some of techno’s most exciting profiles. All being pretty mind-blowing, my favourite has to be the one she recorded for the label ‘Kaotic Hypnotik’.
A: So you have been on an absolute roll with these podcasts lately for loads of amazing techno platforms, but you are a resident of Rave Signal, do you want to chat about that briefly?
D: Rave Signal is a new party in London. I recorded a mix for Threads radio and the guy who started Rave Signal, who is a really cool graphic designer, heard the mix and wanted me to be a resident. It is something I am really excited about, I have only been involved in the virtual raves because of COVID but hopefully in the future when all this has passed can play at some of their party’s in real physical spaces.
A: Within your role as a scientist, you explained that you love the discovery aspect and the creative side to your job. Does any of that slide into any of your artistic side as a DJ?
D: Yes completely, the hyper organisational side of me, which is really prevalent in my job is super useful when organising my music. Mostly just my organisation really.
A: How have you found balancing such a challenging and interesting job with going to a Jaded party on a Sunday?
D: To be honest actually really not too challenging. Both sides of my life kind of drive the other, going really hard in one makes me really want to go and then work really hard on the other and vice versa. The only thing is my and my colleagues don’t have a lot to talk about when we discuss what each other did at the weekend ahaha.
A: Yeah I can imagine! Why the name ‘Clarity’?
D: It’s pretty simple, music has brought so much clarity to my life. When I go out raving everything just falls into place. When I am DJing or simply out dancing I feel like I have absolute clarity with where I am and what I am doing.
A: To finish, some may not know of the music you play, how would you describe your sound to a new listener of yours?
D: At first and on face value I play fast hard and thumping techno. But I think a lot of my classical music training has meant the music I play is really melodic and harmonic. I overlay a lot of different sounds however, I do change it up all the time, no track is left alone.
A: Any last thoughts and comments?
D: I have a load of podcasts coming out, for either hard fast channels or trippy ones so look out for them. I have one for Disgust and I am really excited for that one.
Chatting to Di was really enjoyable, not only because she is an amazing new DJ but because it was the first time as friends we had caught up in a while. Her mixes and DJing ability is not for those who are faint hearted, but will be adored by those heavy at heart ravers.
Give her a follow on Soundcloud and a like on Facebook:
Interviewed by: Angus Whitfield
Hello! This post could not be written any better!
Reading through this post reminds me of my good old room mate!
He always kept chatting about this. I will forward this write-up to him.
Fairly certain he will have a good read. Thanks for sharing!
My page … Royal CBD
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