An Interview: Karima F

Above Photo Credit: Julia Kidder

We are very proud to bring you our latest interview and landmark 150th mix courtesy of the very talented, Karima F. Karima came onto our radar with the release of her breaks and bass laden SIREN mix. More recently, she has released standout tracks, ‘Falconhoof’ on the Mother’s Finest Compilation, and a remix of ‘Type’ on Carmen Villain’s, ‘Both Lines Will Be Blue Remixed’ alongside the likes of Parris, DJ Python and Yu Su. Check out the interview, give the mix a listen and look out for plenty more great music from Karima F over the coming year!

Hi Karima, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and where you grew up?

Hi! I grew up in Oslo, Norway, in a big red house built by my great-great grandparents. I studied fine art at Malmö Art Academy – at the time I was sure I was destined to be a painter. But after having met the genius visual artist Ida Ekblad, whom I run Schloss Records with, I thought it would be best to leave the painting to a professional.

Can you tell us a bit about some of your favourite music and bands growing up, and also what led to your discovery of electronic music?

As a former music journalist, I have asked this of my subjects a gazillion times. I have seen the full spectrum of answers of those who claimed they listened to incredibly obscure music, to the chart toppers of the day. Turns out a child’s preferences and choices won’t teach you much about who that person is as a grown-up – at least I hope that’ the case for me.

For example: due to a severe misunderstanding of my facial anatomy, I thought tucking my lips inwards and obscuring my teeth constituted a beautiful smile, and I didn’t like fish – but like all children, I gladly ate my own bogeys. How I could trust myself to make good musical choices in my formative years is beyond me. Anyway, full disclosure: I did love Aqua, Céline Dion and Iron Maiden.

My first encounter with electronic music must have been during the nu-rave- and blog-house-era. A friend of mine studied in Paris, and she turned me on to Ed Banger, Kitsuné, and Justice (she also claimed to know Teki Latex, a lie I, but unfortunately not the club’s security guard, believed). At the time I was working in a record store, and while I in the beginning was listening to old, white men strumming their guitars – that very music’s core demographic (lumber jackets-wearing, beer-farting men) would soon force me to emigrate elsewhere, namely to the safe haven of club music.

I started DJing when I was around 18 and 19. And the rest is very tedious history!

What is the scene like in Norway? What clubs, record stores and parties would you like to shout out?

I think the most interesting thing happening in Oslo right now is the club concept Uteklubb (literally translates to “outside club”): they throw parties deep inside the Scandi forest (and indoors during the arctic winter), and are the closest thing Norway has come to a «fast techno»-scene. Check out their label Ute Recs!

One of the few record stores worth visiting in Oslo is Baklengs, which is a tiny wooden clad shop full of neatly selected new and old, erm, “connoisseur” records. The store also happens to be the office of the wonderful label Smalltown Supersound, which I just did a remix for:

A common flavour through your tracks (correct me if I am wrong) seems to be breaks and sub-bass. How do you go about building a track? What is your typical set-up?

You are not wrong – I do like both breaks and sub-bass! But picking my brain for how I go about building a track, is probably not going to give anyone valuable insight in the noble art of making music (once you try on the self-deprecating hat, it is glued to your skull for life). For me making music is like going through the five stages of grief: Denial, anger, bargaining, depression and, in the end, acceptance.

My set-up is very slim: A laptop, a sound card and two speakers (I have a delay pedal somewhere, too). I use a number of plug-ins, soft-synths and samples. In addition to this, I am terribly lucky to be sharing a bed with the musician and sound engineer Matt Karmil, who works like a plastic surgeon on my songs (the tracks go to him for nips and tucks, and come out like a page three stunners)

Can we expect more releases from Schloss in the near future?

Indeed! We have a release coming out soon, but it is “Covid-delayed”. The 12” is made by A Psychic Yes, with a remix by Hodge on the flipside. A Psychic Yes – aka Timothy Crombie – is one of those polyrhythmic geniuses who churns out good tunes like it was the easiest thing in the world. Anyone reading this should check out his previous releases on Tech Startup and Kalahari Oyster Cult – both of them super!

Can you tell us the idea behind the mix?

Cop-out-reply, but I never have any ideas or plans before I embark on a mix. My only rule of thumb is to play a lot of relatively new music (and give the golden oldies a pat on the back).

(Although they may have changed due to COVID-19) What plans do you have for 2020?

My plan is to…retrain? I don’t know what lies ahead, which is both ultra terrifying and slightly exciting. This is of course very arbitrary in the bigger scheme of things, but obviously topical for this conversation: I think DJ-ing is cancelled for at least a year, if not longer. Low-budget airlines are probably six feet under by the end of 2020, and no one will have disposable cash to throw at our musical Ponzi scheme. I hope the near future isn’t all doom and gloom, but no doubt it is going to be a very tough time for everyone.

Interview By: James Acquaye Nortey-Glover