London DJ Josey Rebelle's rise throughout the 2010s has been nothing short of astounding, filled with one landmark after another. She began the decade a resident DJ at Plastic People, a much-revered club that was the epicenter of the U.K. bass scene at the time, then started broadcasting at Rinse FM in 2011, where she gradually became one of the station's most popular hosts. Numerous well-received mix podcasts and appearances at major festivals and clubs followed as Rebelle was featured in several lists of up-and-coming DJs ...
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London DJ Josey Rebelle's rise throughout the 2010s has been nothing short of astounding, filled with one landmark after another. She began the decade a resident DJ at Plastic People, a much-revered club that was the epicenter of the U.K. bass scene at the time, then started broadcasting at Rinse FM in 2011, where she gradually became one of the station's most popular hosts. Numerous well-received mix podcasts and appearances at major festivals and clubs followed as Rebelle was featured in several lists of up-and-coming DJs or top radio shows. Her 2019 session for BBC Radio 1's Essential Mix was voted the program's best mix of the year, and her first commercially issued mix appeared through the label connected with another long-running, influential dance radio broadcast, New York's Beats in Space. Josey in Space is a fine display of her fearless, passionate mixing style, which connects several eras of dance music, threaded together with socially conscious soundbites and spoken word pieces. Building from dislocated, simmering electronics and the urgent poetry of Tenesha the Wordsmith and Daniel B. Summerhill's "I Dream So Loud," she selects tracks that are propulsive, raw, and full of life. This is not a seamless, clinically produced mix suitable for background ambiance -- Rebelle favors tracks that sound live and in-the-moment, and she highlights their individual personalities, moving from the skittering acid house of Fotomachine's "BBoy" to dark-room techno like Automation's 1991 track "Electricity." Midwestern America's house and techno legacies are touched on with the prismatic abstraction of Hieroglyphic Being's "Bird Songs 4 Amelie" and smoother tracks by Titonton Duvanté and Reggie Dokes. Uplifting vibes are spiked with flashes of paranoia -- a few tracks after a burst of hardcore terror from Rum & Black (aka rave pioneers Shut Up & Dance), Access 58's stunning "Jazz Drama" slides into a busy, bongo-heavy cut from Detroit's Andrés, which is cut out by a siren and a very foreboding vocal sample, spelling out the planet's impending demise. Summing up the mix's intense yet blissful feeling is a classic slice of mid-'90s atmospheric jungle by Rogue Unit, followed by laid-back, jazzy optimism from North London lyricist Lex Amor. ~ Paul Simpson, Rovi
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