Dea Barandana: The ‘Shine A Light On’ Mix
To be able to call Gilles Peterson a fan is not a privilege shared by many. Howerver Indonesia's DJ Dea or Dea Barandana as he is known is one such artist who can add his name to the list. His unique blend of island disco, percussive dancefloor music, house and electronics makes him a particularly pleasant listen amidst the summer months. His sets are charismatic, energetic and engaging. In the coming months he is set to appear at Brilliant Corners, Love International, Ibiza and Worldwide Festival. Listen and read the interview below:
You’re pretty new on our radar, fancy telling us a little bit about yourself: Who are you and where are you from?
Hi, my name is Dea and I am from Indonesia, I was born and raised in Jakarta and currently based in Bali.
How did you find yourself as a DJ of sorts? Did you collect records growing up?
I got asked to be a DJ by a break dance crew in Jakarta, they though it would be easy for me to learn because I am a multi instrumentalist musician, they gave me a few weeks to practice to perform with them in a festival in front of thousands of people, after that I've become more en-thusiastic about collecting and mixing records.
Gilles Peterson is a fan, how does that feel?
It feels great, especially for people like me who live in a third world country with very little sources of records and a bad infrastructure to be able to impress a guy like Gilles.
How would you describe your style of DJ’ing?
Tropical and ecstatic.
Where was the mix recorded?
It was recorded at the last hour of one of my residency sets at Potato Head Beach Club here in Bali.
What would be the ideal setting to listen to the mix?
There's no ideal setting it can be anywhere, but ideally with Sunshine, but don't listen to it on your laptop or smartphone speakers hahahaha
What should we be wearing?
Something nice and comfortable, just don't wear anything that made from animal skin!!!
What would be your dream setting to record a mix: Location, system, format?
I would love to record a mix in a spaceship with zero gravity, all vinyl and recorded on to tape
Which track in the mix is your current favourite?
The 3rd one by Steve Monite called ‘Only You’ and special thanks to Nial Kirk who introduced me to this track.
What’s your favourite recorded mix of all time?
Selective Memory by Albion
If you could go back to back with any DJ from throughout history, who would it be and why?
It has to be Loud-e he is the one who inspired me into Euro Disco, Italo and a lot more obscure stuff.
What was your first DJ set up at home and what is it now?
It’s just a pair of technics 1200 mk 2 and a 2 channel nu mark, I had this set up till around 2009, since than I have not had a DJ set up at home only one record player to listen to my records.
What’s more important, the track you start on or the track you end on?
The start is more important, if you start badly you will not set a good impression for your lis-teners.
What were the first and last records you bought?
I can't remember the first record I bought, it must be breakbeat records for break dancers like ‘Battle of the Years’ compilation. And recently I bought ‘Je Ne Suis Plus Le Meme’ by Marco.
If this mix was an edible thing, what would it taste like?
Passion fruit souffle.
If it was an animal what would it be?
Sun bear.
One record in your collection that is impossible to mix into anything…
Licik by Delly Rollies
Upcoming in the world of…
I am on tour with Sun Down Circle which is the music event we run at Potato Head here in Bali. We are playing Hong Kong, London, Ibiza, Love International in Croatia and at Gilles Peterson’s World Wide festival in Sete, France…
Anything else we need to discuss.
I am getting more involved with Potato Head working alongside our Creative Director, Dan Mitchell, ex LN-CC in East London to build a bespoke listening room here at Potato Head, de-velop our in house sound systems plus design and build a multi functioning analogue recording studio. I have a background in studio engineering and a general passion for audio equipment so this is something I am excited to get my teeth into.
Details of DJ Dea on tour can be found HERE.
