Ava Delay is a Berlin-based DJ who moved to Berlin over 6 years ago to immerse herself in German culture, and specifically German electronic music. She is most often a vinyl DJ, who has been collecting and spinning records for the better part of 15 years. Her style ranges from techno to electronica, downtempo to pop, or whatever seems to fit the mood. Check out her end of the decade mix for Femmecult and get acquainted with her by reading our interview with her below. Thanks for tuning in. Happy 2020! Ava Delay 2019 Femmecult: How did you get into DJing initially, and what drew you to the electronic music genre in particular? Ava Delay: I started out as a radio DJ at KPSU in Portland. I found my way to electronic music through electro / rock crossover bands like The Faint and Adult. and very weird experimental electronic sounds / field recordings. I got interested in electropop and electroclash and slowly found my way to techno. Before that I was mostly into punk music, so I appreciated the punk attitude of experimental electronic and techno music. In the early days, this music was made on relatively cheap machines and parties were underground. It was just like, find some gear, find an empty space, find a bunch of people who want to go crazy and stay up all night, fuck the police. Femmecult: You moved from Portland, OR to Berlin over 7 years ago. Tell us how each city has uniquely affected your relationship to music. Ava Delay: The difference between these two cities is that Portland has a very small, tight knit community of people supporting electronic music and Berlin is overrun with ravers and party tourists.  In Portland, you practically have to...

DJ Mag, a monthly British publication featuring electronic music and DJs has come under fire recently for their 25 year anniversary special featuring 25 pioneers of dance music of the last quarter century, where not one woman was deemed worthy of inclusion. It’s not very surprising coming from a magazine that holds reader poll based top 100 DJ contests where year after year less than a handful of women ever make the cut. But this anniversary feature was not poll based. It was fully in the hands of the editors to decide. You would think that a magazine that touts itself as the “global voice of dance music” would be a bit more inclusive to women instead of playing up the brofest sausage party. Sadly, this was not the case, although hurried apologies and promises to do better next time have been issued, in a feeble attempt to fix what in hindsight has been called a bad PR move by the magazine. Here was a great opportunity to be cultural innovators and use their voice to bring attention to the contributions of women, but they dropped the ball, or maybe they never actually picked it up. How many times throughout history have tallies and lists been made of pioneers in art, music, science or any other field of study that have systematically excluded women? This is why it’s called history, and not herstory. Women have been doing the work alright, but have been consistently relegated to the shadows of pop culture by false positives like DJ Mags top 25 list. The fact is that DJ Mag is not enough of a pioneer itself to address the issues of inequality within the music industry that would help to propel it toward the status of authority...

CMD aka Cyan (Corina MacDonald) is an electronic music maker and radio host based out of Montreal, Quebec. She’s been producing Modular_Systems on CKUT 90.3 FM for over a decade now, all of which are diligently archived on her website going back to 2004. With several releases out on labels such as Fur Trade and Basic Sounds and a live performance at the 2015 edition of MUTEK, she’s been building a reputation for quality output. We got a chance to pick her brain a bit about what got her into making music and her processes. She has done a DJ mix exclusively for Femmecult which you will find below the interview. Thanks for reading! Femmecult: How did you get into making music, and at what age did you become interested in electronic music specifically? CMD: I never studied music formally, except for some sporadic guitar lessons as a teenager. I think my interest in making electronic music came out of a trajectory related to radio, sound editing and DJing. I started getting seriously into electronic music in my early twenties, after spending some time in Scotland and then relocating to Montreal from Calgary. Moving around and being exposed to different music scenes was really exciting and motivated me to get more involved. Femmecult: Did you have an underground collective or group of friends, or support networks that first influenced you to pursue this field of interest? CMD: Shortly after moving to Montreal I started volunteering at CKUT, and many of the first friends I made here were DJs and producers, so music has been the common factor in much of my social life. I’ve founded a couple of different collectives over the years with friends as a way to collaborate and organize events that...

Electric Indigo has been involved in the world of dance music on many different levels. She began her career in the late 80s and has had the opportunity to develop a well rounded perspective on the industry from being involved in it for over two decades. She has played all around the world as a live performer and DJ, and her sound design for theater works producing for multi-channel installations is gaining the attention of larger and larger audiences for its innovation. Femmecult is happy to have the opportunity to gain insight into the experiences of such a distinguished artist.

Femmecult features DJ Dweomer mix featuring women in electronic music. The show originally aired on Portland’s XRAY.FM radio station for the Zodiak Klub show.

Sound artist, remixer, DJ, Photographer, label owner and live performer, London based artist Shelley Parker, is deep in the game to say the least. She’s been making music since the 90s, honing a unique style that has become quite influential in the international avant garde electronic scene.

Built by mad scientists in a secret underwater laboratory on the Lost Continent of Atlantis deep within the Bermuda Triangle; AMANDROID is a state-of-the-art being: A Human/Android Mutation. Originally programmed as a covert SubSonic Operative, an assignment led her on her fateful rendezvous with SPAZ and 5lowershop at the AUTONOMOUS MUTANT FESTIVAL- forever altering her life’s trajectory. Thus Submerged in the festival’s Bass Saturated 23rd Dimensional Landscape; AMANDROID’s circuitry was completely washed and re-written. Now, in Solidarity with her Audio Comrades near and far, FREE and imprisoned, AMANDROID and the ARMY of LOVE SOUNDSYSTEM are proud RENEGADES of the SubSonic RESISTANCE! From their Underground base deep within the Liberated Territories of Northern Californiastan, they are forever venturing forth bringing Audio Mayhem to points up and down the West Coast, across the continent and Worldwide. And like yourself, AMANDROID is yet one more gleaming point of light in the perpetually expanding Galaxy of Artists and Musicians RESISTING the oppressive forces of the Mundane and Complacent! You can hear her live every Thursday on Dam Free Radio on the internetz at: http://www.spaz.org/radio/ at the AUTONOMOUS MUTANT FESTIVAL: http://www.mutantfestival.org/ and at a party near you soon! LONG LIVE THE RESISTANCE!!! www.spaz.org (bio by Be Wun) Femmecult: Tell us about your early years, and any parties, crews that pushed you in this direction and motivated you to begin djing. Amandroid: I think the telling moment that kind of sewed it all up and sent me in the direction I have been going in for the last 16 years was meeting some people from the S.P.A.Z, and Blackkat sound systems on the street next to their tour bus in Madison, Wisconsin, where I was living at the time, in about 1998. I had just returned from almost 2 years...

li-z (Lisette Calis) is part of the Hit N Run Soundsytem based in The Netherlands. She is a DJ and composer of idm, breakcore and techno electronic music. Femmecult interview and podcast by li-z.

Cynthia Valenti aka The Perfect Cyn has been holding it down as a house, techno and electro DJ for over a decade. Well known all over the Pacific Northwest and beyond for her sleek style behind the decks, she’s been building a collection of loyal dancefloor junkies who appreciate her breadth of musical knowledge. She tells us how it all began with Ham radios, Front 242 and punk rock among other things…

Pumping out fresh beats with more than just a tinge of west coast attitude, San Francisco based Ana Sia is a straight up gangster behind the decks. On the edge of a release on Hot N Heavy Recordings she will be touching down for more damage in Portland, OR (12.14.13) for Bubblin at The Rose.