Mix of the Week: HAAi
From a West Australian mining town to resident at one of London’s best clubs – it’s been an unconventional journey to the top for HAAi.
Whether it was messing around with her older sister’s guitar at home in WA, starting numerous bands during a stint in Sydney or spinning rare, exotic records at a bar in Hackney, music has always been a part of Teneil Throssell’s life.
Coming from a rock and psychedelic background, she discovered a love for techno on a trip to Berlin. Slowly integrating more electronic music into her sets at the bar, she caught the eye of Jacques Greene’s manager, who offered her a support slot at the Canadian artist’s London show. Her career as a DJ blossomed and HAAi eventually locked down a residency at London’s famous Phonox club.
The psychedelic and worldly influences from her early days inform her sets as she has built a reputation as a DJ not afraid to reach for a curve ball – often in the form of percussive and primal tracks. Her globetrotting approach to DJing is exemplified by her Coconut Beats parties where Throssell and slew of guests touch on all corners of the globe. Gilles Peterson, Rebolledo and DJ Boring are all set to play in the coming months.
The Phonox residency has seen her build a reputation for long sets where she is known to get experimental yet still keep punters locked in. This mix manages to capture the feeling of a club set but condensed into an hour. Her worldly, percussive style is demonstrated through tracks such as Ploy’s ‘Intrigued by the Drum’ and Nicola Cruz’s remix of Milk Beech by Dreems. With a few unreleased tracks in the mix, it leaves us excited as to what is on the horizon for HAAi.
