Queen Sally doing queen things for our latest mix instalment with an hour of propulsive bouncers and trademark Chunkers®.
Episode 60 marks the return to Oddysee of an absolute icon in modern day electronic music, Sally C. We had the honour of welcoming the Berlin-based DJ and producer, who has propelled herself with her signature blend of vintage house, hip house, acid, and breakbeat, for a Buy Music Club outing a while ago. Now, we’re stoked to have the Chunkers honcho back on with a mouthwatering mix consisting of chunky club tunes, hip-house delights and vocal-infused groovers.
With an exciting year commencing for Sally and her Big Saldo’s Chunkers label, we caught up to get the lowdown on her upcoming projects, the record label and the fast-approaching EU festival season, among other things. Let’s get this thing off the ground!
Hi Sally, absolute pleasure to have you with us! It looks like you’re fresh from hosting an exciting Chunkers label night at Corsica Studios. How did that one go down and can you tell us a little bit about the crew you brought on for this one?
Pleasure to be here, this is my first mix since 2022 ! Chunkers at Corsica was a dream. I absolutely love label nights and Corisca is great, the sound is really good in both rooms so I was very happy to curate a night there. I invited Parris, Lovefoxy, Spray and An Toi. It was a very cute crew and everyone played such a sick set. Energy was aligned and I actually got time to dance which is a rarity when touring.
Your Big Saldo’s Chunkers project has gone from strength to strength over the last few years. We heard you have some exciting new things in the works for the label this year. What can we expect from the next few releases?
Thank you! I love running this label and feel it’s at a point now where I can expand. The next release (004) will be a debut EP from a really exciting artist, news on this coming very soon. l I like the idea of it being a platform for upcoming artists as well as delving into dreamy collaborations. 005 will be a collab which will be out later this year – it’s a hot match. Can’t really share too much here but the chunker door is well and truly open.
With a few gorgeous EP releases under your belt, can you tell us about your progression in production and what you are hoping to encapsulate through your sound? Are there any studio projects you’ve been working on recently that you can share with us?
I moved from a home studio to a real deal studio a couple of years ago which was a game changer. It gave me more creative space and I was incorporating more drum machines and synths to my process. I really love the AN200 it’s a sick little 2000s groove box. I use this and the tanzbär a lot to jam out drum patterns and basslines and the elektron machinedrum too it’s class for that, they’ve all been a big part of my productions in the last couple years and definitely contributed to refining my sound a bit more which is always evolving. In the studio there’s a never ending path to this which I’m obsessed with. Having the space to create is important to mention here. The last 2 years I had a really heavy touring schedule which depleted my creativity in many ways. I’m realising that I need to make space for creating more when planning the year and I take that into every decision I make now. I took the start of the year slow and it’s paid off so much in the studio. Project wise I’m always working on music for my sets tbh it’s where I feel most free and ofc music for the label. This is the biggest project that most of my focus goes to, I don’t really release on other labels yet.
With the EU festival season fast approaching, what are some of the new places you’re excited about to make your debut? And what are some previous highlights that you can’t wait to return to, and why?
Making my Sonar debut this year which I’m excited about. Love playing in Barcelona. Can’t wait to return to dreamy Love International too it’s one of my favs. Netherlands is looking niiice too debuting at Orbit Festival, Down The Rabbit Hole and Zeezout will play b2b with Elias Mazian there which is another hot match.
Aside from maintaining a busy touring schedule, running all things Chunkers and hosting a monthly radio show on Refuge Worldwide, I’m curious to hear what sort of hobbies or interests you might have outside of electronic music? Are there any books, films, art pieces or other things that recently left you feeling inspired that you want to share?
I love cooking. A lot ! I love cooking for people, it’s always been a big ritual for me to share food with loved ones and recently I’ve found my groove with it again with my time off. Honestly outside of music it’s all cooking, exercise (love a hardcore HIIT) and spending time with people I love.
What can you tell us about this mix you’ve put together for us? How did you approach the mix, what kind of energy can we expect and are there any tracks or artists you would like to give a shout-out to in particular?
This mix !! It’s really the first one I’ve recorded like this since Nov 2022 so feels special. I really f*cking enjoyed the process. I’ve been collecting and making music for it for a while. I always do this then fine tune the tracks through no pressure mixes. It needs to feel natural when I finally record, I need to be in the groove to translate the energy, it took me 2 recordings to get to this point. When I’m sweating in my living room and feel really good when recording is when I know it’s the one. The energy is rolling, very high at points and extremely chunker-esque with lots of little hip hop nods as it’s my one true love.
