Photo: Press (DASCO)
Hadas Cohen seems to like the in-between. Splitting her time between her native Israel and Berlin, DASCO also likes to navigate across different genres, styles, moods, and tempi in her sets. Her recent collaboration with the Tel Aviv-based producer PRZ for Rawax’s Housewax sublabel also connected classic deep house grooves with Detroit harmonies, the occasional hefty splash of acid and even balearic flavours. The MINT affiliate’s contribution to our Groove podcast also does not confine itself to one sound alone.
You refer to Chicago and Detroit, namely producers and DJs like Theo Parrish, Larry Heard and Underground Resistance, as your main sources of inspiration. How did you get into the sound and what drew you to it?
I guess that what drew me to this sound from the very first place is the authenticity and the emotion inside. For me it is a pure, honest sound that comes straight from the heart. It is a warm, touching sound full with emotions and a message. Some of this music was released about the same year I was born (or even before) and yet everything sounds so right and relevant to now! It’s music that you will never get tired of! I am sure that also in 20 years from now, people will listen to this music and will still be able to connect to it. This is the foundation! This music started all that is happening today, before the age of the Internet, social media, publicity and all that… The artists made this music out of honest intentions like to express themselves or to touch others and you can really hear it!
Even before you started DJing and producing music, you were classically trained as an organist and drummer. How do you apply the knowledge and the experience you have collected there in your work as a producer?
There is no doubt that the music lessons I took when I was younger are helping me to express my musical ideas more easily. Of course, the learning process will never end – we are forever students! The organ lessons helped in writing different melodies or in doing improvisations on my keyboard, which I really love to do by the way! The drum lessons taught me about rhythm and got me into the groove.
Last autumn, you have released your debut EP in collaboration with PRZ through Rawax’s Housewax sublabel. What did your working process look like?
In one of my visits to my home country Israel my friend PRZ – who is a genius producer! – invited me to his studio for some jamming. We had no idea that we are going to release an EP together. We started to jam on his dope machines – we are both really attracted to the warm, analog sound – and then we have found out that we are both musically coordinated with one another and can complement each other, quite like yin and yang. We finished a whole track in one day and we were very happy as well as excited with the outcome, so we decided to meet also on the next day and on the day after so it came out that we did three tracks in three days. On the third day I had my flight back to Berlin so PRZ took me to the airport straight from the studio! I had a really fun time working on this EP. Collaborations are such a wonderful thing!
Your contribution to our Groove podcast puts a heavy emphasis on house with jazzy and discoid elements before venturing into acid territory. What was the idea behind it?
I love many different styles of music. It can be Jazz, Techno, Disco, House, Afrobeat, Acid, Classical Music, Funk, and more. I really think that limiting yourself to only one style of music – even if it is a really beautiful style – in one DJ set can be quite boring sometimes. After all, everything is constantly changing around us – the seasons, nature, people, opinions – and the music also needs to change accordingly. It should be an interesting journey between different styles; different but quite the same as it is all connected basically. In my opinion, one of the DJ’s roles is to connect you with different sides and styles that you maybe didn’t know before, or didn’t even think you could connect with. It should inspire you to open your mind and expand your horizons…
Last but not least: Where can we see you behind the decks in the near future, and what are your plans as a Producer?
In September I have some shows in Sardina, Berlin, Bremen and Amsterdam. In October I will Play in Germany, Italy and Israel. My plans as a producer are to focus on solo productions now and also to release an album. I am taking my time to develop my own unique sound signature, as long as it will take. As I mentioned before – the learning process never ends… Lately, as I will soon reach the age of 30 I feel very inspired and I am having new insights about myself, the physical body, the mind, the spirit, the nature and how everything is connected together. I feel also very connected to the nature and often do jogging or meditate in the woods – all that gives me some awareness and new ideas. Now I am planning to sit in the studio, translate all those visions and insights to sound and by that to give something back to this amazing universe!
Stream: DASCO – Groove Podcast 176
01. Ron Trent & Chez Damier – Morning Factory
02. Michael The Lion – Any Time
03. Marcellus Pittman & Theo Parrish – Night Of The Sagitarius
04. Soulphiction – B3B4URD1
05. Mood Hut – Fever
06. Armando – 151
07. Da Posse – The Groove
08. Kerri Chandler – Coro
09. DJ Gregory- Elle Eol Ritual (Louie Vega Remix)
10. Nemanja Krstic – Bass odyssey
11. Chicago Skyway – WAR
12. Legowelt – Trips In Polarius
