Introducing: Charlie Tee And Her High Energy Selections

Over the past few years, Hertfordshire based Charlie Tee has been steadily emerging as a true connoisseur of UK bass music. Yet another young artist to emerge from our the bass-weighted UK scene, the DJ has constructed her own sonically slick affair, sharing upfront dancefloor cuts to her growing audience both throughout her club dates and on her Friday night slot on Kiss FM's sister station Kiss Fresh. With a knack for delivering the right dose of high powered sounds and for spotting new talent, we felt the fledgling tastemaker more than deserved to lay down her own flavours right here in Farringdon. Needless to say, she'll be doing just that alongside Troy Gunner when the pair set the tone for the eight hour session on Friday 27th May. So, with what promises to be a prolific year ahead for Tee, we felt it only right to introduce her to you ahead of the show, asking her a few probing questions and grabbing a brand new and exclusive promo mix along the way. Download: Charlie Tee - FABRICLIVE Promo Mix What have you been up to as of late? I’m just about to launch a really exciting side project that’s been a brainchild of mine for a few years now. I can’t divulge too much information just yet, but it’s multi-genre-electronic-music focused. Can you tell us about your first contact with music – what kind of music were you brought up on? As a kid, I was pretty unconventional, I was obsessed with classical music and started playing the violin at aged 7. I loved the way Vanessa Mae interpreted classical and put an electronic spin on it. I also grew up with a lot of disco and 80‘s soul. So how did that move to the place you are now – in the world of electronic music? I started trying to rip electronic music podcasts, on our family dial-up computer at about 12 haha. It wasn’t until I was about 15 though, that I got my first real taste of electronic music, in Eivissa. My parents took me out there and I instantly fell in love with the energy of the island and the music culture behind house and techno. I’ve been back every year since then and even lived out there for 6 months when I was 21. I also discovered bass music when I was 18, at one of Dillinja’s infamous Valve sound system nights in Leeds, whilst studying at Durham uni. I’ll never forget the first time I heard that sound system, I could literally feel the bass rippling across the crowd towards my chest. The engineering behind the sound system was impressively pioneering for it’s time. It was a special moment. It’s been a constant love affair between these genres for me and I can never quite choose between them; In all honestly, I don’t want to. What have been the greatest moments so far? I was booked to play two nights of drum and bass in Tartu & Tallinn (both Estonia), last month. Drum & Bass to Estonia, is what house music is to the UK at the moment. Artists like Keeno & Dimension hold top 10’s in their charts, so it’s very much apart of their culture and they’re incredibly proud of it. Playing to a crowd of 1500 people that are as passionate about D&B as me was utopian and the energy levels were inexplicable. How would you best describe your sound? My sets are pretty eclectic. I have this whole philosophy with music, if I love a track, I’ll support it; regardless of it’s ‘genre’. I do have one sort of rule though. A track has to have some sort of soul to it, albeit in the thumping bass lines. Tell us about your Kiss FM show, what you play and why people should tune in. So my job is to kick off the weekend at 7pm every Friday, on Kiss Fresh (Kiss FM’s sister station). I’m very fortunate that I get to choose all the tracks, which I mix live every week. You’ll hear everything from house, to techno, to disco, to drum and bass, to jungle. It’s very much a show with a focus on pioneering new sounds, whatever the genre. I also have guests in mix and we’ve recently had Keeno, Shiba San, Will Clarke & Kidnap Kid. What do you like to do outside of DJ’ing and your radio show? I really love to run in the countryside. Running and mixing are the only two things that allow me to shut off. Also when I’m not DJing or doing radio, I sit and hunt for new music, either online or digging in record stores. Music isn’t just a job to me, it’s a lifestyle, there’s nothing like the buzz of finding something new and wanting to share it. Finally, you've recorded us an exclusive mix can you tell us a bit about how you approached your track selection? Is it an indication of what we can expect on the night? The mix is very much a reflection of the sort of music I’ll be playing on the night. The track selection also mimics the ideology behind my music selection. Alot of these tracks for me evoke different emotions and that’s what I want people to feel listening to it. As well as big names, there are a few cheeky unsigned exclusives such as SYV’s side project ‘Ones’; which sets the tone for the mix.