Bleep Bloop’s label Eat The Bomb doesn’t release music very often. We’re lucky if we catch one dispatch per year. But the wait is always worth it…
Take Foul Taste – a brand new EP from Taiwanese-Canadian artist WAWA, an artist who weaves an uncompromising brew of shapeshifting sonics. Just as likely to snap your neck with an ice cold 808 as she is to hurl you overboard with a swashbuckling break, WAWA has no time for genre boundaries. And she sounds all the fresher for it.
Following some early fiery footsteps around 2021, WAWA (real name Hsing Yu Hsaing) re-emerged last year with the Radio 1 supported frazzled UKG tear-up SOUL.
Now based in London – where she’s launched her own event core_event.exe (alongside visual artist foto.sensitive) and flexes an even wide range of influences and flavours.
Flavours like Foul Taste, a full spectrum four-track selection that’s a lot sweeter than it sounds. Ranging from the bumping carnival-ready breaks and bass of Al Que Tudo! and the swaggering UKG of Front2Back to the thumping 160 urgency of Dat Funk and the big beat cheekiness of Sour Milk, it’s the sound of WAWA going back to some of her foremost and earliest inspirations and tapping into an energy that can often be overlooked when you’re neck deep in the craft.
So far half of the EP is available to hear – Al Que Tudo and Front2Back – but pay attention when the full EP lands on April 18… You will not be disappointed. We’ll be dropping a mix from WAWA around that point, too. Tune in, drop in.
Let’s get some history first. Before Foul Taste there was Violent Dreams a few years ago, right?
Yeah. I was living in LA at the time and I was really into Daddy Kev’s Low End Theory and that whole beat scene. I love Ivy Lab and the sound design associated with that sound. I really enjoyed exploring that and just being in LA and soaking up a lot of influences like the Hispanic community there and their music. There’s a lot of sounds and influences in the mix in LA. So that EP approach was me exploring the possibilities of those type of beats and heavier sound design.
You’re in London now aren’t you? What took you there?
I’m from Vancouver and we have the youth mobility visa for working holidays so I took the opportunity to come over and be closer to the source of a lot of music that inspires me. I feel like when you’re in a place you start to understand why it sounds like it does.
Yeah totally! So you’re feeling London?
Oh yeah. I was in Brixton and went into this record store Lion Vibes and started speaking to the guy there about music and it dawned on me just how strong in the influences are in London’s music.
Has it London exceeded your expectations in a way, then?
Oh definitely exceeded! I was able to find communities in London. There’s a queer open deck session where everyone is chilled and anyone can sign up. I’d never even heard of the concept of open deck so that was really inspiring. It’s really friendly and open and so cool. So that’s been great. I’ve also been able to find art spaces to host my own audio / visual night called core.reset.exe which was a pleasant surprise in terms of accessibility.
Love to hear these positive reflections on London. Sometimes we get too caught up in the negativity of things like club closures and rising prices etc. Was the event in a college space?
No, in an arts venue called Spanners in Brixton and next to a horse riding school so if you walk a bit further you see horses, which I find really bizarre and funny to see in a city. The couple who run it are lovely. Mary and Tobes. Mary is the bar tender, Tobes is the sound tech guy. It’s got a capacity of under 100 and the hiring price is very fair. Me and my friend who do the night aren’t real promoters or anything, we just wanted to do a little event so Spanners allowed us to do that.
How was it?
We did it last November, it was a good turn-out and everyone enjoyed it. My friend’s artist name is Foto Sensitive. He’s the visual person and he made all my visuals besides the visuals for my Foul Taste EP (they were done by Thermyte). Foto Sensitive is so talented. He had another event before and prepared it all for a month but the space who booked him didn’t have the right support. It was very frustrating so we decided to take creative control and do it ourselves. He stands beside me when we perform, which we feel is very important. I want the visual artist to have just as much of the spotlight as the DJ.
Exactly. Both together – as you’re both providing the experience.
Yeah that’s right. The DJ and the visual artist are the full package together.
Do you have another event coming up?
Yes we do. The next core.reset.exe is May 4 at George Tavern.
Sick. Did you expect to run your own nights when you came over here?
Never! I just love making music but I think it’s the positive influence of people around you. My flat mate works in theatre production and curates her own events. She said you’ve got to have people come and experience it. That really summed it up for me. The best way to experience electronic music isn’t on Spotify or somewhere like that, it’s when you’re in a space with other people, you’re hearing it together, you’re seeing it combined with visuals and you’re dancing with people to it.
Absolutely! So how about the Foul Taste EP? It’s quite a development on Violent Dreams. How did you arrive at such a wide-armed combination of tracks?
After I released Violent Dreams I started promoting myself and getting myself on social media and got lost in the numbers for a while. I always say the numbers don’t matter but for a moment they had a very negative impact on me. The way I try to find my balance is that music makes sense to me. So I’ll try to go back to the excitement I had when I first started making music. Or even back further to when I’d buy a CD just based on the cover art and my gut instinct. And whenever I’d hear something new I’d feel like ‘this is so exciting’. That’s what I wanted to go back to.
At the same time I started getting some mentoring from Aaron Bleep Bloop. I was so fixated on production and over-thinking a lot. He gave me a different perspective and said ‘just produce with your laptop and if the vibe is good, keep going.’ So I took some of the main elements of things I really loved like breakbeats and rave sounds and event elements of rock vibes and experimented with them. I also spent as much time as I could going to basement events and spaces like The Cause where the energy is really raw and open. So the Foul Taste EP is the combination of that. Just an EP about fun and not one where I’ve been sitting there thinking ‘is this okay? Will people like this? Is it cool?’. You know then type of thing…
Absolutely! We all overthink too much! So Bleepy took you back to your passions. Inspiration and intention are the core reasons why you began this journey aren’t they?
Yeah the same can be said for DJing. You can really be harsh to yourself about certain mixes but people are there to have a good time. They’re not there thinking ‘oh that transition was terrible’
Haha yeah. So true! How did you link with Bleep Bloop?
I went to one of his shows and it was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. Then during covid he announced he’d be mentoring people and I had to sign up. He’s got such an inspiring attitude towards production. He approaches it almost like a science experiment. Like, ‘What if I do this?’ I find that really interesting and it’s opened my mind to how things can be done and how to be more experimental with things.
That’s great to hear. What experiments are you working on next?
I’m continuing to explore my sound but I’m also producing some upcoming UK artists right now. I really like collaborating with people who complement me or people I can complement. I’m working with two rappers now, one of whom is a trans artist who wants to perform in places like Pussy Palace so that’s really fun and exciting to work on.
Sick! Have you worked with many vocalists?
I did work on a track with a Chilean artist during covid. That was funny because it was all through zoom and vocals were recorded in a closet and things like that. I just love the whole process of collaborating. When you produce on your own you can end up down rabbit holes and getting a bit lost. But when you’re working with someone you can give each other instant feedback. I feel like I learn the most from the collaborations. Even if its just little short cuts or perspectives on things.
Yeah totally. Who was the other vocalist you were working with?
So the trans artist is Azzy and the other one is a rapper called Dre Ishmail who has a very conscious style and address topics and matters that I feel are very important. I’m really enjoying working with both of them.
Both projects sound inspiring. The meaning and message of the music are really important to you aren’t they?
Yes, art has to be meaningful, right? The message is very important to me. People’s attention is valuable so that should be respected. I also think there’s still a lot of under representation in the music so I want to work with people who don’t always have such a chance.
That’s amazing and very important. So are you staying in London for a while?
Maybe another year. I’ve been here for almost two years now. I’m working as a studio technician in a studio who specialize in immersive audio/visual events. So I’m learning a lot about TouchDesigner and things like that. I really love interactive art so it’s something I’m really excited and inspired by. I’m still at that stage where I just want to learn about, and become proficient in, every aspect of the culture and process.
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Definitely! The more you know, the better decisions you can make…
Yeah and I also try and learn things from outside of the genre. Kinda like if you want to make hip-hop, don’t listen to hip-hop, if you know what I mean?
YES!
I don’t like music that’s too predictable.
Same! What else does the world need to know about WAWA right now?
I’m doing a release party for the EP on April 18 at Four Quarters, a basement arcade bar in Peckham. I’ll be inviting some DJ friends to come and play and it should be fun. Hopefully see you there.
See WAWA: Bandcamp > Soundcloud > Instagram