Dazed Mix: Courtesy

Composed during a particularly bad bout of insomnia in the first lockdown in Berlin, Night Journeys is DJ and composer Courtesy’s debut album. Named after a series of paintings by Lee Krasner made after her husband Jackson Pollock died, the four-track EP – released earlier this year – features ambient trance soundscapes that evoke the lucidity of being neither quite awake nor asleep. 

The Copenhagen-based artist and founder of Kulør, a multidisciplinary platform set up in 2018 as a home for contemporary art and music, is best known for her energetic techno and 90s trance sets behind the decks of dance music institutions, from Berghain to Bassiani. Her latest release, out this month, features a selection of remixes of Night Journeys by the likes of DJ IBON, Jessy Lanza, Schacke, and KMRU.

For her exclusive Dazed Mix, Courtesy shares a selection of pop bangers, with moments of trance and eurodance. “I am currently working a lot with aesthetics of pop music, and I used this mix to blend music where pop and dance merged in a particularly emotional and endearing way,” she says.

How is your summer going? What have you been up to?

Courtesy: I’ve been working on a merchandise collection for an upcoming show with designer and artist Filip Berg. I’m also happy about new work with Danish-based creatives and collective, CORNICHEDOTCOM. They have styled and documented multiple of my performances and editorials. 

Besides that, I’ve been reading a lot. Currently, I’m carrying around Joan Didion’s The Year Of Magical Thinking, The Intellectual Lives Of Children by Susan Engel, and Heavy Traffic Magazine. 

You released your debut Night Journeys in May, how do you feel about it?  

Courtesy: It feels like it came out at the right time, and if you know any artists personally you would also know that the feeling of content towards realising a new project is rare and a gift. 

What are some of the inspirations behind Night Journeys? 

Courtesy: When I wrote the music for Night Journeys, I was listening to Steve Reich’s piano phase pieces as well as trance and euro dance from the 90s and early 2000s. 

What are some of your earliest memories of music? Have they influenced your sound at all? 

Courtesy: I would go to children’s discos as a preteen and dance to pop, euro dance and trance, and that definitely influenced the music I am interested in today as an artist. 

Tell us about your Dazed mix.

Courtesy: In my practice as a DJ, I am currently working a lot with the aesthetics of pop music, and I used this mix to blend music where pop and dance merged in a particularly emotional and endearing way.   

Night Journeys Remixes is out August 26

Tracklist

Smerz - “I don't talk about that much“   
Sega Bodega - “Raising hell“   
Chant - “If it makes you feel alright”
Madonna - “What it feels like for a girl (Above & Beyond 12" Club Mix)”
Midi Rain - “Shine (Square Button Mix)”   
KAY CEE - “Escape 2 (Signum remix)”   
Messiah - “Thunderdome (Spicelab Mix)”
Janet Jackson - “Together again”
Blue Hour - “The midnight sun (DJ Ibon’s Never Mind Mix)”
Eartheater - “How to fight”
DJ Encore - “I see right through to you (feat. Engelina)”
Lasgo - “Something (extended mix)”