Features
The best record labels of 2015
A salute to hardest working imprints of the year
4 NON
NON is a collective of African artists, and of the diaspora, founded by Chino Amobi, Nkisi and Angel-Ho. It launched in May and uploaded three missives to SoundCloud in quick succession, each one containing a trio of solo productions and a mix. It allowed the founders to introduce their respective sonic styles – Chino Amobi's enveloping collage, Nkisi's epic hardcore and Angel-Ho's hybrid club workouts – and the way they operate as DJs, as well as the collective's politics. Angel-Ho told Fader that the founding members of NON use "sound as their medium to articulate the recurring violence on non-white bodies – by which we mean people of color... It started because we are angry about having to operate within policing political systems which are still functioning [under the] effects of colonization. We all felt an agency to communicate with each other and discuss how change can be encouraged and tangible – not only preached, but practiced."
This was manifested in protest songs like Chino Amobi's remix of Michael Jackson's 'They Don't Care About Us' and thrilling live performances by Nkisi and Angel-Ho at Unsound festival. A NON compilation followed in November, expanding the collective to include artists like Yves Tumor and Mhysa of similarly radical crews Dogfood Music Group and ATM, respectively. And the year was rounded out by a joint mix with Mexico's NAAFI, presenting yet another set of empowered and thrilling tracks.
NON is essential in reminding us that the club can be a place for political discourse and the exchange of ideas, especially when certain areas of dance music can feel so apathetic – think mindless hedonism, soulless big rooms and vacuous top tier 'DJs'. And let's not forget about NON's music itself, which is wild, exciting and, most importantly, new. SW
