Yarra, a Murri woman and Naarm-based DJ, has carved out a niche on the local club circuit in the last few years.
Yarra’s sets strike a balance between deep house, minimal techno and dubby downtempo. It’s always club-appropriate music, but the experience is one of cumulative mesmerism rather than straight-ahead body wobbling.
While many local DJs have been burrowing into prog house, trance and fast-paced UK bass music, Yarra’s preference for deep grooves and melodic subtlety has distinguished her from many of her contemporaries. And she’s been busy.
Keep up with the latest music news, features, festivals, interviews and reviews here.
View this post on Instagram
Yarra has been a regular at venues like Revs, Circus Bar and Sub Club, as well as parties such as The Breakfast Club, Tilt Shift and BCR. She’s also appeared at several major festivals, including Beyond the Valley, Boiler Room x Sugar Mountain, Let Them Eat Cake and Gateway.
“Since I’ve really started focusing on music as a full career, a whole new world has opened up for me,” Yarra tells Beat of her recent packed schedule. “I’m quite picky about where I play and a booking has to be the right fit for me, musically and professionally. But I definitely have made more of an effort to prioritise gigs and give that part of my life lots of my energy.”
The next big engagement on Yarra’s calendar is the Now Or Never festival, which is bringing four nights’ worth of dance and experimental electronic sounds to Melbourne Town Hall in late August.
Yarra is playing on the second night of the series, on Friday 28 August, sharing a bill with New York deep dembow artist DJ Python and a b2b of restless percussion from rRoxymore and DJ Plead.
“Absolutely excited to play with these acts,” Yarra says. “I find playing alongside a diverse range of artists super inspiring and can be such a unique experience. I’m keen to learn and broaden my understanding of electronic music in that regard with Now Or Never.”
Yarra’s track IDs tend to be full of esoteric curiosities. For instance, she plays a lot of Eastern European minimal music, including acts from Romania’s Rominimal scene, such as Barac and Priku. Her digging practice is constant, she says.
View this post on Instagram
“I usually try to search for new stuff whenever I’m on my computer. I’m a big fan of scrolling through YouTube comments and Instagram comments for track IDs for those really hard to find ones.”
She adds, “A lot of the stuff I play is difficult to find or the artists don’t release on labels. A lot of it is Soundcloud free downloads, Bandcamp, and digging through Telegram chats for overseas record labels.
Yarra also has no shame firing up Shazam when she’s dancing in the club. “After a night out I’ll go through my Shazams and find so many tracks to go and buy,” she says.
Yarra’s done a couple of mixes for triple j’s Mix Up program in the last few years and delivered live-streamed sets from places like Tilt Shift and The Sound Gallery. Yarra names Janeret’s Deep Beat Avangarde [Cross Club] set as her personal favourite DJ mix.
“It’s two hours and 30 minutes of pure minimal mastery,” she says. “By the tail-end, it gets into minimal techno vibes with some dub techno in there. But for me, it’s the tension and release, and building and building within the set to culminate in a truly otherworldly musical experience.”
One of Yarra’s favourite gigs of the last few years was opening for tINI at The Breakfast Club in January. Yarra counts the Lisbon-based, German DJ as a formative influence, and opening for her felt like a full-circle moment.
“It was a dream come true,” Yarra says. “I met her at the end of the night and she was such a genuine human. I could really feel the passion and love she has for music. I’ll never forget it.”
Now Or Never at Melbourne Town Hall is set to be another milestone for Yarra, and she’s looking forward to taking advantage of the venue’s big PA.
“I’m really wanting to bring my hypnotic, atmospheric and rolling style to this event,” she says. “With larger events, I know I can dip into my more punchy tracks with intricate textures and elements that lend themselves well to powerful sound systems.”
DJ Python, DJ Plead B2B rRoxymore and Yarra are performing at Melbourne Town Hall on 29 August. Find out more here.
Beat is a proud media partner of Now or Never.
