SSENSATIONAL SOUNDS: LET’s BUILD TOGETHER
It seems like it’s finally starting to become common knowledge that House music is Black music. Thanks to the EDM-inspired releases of Beyonce and Drake in 2022, public consciousness is catching up with the discourse that has been prevalent in the UK Dance music scene for years, spearheaded by the likes of Black Artist Database, SHERELLE, MixMag and others. Amapiano’s recent dominance in British culture has also been pivotal, with event brands like Dankie Sounds opening up a genre of music Black Brits hadn’t been privy to in our nightlife scenes for years.
Amapiano, great as it is, is only one sub-genre of the powerhouse which is EDM. New players on the scene, Ssensational Sounds, are on a mission to teach our community about the presence of Black people in electronic music beyond Amapiano. WNDRLST sat down with one of the founders of Ssensational Sounds, who goes by the moniker GUY.IN.GLASSES in an effort to conceal his real identity, “the focus is on the music, not on me” he justifies.
GUY.IN.GLASSES founded the collective Ssensational Sounds with his producer-friend SAMPAH. Growing up, he always loved house and dubstep, obsessed with mixes from Soundcloud and Majestic Casual on YouTube. Citing Black Coffee as one of his main inspirations, GUY.IN.GLASSES says, “House music is not just oonts oonts music. It actually does derive from Black culture”.
After GUY.IN.GLASSES and SAMPAH started out in music production, the natural next step was to DJ the music that influenced their sonic pursuits. With this in mind, Ssensational Shoobz was born, the event strand of the Ssensational Sounds collective. He explains the motivation behind Ssensational Shoobz, “it’s all about creating a safe space for Black people to have fun, to enjoy and to party with our people”.
Through these events, the Ssensational Sounds collective wants to bring house music back to its origins: Black people, Black producers and Black spaces. It’s amazing that the house and wider EDM scene are diversifying and music consumers are becoming more open to new sounds. However, GUY.IN.GLASSES notices that the Black British nightlife scene has a lot of catching up to do, “a lot of us aren’t privy to this music, so we just stick to Afrobeats”.
GUY.IN.GLASSES believes that not all partygoers are being serviced by the major event brands - many of us are niche music lovers, and go out for music discovery. He continues, “I’m not afraid to play a song you’ve never heard. Most DJs nowadays have a set that includes trending bangers and nothing else, DJing purely for a crowd reaction.”
It’s become the norm for a typical DJ set to be defined by instant gratification, focusing on quick transitions and relying on viral hits to get the crowd going. The Ssensational Shoobz DJs throw this out the window, GUY.IN.GLASSES clarifies, “With my events, I want to expose people to new things, I’m trying to put you on a musical journey when listening to my sets. I want to introduce you to something new”.
Ssensational Sounds aren’t bothered by curating a specific image or being pretentious. Their Shoobz are for music lovers, those who go out to discover new sounds, and people who want to dance like nobody is watching. With sets at Glastonbury, The Prince of Peckham and All Points East under their belt, a recently finished Soho House residency, and an EP on the way, Ssensational Sounds allows Black EDM fans to feel seen. “That’s what I want people to hear when they come to our events, just feel good dance music”.
