PAPER <3s NY and PAPER<3s the DJs that keep us moving. That’s why we’re proud to present The Tear, our mix series highlighting the best DJs spinning in the city we call home. In August, we shared our mix with DJ Thank you, who served up a joyful, winking jaunt through a variety of genres and moods.
Today, we’re thrilled to announce our next iteration of The Tear with NYC fav Sekucci. A consummate DJ andproducer, Sekucci has been a city staple since they played their first set at Bossa Nova Civic Club in 2021. They’ve since made a name for themself via both their sets and tracks, which are both equal parts playful and emotive. Tracks like their remix of Tinashe’s “Nasty” are a wink and twirl, and “V Trigger” off The Carry Nation’s Full Tilt Carry - Vol 2 compilation show off Sekucci’s mind for engineering. The track builds and builds just to deconstruct itself into parts.
For their The Tear set, Sekucci approached the task like a conceptual artist, weaving in not just various genres and styles, but ideas and bits of history too. “I want to introduce you to my tapes/ Listen to them like they’re a sick person,” the mix begins, the sound of spliced anonymous voices coming in before a choir enters like a sacred omen. What follows is a moving blend of emotional motion that draws from, as Sekucci tells PAPER, “gqom, gospel hymns, baile funk,” constructed with an eye towards scenes in Portugal and Colombia.
Sekucci’s mix is colored by surprising textures and moves — sirens, bits of dialogue, silences, breaks. While global in vision, the set is, per the prompt, still in “conversation with New York City.” Around minute 20, the sounds of ballroom enter and bring us into an elevated twirl around the world which takes us to a climactic end, a sprint through baile funk, latincore, footwork and then a quiet sea of synths and flutes.
It’s a set that centers catharsis. “Seeing sets that take me to another world from people like Juliana Huxtable, Bobby Beethoven, Sterling Juan Diaz, Lydo, Byrell the Great, The Carry Nation. Those are the sound artists who have been integral to shaping what that cathartic NYC nightlife sound is for me,” says Sekucci. “This mix tells the story of those moments."
The prompt for the mix was “the past, present and future of NYC nightlife.” What sounds inspired you for this mix?
The sounds I’ve been drawn to have been sounds that shift my body when I listen to it. Sounds that take me out of my comfort zone, but keep me in rhythm. Sounds that areresonants of Africa. Of the drum. Of polyrhythms. A lot of this mix draws from Gqom,gospel hymns, baile funk, heavy percussion and ringing bass from artists like Leonce, BASSBEAR!! and Kassian, and songs of my own which were inspired by all the things mentioned previously. I’ve also been really inspired by what the girls in Colombia and Portugal have been doing for a long time now, so I incorporated those sounds into this mix as well. Something very diasporic in its nature, but still pushing the envelope of what electronic dance music can be.
Where was the first set you played in NYC?
My first set was at Bossa Nova on a Sunday in December. I was on a lineup with x3butterfly and Garçon Paradiso. I was opening. I remember being so nervous and so green and took myself way too seriously. I had messed up a transition and screamed out loud, lmao. I also really loved my outfit for that. I went the comfortable route with my little baby blue juicy couture tracksuit and my white forces. I had these big, studded hoop earrings too — just carrying.
Favorite NYC nightlife memory?
Unter Chernobyl because something really shifted that night. That was my first time ever getting into gabber and my first time ever seeing Vtss and Randomer and I absolutely lived for it. And it was the first time where my community and New York family really congregated and it was like this big light bulb that went off like “Wow, we really all love this shit.” To see how many of us contribute to this very culture now is truly something. Also, the fact that it was never officially called Unter Chernobyl is so funny to me.
Favorite set you’ve ever played?
This is one where I would have to say it’s a tie because they are my favorites for the very same reasons. It would be my basement STUDIO set for Xtra. Services and my MizzSoftee set this past March. I feel both of those sets showed the depth of what drives my sound and the depth of my catalog of music. I had a chip on my shoulder both nights and felt I had some shit to say and I really let it all out on the decks. It was on those nights where I think people really got it, and I began to be looked at beyond the scope of kunty beats and club edits and as a selector with a well-learned and committed catalog of music.
It was also from that moment where I began to unburden myself from trying to deliver the perfect set and instead geared my effort towards telling the most heartfelt story. I’m not an open book. I’m very reserved and private and this is the first time I’m using a medium as a vessel into my life. Every set is a diary entry. If I’m happy you’ll know it. If I’m going through it, you’ll know it. If I came to purge, you’ll feel it through the music. Xtra.Services was the catalyst and nearly a year later, Mizz Softee was a long-term culmination of that.
Biggest nightlife pet peeve?
Nightlife adjacencies and the egos that come with that. I could care less about any of the sceney, cliquey shit that goes on. I’m here for the music.
What makes NYC nightlife unique?
The beauty of NYC nightlife is when I go out to a set and the set provides a cathartic moment for the dancer. Some people have life-altering experiences that change how they hear or interpret music or sound in general; it can unlock things about themselves, it can reaffirm things that are already inseparable, and at its height, it can draw people together. It’s definitely been transformative in that context for me.
Seeing these sets that take me to another world from people like Juliana Huxtable, Bobby Beethoven, Sterling Juan Diaz, Lydo, Byrell the Great, The Carry Nation and I can goon and on and on, but those are some beacons of sound artists who have been integral to shaping what that cathartic NYC nightlife sound is for me. So, this mix tells the story of those moments in nightlife.
Biggest hope for the future of NYC nightlife?
More producers. That’s probably my biggest one is more producers. We have enough DJs. We need more people in the lab helping push the sound so the culture can continue to evolve.
Photography & Styling: Rieglers
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