This Experimental Club DJ Created the Epic Soundtrack for Chromat’s 10th-Anniversary Show
If you haven’t been to Seltzer, the experimentally minded queer rave that London-born, Philadelphia-based DJ Bearcat regularly throws alongside fellow Philly DJ Precolumbian in their home city, or even at her monthly residency at Brooklyn club Nowadays, then maybe you’ve come across the music she made for Chromat on SoundCloud. Bearcat says her runway soundtrack for Fall 2016 still gets comments from fans, and that she sometimes gets booked off the strength of that one mix alone. Listening to that music now, Bearcat is struck by how much she’s since changed as an artist. That mix stays between the range of 108 to 120 BPM as opposed to the high energy soundtrack she created for Chromat’s 10th-anniversary show in New York yesterday.
Bearcat is an essential member of the Chromat family, from playing after-parties to scoring Chromat: Body Electric, a documentary on the fashion brand that premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2016. The first 10 seconds of Bearcat’s mix for the show last night actually incorporated the intro to the documentary score—Bearcat plays the role of a flight attendant ushering us all for liftoff, a fitting starting point given designer Becca McCharen-Tran’s NASA inspiration for this new show (astronauts train in underwater facilities in Houston). “Honestly, the Chromat score from 2016 was the first real job that I did in terms of music production and scoring, so I have a little bit of sentimental value,” Bearcat says over the phone from Philly a few days before the show. “Things always come full circle. I feel like working with Chromat has definitely been something that has made me focus and given me opportunities to really showcase what I can do.”
Given the breadth of the collection, Bearcat’s mix this season, which almost entirely comprises her own edits, is just about double the standard 12 or so–minute soundtrack. Within these 25 minutes, Bearcat runs the gamut, as do most of her sets: Working with McCharen-Tran as guidance for the first few minutes, Bearcat goes straight into a drumline sound, kicking off the sort of pep-rally vibe that she maintains at the beginning. “Becca and I are in our early 30s, so there’s lots of No Limit and all these kind of power housey, pump up the volume, ‘Pump Up the Jam’ kind of vibes, the sort of songs I would be freaking out to as a kid,” Bearcat says. From there, Bearcat takes you into space—there’s some eerie, alien-like synth noises that start to ring out in the center of the mix, and by the time McCharen-Tran’s LED-lined cage skirts and headpieces start coming down the runway, Bearcat’s gone in a much more industrial place. “The energy goes up 10 times more and then it starts to sound a bit more like my sets—a little bit more industrial, a little bit more heavy, and a little bit darker than at the beginning of the show.”
Bearcat also DJ’d as people were streaming in and out of Spring Studios before and after the show, perched high on the upper level of the space, dressed in the Sigourney suit from the brand, a sleek, high-neck Lycra one-piece. “I’m able to wear the Sigourney swimsuit without also wearing a bra, which for me, is really rare that I could go braless. The support and the way it’s made is really fab. I’m definitely a thicker girl, so Chromat is accessible to me, which is great,” Bearcat says. “In general, as a brand, the inclusiveness and diversity that exists is really unlike any other.”
Beyond the Sigourney suit, Bearcat also incorporates some of Chromat’s other pieces into her vibrant sense of personal style, whether it be the brand’s high-drama face cages, which she likes to wear while DJing, or its comfortable leggings, which she’ll throw on when working out. Lots of things in her wardrobe retain a grungy edge from her early days in punk bands in London, but for the most part she’s all about comfort. Her house clothes (comfy sweatpants and oversized tees) are the ones she likes the most, but when she’s going out she’ll throw on black head to toe and do her signature heavily Kohled eyes that reference her early days as a makeup artist. “Sometimes I want to wear just like a T-shirt and a lot of black eyeliner and just put my head down and DJ and then sometimes I want to wear a dress and a really nice blazer,” Bearcat says. “I’m a Gemini, so there’s those two different places—it just depends what mood is taking me.”
Her mix is also a full-out Gemini’s delight, flitting between moods at a quick pace. Listen to the exclusive premiere above.
Originally Appeared on Vogue
