MDSM
DJs
‘they are angels, angels don't need us.’ The comments under HÖR sets can be unusual on a good day but listening to MDSM's B2B in the luminous green space, you soon understand the basis of this remark. With Tim Schlockermann’s ‘Locked’ starting off the mix, you cannot help but be transported into an ethereal underworld, immediately setting the tone for what MDSM are all about.
The Berlin-based artists describe themselves as a ‘goofy duo’ and Marine and Sophy, aka MDSM, have spent the last number of months living together in Lockdown, where music remains a common ground between them to express their creativity and celestial taste in tunes. Since their HÖR debut in October as part of Strawberries’ takeover — a queer party and collective based between Dublin and Berlin — MDSM have shared mixes on Rinse France, Swoon and mina’s Crystal Series. When the day comes for nightlife to safely awaken from its Covid-induced coma, you’ll likely find MDSM out and about playing in a club or festival.
Reflecting on the time they have shared together throughout the pandemic, Sophy and Marine go back to a radiant memory in Berlin's south-central region. They also talk about their upcoming plans for the next while, their dynamic as a recently formed musical duo and more...
Winter sun ☀️Photo: MDSM
Where was this photo taken and why did you choose it?
Marine: This photo was taken at Tempelhofer Feld at the very beginning of the first lockdown.
At the time the situation wasn’t bad at all in Berlin so we were allowed a daily walk outside. We would often walk all the way to Tempelhof, to enjoy the warm winter sun. That day, someone was playing music on a loudspeaker and people started to organically regroup and dance together. It was so magical to see people of all ages dance like there’s no tomorrow to bouncy music — 2 meters apart from each other. The sun started setting and we came back home re-energised and inspired by this special moment. This is when we started preparing our very first mix for Swoon.
How have you been over the last while and what is life currently like in Berlin?
Sophy: This is going to sound odd but we’ve been doing great!
We’re very blessed to have an amazing group of friends that were really supportive during this crazy time and helped us get through it. We’re also a couple and our relationship got more solidified during the lockdown. We were most of the time in Berlin and started creating all sorts of things together. It only felt natural to start a music project together as we’re both obsessed with sound and are regular club-goers. That’s how MDSM was born. The name is just a contraction of our initials by the way, nothing cryptic here! Things escalated quickly as we’ve just been invited to play on Rinse France, on the Altered States residency.
In October you played on HÖR with the Dublin-based electronic queer party Strawberries to raise money for Beirut's Queer Relief Fund, who have been rehousing and providing financial aid to those in need after the explosion. What is your connection to Strawberries? How did you cross paths?
Marine: It happened really randomly. We met Luke aka T-rail who’s from Dublin in an intimate gathering in Berlin during summer 2020 and we spoke avidly about music together. Little did we know that he would contact us a few weeks later to offer us a prime spot on the Strawberry x Queer Relief Fund showcase on HÖR. Obviously we said yes and had so much fun that night. The response was overwhelming and we hit the donation target by the end of the set. This is when we met Stevie who runs the collective, who then commissioned us another set for Dublin Digital Radio. In recent news, we just got booked for a second appearance on HÖR on the 30th of March so stay tuned!
What is the dynamic between you both when DJing as MDSM? Do you have a chat or mix before playing live or what works for you both?
Sophy: Marine is more of an efficient music digger with fine taste in music whereas I am more of the tech gal. I have been playing around Ableton for quite a while and have always been into music production. In Montreal I was already DJing and Marine was eager to learn, so as we spent the whole lockdown together, I started to teach her how to use the decks. At the end of the day, Marine does the curation work and I take care of all things technical. I am a digger and have a very specific taste as well, but I spend less time looking for new tracks as I am too ADD! As Marine will gain more confidence in her DJ-ing skills I think we’ll probably move towards a more B2B approach.
How do you both feel about the future of club culture and nightlife? Is there anything different you'd like to see once we eventually come out the other side of this pandemic? Or perhaps it's hard to think about that right now. 🖤
Marine: It is surely hard to fathom, but I think dancefloors will probably never be the same, sadly. A few outdoor clubs reopened this summer in Berlin but the crowd was heavily policed. This whole period has been very introspective for us, and we hope this is also the case for party promoters. There are many things that need to be fixed in the Club Culture, starting with inclusivity, safety, consent, drug awareness…the list is long. That being said we really miss the clubs and really hope they will reopen soon, as they are so important for a lot of communities, especially marginalised ones. I think we were all taking the nightlife for granted; especially the freedom that comes from it!
Back to the present moment. Tell us how the photo below is something that brings you happiness or comfort in your day-to-day life right now?
Marine & Sophy: Ok this is a bit cringe but we picked a couple picture…no judgement! We’ve spent so much time together during this past year and became each other’s support system so it kind of made sense to pick this one.
MDSM 💜