Bianca Oblivion on Crate Digging, Blog Culture, and Unifying Global Sounds
Bianca Oblivion embodies a universal link, with an aim to sew together different artifacts of club music from around the world. By mapping out different music, she tells a story with each piece of the puzzle. From early grime to Turkish reggaeton, there isn’t a sound Bianca won’t try on. This year, she got to take on Glastonbury, which was quite different to the LA music festival scene, and according to her it was a refreshing more homegrown setting in opposition to the corporate and business model of many Los Angeles based music festivals. Tackling the new might be daunting for many, but Bianca seems optimistic and comfortable with adapting to unique views and vibrations. Right now, her focus is on unifying global sounds, and Glastonbury acts as a perfect hub for experimenting with both the old and the new:
“It's really me just absorbing the culture of everyone I meet and seeing how I can work that into my sets and my production and everything that I do.”
It seems that growing up in Los Angeles around a fusion of different groups and cultures helped her hone the skills of creative observation needed to spot the right vibes and sounds and effectively dilute them to her desired outcome. She notes how growing up where she did allowed for her to gain a certain level of respect for the people and spaces around her, thus adding to a level of awareness in new spaces in the present, respecting what each niche represents to different groups.
In her early surroundings of cultural activity, she also developed a passion in expressing a playfulness within her creativity. This playfulness follows Bianca wherever she goes, trailing her like an artistic shadow. We can go back in time and see this trail starting with her early love of blog culture which seems to still linger in her current approaches. Bianca notes the importance of discovering these early blog posts at a time when music was just beginning to spread itself on the internet, and how this malleable quality of music that could reach the furthest points away from itself opened many doors in terms of exploration and creativity. Although the world of TikTok is overwhelming with this same quality now, Bianca says she still uses those early tactics of exploring new spaces on youtube or soundcloud:
“At heart, I'm still a crate digger. I'm still trying to find the corners of YouTube or SoundCloud that no one's really explored. I still try to find those obscure spaces and bring them to light. It's still such a rush when you find that little gem.”
Bianca doesn’t seem to let the anxiety over what’s trending or what will go viral get to her. Her talent doesn't need to rely on that anyways, and her passion lies purely in the sound: what's new, and what’s old that has the potential to reframe itself in the new.
When asked about collaborating with friends, Bianca lights up and talks about how there is nothing like exchanging ideas between friends. This highlights her ability again and the message she continues to flow back to, unifying global sounds in a way that links us. Another way Bianca achieves this unification of new and old spaces of cultural sound is by engaging with marginalised communities and newer voices, with a desire to amplify those unheard. She notes that as a woman of color growing up in Los Angeles, representing these voices also means she is representing herself, and where she came from:
“It's just representing who I am and where I'm from all the time. If that's who my community is, why wouldn't I put them on?”
And she’s right! It’s a beautiful way to spread a message and unify the sounds that piece together who we are. To start from within and engage with those who share a similar story, a voice you want heard with yours by giving them the space to share.
Bianca discussed accusations from certain groups of her “being too woke” but with the ease that comes with knowing exactly who you are and what you wanna put out into the world, she laughs it off and eloquently reminds us who she is and why she’s here:
“I don't like to tokenise it at all. It's for us, it's the way it should be, and that's it. That's just how we're going to move in the world in every respect. We want to uplift our community, we want to show the world we are incredible. It is important as a collective to represent the people in our community and the scene and music. And just show that this music, you know, rave music, rave culture, this is what the root of it is, this is who should be putting it out.”
Bianca has a knack for always leading us back to the why: the music, the sounds, and the way we can come together through the specific sounds we cling to in our own space, our own cultural identity. This idea also brings us to the future of warp mode, as Bianca excitedly adds that they will continue collaborating and remain open to anything. A positive and cheerful attitude that matches the excitement we feel when thinking about all the ways Bianca continues to mold her own identity and relationship to sound spaces so that we all might have better access to these globally unified sounds.
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Photography by Archie Davidson