The red convertible roars around the bend at almost 300 km/h, almost gets lost in the drift, and catches itself at the last second. Italian disco sound, curated by Hiroshi Miyauchi, blares from the sound system. The road in front of the convertible never ends. It’s 1986 and the now cult Sega racing game “OutRun” lights up thousands and thousands of color TVs around the world.
Back to the future, real convertibles park along the roadside, “like rocket propulsion” the Italo disco basses of her set thunder behind the green reeds through the vegetation of Montenegro, Ulcinj to be precise. She is the main act today, stepping in at short notice, invited by Electronic Beats. It is one of the eight live music experiences hosted by Telekom Electronic Beats this summer. Shrouded in changing colors from spotlights, sometimes violet, sometimes space-blue, then magenta again. The play of colors refracts and reflects in her beaded necklace and silk scarf knotted to a bandana top, a preview of the upcoming “Altered Ego” collection from A Better Mistake x Electronic Beats. It’s the only clothing the temperatures in Montenegro allow; on the dance floor, everyone wears bikinis or nothing at all. The only thing that warms up this crowd more than the sun is this set. Her set. “Cosmic Disco Sounds” with Shubostar.
Shubostar, DJ and producer from South Korea, started her musical career in the underground scene of Thailand and Mexico. She now lives in Berlin. When asked whether the city has a special meaning for her, Shubostar ponders carefully and takes her time. She doesn’t answer carelessly. She previously lived in Mexico City, and feels similarly at home in Tel Aviv. She politely avoids the question and at the same time broadens the horizon of the geographical view, for her enumeration is revealing: These are big cities where nationalities, beliefs and cultural circles mix. They are places with a plurality of identities. They are places where millions of people gather and yet sometimes feel lonely. It is precisely this loneliness, the feeling of emotional aloneness, that she tries to capture with her music. “Because in loneliness we realize how connected we are to the world at the same time. With the loneliness of other people.” “Space trips” is how she describes her sets herself, inspired by her fans, who often thank her for “the trip” after acts. What the trip sounds like? Just what it tastes like. A crisp serving of Italo disco, spiced with synthesizers that still reverberate from the ’70s under the influence of Daft Punk, Air and Alexander Robotnick. A pinch of Daniele Baldelli may not be missing either. This is how dancefloor cosmonauts love their “Cosmic Queen.”
Affirmative acoustics that motivate you to just keep going – like a computer game hero who inexorably pursues his or her mission. The association is not that far-fetched, as the first sounds Shubostar produced were background music for video games.
With an “OutRun”-like race car speed, Shubostar now tours the world, often leaving no time for cultural exploration. Between sets, the DJ and producer can rarely get involved with cities, countries and their cultures. That’s why one of her favorite activities is a cultural encounter at lightning speed: eating. Eating and talking about food. In South Korea, she says, it’s also typical to party excessively until early in the morning. But afterwards, the night owls don’t hang out in anyone’s after-hours apartment, but in a restaurant. Almost every party, every rave ends at some point in the restaurant, with a convivial meal.
Little time remains for the DJ and producer, not least because of her work ethic. Curating her social media presence herself – “I see that as part of my work” – she also founded her own label, uju Records, with Korean painter Daryung Kim. As for what else she wants to achieve, she doesn’t answer, deftly dodging the question almost imperceptibly. “The course that the spaceship is currently following,” she would like to follow even further.
Ambivalence and complexity remain as an aftertaste. Nothing is one-dimensional with Shubostar. On the one hand she describes her sound as an experience of loneliness, as floating in weightless space, on the other hand she loves social activities and sprinkles the probably lightest-footed and most melodic techno on the dancefloor that can be found anywhere in the world.
In response to the final question of which artwork she most recently remembered, she recalls the time and place, March 2023 at the Tate London. Large white lengths of fabric hung from the ceiling, everyday artefacts and organic objects were woven into them. A sound collage of indigenous chants, field recordings and recurring silence played in the background. It is the work “Brain Forest Quipu” by Peruvian artist Cecilia Vicuña, who incorporates sound, painting, sculpture and various media in her expansive installations. The quipu is an ancient South American recording and communication system made of knotted threads that is used for archiving, but also to create contexts of meaning. It is certainly no coincidence that Shubostar is drawn to this work of all things.
soundcloud.com/shubostar / @shubostar
She’s wearing @electronicbeats x @abettermistake full look
@electronicbeats / linkin.bio/electronicbeats
Text by Marcus Boxler @boxlerer
Photo Credit: Marvin Jockschat for Telekom Electronic Beats @marvinjockschat
