Watching Cassy eagerly dive into her record collection is a joy. Away from the transcendent spaces
she continues to play at most weekends, her vinyl-digging series Talking About My Records on
Instagram gives ample opportunity to engage with her endearing excitability. Its concept being spurred
by moving back home to Austria and reconnecting with a stacked vinyl stash, you can feel the buzz
gained from rediscovering lost gems and rinsed B-sides. Keen to share this experience with whoever’s
watching, what makes this series stand out is the sense that Cassy’s enthusiasm and faithfulness to
the music that fuels club culture has been revived. We’re seeing the beginning of a new era for Cassy.
Given that her trailblazing career surpasses two decades, a serious reset to recalibrate should be expected.
She’s lived in Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam, London, New York and LA; worked at iconic record store Hard Wax;
held residencies at hallowed clubs Panorama Bar, Trouw, Output, DC-10 for Circo Loco, Rex Club, Amnesia
for Cocoon, and Pacha with her own night in the Pachacha room; taken in massive festivals and heaving
basements the world over; contributed to the seminal mix series from Panorama Bar, fabric and Cocoon;
dropped records on Perlon, Aus, K7!, Ostgut T on, Cocoon Recordings and Bass Culture; and launched her
record label Kwench Records featuring EPs from Fred P , Demuir, Ian Pooley, Kristen Velvet, Chris Carrier, Art
Alfie, Amir Alexander and Steve Bug.
In 2020, Cassy tapped out, moving to Austria with her mother and son. Getting distance from the challenges of
the scene and learning to rest was needed. It’d be a drum & bass set with Ray Keith via a live stream by
London club FOLD that did some of the work to lure her back. Cassy’s return would be further cemented by
record digging sessions with her unearthed collection, pulling out tracks from Ron Hardy, Regis, Mike Dunn,
Tin Man, Étienne de Crécy and T errence Dixon, among many more.
Making her debut in South Korea, fulfilling an urge to spend more time in Buenos Aires, throwing herself back
into Berlin’s bubble, playing at Heideglühen,ELSE, Renate and Panorama bar, Cassy is future-focussed with
an outlook that she’s here to enjoy DJing anew.
“There’s fresh audiences out there to connect with, and that
excites me,
” Cassy explains.
“I feel like I better understand my job description. I better appreciate what the
moment needs and I’m less concerned with what records I have to play to keep my reputation intact. We can
be too critical of ourselves. As Larry Levan advised, drop the ego. Let’s keep it real.
”
Flip through the two EPs that she released in 2023 on her label Kwench Records, and you’ll get a good feeling
of where she’s at with her confidence as a producer and label head. On E.T . Ascension, Cassy utilises
Roland’s 808 and her computer in a bid to honour her roots. Eager to strip it back to the basics, sending waves
into the past when she was living in Berlin using that exact minimalist setup, she’d feel connected with herself
again.
“It’d been a long time since I’d used an 808. It was nice to revisit these feelings using the machine, lean
into my weirdness in producing music and also use my vocals. I’m super proud of this record. It gives me that
kick to get more and more creative with every release.
”
Ultimately, Cassy has liberated herself from the pressures of blasting through a checklist according to whatever
the dominant standard may be. Representing herself in a true and sincere way is all that she demands.