She’s one of Ibiza’s favorite DJs, with residencies at the famed Monday afternoon fiesta, Circoloco at DC-10, for whom she mixed ‘The New Resident of Circoloco at DC10 Ibiza’ in 2011 and Cocoon Ibiza, for whom she mixed Cocoon Heroes alongside Joris Voorn in 2012. There’s no denying the mixing chops of anyone who’s scored residencies at two of the most premier techno and house parties in Ibiza, not to mention her residency at the famed Berghain/Panoramabar in Berlin. So it’s of little wonder really that Cassy - known to her family as Catherine Britton - recently weaved together the 71st edition of one of the most illustrious mix series' around. We chatted to the UK native about what it’s like to undertake such a task, the difficulty of the compilation process and keeping things a 'little more unusual'.
So you recently joined with Safehouse Management. How has that been? Great. I mean, it’s the very beginning, so I don’t have a lot to report. But they’re extremely friendly, lovely, super professional people, so that’s all I can say for now.
It’s a major accomplishment though, it’s one of the biggest and best booking agencies around. Yeah, it’s super great. I think maybe sometimes with big agencies or something you think its good from the outside, though it might not be so good for oneself. It’s also very much, I think, a matter of fitting or taste or belonging somehow. But I think we are very good match. It seems to be the right size for both of us.
When and how did Fabric initially approach you about putting together the compilation? I think Judy and Craig had asked me a while ago, but I could never time it right, because other mixes I did were coming out at the same time or were supposed to be coming out at the same time as then the Fabric mix would have been released, so it wasn’t the right timing. Now it finally fit.
How long ago was this? It must have been around two years ago, but I can’t really be too sure.
You’ve put together several major compilations before, but this is your first with Fabric. Is it still special for you to put together a mix? To put together a mix is always special. If you really have to put one together that’s going to be out there as your mix that you’ve done, that's something very special, because it’s out there forever. It’s different to a live mix, because that’s always dependent on the situation. Even if you listen back to a live mix, it’s different than listening to something you’ve done, especially for a mix CD.
Can you tell me a little bit about what it’s like to put together a mix CD? Umm, it’s very…well, I guess the more experience you have, the easier it gets, and the better you feel when you’re doing it. I think it’s a good thing to choose stuff that is quite timeless, or if you have a specific idea for something, that delivers a certain mood. It really depends on who is asking for the mix CD – what label it is, or who you’re doing it for. And I guess your personal taste at that moment as well, combined with who you are as a DJ, and what you want to represent. That as well I think is very important to consider.
How does the label or who you’re putting it together for effect how you put together the mix? Say for Fabric. How did that change things? It’s something where you know you can trust and make choices and take records that are maybe not heard so much or are a bit lesser known, or are from a certain area that is only known to connoisseurs and not so much to the general public. So you trust that you can do something – if I can use the word, [it’s] more special.
You can take more chances? Yeah, be a little more unusual, I’d say.
How do you go about selecting songs? I guess it depends on what you’ve done before, how experienced you are, and how you work. Some people probably have something in the back of their head for a very long time and constantly keep making notes. And some people probably just do everything at once. I guess I knew I had to come up with a track list at some point, and then I pressured myself to get stuff together over three or four days because I knew maybe later I might not have so much time. I would have a solid stock of records or tracks already down so I don’t have to choose for something last minute, then you’re not happy, and you get frustrated doing the mix.
You laid the basic foundations of the mix in just three or four days? That's fast! I think so, yes. Well, I guess, it’s in the back of your head in the way that you know where you’re going to be looking. If you’d never thought about it, it would be, but the actual process of putting it together, that was the three or four days, in the sense that I listened to all the tracks I was thinking of before that I had in mind, or I discovered a few more, and added them. When you know you’re going to be doing a mix CD, and you’re in a club listening to music, you’re like ‘oh, this track!’ Or ‘oh, this producer!’ So I guess it’s in the back of your head already.
I love the artwork for the album, it’s very unique. Did you have a hand in selecting that? Well for every Fabric CD, they pick an artist and his pictures or paintings or drawings or whatever it is, and you get to pick out of four or five different ones. And I liked this one the best. It’s a series, so it’s quite similar, but this one was more outstanding one I think.