Influences: Violet

Lisbon has firmly cemented itself as a city with purpose and promise in recent years – a new wave of dancers, producers, disc jockeys, radio stations and genres have all emerged from the Portugese capital as of late and there is a lot to be excited about. However, there are few from the city who have created such impact as Volet aka Inês Borges Coutinho. 

She has become a renowned disc jockey and selector counting up bookings across Europe and beyond. As the brains behind Naive records, co-founder of Rádio Quântica, and a mina resident she has placed herself at the forefront of cutting edge experimental music in not only Lisbon but far beyond. Her own music has been widely championed and praised by the likes of Peach, Octo Octa, Eris Drew and many more whilst her personality and love for music has radiated through at all times. 

She appears on the latest Apollo View EP on Insult To Injury, the record label run by Timothy Clerkin. She offers up a futuristic remix of rugged compulsion and one that is set to burn dancefloors to shreds. 

We invited her to guide us through some of her own musical influences across the years and it's safe to say that she has fine taste. 

See below: 

Buy the new EP HERE. Follow Violet on Facebook HERE. 

"So, about my neptunes obsession. It's real. I think these two albums, fully produced by them, are probably my single biggest influences. Sonically intriguing, melodic, very clearly emotional music, punctuated with unpredictable, crisp drums. So from a texture, melody, emotional approach point of view, this is the core of my musical DNA right here. Clipse's album sounds both really experimental and ear-worm-y, plus Pusha T and (then) Malice are to me some of the most skilled rappers, in the top of their game here.

It also strikes me how they efforlessly navigate between alien sounding instrumentals like 'momma i'm so sorry' to super soulful, classic-sounding songs like 'NIghtmares'. I should probably also mention their first album 'Lord Willin' which is just as perfect but to me lacks the sonic weirdness that this one has. And n*e*r*d*'s album is like, when pop peaked for me. I honestly think a pop song can't get much better 'Provider', 'Truth or Dare' or 'Rockstar' – to this day, these songs make me dream. They make me feel invincible, corny as it may sound. Other highlights are 'Run to the sun' (my favourite 'ballad'… ever?), Baby Doll (shouts to Kelis on the back vocals, whose album is another influence) or Am I High. E3very single instrumental in this album is literally perfect? Like wtf."

"I join these two Portuguese masterpieces as my love letter to One Eyed Jacks, the label that was my first true home and the first time i felt part of a crew in dance music. Aquarian Ball is a track that i heard a snippet of even before it was finished – I loved it so much that I decided i wanted to create a label just to release it – I was gonna call it Peixinho (little fish LOL). I'm glad I didn't because in 2009 i was unprepared to run my own label, and in the same year Photonz founded One Eyed Jacks, which he perfectly ran and put out what would become really formative music for me, including his track Aquarian Ball, which sold out after two weeks. No wonder, the infectious breaks, the huge drum freakout, and the bleepy line are the dopest thing that happened in Portuguese dance music (maybe). Anyway, saying his sound influenced me is an understatement and i cannot stress enough how these days were key to my artistic practice, community ethos and sonic language.Also released on One Eyed Jacks was Arm1x by Igor and Adriana, a total anthem for me: melodically and rhythmically, this track would put me in trancey daydream states for years to come (and still going). I still think it's one of the best dance tracks I've ever heard in my life.

While we're on the Lisbon music subject, can I give another big shout to some artists that, at one or another point in time influenced me and continue to do do: Buraka Som Sistema and the whole Príncipe posse who continue to teach me about groove as i repeatedly come back to their records; Paraíso, another of my homes and a true DIY, family-run labour of love in the local scene if there ever was one; and last but absolutely not least Odete, BLEID, Kerox, Stasya, fabaitos – young artists who have taught me so much with their incredible music (do yourselves a favour, check them out) and keep me on my toes creatively, you have no idea how much it means to have you in my life. I hope i have the privilege to stay alive a few more years just to see you thrive."

Here's the rest…