From Flow State to Chug: DJ Deepa on Designing a Playlist To Work To
Introduction
The task of selecting music for others is a skill well-practised by Sydney DJ Deepa, who hosts two contrasting radio shows for FBi and Skylab and is half of the high-energy DJ duo Honey Point. In partnership with Desk Space, Deepa unpacks the exclusive playlist she made for the co-working space and explains how she remains open to new sounds.
DJing is all about understanding the assignment. Sydney DJ and radio presenter Deepa knows this innately.
Getting her start as a DJ while organising events at Sydney Uni, Deepa soon found she was spinning behind the decks herself. That led to a lunchtime slot on FBi and founding the high-energy DJ duo Honey Point with fellow Sydney DJ Dame. She now hosts two radio shows with different personalities.
On weekly Saturday Sunset program on FBi Radio, Deepa focuses on textured left-field dance music that’s as much about listening and absorbing than actually dancing. Here she also spotlights a broad selection of Australian artists, particularly Indigenous artists and people of colour. But when she hosts Skylab Radio with the program Bypass, she focuses on mixes of south-Asian talent emerging from Australia.
While Deepa regularly shifts through resources such as Youtube, Spotify, Band camp and Soundcloud for new music, she also has the gift of living in a collaborative musical household. One roommate builds speakers, another works at dance-centric magazine and online platform Resident Advisor, while another makes their own music.
“We all go to lots of gigs together,” says Deepa. “I’m really lucky to be surrounded by energetic friends that are super passionate about their community and the music they play.” It also means her own tastes and rituals around music are constantly changing. “But it’s cool to be up to date with it,” she says. “I find a lot of joy in that, and it keeps me inspired.”
Recently Deepa channelled those lessons into a playlist for co-working spot Desk Space in Darlinghurst. Founded on the spirit of collaboration – especially between music-loving creatives that use the medium for daily inspiration – the space encourages its inhabitants to bond and focus through tunes.
“It’s something to help people work,” Deepa says of her playlist. “It’s a lot of stuff that I listen to during my workday: either repetitive things to help with a flow state, or some of my friends and other [local] artists who are making some cool stuff.”
Local highlights include Melbourne jazz-soul ensemble Surprise Chef remixed by Harvey Sutherland, a dreamy yet thumping track from Brisbane singer-producer Squidgenini, an especially funky cut from Melbourne group Zeitgeist Freedom Energy Exchange, and similar standouts from Brisbane artist Iti and globetrotting Australian artist Jitwam.
There’s also some familiar voices to be heard as the three-hour set moves through funk, hip-hop and soul, including Del Tha Funkee Homosapien, Curtis Mayfield and Erykah Badu. For Deepa, those bright points of familiarity are key to perking people up along the way.
“You want to sing along once in a while,” she says. “I wanted to have those interspersed throughout, so you can have a little boogie or hum along.”
Snappy, smoky track Feet Don’t Fail Me Now from British singer Joy Crookes is a definite vibe shift. “It has a bit of energy, and the dance tracks get funkier from there,” she says. “That could be for people just coming back from their lunch break, to get them back in the motion of the playlist.”
The selections also begin to soften towards the end, starting with the spectral and downbeat Dunza Blues from South London producer Al Dobson Jr. Hooking into subliminal grooves with natural repetition is perfect for concentration, which is why Deepa tends to listen to a lot of minimal techno and deep house while she’s working. “They have the same kind of chug to me that really makes me productive,” she says.
