Photo credit: Bibi Veth
Dansor is fast cementing herself as one of Holland’s hotly tipped electronic music artists. Founder of Comport Records, the Hungarian-born producer and Media Technologist is also the former winner of Pete Tong’s Bedroom Bedlam and Dave Clarke’s ADE Demolition panel. An established Live Act as well as a DJ, Dansor’s performances have graced Sziget Festival, Ozora Festival, Balaton Sound, not to mention an inventive appearance at ADE where she performed her debut album ‘Theory Of Love’ live alongside jazz musicians, or her interactive AV performance during TEDx with a sensor jacket and Ewa Pepper violinist.
The Dansor project was born during the final semester of her Media Technology studies in the ‘00s. A live act that could be controlled without the need to stand behind a laptop, it didn’t immediately set pulses racing – with even the lady herself admitting that it was way ahead of its time. What it did prove beyond any doubt, however, is that Dansor is a producer not intent on taking the traditional route.
Ahead of her debut album ‘Theory Of Love’, Dansor has released a selection of singles from the long-player, including remixes from Channel X’s Jiggler, Animal Picnic, Thomas Gandey, Zoe Xenia, Sezer Uysal, Just Her, and Natural Flow. These have received support from the likes of DJ Mag, Complex, Electronic Groove, Ibiza Voice, When We Dip, 8day Montreal, and her remix of Digitaria’s ‘Useless Fantasies’ even picked up support from Rolling Stone. Now, with her live set evolving and Comport Records maturing, 2020 looks to be the most propitious year yet for this bright and promising individual.
We have a chat with Dansor to talk about her current musical projects and upcoming performance at Electronic Groove’s Music Weekend Festival.
Electronic Groove: Hi, Dansor, and welcome to Electronic Groove. First of all, how are you? How have you been dealing with the whole COVID-19 situation these past months?
Dansor: Hello, guys, and thanks for having me. This is probably one of the most challenging times in the history of the whole music and entertainment industry, and I guess everyone is dealing with it differently. After the panic of the first few months, I’m happy to be healthy and I keep telling myself and others that one day this surreal situation will be over. I do believe this time is the perfect opportunity to reflect on ourselves and see how we can be more human, how to help each other, and how to take more care of our own environment and planet. Hopefully, artists will be able to stay creative and get inspired to create something truly special even if many of them have to deal with their daily struggles and loss of income.
Personally, I spent a lot of time reading and studying things I found inspiring besides music – from post-growth economy to machine learning and tried to push myself to be more aware of what’s going on in the world as well as my own actions. Unfortunately, I had to give up the studio space I was renting, so I prepared my little home studio, I was discovering the beauty of the Dutch nature by walking and cycling even more. There’s so much to do and discover and you don’t necessarily have to travel far for that. Also, it’s been very important for me to be able to stay connected with friends & family by having calls or discussions regularly and still see each other whenever possible.
Electronic Groove: Can you tell us how did you first connect with music? How did you figure out that electronic music was your thing?
Dansor: I was growing up in Hungary in the 80s and through my older sister I got to know about Duran Duran. They were the first band I really fall in love with. It wouldn’t take too long and I was listening to more new wave music including Depeche Mode, Front 242, Art of Noise, among others, and found myself hanging with older guys and girls and despite my age, I managed to go out and get into the underground clubs of Budapest such as Black Hole, where I just felt kinda at ‘home’. Going for the first time to a Kraftwerk concert must have had a huge impact on me as I remember at some point I just couldn’t stop crying.
From the 90s, the first psychedelic parties started to happen, organized by some of my friends, mostly somewhere in the nature of Hungary – and that’s when I seriously started to think I would love to play myself as well. As back then it was all vinyl only, I made a calculation how long it would take with an average Hungarian salary to save for 2 Technics, a mixer, and some records, and when I realized it’s gonna take about 10 years I made a plan B and tried to earn money abroad. That’s how I ended up in The Netherlands, where I was finally able to buy the equipment a lot faster, start to practice, and work further on my dream.
Electronic Groove: We know you have your own label, Comport Records. How did that come to be? What drove you to launch your own label?
Dansor: My productions are somehow always a crossover of styles as I like to be free and just go with the flow in the studio without having to follow strict rules of certain genres. I like challenges, trying out new things, and experimenting a lot.
When I finished my very first tracks I couldn’t really find a label they would fit on – so that was the reason I started to play with the idea of an own label in the first place. After I met some like-minded artist friends in Haarlem, we bundled our forces and started Comport together. During the years many of them had to make other choices in life, but I didn’t wanna give up on it and continued alone. Besides the label, the past two years I was mostly focusing on building our Multiversum events at the Church of Ruigoord here in the Netherlands. I love to create magical experiences together with talented people!
” I like to be free and just go with the flow in the studio without having to follow strict rules of certain genres”
Electronic Groove: For those that might not be familiar with your work over at Comport, could you tell us what the label stands for? What kind of artists and music do you seek to promote?
Dansor: After listening to music for so many years, I know immediately if I like a track or not. I tend to get very bored with music which is predictable – or made just for the sake of following a current trend. I really believe, that if all artists would be busy in the studio with the intention to express their true self , we would have a lot more interesting, honest, and pure gems to listen to. For this reason, I always look for artists who share the same vision and make my heart beat faster when I listen to their creations.
Electronic Groove: Your vision and sets are carefully intertwined with technology and its possibilities. Are there any setbacks when trying to constantly push and blur lines?
Dansor: Yes, I love challenges, to experiment, and to push the boundaries by combining technology with art and music in different ways, that’s why I loved my Media Technology study so much. Probably the biggest downside is that it can be very stressful & frustrating if something is not working, especially in a live situation.
Electronic Groove: How important do you think is the visual aspect when it comes to music, which is something that we hear? How did you resolve what would be a good fit visually for Comport and for yourself?
Dansor: I love to create the art covers myself for Comport or come up with a theme, direction, and style for our own event – this way I can get inspired by music to create something visual and mostly learning a new technic or skill along the way. Also, I love to work with creative people and artists from other disciplines – musicians, VJs, dancers, and other technologists. The crazier the idea, the better! This way we can create a bigger and more cohesive, immersive experience for our Multiversum or for other events like we’ve done for TEDx Haarlem.
Set your reminder for the Electronic Groove Music Weekend here >> https://bit.ly/3lTWFSp
Electronic Groove: What can you reveal to us about your upcoming set for our Electronic Groove Music Weekend?
Dansor: Besides DJing, I performed a couple of times with our live band as well and as most clubs tend not to be very ‘band friendly’ I wanted to experiment with a new direction. I was making the tunes and my live set more suitable for the dance floor and also incorporating my sensor gloves into it as I felt it was about time to get back to the roots of why Dansor was born in the first place as a result of my graduate project based on HCI (Human-Computer Interaction). Unfortunately, COVID just kicked in when it was ready to test, so I only managed to try it out once during our last (Binary) Multiversum – which was an absolutely amazing experience with my drummer.
After a long silence and 6 months – I suddenly got the opportunity from ‘Dansen onder de Sterren’ to finally perform live again – ironically in front of a sitting audience – at Radion Amsterdam. It was a totally absurd setting without people being able to freely move or dance (following the current Dutch regulations) but it was somehow still very special, intimate & memorable – with spontaneous improvisations of BeatuniQue, Mame N’Diack Thiam and Sandy on top, who actually never heard my tracks before. This set got recorded and starting with my latest remix for Allies for ‘Everyone’s Who Are You Tonight’ which is out now via Motek. I do hope to see many of you somewhere on a real dance floor soon in the future but in the meanwhile, I’m excited to share this night with you on Saturday at 22h CET – when you are at least absolutely free to dance to this in your homes!
Electronic Groove: Many thanks and we wish you nothing but the best moving forward!
Dansor: Thanks again for having me & best wishes to all of you too! <3
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