Stem
DJ | Refuge Worldwide
Listening to Stem on Refuge Worldwide, NTS Radio or anywhere really, you can’t help but wonder where she finds her music. The most obscure sounds from the orbit of DnB, breaks, experimental, ambient, jungle, techno, bass, electro and so much more rip through her sets, earmarking her as an exceptional selector in the UK and Berlin, the latter being where she started her journey in DJing.
Currently in London, Jenny aka Stem is a regular guest on NTS Radio in addition to her bi-monthly show on the Berlin-based and community-led platform, Refuge Worldwide. The residency has allowed her to continue to share music and DJ while events remain an almost made-up concept at this point. But pre-pandemic, you might have caught Stem at Glastonbury, London’s Corsica Studios, Manchester’s Soup Kitchen and Berlin’s Griessmuehle amongst other celebrated spaces in Europe before Covid-19 barrelled into our lives without hesitation.
Music is something that keeps Stem grounded, and her latest mix for Refuge Worldwide is a transcending blur of chuggy breaks, fast-paced IDM, twinkling techno and spiralling rabbitholes that transport you beyond the four walls of your room and straight into a neon-tinted cosmo—to give you a general idea.
Stem’s memory below is a tropical one. She goes back to a moment in the heaving crowd of Carnival in Trinidad and tells us what she’s up to these days at home with her cat…
Trinidad heat 🔥Photo: Stem
Where was this photo taken and why did you choose it?
This photo was taken six years ago at Carnival in Trinidad. It always happens this time of year so it’s been on my mind lately. I have so many vivid memories from this trip—there are endless parties, fetes, Panorama (a steelpan band competition which I LOVED) and J’ouvert in the week leading up to the main event.
I chose it because everyone at Carnival is getting LIT and celebrating life—there’s so much colour and vibrancy everywhere. It's a nice memory to think back on and I feel very fortunate to have experienced it. Feels like a completely different world now but I hope to be standing next to a stack of speakers holding a bag of ice on my head in the heatwave again someday.
How have you been over the last while and what is life currently like in London?
I’ve been okay, missing lots of things and people but have gotten used to lockdown life and don’t mind it that much. I’ve mostly been working from home, making kimchi (which I’m slightly obsessed with and seriously recommend), hanging out with the cat (which I also really recommend) and doing music stuff.
You've just joined Refuge Radio as a resident DJ. How did you come into contact with the team running the platform? What's the ethos of the station?
I know some of the team as I used to live in Berlin and I played at one of the Refuge nights at Griessmuehle just over a year ago. Following that, they invited me to be a resident on the radio station.
Refuge started as a fundraising platform years ago and continues to do so through the radio station. Their Patreon funds are split between running costs and their non-profit partners, and their first partner is the Queer Black Therapy Fund. Really excited about the station and where it’ll go!
Your taste in music is wildly diverse; one never knows what they're gonna get when listening to your mixes! What tracks have pulled you in recently and made an impression?
I’ve been listening to these a lot lately:
Cosha—Lapdance From Asia feat. Shygirl
How are you feeling about the future right now?
Hmm, thinking about the future post-pandemic makes me realise how long it’s gonna take to get to that point so I don’t like thinking about it that much. I’m focusing on making the most of what I have and what I’m doing right now.
Back to the present moment. Tell us how the photo below is something that brings you happiness or comfort in your day-to-day life right now?
Aforementioned cat, Oscar. He’s such a big baby, the sweetest elf. 😥😥 He loves paper, cardboard boxes and belly rubs—simple pleasures!
The sweetest elf 🐾 Photo: Stem