Q: How did it all began?
Miss Gosha: I was born in Odessa, in the former Soviet Union. I moved to Israel when I was 8 years old, and since then I spend most of my life around Tel Aviv. Somehow I skipped the Russian program of “every kid needs to learn how to play some musical instrument, and never go back to it again in the future”, I guess because of the drawing skills that were noticed in me just a bit before the age of three.
My parents encouraged me to develop those skills, that led me later to study visual arts in “Thelma Yellin”, the high school of arts, and after a few years to do my first degree in “Bezalel – Academy of art and design, Jerusalem”.
My earliest memory with music begins with the second grade. We had electronic keyboard lessons, and the teacher told me to stay late after school to practice every week cause I sucked. I decided that music was not for me and kept that decision for about 15 years.
But one thing that bad teachers from childhood could not do is to prevent me from listening to music. So I became a listener and a collector. When I turned 15 I started going out to clubs, and instead of boy bands the walls in my room were covered with party posters. I remember the last days of “Allenby 58”, “Zoom”, “Octopus”, “Pacha” and the legendary after parties in “Haoman 17” in Jerusalem.
Q: And what pushed you to become a Dj?
Miss Gosha: When I was in my second year in “Bezalel”, in 2006, I went to a friend’s house and saw something amazing. He had a mixer, turntables and a software that connected the music on his computer to digital vinyl records. It was the first final scratch, and the only thing that I had in my mind was: “I must have it!”. So I studied, worked really hard and saved all my money to buy the equipment and to begin learning how to mix.
It wasn’t easy to start from scratch, but the passion to mix overcame my laziness, and I started pushing myself to everywhere I found: parties in “Bezalel”, house parties, friends’ birthdays, private events, and finally my first “real” job as a Dj was at a bar in Florentine neighborhood, where I became a resident every Thursday and Friday.
Q: Why did you choose the name Miss Gosha?
Miss Gosha: I had a small parrot named Gosha for 12 years. He was my present for my 6th birthday and I brought him with me to Israel at the age of 8. Gosha used to be my web nickname for many years, but when I started to upload my music sets to websites and blogs, I got replies as “dude” or “bro”… or something similar, so I added a Miss, to be recognized as a girl. I’m known as Goshaptichka for my design work, but I decided to leave that nickname to the design field, cause it was too long and complicated for a Dj name.
Q: Did your friends and the people around you used influence on your musical taste and choices?
Miss Gosha: My connection to music is very personal, and comes from within me. Most of my childhood friends listen to rock, punk or whatever is on the radio. I used to tell a joke that I chose a music style that is not possible to sing, because I never sing.
But when I Dj I get a lot of positive vibes from the crowd. Many times someone comes up the stage and asks me about the artists, the remixes, and I really like to see people willing to get exposed to new music.
Q. Tell us about your study in “Bezalel” Academy of Arts and Design (Jerusalem), how this form your artistic concept and what insights you take for the future?
Miss Gosha:I had a great time studying there, and made a lot of new friends, some of which are my best friends today. The visual communications studies gave me a wide perspective over many matters. The variety of classes included: video editing, illustration, typography, compositing, classic drawing and conceptual thinking. One course I remember vividly, it was called “Audio visual” with Ori Succary in my 4th year of studies. In that course we studied the connection between a musical style and it’s visual context, different ways to use sound in cinema and the design choices for record sleeves. This way of thinking of how a specific music genre looked like, helped me choose the right design approach when I needed to make invitation for parties and music events.
In “Bezalel” you’re being taught to deliver a message in a communicative way. And this is something that connects me also to Djing, cause a Dj is the story teller of the night. Exactly the same way as the designer chooses a font, image and a written text, to create from those elements a fashion catalogue for example, the Dj builds his narrative from a collection of tracks, samples and acapellas of his own and/or of other artists. My philosophical attitude to both fields is very alike. In both of them you have to communicate, to surprise, and deliver the message you wanted to.
“I believe that a Dj should have his agenda more than to define himself as a DNB or house or a Techno Dj, If his agenda works, it will work no matter what he plays”
Q. Is there any concept and message you try to deliver?
Miss Gosha: Art that relies on communication has to act in a cultural and environmental boundaries. And the message that is delivered has a direct connection with its environment. There is a difference between an artist who sits in his own studio and creates art that is disconnected from everything, without knowing where it’s gonna go eventually, and the art that exists by the clarity of the message it sends.
As designers and also as Djs we belong to the second category. That’s why my approach will differ from one place to another, and I will play different sets when it’s an opening set in a club, or a closing set in a wherehouse party, for example. With the same principle, my poster design for a Drum & Bass party will not look the same as my design for a Techno night. Because I’m active in many artistic fields it may be easier for me to fit myself to almost any situation, as long as I keep the right to speak in my own voice. I’m not coming with the attitude of “hey look at me”, which many Djs adopt. I want to blend with the night, but to be remembered and to leave a little taste of more in the end of the night.
I’m always after quality, trying constantly to learn and improve myself. Being a good artist is a combination of true love and hard work. I do what I do just because I love it. If I don’t enjoy it, I can’t create. I had many things I tried to do in the past and found them not suitable just because I didn’t find any pleasure in doing them. I need to be in a dynamic environment so I won’t get bored.
Miss Gosha on the decks at Rave On, Tel Aviv – Picture by Daniel Paikov.
Q. Where is your self expression come to realize in the most powerful way?
Miss Gosha: Although my attitude to Design and Djing is similar, I feel that in music I can express myself more. As designers we serve a client eventually, and as a Dj I put myself on the stage. I will not work with someone who will tell me what tracks to play, I will collaborate with the overall “look and feel” of the specific night, and sometimes I even like to take it as a challenge, to see what I can do with a music genre I never played before. With this process of communication sometimes it’s more interesting to ask questions then to give clear answers. This attitude works really well in rave parties, where the people accept a bit more experimental approach. The feedback from the crowd also feels very real in these occasions. People allow themselves to be lost in the music and the atmosphere and I think it’s great. Those experiments taught me a lot about how I really want to express myself. And I’m still learning, always.
Q. There is widespread perception that drum & bass is integrity and high esteem scene that’s attracts more intelligent people, do you accept this claim?
Miss Gosha: There is a warm and welcoming feeling in the Drum & Bass scene in Israel, and also everywhere in the world. You always know that you came to a DNB party right away. It seems that people who come to DNB parties want to dance and enjoy themselves, and they care less about how they look and what others will say about them. They come to have fun. I’ve been going out more than 15 years already and I have experienced all kinds of parties and scenes. You can find intelligent listeners in every scene, otherwise there won’t be such scene, I believe. The Israeli DNB scene is very small, so there is competition, and it’s hard for me to say that everybody is always fair. I met some great friends there, and some others that are not to be trusted unfortunately. But I support this scene because I love the music.
Q. How the break-beat and dnb scene in Israel is fulfilled compared to the scene around the world? What do you foresee to the Israeli scene in the future?
Miss Gosha: Israel, specially Tel Aviv is known for it’s night life and for a reason. As more as I travel around the world I understand that the energies you get in clubs here are not easy to find in other places. Many international Djs love to come back to Israel to play again and again because of the warmth and the excitement they get from the crowd. In the underground scene everybody knows each other, and everybody wants to get exited all time. The need for fast changes is growing all the time. This creates tension. The party crews work very hard, and sometimes lose, cause they all want a bite of the cake and can’t notice that the cake sometimes is nothing but a small cookie.
I really hope that more migration of the crews will occur in the near future that would create more options, bigger events, and more people to get exposed to new Djs and styles. I believe that being supportive and cooperative is the key. Not only from the crews and from the Djs, but from the crowd too. From the outside it may seem too easy to arrange a party, but from the inside you get to learn that a lot of hard work and cooperation needed.
Q. Which productions were you involved and whom are you working with today?
Miss Gosha: I worked with T-Break in 2009-10 and later with Quickies. In T-Break I used to design the visual context along with Djing. Today I’m not involved with any line, but I’m open for proposals. I have a few great ideas, and I would like to cooperate with others. The key is to find the right people to work with.
“I will collaborate with the overall “look and feel” of the specific night, and sometimes I even like to take it as a challenge, to see what I can do with a music genre I never played before”
Q. What is your strong influence to continue performing?
Miss Gosha: I’m inspired from all the artists around me, the local and the international who I get to meet. You can find me in a Jungle, Breakcore or Techno party, and I like them all. As long as I enjoy going out, I will continue performing. I’m trying to combine all the knowledge from the people and the places I have visited. I love to try new things, and who follows my sets can notice that they are different and I like it that way. I get bored pretty fast so I can’t imagine myself doing the same thing over and over again. I believe that a good Dj has to evolve all the time.
I follow labels like “Night slugs” and “Black Butter” constantly, I also find great stuff at “PRSPCT”, “Exit Records”, “Hotflush”, “Peace Off”, “Sociopath Recordings”, “Metalheadz” and many others.
Q. What’s event is your most vivid memory of playing?
Miss Gosha: It’s hard for me to remember just one. I enjoy playing in big clubs almost the same as in small local bars like “Shesek”. Sometimes it’s hard to explain to people how it can be, but I guess it’s about the variety in me. To every night I take different parts in my personality. It seems boring for me to play the same music in the same place all the time. I believe that a Dj should have his agenda more than to define himself as a DNB or house or a Techno Dj. And a good Dj should play a few styles and adapt to his environment. If his agenda works, it will work no matter what he plays.
Me personally, I’m trying to be communicative enough without being commercial, I’m trying to think in terms of sound and not about every track as an individual. And this is something that can work in any genre.
Q. Tell us about your time in Australia?
Miss Gosha: I had a dream to go to Australia for many years, and it finally came true last summer.
I was lucky to meet “Twisted Audio” (Tey and Shem), and they showed me Melbourne’s DNB scene, and even arranged a gig for me in a big night with Shockone in “Brown Alley”. I played in the “Laundry Bar”, “The workshop”, “Roxanne”, and even arranged my own night in a local bar, that I heard later took one of the Djs I invited to play there and make parties every week. I was not in Melbourne by that time but I hope they are doing well.
In another event I played, I got a chance to meet “The Teknoist” and I hope he would come to play in Israel one day cause he is really great and would fit the Israeli hardcore crowd. Although Australia is really far from everything, it is involved greatly in the music scene and knows what’s going on. Every weekend I listened to so many international acts. I think more than in everywhere in the world. These are the artists who inspire me to continue doing what I’m doing.
Flight view on Brisbane, Australia by Miss Gosha
Q. What can we expect from you in this coming year?
Miss Gosha: It’s about time for me to start making my own sound. I can’t say right now if it’s gonna be remixes and re-edits to music that I like or completely original stuff. I can’t even point the musical direction yet, but I’m pretty sure something will emerge in 2013. For me it’s all about my own constant progress.
2B Continued Podcast 44 – Miss Gosha
Presents and exposes the most creative artists of the Electronic Music Industry from Israel.
Tracklist
1. Dexcell – People
2. Kantyze – Enies Lobby
3. Joe Seven – All Prologue
4. Cone – Polysius
5. Bredren – Pestilence (feat Beezy)
6. June Miller – Isis (Despot Remix)
7. Axon – Radial
8. Mode – The Abyss (Sam KDC’s Acid Dub Re-Think)
9. Acid Lab – Broken Circuit
10. Kemo, Lynx, Hellrazor – Back to the Jungle feat Hellrazor feat Kemo (Original Mix)
11. Thing – Dubby Special
12. Bredren – Stepping Stones
13. Amit – Atonal
14. Amoss – Footloose (Octane & DLR & Linden remix)
15. J:Kenzo – Ironclad
16. Digital, Outrage – Veta (Original Mix)
17. Synkro ?-? Prologue
18. Romare – Freedom (Aspirations Of A Prisoner)
19. Es.tereo – Calmness
20. PILA & RRuBBik – Shark
21. Es.tereo – Dark side of the Moon 22. Hybris – Septic (Original Mix)
23. Amit – Focus Puller
24. Gunston – Arme Blanche
25. Outer Heaven – Waiting
26. Drudex – Calmness
27. DBR UK & Displaced Paranormals – NZT48
28. Outer Heaven – Narwhal
29. Axon – Fibres
30. MTWN – Critical Level VIP
31. Dub Phizix – Four (feat Skeptical)
32. Dexcell – Minimal Square
33. Lynx, Ciah – Open Close Lock feat. Ciah (Original Mix)
34. Hybris – The Elusive 101 (Original Mix)
35. TeeBee – Bioform
36. Dub Phizix – Bateman
37. Lynx, Hellrazor – Traffic Jam (Original Mix)
38. Spinline – Life
39. Axon – Relapse
40. ASC – Torque (Original Mix)
41. Thing – Any Style
42. Dub Phizix & Skeptical – Marka (feat. Strategy)
43. Sinistarr feat Grimm – Dead Idolz
44. Die & Break – Tear Down
45. Lynx, Hellrazor – 4-3-3 (Original Mix)
46. CJ Weaver – Dragonfly (Sub Remix)
47. Lynx, Hellrazor – Without Warning feat. Hellrazo
48. Resound – Idlers
49. Spinline – Sundays (Stray Remix)
50. Lynx, Hellrazor – End Game (Original Mix)
51. sAuce – Forge Through Future – JungleBOT feat. CatFood
