Aïsha Devi

Swiss-born, Tibetan/Nepalese producer Aïsha Devi explores issues related to spirituality and awareness with her otherworldly experimental electronic pop music. Inspired by her meditation practices, she incorporates throat singing and poly-harmonies into her music, and her live concerts intend to turn nightclubs into healing centers. Her avant-club releases, including 2018′s DNA Feelings, have received much critical acclaim.
Devi originally became known for her industrial-influenced techno moniker Kate Wax during the mid-2000s. She made guest appearances on releases by Felix da Housecat and Kalabrese, and she released several albums and singles on labels like Mental Groove, Output, and Border Community between 2004 and 2012. Following a spiritual reawakening, she abandoned the Kate Wax pseudonym and began producing music under her own name. She established a label called Danse Noire in 2013 and released Aura 4 Everyone, an EP of her hypnotic, mantra-like electro-pop. This was followed in 2014 by “Hakken Dub,” a more dancefloor-oriented 12″ that included “Throat Dub,” an extended showcase of Devi’s throat singing, as its B-side.
In 2015, she made her debut on the Houndstooth label with Conscious Cunt, an EP of abstract pieces about the treatment of women in society. The EP’s track “Aurat” was based on a poem written by Urdu feminist Kishwar Naheed. All three of the release’s tracks were included on Devi’s full-length Of Matter and Spirit, also released by Houndstooth in 2015. The acclaimed album was followed by an EP of remixes in 2016, including reworks by Lakker and Throwing Shade. In 2017, she collaborated with SØS Gunver Ryberg, Rrose, and Paula Temple on the EP Decon/Recon #2. DNA Feelings, Devi ’s sophomore album, appeared in 2018. Two EPs, S.L.F. and remix companion S.L.F. Versions, were both released in 2019. ~ Paul Simpson