Sofia Kourtesis dj w/ Anish Kumar & Julean – 21+

Sofia Kourtesis

There’s a surprising relationship at the centre of Sofia Kourtesis’ debut album Madres. An
album in large part dedicated to her mother, there’s also another person, one without
whom this album would never have been made. Peter Vajkoczy. Vajkoczy is a neurosurgeon,
one of the very best neurosurgeons in the world in fact, and Madres is dedicated to him. The
story of how a world-renowned neurosurgeon came to appear in the liner notes of this
record is one of tenacity, miracles, all-consuming love and ultimately, of hope.
When she began work on her debut, Kourtesis was seemingly unstoppable. A string of
rapturously received EPs and singles made her one of the fastest rising stars in the electronic
world and beyond. She has already graced the cover of Mixmag, released a brilliantly
energetic and moving Resident Advisor ‘RA Session’, appeared on ‘End of Year’ lists from the
likes of The New York Times, Pitchfork, DJ Mag and Spotify (#6 Best Electronic Song) and
played instant sell-out early shows at London’s Lafayette and Manchester’s YES as well as
standout performances at Glastonbury, Green Man, Wide Awake and Primavera and tours
supporting Caribou and Bicep.

Anish Kumar has had an unstoppable 18 months.

A slew of releases over the last few years, including recent EPs ‘Postcards’ and ‘Bollywood Super Hits!’ have led to co-signs from the likes of Four Tet, Daphni, Bonobo, Danny Howard and Pete Tong. Following festival appearances across Dialled In, Four Tet’s All-Dayer and Field Day, he also appeared across the UK and EU, consistently appearing on billings across major cities, playing at revered venues such as The Warehouse Project and Printworks.

His debut mixtape is 10 tracks that saunters between genres seamlessly. “It’s quite sample-heavy,” he says of the tape. “It’s a journey through my life and reliving that hunger I had when I would come home every day after school and just be making tracks. ” The mixtape itself is full of “sugar sweet samples” and catchy hooks built for the big room; none of it veers into “cheesiness” territory, though. “I’m not shying away from pop moments on this tape,” he says. “But, the music is much more accessible as I’ve got no desire to be completely underground, but I’ve also got no desire to have my music bandied around everywhere you look. I want to be somewhere in-between.”