Inspired by: Rachel Grace Almeida

Miista

Thu May 02 2024

Miista's Inspired By series celebrates the people who make us think and take risks.

At MIISTA we are only the sum of all the micro cultures that exist around us. We have never been quiet about it, and you have heard us before saying we are ‘Inspired By’ – insert: the opposite thing.

Weaving latin sounds of the past into the future from London, with NTS host and Resident Advisor Deputy Editor Rachel Grace Almeida.

Our dedication to underground music culture goes around all corners of the world. We met with Rachel Grace Almeida and unpacked the Latin American diaspora in music through her lens and ears. When she moved from Caracas to Miami, and then to London & Berlin; her USB and suitcase carried memories of the sounds of dembow, reggaeton, salsa... and she learned to style them with dubstep and dance music of her new homes. Her curiosity on the culture behind each sound brought her to become an editor at Crack Magazine for 6 years, keeping us up to date with the stories behind the independent artists, their culture and the political voices hidden in the rhythm of all. She’s crafted an NTS 1-hour, where every month she selects and curates sounds of the past and exclusively releases sounds of the future. It’s her prioritisation of underground talents, especially in Latin music, that has evolved into a recently announced role as deputy editor at Resident Advisor, “to lead a new-look global editorial team”. We got to hear it first from her at the studio. Here’s to the new chapter for Rachel, and for inspiring us.

We met with Rachel at Pirate Studios while she recorded some pieces for her monthly NTS show before heading down to some local record stores on a hunt for her Latin recommendations. Here's what went down.

Miista: We're talking to you after a big move back to London. What made you first move to London and, after living in Berlin, what is it about this city that keeps you coming back?

Rachel: I moved back to London because my career and my loved ones are here. I work in music and I very much enjoy the music scene in London more than I do in Berlin. Although Berlin does have a great party music scene, I prefer music that's a bit more diverse and percussive. Obviously being Venezuela myself, I identify more with a lot of Caribbean rhythms and Dembow music. I just like the vibes here better. I think it's nice.

M: Do you find what you listen to changes depending on where you’re living? How has your time in Berlin influenced your music taste?

R: I would say I’ve been influenced by living there. I've definitely developed a bigger appreciation for harder techno, it still doesn't trump my other interests, but I appreciate the openness and freeness of clubbing in Berlin. I’m more open-minded to genres that I didn't really give a chance to before because I thought they were a bit too austere or not rhythmic enough for me.

M: Your South American background is extremely present in your NTS show selections, is it an intentional move for you to bring the sound of home to these new cities (i.e. London, Berlin) through the show?

R: While it is naturally intuitive to play this music, when I first moved to London in 2010 Latin music was nowhere to be found. Especially not in any kind of like clubbing or underground context and I just really missed listening to Dembow and Latin rhythms. I couldn’t find them there. I was listening to a lot of amazing music, like dubsteb and everything that came after that sound, a lot of UK dance too, but there was not a lot of music in the clubs that I wanted to go to.

So it is 100% intentional. I like to share my culture and educate people on the nuances within our music.

M: How did growing up in Venezuela shape the way you listen to and consume music?

R: I grew up in Venezuela and Miami, which has a big Latin diaspora. It’s heavily shaped how I interact with music, especially my home life. Despite having lived in two places (Caracas and Miami), the conditions of my home never changed. My dad is a salsa musician and big salsa lover - he's a big music lover. He's a multi-instrumentalist and he played in a lot of local bands so he gave me the basics on the rhythm of music.

As a teenager I completely rejected all of that and I wanted to listen to the music I wanted to listen to. You know, rebelling against it like most teenagers do but he really created a rhythmic foundation in my body and in my music taste. I also think it's something that's intrinsic and a lot of Latin people just know how to interact and move with this music.

That's the number one thing that’s been constant in my life: Latin music at home. My parents are very big into Latin music and I don't really interact with western music that much outside of like The Beatles and Bee Gees and the classics that my parents listened to. My dad doesn't know who Nile Rodgers is, and that's says a lot.

M: What does curating music look like to you? What do you want your listeners to experience when they put on a Rachel Grace Almedia show?

R: I want my listeners to experience cultural contexts. I like to chat on my shows and through conversation, I want people to understand the conditions in which this music was made.

M: Do you bring your curation skills to any other aspects of your life?

R: I curate my home. I like things to be textured and tactile but also quite clean. I think that that kind of approach kind of follows me throughout my whole life. In my music, my career and everything I do I like things to be textured and layered, but also quite sleek and not cluttered because I don't do well with a cluttered mind.

M: What’s the difference between selecting a track to play and selecting an artist to write a profile on?

R: When I'm selecting an artist to profile I’m more focused on them as an artist and their outer impact. When I’m selecting a track, I'm more concerned with what the track projects to other people rather than the inner world of the artist themselves.

M: You’ve recently finished up 6 years as Editor of Crack Magazine, what is it about an artists’ story that makes you excited to tell it? What are you looking for?

R: I'm looking for obviously good music, musical talent, but also the story. The reasons why artists like making music are very interesting to me. I also really enjoy finding out what artists like doing outside of music. That's a big one for me, that's what I connect with the most when I learn about an artist, or go through the interview process - the human interest side of music and how music interacts with social issues or culture.

M: Creating independent art, whether it be fashion, music or words in magazines, can be as challenging as it is rewarding. What hurdles did you face editing an indie publication? What main risks did you take working with independent artists?

R: The main hurdles and risks are always access and budget.

We know it's a completely catastrophic time for independent publishing and even non-independent publishing, with legacy titles also going under or being changed. There's people restructuring publications, eating up other publications. It’s a very financially fraught media landscape right now. There’s not a lot of funding for mainstream publications that have investment to start with, let alone independent publications.

There’s also access to bigger artists. Some labels or management teams don't see the value in their artists investing in independent media... which is not true by the way. Let that be heard right now! I think it's very valuable.

Another hurdle we face is trying to wade through this chaotic media landscape. Figuring out how to survive and how to keep the lights on is a struggle that every single publication or independent creative organisation is facing.

"When I'm selecting an artist to profile I’m more focused on them as an artist and their outer impact. When I’m selecting a track, I'm more concerned with what the track projects to other people rather than the inner world of the artist themselves."

M: Crack Magazine really went against the grain by providing their magazine for free. What did you learn from doing The Opposite Thing during your time there?

R: It's really important to have free access to culture and diversity of thought. There's a cost of living crisis and people can’t afford to buy magazines, which is completely understandable, but that doesn’t mean they should be locked out of engaging with culture.

These industries are already so hard to break into and there's a lot of elitism and barriers to access for working-class people and people from underrepresented backgrounds. I think that the most important thing is to give as much free access to culture, music and art as possible.

M: Congratulations on your new role as Deputy Editor of Resident Advisor. What about Resident Advisor’s audience excites you and what fresh perspective are you hoping to bring to the role?

R: I'm just excited to be able to work in dance music. I love dance music, I've always loved dance music! Being able to work at a larger scale and at a specialist publication is very exciting for me. I've always worked at places where I've focused on all kinds of music, which I absolutely love, and I'm very big on listening to a lot of different types of music, but I'm excited to zero in on something. I feel like it gives you a lot of space to really dive into stories and aspects of stories that maybe don't get talked about or covered enough.