Lily Haz

"What’s connecting different types of music for me is a story"

Lily Haz has an honest and sincere career. Her musical selection and good judgment has dared borders. The productions and dj sets by Lily are powerful statement, emblematic of her no-holds-barred approach. We take the opportunity to interview her.

Hi Lily! Where can we find you right now? How did you start off your day?

I’m at my home in Tel Aviv, had my coffee and breakfast and now answering this :)

What was your first foray into the world of electronic music?

Started DJing when I was 18, as a devoted music lover - I was really stressed from it at the beginning, but slowly it became more natural and stress turned into excitement, and I still do get really excited before playing.

When did the idea of starting a project begin to take shape? Has it always been something you’ve wanted to do? 

I always wanted to make music of my own - it took me a lot of time to get the courage to do that. I started learning by myself how to produce music while I was in college studying fine arts, slowly got more and more into it. I always felt like this was my main interest and the more I got into it the more I knew that this is my main passion, what I love the most.

Which artists have your interest these days?

Lots and lots! just from the top of my head in terms of producers that are active now - I really love Kuldaboli, Tonnovelle, Salome, Mutant Joe, Ziv, River Yarra, Voin Oruwu, Kashaiof, Alek Lee… as for selectors and DJs, there’s Alicia Carrera, Unidentified Flying Music, Mika Shalev, Tai Rona, Natti, Oska, Coco Maria, Zozo, Lamusa || … and needless to say I'm a big fan of Tofistock affiliates MYKI and Olsvanger.

How do you manage to combine such disparate genres? How do you manage to give them unity and harmony? What do they have in common for you?

I just really love a lot of different types of music, and as a listener I really like to be surprised when listening to DJ sets, to get the unexpected. What’s connecting different types of music for me is a story, a vibe, and sometimes even with completely different genres, everything is so influenced from everything, so you can always find connections, it can be the sound of a reverb, the lyrics or anything else - It's all about juxtaposition and how you connect the dots, you can make many things sound like their related.

How did you get to work at Tofistock? Who else makes up the Tofistock team?

We started it together with Olsvanger, MYKI and myself as we were looking to create a platform for ourselves where we can put our own stuff out just like we want it. 

What can you tell us about your Ranger Misled EP? What was your musical criteria? What inspired you?

At first I wanted to create an experimental beat tape by the alter ego DJ Flames, so I was making a lot of hip hop influenced beats, and they got weirder and further away from this beat tape original concept, and ended up becoming this blend of a few influences I had at the time.

What about ambient and downtempo that you like so much?

I wouldn’t consider down tempo as something I especially like more than other things, ambient is very calming, I’m quite into meditation and spiritual stuff recently and it kind of goes together. More generally speaking I like many different things and I dig into different stuff in different times, so I guess this is just something I like for the moment.

What can you tell us about your participation in the Stamp The Wax compilation? How was the track No Mo Dinin born?

Stamp The Wax did this project to support artists while in lockdown or other COVID19 related restrictions. It was actually a complete lockdown in Israel while I was working on ‘No Mo Dinin’, as in no more dining out, kind of a joke on the situation. It’s a very ‘freestyle’ track, just created a bunch of sounds I liked, connected them together. I think I was also influenced by this weird moment of lockdown and no clubs, so kind of felt liberated from the need to create something club oriented, so I could get a little more crazy.  

How do you deal with C19 confinement with your work? Has this situation influenced your creative perspective? What social and musical implications do you think this situation can lead to?

Creatively speaking not much has changed since I was still making music in my home studio, digging for new stuff just like before. But something in the energy has definitely changed, I feel like I'm more attracted to sounds that are more minimalistic and quiet than what I liked before. I think many musicians and people in general feel this right now, maybe it will change something, or maybe not. I don't know :)

What tracks would you recommend us to liven up the confinement?

I am quite in love with Alicia Carrera’s dj sets for Noods Radio and for Sameheads, it was my personal soundtrack for these solitude times. Other than that a recent favorite - Put Your Hand On That Television by Alek Lee.

What makes you happy?

Being around people I feel comfortable with, beautiful places, beautiful music and cats of course.

Can you tell us something about your current or future projects?

Working slowly and safely on the next ep, and on a few mixes to be released in the next few months.

Lily Haz

Soundcloud | Facebook | Instagram