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Mix tape: International

Roberta Miss aka Nur/Se
 

As part of the series 'Sonic Commons' L'Internationale Online invited Brussels based experimental electronic DJ and artist Roberta Miss aka Nur/Se to create an hour long mix tape. The invitation stemmed form Roberta's involvement in 'ANTENA - Listening to the Walls' (2023), a year-long programme at M HKA, conceived by artist and musician Céline Gillain that brought together artists, musicians and DJ’s committed to the sonic's potential to foster ideas and solidarity.

Tracklist:

1. Donald Trump, White house conference on American history, 17 September 2020, Instagram
2. Céline Gillain, ‘The Authoritarian’, Mind is Mud LP, 2023, Cortizona Records
3. Erin Hopes ‘I am, Therefore’, Alice in Wonderland LP, 2022, Bandcamp
4. Sagat, ‘8 Legs’, Yeah Tomorrow EP, 2024, Private Stress 003
5. Slickback, ‘Hachiko’, Slickback EP 2024, Bandcamp
6. John Lennon & Yoko Ono, 'Bed Peace', 1969, YouTube
7. Only Now, ‘Eyes Of Pain’, Eyes Of Pain LP, 2024, Shaytoon Records
8. Holy Tongue, 'Dey Sey Dub', 2023, Honest Jon’s Records
9. Civil War, dir. Alex Garland, 2024
10. Woman expressing her feelings about Gaza bombing February 2024, Instagram
11. G:Rillos (Rotterdam Leisure), Eliminator II EP, 1993, Mad House projects
12. In Aeternam Vale, ‘The Train’, PSTN Ghosts EP, 2019, Pareidolia Recordings
13. Georges-Louis Bouchez, September 2021, recorded online
14. Roberta Miss, Antifa demonstration, Brussels, 11 June 2024
15. Michael J Blood, Raven EP, 2024, DDS
16. Naomi Klein, January 2020, YouTube
17. Yves Deruyter, ‘Back To Earth (Rave mix)’, Back To Earth EP, 2000 Bonzaï Records
18. Joanna Lumley, The Radio Times Podcast, October 2024, BBC Sounds
19. Bruce ‘Steals’, Steals EP, 2016, Hessle Audio
20. Speedy J, ‘Minimal’, Intercontinental LP, 1991, +8 records
21. George Michael, ‘Father Figure’, Faith LP, 1987 EPIC
22. Ryan James Ford Crisco, Fuzz Gathering EP, 2024, PLUR
23. Ayesha ‘V7’, Rhythm Is A Memory, 2023, Kindergarten Records
24. Kim Wilde, BBC’s Woman’s Hour, January 2025, BBC Sounds
25. Copper mine collapsing, Congo, November 2024, Al Jazeera
26. The Amazing, ‘Qu'Est-Ce Que Vous Voulez?’, Qu'Est-Ce Que Vous Voulez? EP, 2000, Hot Tracks
27. DJ Plead, El Es, Quick EP, 2022 Bandcamp
28. Cats cooking, December 2024, Instagram
29. RAVL, ‘Nah!’, What Tomorrow Hides EP, 2024 Traverse
30. Azertyklavierwerke & Alex Deforce, ‘Tonder’, Tonder EP 2023, Les Editions Deforce
31. Lemna, ‘It Calls’, Marga Part I: Avidyā LP, 2025, Bandcamp
32. Laryssa Kim, ‘Obsession - Indomita Mente’, Contezza LP, 2024, City Tracks
33. Leshi, ‘Battlefield Hymn Before the Sky Burial', Women of Noise for Palestine, 2023 Women of Noise
34. Maya Al Khaldi ‘ﻛﺎن - Kan (How She Told Stories)’, Other World EP, 2022, Tawleef
35. Teenager at pro Palestine demonstration, London, February 2025, Instagram
36. Helicopter hovering, 2016, soundjay.com
37. Roberta Miss, ‘Siamo tutti antifa’, National demonstration Brussels, 13 February 2025
38. Lara Sarkissian, ‘Our Dead Can't Rest (Old Jugha Flute Dance)’, Remnants LP 2024, btwn Earth+Sky
39. E Wata, ‘Cradle To The Grove’, EP1, 2024, Bandcamp
40. Sten Hanson, ‘Revolution’, Text-Sounds Gems & Trinkets LP, 2002, Firework Editions Records
41. Alex Dowling, ‘God Rays’, Reality Rounds LP, 2020, Bandcamp
42. Marina Abramovic, date unknown
43. Nikki Sheth, ‘Sandwell Valley’, Disruptive Frequencies LP, 2023, Nonclassical
44. Starhawk, Live Morning meditation, March 2025, recorded live on starhawk_spiral Instagram

Artist and DJ Roberta Miss aka Nur/Se has created 'International', a heavily crafted mix tape that layers multiple musical, political and pop cultural sources. It opens with high tempo, foreboding techno, interspersed with diverse samples, often taken from the streets, creating a powerful, sonic manifestation of today’s social and cultural conjuncture.

The distorted, drawn out voice of Donald Trump sets the tone for the first half of the mix. Multiple quotes signal the social inequities and violence of our times, here interjecting the minimal, stripped down beats. As the tape develops these voices are met with the energy, defiance and resilience of those from from social movements, including sounds caught on Roberta’s recorder at a Brussels Antifa march or a protestor at a recent demonstration against government measures in her home town of Brussels. Half way through the mix tape the relentless high bpm give way to fractured breakbeat, followed by sections of more agitated samples and synths. This sonic agitation is summed up in a teenage voice who defiantly instructs listeners: ‘don’t let anyone tell you to shut up. Keep fighting for what’s right’. As the tracks evolve this restlessness - a sonic response to the systemic injustices facing generations of young people today - gives way to a sense of purpose, perhaps even hope, epitomized by the pipes that run through the more openly rhythmic 'Our Dead Can't Rest (Old Jugha Flute Dance)' by Armenian/ US producer Lara Sarkissian.

Here, as elsewhere in Roberta’s work, sound is approached as a process of montage, echoing her formal training in printmaking, a practice which is similarly based on sampling. Equally, her sonic practice, much like the genealogy of printmaking and publishing, is a form through which to evoke, transmit and disseminate political ideas.

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