Gettin’ Logikal w/ Ana Sia, an Interview with Frite Nite’s Queen Bee

If you took a listen to the tracks in Ana Sia‘s DJ crate or any of her sets, you’ll quickly hear a gold mine of the hottest sounds of tomorrow and beyond. As one of the west coast’s most celebrated DJs, this SF/Bay Area-based tastemaker is known for not only energizing the dance floor, but consistently breaking new sounds from all over the world. Having championed some of the biggest and most beloved music festivals in North America and abroad, Ana Sia has gone from rocking house parties to stadiums by stylistically staying two steps ahead of the game. From huge festivals like Coachella, Lollapalooza, Detroit Electronic Music Festival, Electric Daisy Carnival, and an array of clubs, venues, college towns, and hot spots everywhere, Ana Sia has built a community just as fun, wild and eclectic as her style.

Ana Sia jumped off last year when she unleashed her first full length contribution, a well-regarded compilation and DJ-mix titled ‘Surreal Estate’ on Frite Nite, her quickly-rising Cali-based label and crew. Her music has been featured on esteemed publications Resident Advisor, Pitchfork, XLR8R, Sonic Router and more, touting her as leading the way with the brightest production minds in North American dance music. Coupled with her growing production catalog and Frite Nite collabs and projects, Ana Sia continues to make her mark on recorded music as well as the stage. Her most recent release, Frite Nite’s 20th overall, saw Ana dive even deeper into her bag of musical tricks as her sound got as developed as it had ever been. The EP titled after it’s tracks “Clever Boy” and “Executive realness is just a snapshot of what’s to come from Ana. Read on as we ask about the creative process behind the EP, her thoughts on the current EDM phenomenon, and more.

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Oh, and throw on Frite Nite #20 while you read won’t ya

Hello Ana! How are your musical travels been of late? We hear you’re moving to LA?

Hi! Travels have been the usual mix of weird & wonderful and yes, true facts.. I just migrated to Los Angeles not even a week ago from San Francisco.

Southern California welcomes you! So what’s lined up for festival season? We’ll be making our way up to Bounce Festival this year and will surely catch your set. Anything else planned on the festival circuit?

I have a few going on’s this summer… a few sweet & intimate ones & a few monster production ones. I enjoy the longer days in between shows that the summer provides, honestly; giving me a whole grip of time to be in the studio & explore my new habitat.

What are the differences in smaller venue shows and festival performances for you? Do you tailor your sets differently, or is it all pretty much the same?

Each of those provide an entirely different experience, i don’t prefer one over the other. Club dates are awesome; nice controlled sound environment, dark moody lighting, i feel i can dig in a little more into the deeper/darker/dorkier sides of my music tastes. However, large scale mega monster sound stages are quite a joy to play on & having a field of people in front of you w/o walls is special. you know how it is! I’ll aim for larger scale heaters those times; less heady more boom.

Can you identify your single most favorite show you’ve EVER played? What about that performance made it so special?

It wasn’t too long ago actually. Playing Movement in Detroit a few summers back has trumped all other shows thus far. It’s the most diverse crowd i’ve been a part of at a festival, you literally couldn’t zero in on one “type” of person there. A huge factor was that I also wasn’t aware of (or at least it wasn’t super obvious) a huge specialty enhancement induced rave scene. I danced with people of all ages, one woman got up out of a wheelchair right next to me.. clearly everyone there for the music. Also being hosted in Detroit, which i hail as a bit of a pilgrimage town for electronic music appreciators, adds them special vibes to the whole experience & the late nights are still very much “underground”.

Let’s get into your productions and label. How did Frite Nite label come into existence? What’s the overall mission of Frite Nite?

Frite Nite was born out of a love of bay area artists & their sounds & our friendships being the strong undercurrent. We are primarily a crew based entity, all our of productions being quite unique from one another but when you put us together on a billing, all of our differences make a lot of sense stacked next to each other & we have a shit ton of fun. Our mission has been pretty simple; keep it (the music) tight & support each other.

Anything exciting coming out in the future from Frite Nite artists? We are big fans of Grenier, Eprom, Epcot and the like.

Definitely! Everyone’s got releases this year. As well as side projects & alter egos being audible real soon.

Frite Nite’s 20th release saw two originals from you, Clever Boy and Executive Realness. Can you describe the creative process that went into creating the EP?

It was a LONG process for one! I’ve been plugging away at my own productions for many minutes but it took until now to really hone in my sound. But it wasn’t anyting to heady in my, like, “journey” through song writing. My goal was to make some ideas I started for some rowdy tunes come to life & pulling in some knowledge from Grenier, who is my hero.

Have your past experiences in music influenced your current productions? How has your sound changed over time?

Anyone who has known me thru the years as a DJ, knows that absolutely my sound & tastes have morphed & changed & expanded as long as I’ve been at this. It’s never been the same thing 2 shows in a row & that certainly holds true in my productions now. But that has also been the greatest part of my expedition, desiring to be no slave to one sound & to use the desire to experiment & courage of discovery as my most valued tools, whether I’m digging for tunes for a DJ set or sitting down to write.

You identify yourself as a forward-thinker when it comes to electronic music. We’d love to hear your thoughts and prognostications as to where this electronic music/”EDM” scene in America will head in the next couple of years

I’m never going to shame someone for attending music related events or to tell someone to not make art but, mannnn, I do hope everyone’s taste matures. But you know what, these strongly opinionated thoughts have probably been said about me many times before, too, so.. there’s that. The EDM phenomenon is definitely a crazy thing to be living in the age of, now that it’s pretty much replaced the live band experience in most successful shows & tours but as much as I can be “anti” the type of music, I cannot be “anti” the opportunities it brings for all of us involved in the music industry. The popular acts now are sounding a whole hell of lot like each other though & that’s what effects me most about it. I can only hope the acts are going to stop trying to out-produce someone else’s sound & make more original tunes. All this craze & attention towards electronic music is very inspiring though, it’s an ideal time to take advantage of all the open doors & make the best music I can.

Lastly, we like to end our interviews by asking – is there one particular phrase or quote that embodies your outlook on life?

Entertain while educating.