SOS Music Q&A: “a rebellion to an artform increasingly dictated by algorithms and playlists”

The duo joined forces after arriving in LA from London and Barcelona

From relatively humble origins as a radio show for Dublab in 2018 to a fully fledged label about to drop their second collection of sumptuous and eclectic tracks on vinyl, LA-based SOS Music has become one to watch very keenly indeed. We hooked up with their founders – Maddy Maia and Lottie Moore aka Tottie – to get the full story.

Could you tell us a little more about SOS’ origins as a Dublab show, and why you were motivated to start the collective?

Maddy: Lottie and I met in 2018 having both moved to Los Angeles from London and Barcelona respectively. Another British artist, Little Boots, introduced us, and we instantly bonded over a shared love of esoteric music having originally come from similar circles – raving in parallel for many years but never meeting. We started to play together for pleasure as we were both still exploring the LA underground scene and getting to know the city. Regular DJ sets evolved into our DUBLAB show, where the emphasis originally was highlighting the international influence of the Los Angeles underground scene. I’d had a huge hiatus from playing records and had been entirely focused on my A&R work, Lottie really bought out my passion for digging again.

Lottie: Dublab really gave us space to share our love of music and was a very very important beginning for SOS Music. We will forever be grateful to the station for having us grace the airwaves and bringing us into the community. An important reason for us starting SOS Music was that we wanted to see and hear more from artists like us – just starting out, navigating what was and still is a heavily male dominated industry. I had recently joined shesaid.so whilst living in Barcelona, and saw how Andreea Magdalina had founded this incredible platform for women and gender minorities working in all different facets of the music industry and it was just so inspiring to see people wanting to help each other out. Contagious in fact – and both Maddy and I wanted to put that into our own practise. Both of us through our work, were seeing so many amazing female and non binary producers both here in the US and internationally go totally unnoticed and we wanted to change that. 

As long-standing A&Rs, curators and promoters at institutions like Dublab and Ninja Tune, that makes you industry insiders. How did your careers inform on the origins of SOS? What kinds of industry imbalances have you witnessed?

Maddy: I’ve been working in A&R for five years, and music in general for over 13. The electronic community has always felt like home and I’m incredibly proud of the Ninja Tune roster and how the label is shaping a path for independent artists right now, but our desire for SOS is to act as a relief from our day jobs to some degree. It is, in some ways, a rebellion to an artform increasingly dictated by algorithms and playlists – a return to curation in its purest form. We give our artists absolute creative freedom when they deliver music to us. Both our careers have been narrated by an acute awareness of male dominance and the gender pay gap in our line of work, pre-dating #metoo. This label and community is being developed as a long standing counter to that – we aren’t trying to do anything zeitgeisty here – it’s important to us that what we’re building isn’t a flash in the pan moment surrounding inequality. 

Lottie: Dublab is a non profit 5013 organization, it’s not owned by anyone, it’s for everyone, making it a very unique and unconventional place to work. Everyday we are working to support our music community, give our 180+ DJs a platform to experiment, and bring boundary pushing programming, events, and experiences for everyone to enjoy. This is what I do, so of course this influences the way I approach the label. SOS Music is here to release music from the artists we love, but we also offer our artists support, connections, resources, whatever we can within our means. When I transitioned over to work in music, bearing in mind it was only 5 years ago, it was pretty crazy how few gender minorities were represented. Things are changing but  more work has to be done in all areas of the music industry. SOS Music is here chipping away. 

You’re already on your second V/A, with ‘Vol. 1’ released late last year. Compared to that release, how does ‘Vol. 2’ differ? As co-founders, has there been an evolution in your collective tastes this year?

Maddy: Volume 2 was compiled at a time when there was a lot more hope in the electronic space, in a way it’s a love letter to dancefloors re-opening. It has more melodic and downtempo moments, but still retains the eclectic nature that permeates our first. We wanted to make a splash with our first release – compiled in the heart of the pandemic, it was charged with emotion and stacked with names. In Volume 2, we’re exploring a lot of newer producers who I think are naturally drawn to making more uplifting music right now. We tried to have Volume 2 represent the breadth of what you’d hear in a night out, being surrounded by sweaty bodies. 

Lottie: My tastes and what I listen to are constantly evolving – and my ears are constantly on the hunt. I’m like a sponge for new sounds. Since restrictions have been lifted in LA,  I have been spending a lot of time in the club space (yay), and subsequently listening to more club focused music – especially anything above 140bmp.  Last year I was all about Diana Ross, old Exotica CDs, and DJing to my living room wall.  We have never given our artists a theme or a specific vibe, one thing with our label is we want artists to have the freedom to go in any direction they want. So far that’s worked and the sound of both Vol 1 and Vol 2 is very distinct. This past year (2021) we definitely felt a sense of hope, with dance floors reopening and I think you can hear that sonically in Vol 2. 

The new comp is very varied, covering everything from Balearic to hardcore, upping the pace with every track. Stylistic non-homogeneity is clearly important to you – by including several dance genres, what message do you send?

Maddy: Lottie and I first bonded over our eclectic and often esoteric taste, and every SOS release will be dictated by that I imagine. We really want this platform to be a go-to place for discovery, highlighting the unknown and ultimately surprising listeners.

Lottie: Variety is the spice life :). No, but seriously it’s important for us that the music we release is varied. Exploration is key for SOS Music. 

Your own collab track ‘Spirit’ is included on the album, following two previous singles. How was the making of the track, and what inspired it?

Maddy: One of the beautiful things about SOS for me on a personal level, is that it inspired me to make music again. I’ve been focused on other artists’ careers for so long, mainly making edits and producing in my bedroom on days off; this project flipped that, making me want to contribute to the incredible projects we’re curating. ‘Spirit’ for me is a bold and sexy track, something that I’d want to hear on the dancefloor.

Lottie: From a purely vocals standpoint, the last two tracks Maddy and I worked on together have been in Spanish,  irst and foremost the main reason being I have always found it easier to express myself creatively in the other languages I speak (probably due to my awful dyslexia).  I lived in Barcelona from 2011-2017, a place so dear to me, that opened up my ears and brain to new languages and an amazing music scene. It was important for me to capture that moment in time in my music contributions. “Doy Mi Alma” is dedicated to all my Barcelona loves and moments.

Could you tell us a little more about the (wonderful) front cover art for this comp? 

Lottie: We have teamed up with the incredible LA based, trippy label PRMTVO who designed our album artwork and also our mini merch collab (coming soon) which will be exclusive on Bandcamp.  I’m the first one to admit that psychedelics have helped me shift my brain to be able to deal with things in a more positive and fluid way. PRMTVO shares this ethos and is very much in line with our mission of promoting higher consciousness and mind expansion through naturally occurring psychotropics – one of the reasons we love their brand so much. In terms of the artwork – they nailed exactly what we were imagining. After I had an enlightening DMT trip out in the Mojave desert about a year ago, combined with some mid pandemic forest parties (not plague raves) – which involved a generator in an LA park with some close friends dancing uphill. We had this vision of abstract bodies, dancing in this trippy unknown new world together. We love the artwork and can’t wait to see the physical vinyl – it’s going to look so good. 

Maddy: Vinyl has always been a passion of mine, and I’ve worked on some incredible physical products over the years via Ninja Tune, so when it came to our vinyl it had to be extra special. PRMTVO shares a similar ethos with SOS, they are wholly independent and retain a desire to stay that way. They are also very involved with the community in LA and create sustainable products. The vinyl is a work of art, we can’t wait to share it with the world.

What’s your dream line-up?

Lottie: a super intimate club with C Love, Paramida, TYGAPAW, DJ Swisha (in fact all of the Juke Bounce Werk crew), ISAbella, BAE BAE…. I mean I could keep this list going and going…… 

Maddy: I love so many genres so this is a difficult question, but the shows we’re putting on around this release are pretty special. We have an absolutely stacked line up for our NYC release at Good Room, with TYGAPAW, Lauren Flax, Rose Kourts, Regularfantasy and a very special guest amongst others, it’s on December 10 so if you’re in NYC that weekend it’s a must.

After this, what can we expect from SOS next?

Maddy: We are talking to several artists in our community about larger bodies of work – we will continue to make compilations as they’re so much fun, but the plan is to explore EPs and LPs when the right projects come to fruition. Definitely more parties now the world is opening up, too. For us though, every release we’re working on has to be of the utmost quality – otherwise, what’s the point?

Lottie: We have lots we want to do, just not lots of time. We’re both working full time and aren’t really sure when we will be able to shift gears. Full length album projects for sure, live shows, and I’d love to see us collaborate with another label. 

SOS Music Volume 2 is released on November 12 – pre-order your copy here