[Masha Mar](https://www.instagram.com/mmashup/), [Jeniluv](https://www.instagram.com/vulinej/) & [Heidi Lawden](https://flaunt.com/content/heidi-lawden) are launching their new label [Dusk Recordings](https://duskrecordings.bandcamp.com/) with the release of [_Dusk Volume One_](https://duskrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/dusk-volume-1) on June 4th. Having started as the DJ collective [_Surround_](https://www.instagram.com/surround_la/), hosting and DJing some of Los Angeles’ finest warehouse parties, then establishing _Dusk Camp_, a three-day music and art camp-out/festival in California’s desert lowlands, _Dusk Recordings_ was just the next sound step.
Featuring exclusive and previously unreleased tracks from various artists like Woolfy VS Projections, John Tejada, C.Love and Dave Aju, _Dusk Volume One_ was a way to stay connected locally, during the pandemic, and now globally, upon its release. Inspired by the principle of freedom represented by the vast California landscapes, the fourteen track release presents a love letter to California, painting a picture of the Pacific horizon.
_Flaunt_ sat down with the trio to talk about their vision for Dusk Recordings and what they want to do once dance floors are in full swing.
**How did the three of you initially meet and decide to begin throwing parties?**
We’d all been friends and playing one another’s or local promoters parties for a few years, when we guested on Heidi’s Dublab show along with a host of local female identifying DJs for an international women’s day broadcast. The three of us went for dinner afterwards, Masha and Jeni had already set the wheels in motion for a small festival, scouting land, etc. We talked, realized we had a shared dream, and set about turning that dream into a reality. That’s pretty much how it’s gone since, one of us will suggest something, we get over excited, talk each other into a frenzy. and then set about making it happen
**Did this past year have any influence on your move to start Dusk Recordings?**
Yes, I think it did. We’d always talked about having a label, Heidi and Jeni have both worked for a few over the years, but I think if we’d been busy with parties it might have taken a little longer to pull together. Like the Festival, the label’s first release, a compilation, was born out of the idea of wanting to shine a light on our local scene’s talent and their productions while we couldn’t book them for our events and shine strobes and lights of the party on them there.
Photo by Chris Bowen
**What was the process like bringing together this assortment of West Coast artists for _Dusk Volume One_?**
Everyone on the compilation is a friend to one or all of us, or a DJ we’ve worked with at a party, many are Dusk alumni. The pandemic saw a lot of us ourselves included have more time to go into studios, and so seeing and being a part of this friends sharing their work with is we started to put feelers out to see who had something they’d be prepared to give us, in some cases helping artists get to a point of finishing a track that might otherwise have languished in the ‘it’s not quite ready’ phase.
**What is so special to you about West Coast nightlife?**
Jeni is a West Coast native, born and raised, Masha is Serbian, and Heidi a Brit, we’ve all found chosen family and a life on the safety of the dancefloor and the West Coast scene. The camaraderie, support, and acceptance is strong. Collectively, we’ve been throwing parties globally for a long ass time, and even though LA is now a destination for parties and festivals, many function on a more corporate level and scale. Much as we enjoy and wholeheartedly support a big party or festival, the three of us share a love for the clandestine and intimate, we still crave that rave spirit, an ad hoc anything consensual goes attitude, we want as many people to feel the vibe of this scene’s inception today as we did coming into it.
**Do you have a favorite memory of being at a party until dusk?**
Our festival two years ago now had some magical dusk moments, it was a 3 day affair, the one thing we thought we could rely on—the CA sunshine—did not deliver and we danced amidst biblical storms. We’d prepped for it, but really were not sure how our crowd and campers were going to feel and deal, turns out it was the thing that set it apart, it was joyous, a celebratory bonding experience being together from dusk till Dawn dancing in puddles half soaked, seeing lasers twinkle in the rainfall amidst the trees. It was truly special, and we can’t wait to do it all again now that California is opening up, minus the rain of course.
**What are you most looking forward to when the dance floors are back in full swing?**
We’re really lucky in that, as a collective, we plan and throw everything from intimate warehouse after hours to bigger open air day into eve parties as well as our festival. We can bend and mold to whatever is safely permitted as things start to open up. We’re starting small with a day into early night party in early June to celebrate gay pride and have dates set already for outdoor parties in historical LA parks. One is a rescheduled event with Honey Dijon headlining and some incredible local DJs in October, and, giving _Flaunt_ the exclusive, another day into night party with DJ Harvey before he heads to the UK for the summer. Nothing beats playing for and being immersed in a crowd, our ever growing family of party goers are all wonderful, and we can’t wait to dance with them again. All are welcome, our parties are truly safe and inclusive for all, our bookings represent the world we live in, in terms of female, male, non-binary, POC line ups and workers. We’ve also been doing this long enough to be able to appreciate that, as well as everybody’s good time, it’s history in the making, inspiring and raising the new legendary children of the future, and we’re proud to be a part of that.
