What's Ze Fuss?

Everyone who finds themselves passionately involved in the bass scene remembers the very first show they went to that changed everything for them. Mine was Clozee in early 2019 at a small venue in Burlington, VT. There were fewer than 100 people in that tiny room, and I had no idea then just how lucky I was to experience that in such an intimate setting. It’s funny how we attach such strong feelings to certain artists, especially when we feel like we got to see them in their earlier stages. Clozee has grown so exponentially since then that I will likely never get to see her in such a setting again, yet I feel an unexplained sense of pride in this person to whom I have no personal connection simply because she has since cemented herself as a staple in the bass scene. Clozee is such a monumental figure of representation for queer women in the community, which is so important, especially when considering that electronic music is dominated by cishet men.

This music is important to me for many reasons, but firstly because it taught me that I love to dance. To me, dancing is such a raw and vulnerable form of self-expression, something that I stubbornly resisted for many years because exposing myself in that way was not a risk I was willing to take. Entering the scene and seeing the way in which people allow themselves to get lost in the music has been such an inspiring and beautiful experience. It has made me realize that I was depriving myself of a simple pleasure that makes life so much more worth living. It’s given me so much more confidence and allowed me to connect with myself in a way that I had not before.

When Taylor and Jason asked me to join Ze Fuss, I knew it was an easy yes. To be part of a project that is so passionate about encouraging this type of self-love that allows for the emergence of our truest selves is empowering. What we do at Ze Fuss events is really just a vessel for unearthing our deepest desires to confidently express ourselves and inspire others to do so. We’re here to nurture the type of environment in which everyone feels safe in their own skin. Growing up, we are ingrained with the idea that fitting in is what makes us cool, but what makes so many people fall in love with the electronic community is how each and every person contributes uniquely to the collective.

At the end of the day, we all got involved in the scene because we love the music. But as community members, it is our responsibility to help continue cultivating the positive parts of the culture that uplift one another and chip away at the parts that work to dismantle the infrastructure that electronic music was founded on. We’re going back to the basics of what got us here in the first place by emphasizing radical self-expression, and we’re doing it without asking for permission.