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Bexta interview: The mixologist

Author: Clare Dickins
Monday, January 30, 2006
She's one of Australia's leading DJs but Bexta can be very shy and unassuming - it's certainly not false modesty.

Bexta's not what she seems. Whilst media savvy contemporaries Amber Savage and Jewelz ooze self-confidence, Rebecca Poulsen is the Oz dominating shrinking violet. A rarity amongst the country's elite DJing stock, you can't help but be struck by Bexta's unassuming shyness. In a lot of ways interviewing her is akin to chatting with an awkward teenager fresh out of high school.

Still, what Bexta lacks in the confidence stakes, she makes up for in impressive musical output. Having just issued the eighth edition of her famed Mixology series there's a sense that the musically trained artist is moving into a new phase of her career, having switched her focus from the populist fodder of hardstyle, to a crisp, driving tech trance style. "I'm really happy to hear you say that, because I feel really quite musically satisfied with the way it's turned out," she says, responding to the 'Mixology 8' compliment. "Particularly the first CD - it's the new tech trance sound that's quite popular. I'm a big fan of it and looking to push that sound more here in Australia.

"[Bart Claesson's Playmo] will be in my box for a while actually - it's a stayer. I really liked Public Domain's Acidanimal. Also Marco V's Second Byte - it's really vocally, but I like it," she says picking out her favourite tracks from the mix.

"I also put three Mark Sherry tracks on there," she says laughing of her new hero. "A few people have given me tracks to put on there, that actually haven't been released yet, which is a bit exciting too."

Indeed, it's Bexta's rising profile amongst the dance music elite, which recently saw her invited over to the UK and Europe for a studio date with both Sherry and German hard trance duo Alphazone. "He's getting some mad reviews in Mixmag at the moment," Bexta says of Sherry. "Stylistically the track is very similar to the stuff he's producing for Detox and Riot [Recordings]. I'm hoping to get into that as well…"

Bexta's collaboration with Alphazone resulted in the track Music Makers - a shimmering trancer - which features as Mixology 8's disc one opener. "It was funny because obviously those two guys work quite closely together all the time, so coming into that was interesting. Every time they wanted to have a big discussion about a sound or something they'd break into speaking German again. I'd just sit there and go "mmm" and try and pick up what they were saying. If they had a bit of disagreement about something it would be quite funny [laughs]."

Keen to push local production talent, Bexta included Dr Willis vs. Scott Alert's Go Away on Mixology 8, as well rising Sydney duo 2 Faced's track Say Oh Yeah, the latter of which is being signed to her label KMA. "I've found the biggest challenge in this industry is dealing with record companies. Speaking locally, it's just so hard to get yourself a record deal - that's why I started KMA."

No surprisingly, when pressed about if she has any regrets during the course of her 10 year career, she brings up the often sticky world of record labels. "I don't really have any regrets; just good and bad experiences that I've moved on from. Maybe signing my first record contract because they were bastards! Karma got the better of them and they're not around anymore," she laughs.

Throughout her career some have criticized Bexta's lack of animation during her DJ performances. They say she doesn't appear to be enjoying herself. This surprises her. "Really- Oh ok…" she responds when asked about it. "Sometimes I get lost in the music and I forget that I'm standing in front of a whole bunch of people. And sometimes I just jump around like a crazy person [laughs]."
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