FACT mix 535: Fatima Yahama

FACT Mixes

Dance music loves a good story.

Fatima Yamaha was the short-lived alias of Dutch producer Bas Bron. He released just the one record under that name, 2004’s A Girl Between Two Worlds on Dublin label D1. It closed on a track called ‘What’s A Girl To Do?’.

As Jackmaster – far from a famous DJ in 2004, and best known for working at Glasgow record store and distributor Rubadub – puts it, when he first heard ‘What’s A Girl To Do?’ he bought 200 copies for the store. Of course, “this was in the days when you could sell a record just by talking it up in a mailout,” as he remembers, and Simon Rigg from London store Phonica Records subsequently bought most of that 200 off him. The track slowly developed into a cult classic, championed not only by Jackmaster and his Numbers comrades but Hudson Mohawke, Midland and other DJs.

Bron quickly ditched the Fatima Yahama name, focusing on other aliases like Bastian, Gifted and, er, Seymour Bits. ‘What’s A Girl To Do?’ continued to grow, however, and it’s now been reissued twice: first through Magnetron and then last year by Dekmantel. Second time was the charm: it was inescapable last summer, closing the year as Resident Advisor’s best track of 2015. Not bad for a single from 2004.

Never one to pass up a good opportunity, the girl between two worlds returned to the circuit following that reissue, releasing his debut album Imaginary Lines late last year and performing a series of acclaimed live shows. He’s also gearing up to steal the show at this year’s Bloc, where he’ll be performing with Thom Yorke, Floating Points and more (tip: there’s also a great-looking FACT stage). Ahead of Bloc, we’re hosting a rare Fatima Yamaha mix that draws from both the melodic sensibility of Bron’s work as Yamaha and the ghetto-house that he’s explored under other aliases. It even features ‘No Type’ – game on.