Glasgow selectors Tamboi and Mica are the brains behind Absolutely Flawless, a new collective from Glasgow that is taking over the Saloon Stage on the Friday night at Kelburn Garden Party 2024. Fusing the irresistible rhythms of Amapiano, UK Funky, soul RnB and garage, the group draw all lovers of the dance in with their mutual dedication to bumping bass and shimmying vibes. We speak to Tamboi and Mica about queering the dance floor, their new micro-mighty sound system and blasting George Michael around Cape Town…
Hi Tamboi and Mica! Can you start off by introducing your mix?
Tamboi: It’s a flavour of what Absolutely Flawless is going to bring to Kelburn this summer.
Mica: What we wanted to do is hit that sweet spot where our taste crosses over. We play together a lot, although both of us like different things. But when we’re together, there is always this beautiful thing that happens. There’s a lot of ballroom flavours…
Tamboi: Amapiano basslines. UK Funky…
Mica: And it’s always these different sounds that we’re hearing from the UK and around the world that all melds beautifully to this 130 BPM range.
Tamboi: It’s fast. It’s cheeky. It’s feisty. It’s all those things.
How did you both get into DJing?
Tamboi: I started DJing in Leeds and noticing the gender disparity in the DIY scene. I asked myself, “If you’re doing this, why can’t I?” It led into being part of setting up a DJ collective called Equaliser that teaches people how to DJ with marginalised gender identities. I’m at a point where DJing for me is about building community and celebrating queerness. That’s how I met Mica.
Mica: I have always loved club culture. I started learning how to DJ in my bedroom quite a while ago, but I was always pretty shy about putting myself forward. I found this really great crew in Glasgow, who’ve helped lift me up, particularly Tami. I played at some little rave that our friends put on, and that was where we met. That was only a couple of years ago. We really enjoy playing together. And then we decided to build this sound system.
Let’s hear more about your sound system? What inspired you to build it?
Mica: We’ve been putting on little parties on the edge of Glasgow in the middle of a golf course for the last three years as a community. Originally our friend had a sound system that we were using called Compakt Sound. The other people playing at Kelburn all met around this space we’ve carved out.
Tamboi: It’s a grassroots DIY party, and the grassroots DIY scene deserves a high fidelity micro but mighty sound system.
Mica: Compakt moved away to Sheffield, so we were like, well, we need something for this scene. We need to build something new.
Tamboi: It’s magic because you can take it to temporal spaces. It can be at a protest, a march, it could be on the beach, it can be for pop-up events. In some ways, it queers space because you could create a dance floor anywhere.
Where has it been so far?
Mica: Our launch was back in October in our spot on the golf course. Since then, we have played in some mad nuclear bunker in Edinburgh.
Tamboi: A big one for us with the system is building community and supporting marginalised grassroots groups, so we have taken it to Transmission in Glasgow and provided the sound for a fundraiser for migrants. We’re going to organise another one in that space in March. It will be a community meal, and then we’ll have a party afterwards.
You’ve spoken about community and making space for marginalised genders – do you think free parties are an especially good place to do that?
Tamboi: You can build your own utopia and create the world that you want to see when you’re not confined to a space with rules. We always try to platform people that might not get that same platform in the city. There’s a beautiful value of community, friendship, expression and collective care that can happen.
Mica: In my experience of going to loads of free parties, it has been very male-dominated with sometimes quite uncomfortable places that haven’t always felt very safe. It’s really nice to do things our way, where you bring in these women and trans people to play.
Tamboi: There’s so much freedom with these raves. We can go on a bit later, you’re not confined to club rules, you really do feel like you’re part of something bigger. There’s that term “collective effervescence”, which I love, where you’re dancing outside and there’s a oneness. Everyone looks after each other and leaves no trace. It’s really, really beautiful.
You both travelled out to South Africa and played in some clubs there last year – what took you there?
Tamboi: My family are from there, so I went to visit my grandpa who invited Mica and their partner to come out and meet us. I’ve got a great crew of friends there who run a night called Body Chemistry, and they invited us to DJ, which was absolutely amazing. Mica and I were so inspired by the Amapiano sounds that we heard there, especially in this bar in Cape Town called Drama Bar. The oneness, everyone knowing the dance moves, the lyrics, the MC – it was life changing for us to see a club like that.
Mica: And also amazing to be in the heart of some of the fresher sounds of dance music in the world, and hearing it in its birth place. That was incredible.
Tamboi: Feeling the log drum, the Amapiano bass, shaking up our bones was unbelievable. Mica mixed a song – it’s an edit that Mica has made themselves. They’ve fused the log drum sounds with “Absolutely Flawless” by George Michael.
Mica: I made it out there actually, while we were on holiday. We were listening to George Michael in the car as we drove around Cape Town. There was all this Amapiano about the place everywhere you go, on the beach coming out of little speakers. We were trying to fuse together these different sounds with a love of George Michael and campness.
Are there any other queer collectives that you think deserve a shoutout in Glasgow?
Mica: Floss Collective have been around for about a year. They’ve been running a lot of gigs and art events. They’ve done a few club nights now and they’ve got this lovely thing they do, which is an open decks. For the first hour and a half, before the headliners come on, they give the stage to 20 minute sets for people who are less confident or want a bit of exposure. That’s how I got into it, and they’ve just booked me to play next weekend as a headliner. Love that crew.
Tamboi: My really good pal who’s part of our community, his name is Ben Vardy and he runs a night called Duende. It’s fusing Scottish with Latin sounds, and he’s totally carved a new scene in the Southside of Glasgow, taking his sound system Bomba Sonido to different spaces.
Can you introduce the Absolutely Flawless collective for us?
Mica: We’ve all met in this scene in Glasgow and at these forest parties. It feels like we’re all lifting each other up. We’ve got Tot Stuff and DJ Dakilei, Ms Niceboi and Hu-Sane.
Tamboi: Dakilei plays under Femme45, and Tot Stuff, we just love their sets. They’re so fiery and percussive.
Mica: Ms Niceboi plays a great blend of trashy pop, but then some really sexy house tunes. We get them to open because it’s such a great thing to bring people onto the dance floor. Hu-Sane is a new person to us, but they are very excited to be involved. They’re making big sounds in Glasgow right now.
Tamboi: It’s a lot of baile funk and Pakistani techno and Punjabi garage.
Do you have a favourite memory from Kelburn Garden Party you’d like to share?
Tamboi: We were up at The Boat, and it was the Desiato guys’ takeover, and the wind was so strong coming up from the sea that it created a wind machine on the platform by the sound system. It felt like a slow motion movie, with everyone’s hair flying.
Mica: Last year, in the Saloon when Tami and Ben played one after another. It was a gorgeous thing to see people that I love get up together and bring all our crew in. When everyone’s grinding on everybody else and leaning into each other, it was a really lush moment. Love Saloon. So thrilled to be on that stage.
