Drum’n’bass and dancehall live from Strøm Festival: Trans Metro Express 2024
This month’s mix features a throwback to last summer and Strøm Festival’s flagship event: Trans Metro Express. While the packed, sweaty metro train was gliding through the cityscape, four acts performed custom-made livesets created especially for the journey. Alongside Ryong, dj g2g, Gavnlig, Vilde Tuv and DJ IBON, Binnie Smalls played a set which is now available for playback.
Binnie Smalls is a Swedish producer & DJ based in Stockholm. Since she started in 2017 she has DJ-ed in multiple cities all over Sweden as well as in New York, Jamaica, London, Portugal, Germany, Norway and Iceland, and done multiple guest radio mixes both nationally and internationally. She has released original songs & official remixes with artists such as Sean Paul, Stylo G, Ward 21, Gappy Ranks, Agent Sasco, Badda General, Noah Powa, Rekall and Marcy Chin, and have been recording songs in the legendary Bob Marley studio Tuff Gong and in the Big Yard studio.
Hi Binnie, thanks for the mix and sweaty times in the metro last summer! Hailing from Sweden yourself, the music you play isn’t exactly of Swedish heritage, how did you pick up on dancehall ?
I guess my first real exposure to the genre I can remember was around the time when Sean Paul got huge in the beginning of the 2000’s – me and my friends loved (and still love) all of the iconic tracks like “Gimme the Light”, “Temperature” and “Like Glue” etc.
I grew up with punk and hiphop (although we know there are many Jamaican roots in both of those genres), but I wasn’t exposed to any dancehall earlier in life, it was something I found on my own. When I decided to start DJ’ing and producing, I immediately just felt it was dancehall I wanted to play and make – I just love and respect the music and the culture, and I think it’s the perfect genre for an energetic and fun dancefloor. So I’ve been working hard to educate myself, with the help of others, and I feel very grateful being able to work with it for 8 years now.
The mix is a recording of the set you played at Trans Metro Express 2024, can you tell us about that experience?
The Trans Metro Express was absolutely one of my most fun experiences and sets ever! Not only to get the chance to produce a whole set of exclusive tracks for the festival, but also being able to play it in a packed and moving metro train, with an amazing crowd that really gave back so much energy and hype. I also experimented with some new genres which was fun, so the set is a mix of dancehall, but also some UK vibes and a new challenge for me which is drum’n’bass. In addition to that, I also got some exclusive vocals for a few of the tracks from dancehall stars Red Fox and Badda General which the crowd really seemed to enjoy.
You’ve just been in NYC and in Jamaica, what was on the agenda there? – and what’s next for Binnie Smalls?
The trip was mostly focused on producing and recording, and I hope you’ll hear some of the material really soon. In Jamaica we picked up some new and super talented artists that I’m sure will have a bright future, and we made some songs I’m very excited to continue working on and hopefully share later this year. Beyond that, I’m DJ’ing as usual, both in and out of Sweden, and working on some collaborations and mixtapes for my mixtape series Unruly Sessions.
For more news, music and mixtapes, stay up to date with Binnie Smalls on Instagram and Soundcloud,
Listen to the previous Strøm Mixx with headrush or find the all mixtapes here.