Celebrating Pride month, we caught up with a series of artists on what’s happening in and around their local scenes where music and LGBTQ+ communities collide. We spoke to Jasmine Infiniti aka The Queen of Hell. She talks growing up in New York City, Bushwick’s burgeoning music scene and why her New World Dysorder party, rooting down across the globe, is a vital safe space for the trans and non binary community.
Tell us about how music and the LGBTQ scene come together in your city?
Jasmine Infiniti: New York has been a queer music mecca for some time now. Arguably since the Stonewall riots or even before. The ballroom scene we know and love today was developed from drag balls of the ’60s. New York has also always been home to a myriad of sub-cultures and almost always Ground Zero of culture. Only by virtue of all the attention the city gets.
Growing up here exposed me to all sorts of music. Hip-Hop and R&B of course. But it was so rare to see openly queer people making music. Dance music had a space for me even as a kid. I’d listen to RuPaul on Z100 (a local radio station) that played tracks like Sonique’s ‘It Feels So Good‘ and pretty much everything from Le Bouche. It was, in retrospect, a pretty queer radio station.
Later would come the era of Quay Dash and Cakes da Killah, Le1f and Mykki Blanco. DJs before them like Honey Dijon, Lina Bradford, Angel X and the reign of Junior Vasquez. Now I feel so lucky to be a part of the burgeoning music scene in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Playing with legends like The Carry Nation, Katie Rex, and at iconic parties like Unter. I even got to slay on the decks a few times at Spectrum (an underground queer DIY space that no longer exists).
As a New York native it’s so good to see that clubs are bringing a more inclusive approach to nightlife. The city can be a very hostile place for visibly queer people, especially visibly queer people of colour. But it’s so important to have safe spaces to blow off some steam and dance ones cares away in the dim foggy club. This is why my daughters and I started New World Dysorder, we wanted to carve out a space for ourselves. Three years later and New World Dysorder is worldwide! We’ve got parties in Berlin, Oakland, and Brooklyn at Bossa Nova Civic Club on the last Tuesday of every month.
How did New World Dysorder come to life, how has it evolved over the years?
In New York, New World Dysorder is currently organized by myself and Cali Rose and often times we have help from friends. We’ve always wanted to steer clear of labelling it as a queer party as we know that trans people are sometimes heterosexual. We don’t want our party to revolve around sexuality. We’ve been doing it in New York for two years now, and just over a year at Bossa Nova. It’s starting to grow. We were invited to throw a Pride party at Nowadays on June 29th and we’re so excited about that. We have friends flying in from everywhere – it’s amazing.
The party started in California with a bunch of friends in response to us wanting to centre around trans and non binary folks. It was amazing and we received so much support, even before any of us learned to DJ. We were always going out to clubs together and getting noticed as we were a group of queerdo goth club kids who were trans and non binary. I had constantly referenced collectives like the House of Kenzo and The House of Ladosha and aspired to throw parties like GHE20G0TH1K or CherryBomb. Parties by queer people that were for everyone with elements of vogue but also creating something new. And I think we’re finally doing it!
Thinking about the global LGBTQ scene, how does New World Dysorder on local level feed into what’s going on around the world right now?
Honestly, New World Dysorder is around the world! I feel like it’s music, a party, a record label but also a lifestyle. Queers want to carry. We wanna stay up late and dance all night and get possessed by the club spirits. We want to escape and live out our fantasies and what better way than in the club; in safer spaces where we can feel free, where music and art literally come alive and we know we’ll find acceptance and maybe even love? Of course you’ll find that anywhere, everywhere it can be…
Listen to Jasmine Infiniti on Mixcloud