TDJ is about to complete a hundred dates this year, after having been touring worldwide while making the most of this unique experience that music offers her despite the frenetic pace. The Montreal-based queer DJ, producer, and singer, who today is reviving her Pitchfork-acclaimed Spf Infini series with the release of GENESIS, has just landed in the Netherlands for ADE. Taking advantage of her trip to Amsterdam, we speak with the creative mind behind this impressive one-hour, twenty-three-minute mixed video clip in which she has collaborated with thirty-eight artists.
“The third SPF Infini was supposed to be the last one because I knew what was about to happen the following year... the infinite touring and stuff,” Geneviève Ryan-Martel, aka TDJ, tells us about the initial idea she had in mind that ended up turning into a new edition of the series that she is presenting today. “Still had the feeling that something even bigger could be made out of this SPF Infini series.” Now it's time to embark on this multi-sensory piece with which the artist continues to show us her spectacular and mesmerising creative universe.
Hello Geneviève, welcome to METAL! How are you, and where are you answering us from?
Hi! I'm good, just arrived in Amsterdam!
From Berlin and London to Munich and Vilnius, among many other cities. Since the end of August, you have been touring non-stop all over the world. How are you living the experience? What are you enjoying the most? What are you enjoying the least?
This year's been crazy... about to complete a hundred dates this year. But still feeling quite at ease with it all. I love changing, being challenged, changing schedules, and finding comfort through all this inconsistent routine. It's quite inspiring, actually, to find some balance through it all. What's harder for sure, coming from a bedroom producer background, is to find the right time and place to create music. It's challenging, and I miss home for that (and more, of course), but I love it. In the context of this year's SPF Infini, this track with the Japanese artist Peterparker69 was produced in my Airbnb in Shibuya, on the corner of a table, and we all didn't really know each other before trying to make a track. And this kind of spontaneous magic pretty much defines this fourth edition of SPF Infini.
Today, just one day before your Intercell ADE show, you're back with another episode of your SPF Infini series. What can you tell us about it?
Well, the third SPF Infini was supposed to be the last one because I knew what was about to happen the year following the infinite touring and stuff. But I love to push things to the very limit and still had the feeling that something even bigger could be made out of this SPF Infini series. With Baz (the movie director), we spontaneously decided to jump in and make an astronomical fourth one. The name GENESIS came around from the idea of rebirth, the Renaissance... cementing this vague idea of infinity. Creating something that can be a reference forever and ever. A never-ending quest that might last for eternity.
SPF Infini: GENESIS embarks on a journey through the sky on a plane with a wild cast of characters. How did the concept for this project come about, and what would you highlight about the development process?
Timelessness means everything to me, and I wanted it to be reflected in the image. A plane is such a time/place zone where everything seems distorted. It can feel like you can be stuck in there forever. Being in the sky with some random people, just going from point A to B, it's weird and special. There's a very tangible feeling to it. Feels like the fact of having such a big amount of artists invited to this edition (thirty-eight!!) makes sense with this idea. We're all in it together, in the crazy idea of creating a one-hour-twenty-three-minute mixed video clip... it's pretty crazy!
From a dance with a dragon to an impromptu skydive and mile-high passion, several stories take place over the course of one hour twenty-three minutes. What is the message behind the stories, and how does it relate to your music?
These kinds of scenery are just for fun, really. They don't necessarily have some kind of specific meaning. They're just so wild and bigger than nature, and it really goes along with the uplifting and extravagant narrative of SPF Infini.
You've said you invited none other than thirty-eight artists to this edition. Can you tell us more about the cast?
Yes, I invited thirty-eight artists this year. A total of seventy-three artists over the four compilations. It's always been very natural to connect with everyone, whether IRL or URL. I think somehow a bridge between us already existed because of the music we make that we love and that inspires us.
And how about the artists who are part of the compilation? What were you looking to bring to the table in regard to the music?
This edition was definitely made to break the rules of genres and styles. Like, yeah, I love Trance and Eurodance, but it's more than just a genre or two. The first artist I invited to send a track for this compilation is Neo Prada, whom I randomly discovered on SoundCloud. I reached out, and they almost instantly sent the dreamiest track ever. That is hard to describe if we were to categorise it in some kind of genre. It was just perfect for the direction I had in mind. This might sound crazy, but when I ask people for a track, I feel like there's a lot of instinct behind it that leads to some kind of magic. Thirty-six tracks navigating through different styles rarely made so much sense in my opinion.
And if you had to define this ambitious project in just three words, what would it be?
Trance, Détente, Jazz.
What’s the first thing you are going to do when you complete your international tour?
Tour again, I'm pretty sure haha.
And is there anything you can tell us about your projects for 2025?
First TDJ album incoming?!
