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Producer Suzi Analogue has always connected to the more tangible elements of the creative process. Her moniker is a nod to her obsession with analog music gear—which she frequently shares with others by teaching various workshops around the world—and she would rather spend hours flipping through albums in a dusty record store than scroll online to find new music. Plus, her label, Never Normal Records, which she started four years ago in New York City, primarily releases music on cassette and vinyl, an anomalous strategy in today’s streaming-dominated industry.
Analogue’s latest creative venture, much like her music, brings together various elements of her life in a multifaceted package: She just announced a new collective, Never Normal Soundsystem, alongside a zine, a one-off clothing collection, and a stream of singles, which are all out now. Analogue and her crew—which includes Teklife’s DJ Earl, Brooklyn-based artist Ziggee Gold (who also creative-directed the zine), Washington, D.C.-based rapper Nappy Nappa, and Atlanta-based multi-instrumentalist No Eyes—took over Brooklyn venue H0l0 last weekend for a shoppable showcase.
Analogue explains that the collective unites young audiovisual innovators building bridges between electronic music, hip-hop, and beyond. “Specifically, these two lanes [electronic music and hip-hop] have been historically divided in commercial music culture, even though the roots of each are resistance music born in the black and brown communities that we grew up in,” she says. “I want to let other black and brown kids who want to make music know that it is okay to make more than just standard commercial hip-hop music. It is okay to make dance music, ambient music, film scores, runway show scores, video game music—wherever your creativity takes you musically. No limits!”
And as for her upcycled clothing collection—which the artists model in the pages of the zine—Analogue put to use her years of collecting and selling vintage pieces from around the world, as well as her past designing the costumes for her high school’s musicals. “Creatively, I think clothing is another form of communicating who you are,” she says. “I knew that this collection could be another way to say team but through one-of-a-kind pieces, to still honor the individuality of everyone.”
Analogue hand-selected every piece at thrift stores in Miami, bearing in mind the personalities of each member while doing so. “I know Rafia’s art and music utilize a pop aesthetic with bright colors, particularly fuchsia, so you find her in a bright bike top,” Analogue says. Rapper, filmmaker, and curator Queens D. Light is deeply connected to Oakland’s rich history, so Analogue chose an illustrated Black Panther T-shirt for her. And for herself, Analogue printed a golden trenchcoat with the Never Normal symbol. “The designs are about fun new ways of seeing things we are used to seeing,” she explains. “It’s basically how we would say in the collective as composers sampling known music to make new beats: We flip it.”
On the back side of each garment is the collective’s mantra, “The only good system is a sound system”—a phrase that Analogue overheard one day that has stuck with her ever since. “There are so many divisive and destructive systems in our society that aren’t really made with the people in mind; but sound and music, for those of us fortunate to be able to hear it, is always made with the people in mind,” Analogue says. “Without fail, it brings people together.” Take a look at the collective’s new zine, above, and pay special attention to the carefully crafted apparel that each member sports—then hurry to the online store and snag one of the limited pieces for yourself before they disappear.
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