Damian Lazarus’ Crosstown Rebels imprint unleashes the third part of its Get Lost mix series – and this one might just make a star of the DJ behind the decks. Is the world ready for Dinky?

In this world of fame-hungry attention seekers – many of whom have no right to be recognised outside of their living rooms – it’s massively refreshing to find someone who deserves to be a huge star but hasn’t gone chasing it. So Alejandra Iglesias – the DJ otherwise known as Dinky – comes as a breath of fresh air. As resident at Berlin’s Panoramabar, Dinky knows a thing or two about good tunes. She also runs a label called Horizontal – watch out for EPs coming from Master Styles, Andre Bucci (Pier’s brother), Hector – that lets her discover new talent and acts as further proof that her musical prowess is not to be sniffed at. But while Panoramabar’s reputation is second to none, Dinky has kept her head down. Fellow Chilean DJs – and friends – Ricardo Villalobos might have hit the heights, but she’s stayed tucked away in the underground. That could be about to change with the release of her debut mix album, Get Lost 3, on Crosstown Rebels. Time to find out more…

How’s the Get Lost mix going down?
It’s getting a really positive reaction, apart from one review. They said there were too many styles on the album for one mix, but there’s always going to be one person who’s not on your side. I just wanted to show in one hour what I can do as a DJ. It’s hard, because one hour is short and I usually play three in a club, but the idea was to try to create a story about what I do. And so far, so good.

It must have been hard compressing what you do down onto one CD, because this is your first mix, isn’t it?
It’s my first official mix CD. I did one for Cocoon a couple of years ago, but that was just a promo CD for their Ibiza nights. That was easier to do – with Get Lost, it had to be perfect. I’ve been playing for 12 years, so my history of music is quite long – that meant I wanted to put some classics on this album, like Arthur Russell and Daniel Bell, but it’s really hard to licence some of those tracks at the moment. That was the biggest problem for me – and it was a little frustrating – so I had to work on a more modern, current mix. In the end though, I was quite happy with the mix. I think I found the right tracks.

Has it come out sounding quite close to one of your DJ sets?
Yeah. I start off quite moody or slow. Then I come up, and slow down again at the end to chill out the party. Sometimes I DJ a bit harder, but whatever I do seems to work.

It must do, because the Dinky reputation is really starting to take off. There seems to be a good buzz about you just now.
We couldn’t believe how many people have wanted to interview me about the mix. I’ve been an underground artist for so many years. Even though I’ve been doing this for so many years, I’ve never had the big exposure that a lot of people have. I was fine with that – it’s a good position to be in because you don’t stress so much, and you’re free to play whatever you want. I think that might change a bit now, but I’m happy with that. It’s just good it didn’t come too fast.

Is it a bit scary being on the edge of getting a lot more attention?
I’ve been around so long and seen it so much around me that it’s not scary. And it’s been a slow curve towards this for me. When you get fame too fast, that would be more scary for me. You can get lost and forget yourself or your friends. I’ve seen this happen to some of my very close friends, so I think I can cope with it.

You’ll have seen this happen with Ricardo…
He had a very slow curve as well. He’s been doing this for 20 years and deserved to be big years ago. So it was a similar situation for him and it is for me. I think that’s the best way because it keeps your feet on the ground.

What’s next for you then?
My third artist album. A lot of people don’t know I’ve done two before because they were on very underground labels a long time ago, in 2000 and 2003. The third one will be a lot more produced, because I’ve been studying production a lot more since then. I’ve also got a better studio now, so I'll be taking things to the next level. It’s far from being finished though – I’ll be locked in all winter finishing it. There are some dance tunes on there, some listening tunes, it’s quite melodic, I’m working with some singers, and it’s got a housey direction. I’m keeping the rest a surprise…

Get Lost 3 is out now on Crosstown Rebels. Visit www.dinkyland.net, www.myspace.com/dinkydj and www.crosstownrebels.com