HEADS KNOW TAPE 016: HONEY DIMENSIONAL
An interview and DJ mix from the Brooklyn-based duo made up of HONEY B and nextdimensional.
Photo: Madison Bollato
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It was only a matter of time before HONEY B and nextdimensional released music together. The two producers met while party-hopping after the COVID-19 lockdown lift, and were the first people in line when Brooklyn’s beloved Bossa Nova Civic Club reopened in late 2022, a few months after its temporary closure due to an apartment fire. Excited to meet other women producers in New York City, the two quickly went from cohabitants of the club community to close collaborators.
Although HONEY B and nextdimensional been producing music together for over a year, it wasn’t until last month that the world got a taste of their synergy. HONEY DIMENSIONAL, the duo's joint moniker and the title of their debut collaborative EP, was released on May 22nd. Spanning six tracks, the project touches everything from house and techno to jungle and breaks. Not only does the EP showcase their versatility as producers, but it also serves as an example of empowerment between two women.
With songs like “SPACE COWGIRLS" and “BADDIES TO THE FRONT,” it’s clear the artists aim to uplift women—it’s something they practice on a constant basis. You’ll regularly find HONEY B and nextdimensional at a party to support a fellow female creative, and their sets embrace selections made by other women.
Their mix doesn’t stray from that ethos. Listen to it below and read on to learn how HONEY B and nextdimensional met, why they started working together, and what they hope for the next generation of women in electronic music.
I know nextdimensional is from Minneapolis. Where are you from, B?
HONEY B: Jersey. I'm from a town called Summit. It's close to the city—a 40 minute train ride or so. I would say New York is my city, but I can't claim New York. I rep Jersey pretty hard. Really, don't come for Jersey. That's my girl.
I get it. I pretend I'm from Jersey because I love Jersey club so much.
HONEY B: Yeah, you love Jersey club! I love Jersey, too. It gets shit on a lot, but I think it has really great parts, so I'm defending her a lot as you should.
What did both of you do this weekend?
HONEY B: Friday night, I played Mood Ring and that was cute. But then I go no sleep. So Saturday, I recovered and then went to my friend's show in the city. I bopped around after and just got food and then went to sleep and slept for ten glorious hours. Yesterday, I was productive and it was pretty chill.
nextdimensional: I went to Boston for a gig this weekend. It was my first time in Boston. The venue was an event hall, and in the daytime, it's a club for Greek Americans. They had a map of the world on the wall and like all types of flags. [The gig] was very late. It's apparently where they held Boiler Room in Boston, so that was interesting to picture, but the crowd was very fun, young, receptive, and excited about hearing new music. It was very worth it despite the ten-plus collective hours on trains and buses.
I'm not surprised you both had gigs this weekend because I always see you playing around the city. I consider both of you staples in New York City nightlife now. How did that happen?
nextdimensional: High praise from our girl! I would consider you the same thing by the way.
Aw, thank you!
HONEY B: I love seeing you out. I'm like, "I know the party's lit because Arielle's here. She only shows up to the best and that's how you know." I am thankful to play parties in New York City because I know there's so many good DJs. I would say being part of XOXA is how I started playing more in clubs, because I used to be more of a hip-hop DJ—listening parties and daytime parties. I shifted to club stuff in 2019. I don't know, I just like to go out. I love to DJ and I love to DJ different styles. It was actually my eight-year anniversary of DJing two days ago. I feel that in that time, I've figured out how to play a lot of different genres and I always play different kinds of sets. It keeps it fun and I like to have fun. I hope that's why people book me.
nextdimensional: That's such a good answer. It's interesting because me and B kind of have a parallel journey that overlaps in some really cool ways. I also started more as a DJ who plays a lot of hip-hop. As a producer, I was more of a beatmaker, so I sold beats and played in beat cyphers. Pushing Buttons Collective—or PBC, they're still around—booked me for my first ever live set. They definitely helped me meet people and advance my production a lot.
I started my first party series in 2021, right as COVID restrictions were lifting, and that was called Secret. That one really popped off because people were fiending to go outside after being stuck in lockdown. That was a party that I curated with my partner, Dev, and ran for about a year. I started my solo show, Lucid Dream, in October 2022, which I've been doing pretty much bimonthly ever since. I've worked with most of the beloved Brooklyn venues and some Manhattan as well. It's been in other cities like LA.
It's great to see you thrive as individual artists and as collaborators. How did you two meet?
HONEY B: I remember nextdimensional coming to one of my gigs at Jupiter Disco because we had met online when I released my first EP. Is that right?
nextdimensional: We met at SHE.THEY.DJ.
HONEY B: We did? Okay.
nextdimensional: I remember the exact first time I met you in person. It was the night that Bossa Nova Civic Club reopened from the fire. We met originally in person via SHE.THEY.DJ and we were both pulling up to support the girls, as we do. Then, Bossa Nova reopened so we hopped down the street and there was a line down the block for people who were going to enter for the very first time after the renovations because Bossa Nova had been closed for months due to a fire.
HONEY B: Oh right. We were the first one's in line.
nextdimensional: Yeah, like you were number one and I was number two type shit. After that, I found out she produces as well. So when I heard B's first EP, I was like, "Who is this girl? We need to work. This is crazy. She's such a good producer." From there, we kept running into each other.
HONEY B: That's actually kind of epic. Yeah, we just kept on running into each other more and I was like "This chick is really cool," and I liked her production, too. Also, she was so supportive and made me feel like I could do this. It just made me want to keep pushing at it. There's not a lot of other women producers in New York, unfortunately. I wish there were more. I think that brought us together, too. Because—no shade in any way—it's a boys' club of producers and a lot of them have been really supportive, but there's a safe space in having another girl to produce with.
nextdimensional: It's so different.
HONEY B: Unfortunately, there are guys out there that are like "Come over to the studio," and have ulterior motive, so I didn't feel super safe. With nextdimensional, she slid in my DMs when I was working on a track and asked me for the stems. That's how "MYSTERY INC," the first track on our EP, started.
nextdimensional: As all good things do, it started with a DM.
HONEY B: But actually no, a lot of good things don't. *Laughs.* She just has this encouraging attitude. I feel like a lot of people have started to produce because she's encouraged them and is always giving resources.
nextdimensional: You're saying encouraging, some would say bullying. I definitely DM people constantly like: "Where's your tracks? I heard you have a demo. Put out your track. Why haven't you played your track yet?" It's definitely borderline bullying.
I've definitely been on the receiving end of that—I do want to learn how to produce now, though! It's kind of a perfect segue because both of you have gone out of your ways to support me and come to my sets, and I know I'm not alone in that. I always see you coming out to support people, especially other women DJs and producers. Was that something you feel you were missing in your careers when you started?
nextdimensional: Yes, 1000%. I couldn't tell you the number of times when I tried to build community with other producers who weren't women and it always ended in weird vibes. I don't want that for any other beginner producer out there, of any gender, because people deserve to feel supported. They should have a sense of confidence even when they're beginners because it's normal to suck at things when you're a beginner and quality comes with time. The more women that are producing, the faster other women are going to feel like they can do it, period.
HONEY B: Yeah, I agree. When I first started, there were some toxic people in the scene. I actually stopped DJing because of something that had happened where I felt very unsafe. Now I feel really lucky because it took me a long time to find this community in New York and we're really lucky to have such an amazing scene. I feel lucky to find nextdimensional, Rose Kourts, JIALING, and bossy boots. I think it's dope to have this community of girls. It can be competitive in New York, but if we support each other and are proud of each other's accomplishments, it's better. We all can win.
Definitely happy to have found a tribe of women DJs and I would like to have more [women] producers because I do feel we can have more. It's hard. It's intimidating. When I first started producing, I didn't put out anything for years. I was scared. I'm super emotional, so I put it into my tracks a lot. I just feel like I can relate to other girls in that way because we are emotional. We put that in our sets and our music.
“It can be competitive in New York, but if we support each other and are proud of each other's accomplishments, it's better. We all can win.”
- HONEY B
Women are definitely more empathetic. Last month, you released your first collaborative project, HONEY DIMENSIONAL. What made you two want to do a whole EP together?
nextdimensional: Like we were saying earlier, we started collaborating because I heard a snippet of a track on her Instagram story. I slid in her DM and asked, "It could be a collab?" It was so quick, I just added in some drums and a couple of effects and sent it back. The first track just came together so quickly. We both didn't know if the other was on the same page at first, but [realized] we should definitely make more tracks together. A project snowballed really quickly because we were motivated and grind hard on tracks everyday, It was a good energy match and our styles are really complementary.
HONEY B: nextdimensional came over one night and had a plan. I love a plan and deadlines. She was like, "I think we should get our EP out by—I have a crazy idea—May. It was February. You think you can get things done quick, but we were really hustling on it. There are projects I've been working on for years, that's why I liked working with nextdimensional on this because we were holding each other accountable. She's obviously a super strong producer, but she also let me have my vision and strong ideas. It just worked really well.
What worked best for combining your ideas in a way that was cohesive but still let you shine individually?
nextdimensional: Going into it with zero expectations really helped. Viewing every song as an experiment, and not placing too much weight on the completion of a certain song or not being too married to one specific idea really helped me let go. I think a lot of artists, including myself, have really particular visions, and a strong idea of how they want to be represented in their sound in their art. All of us on this call have that. Being curious—specifically about what our sound could be like if it was combined—helped me let go of [how a] 100% nextdimensional track [would] sound.
HONEY B: We we're like, "This is going to be bass, UKG, breaks," we just did what we both like and [leaned into] our strong suits, which we both have. That's one of my favorite parts about collabing—everyone is good at something. Synths might not be your thing, but you're really food at drums or you do vocals or you can play the saxophone. We had a lot of fun with it. Experimenting is a good word because when we were in the studio, we had fun.
nextdimensional: It was goofy. We would laugh to the point of tears.
HONEY B: We were definitely laughing a lot. We weren't taking it too serious. Obviously, I got particular about my vocals and how I sound and in that way, I was more serious. But for the most part, we were open to each others ideas and we each had our different viewpoints that melded together.
Which tracks had your vocals on it?
HONEY B: "BOY U UP?" and "BADDIES TO THE FRONT" which had nextdimensional's background vocals.
nextdimensional: "BADDIES TO THE FRONT" is the anthem of the EP and it's really about baddies turning up together. It's not that serious, but at the same time, everyone needs to be reminded that we're better as a team.
HONEY B: Exactly. Part of the patriarchy is women pitted against each other. I've always subscribed against that. The older I've gotten, the more I know it's not a good use of energy. I have really strong relationships with other women and I realize how much magic that brings to my life.
You mentioned the project was just about you two experimenting, which makes sense because it touches everything from house to jungle to techno, and more, but what I think ties it really well together that it’s club-ready music that the girlies, specifically, can play out. From your perspective, what did you want to accomplish with the EP?
nextdimensional: For me, number one, it was showcasing both of our ranges as producers. Tthe way it starts is not even close to the way that it ends. The opening track is very spooky sexy club. The next one is sexy, UKG vibes. From there, we go to 170 BPM. It's kind of flexing our range. And the same range applies to both of our DJ sets. We both have a deep love and appreciation for music that always comes first.
HONEY B: You said that so well. I feel like we showed a lot of dimensions of ourselves. I agree with the range topic—I don't want to be put in a box as a producer and as a DJ. I love so many types of music. I hate when people are like, "What do you play?" I organize my Rekordbox by "bounce" and "underwater." I go off the vibe.
nextdimensional: Your playlist will be called "sludge!"
HONEY B: Literally, sludge. I definitely don't go by genre because I'll be mixing a lot of different stuff. That's what I want to do with my music. Right before this, I put out a deep house EP. Right now, I'm working on four or five [projects of] different genres.
nextdimensional: Genres are a made up concept by Big Marketing to put artists in a box. Dancers don't care about a set with cohesive genres at all. In fact, most people want a huge range of music and to move their bodies at different speeds and rhythms. We're human. Yes, we are pattern-searching individuals, but everybody loves a moment.
HONEY B: You get moments from experimenting and pushing yourself out [of your comfort zone]. Whenever I DJ and I try to do something crazy and it goes off, I'm like "YES! I love DJing." I love trying new things and pushing myself.
nextdimensional: I love a risky DJ who tries new things and isn't just bored playing the same four-on-the-floor. All the homies love it when people take big risks and put their heart into a performance or an EP.
“Genres are a made up concept by Big Marketing to put artists in a box.”
- nextdimensional
What's your favorite set you've seen this year and what's your favorite set you've played this year?
nextdimensional: My favorite set I've seen this year was hands down Soul Summit at Nowadays Nonstop. It was in the early evening on a Sunday and it was one of the most beautiful dancefloor moments I've had in my life. I cried. I was alone and in a really hard place with my mental and physical health. I went to dance the pain away and have never had more of a beautiful connection to music on a dancefloor, period. My favorite set I played this year was this party called Fetch in Shinjuku, Tokyo. I had the craziest, most turned up crowd. People in the front row were screaming and locked in every transition with me. I felt like we were all DJing together. Then, I got to go back-to-back with my friend intoxxy who is also a producer. We have very complementary styles. My only regret was it wasn't recorded.
HONEY B: My favorite party I've been to was Making Time in Philly at some warehouse. Marie Davidson and Rose Kourts are the two DJs I caught and it was so sick because we don't really get to have raves. They killed it. I was like: "Girl Power DJs!" My favorite set I played this year was probably Nowadays. That was my first time playing inside and I've been wanting to play that sound system. I really went on a journey with that set, so I'm proud of that one.
If the dancefloor clears, what song do you play to bring everyone back?
nextdimensional: That's a good question. "Ffrreeaakkhhooeess" by nextdimensional.
HONEY B: I have a Megan Thee Stallion "Big Ole Freak" edit. When I know there's normies on the dancefloor, I play this blend of "Losing UR Mind" by DJ SWISHA and "I remember" by Deadmau5 and Kaskade.
Who are DJs, producers, or anyone else you think that heads should know?
nextdimensional: I'm going to shout out NO BIAS, a Bay Area label. They've been putting out things since 2020 and it's just consistent fire across the board for putting on for the underground. They also release tons of music from women and non-binary producers.
HONEY B: JIALING is a fire producer. She's so crazy quick and makes really awesome club tracks. BASSBEAR!! Is someone that heads should know. He's someone who's encouraged me a lot to start producing and put my productions out.
nextdimensional: In terms of DJs, heads should know DJ Shannon and doula.
What can we expect from this mix?
nextdimensional: All gas, all breaks.
HONEY B: All gas plus breaks.
This interview was edited for clarity and length.
Follow HONEY B on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Soundcloud, and Bandcamp. See when she'll be in your city next via Resident Advisor.
Follow nextdimensional on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Soundcloud, and Bandcamp. See when she'll be in your city next via Resident Advisor.
TRACKLIST
RITCHRD, HONEY B, nextdimensional - ID
Objekt - The Goose that Got Away
Rove Ranger - CS80
Isaiah Firebrace - Endlessly [ISH EP 02]
HONEY B, nextdimensional - MYSTERY INC
11th Hour - Wayfinder
yum.yum - Bomba
Allen Mock - D32
nextdimensional - ID
Yaleesa Hall - Wet Woofers
smokey.t - Ayja
Silva Bumpa - Test
DJ これからの緊急災害 - S1CAR14 3D1T
ottonian - feels so good
Dylan Fogarty - Purification
bastiengoat - everybody in the club
The Beats - Cigarette Beat
RITCHRD - THAT SHIT
Deaf Toucan - That Typa Funk
nextdimensional - ffrreeaakkhhooeess
Subtle Detail - Work
WTCHCRFT - Bagituh
RON MERCY - Girls In The Club
Sinic - Down The Rabbit Hole
DJ Freelancer - PPK Edit
HONEY B - ID
Arctor - Soulless (Mathis Ruffing Remix)
HONEY B, nextdimensional - BADDIES TO THE FRONT
DBBD - School High
RON MERCY - From The Back
Tromac - ice spice gimme a light (tromac remix)
nextdimensional - tinashe nasty (nextdimensional 150 mix)
Nebuchadnezzar - Edit 8
$ombi - Fantaria Hakan
