Theo Nasa Talks Taste, Fashion, and His New Sexy Rhythms EP

Theo Nasa has never been an artist content to stay inside the lines. From running his own Alien Sound Trax imprint since 2013 to delivering vocals for Rødhåd and Len Faki, his career has been marked by a constant push against genre borders. That same drive is front and center on his new Sexy Rhythms EP for Lady Tazz’s Mind Medizin, a release that channels his South London roots while pulling in the raw energy of jungle, grime, and dark electronic sounds.

Across the EP, Theo leans into heavy drum programming, steamy atmospherics, and a vocal presence that makes each track feel alive. Opener “Sexy Rhythms” sets the tone with tight deep techno foundations, while “Seductive Sequences” stretches the tension further with slippery synth lines and tightly braided percussion. Linear System adds his own touch with a remix that pushes the record into another space altogether, layering futuristic design with deep bass textures.

In conversation, Theo speaks on the habits and experiences that shape his approach—how fashion and music feed into one another, why crate-digging instincts sharpen over time, and why streaming culture has shifted the way DJs build taste. It’s a window into the mindset behind the new record and a reminder that his process is as restless and unpredictable as the music itself.

How has your taste changed over the years-and what do you think helped shape it?

My taste naturally changes every day as I listen to different music, so for example, if I’m listening to rap/hip-hop, this means I am inspired by something I’d seen previously. But to put it in a wider perspective, what has helped shape my taste is life experiences and how I gather information from my daily activities across productions and fashion.

Being able to navigate between the fashion world and the music world has to be the biggest blessing, as not only does inspiration arrive at all times, but knowing I can easily mix the two together, as in wearing my archival designer pieces while I’m playing, creates a certain unique energy that’s rarely done, especially in the electronic music environment.

As I get to do both naturally, they give my mind the freedom but also the power to shape other experiences and bring me towards other possibilities that may not have arrived with just my music career. This is why it’s so important not to box yourself into a space where you’re known for just doing one thing.

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Do you intentionally seek out music outside your comfort zone, or does that happen naturally?

It happens in a way I believe to be natural, all based off my emotions. The majority of the time I’m in high spirits, so I’ll search for some music from ‘Ahmad Jamal’ or ‘Röyksopp’, as these producers and their music affect me in a certain way to make my production rate at a high level, alongside making me feel good, but also pushing a certain type of emotion inside my tracks.

Being out of my comfort zone is really the only way I’m going to succeed at the high level I aim to be at, rather than sticking to a format that’s been redone over and over again. Also, being at a point in time in life where being comfortable is a hard no, so gravitating to new sounds and more genres is a no-brainer.

Training my ears to notice how other genres make their tracks can orchestrate way more than listening to my actual genre I play, as I know the basic format and structure of it. So, if I’m going to get tested by hearing a different tone or off-balance percussion, I know it’s going to work for me in the long run.

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When you’re crate-digging, do you think your instincts are faster now than when you started?

I know as you experience listening to tracks daily, your instincts and subconscious mind know what you’re truly looking for. Compared to when I first started digging for music at a young age, I took more time, but now my mind moves at a certain pace required to absorb all the information from the sounds I’m hearing.

When I was in my teens, I was just getting the latest record that I heard on the radio the week before, sometimes an exclusive dub-plate. My mind wasn’t fully processing what I was hearing, even though it was helping my journey, but compared to now, I listen to tracks over and over to the point I can’t wait to play them out or explain them in detail to my followers on Instagram.

Hearing tracks over and over again sends signals to my brain to be super sharp with my instincts, to a point where with some tracks I don’t really need to hear them multiple times. I can potentially just hear the first few seconds and know if it holds the power I need in my sets, that’s the beauty of instincts.

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Is there a part of your process that helps you train your ear or challenge your biases?

The process of training my ears has to be the funnest activity I actually do day to day, because it’s not just about listening to music but testing your ears in different ways and environments. I’m usually always on the underground trains in London, so this means my ears will react and be off balance, which means you have to figure frequencies out – this all comes hand in hand with not taking anything for granted and how important it is to consider everything around me.

Majority of the time my surroundings are very loud, so I sometimes try to engage in the loud activity to know how to practice self-reflection or being in a mind state of engaging to different ideas, where some days I may have not have that brain capacity to go forward with, but I’ve noticed over times being in situations that educate your self and experiences will only bring ultimate opportunities.

Apart from being on the underground trains all the time, the way I get to train my ears in a club environment is always having one ear free and open, as I’m listen to what I’m playing on the other. I get to do this, plus listen to the monitors and everything else. That’s the most natural way I think anyone can train their ears if they’re an artist into music, but all depends on lifestyle and movements. 

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What’s a genre, scene, or sound that surprised you once you gave it a real chance?

Most definitely the electro scene back in 2009/10. The productions were so raw and unique in a way you could play/mix them with near enough anything, but what I used to do is combine electro with UK funky to give me a massive edge compared to what others were doing at the time. Even down to the scene back then, everything was fresh and got you excited in a way to listen and rave to that sound that was being pushing to you.

I don’t think I’ve had that fresh feeling ever since that time, so now being in the position I’m in, I make sure I strive to have that feeling every single time I’m playing. It doesn’t matter if I’m playing for an hour or multiple hours; that fresh feeling is what keeps me going. Hearing tracks that resonate with that time also is a massive plus for me, but overall the energy and freedom in tracks has to do its job.

Without that freedom in tracks, then there’s no power. That’s why if some tracks have a slight bit of space where there’s no energy, I tend to get creative with that specific part and build the energy off that as it’s mixed into another track.

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Do you think DJs today are developing taste in the same way-or has that changed with streaming culture?

Definitely not, and what I mean by this is since streaming has happened, a lot of us have slightly gotten lazy, as there are platforms where we can find anything with one click and you’re done, whereas stepping out physically and experiencing music on the dance floor or even going to the vinyl store is still the best way to gain taste and experience all at the same time. What this does is teach you new stuff about the way the culture of dance music is going forward.

It’s easy for me to unlock my phone and search for music, but to really deeply immerse yourself into the sounds, you have to be in that environment where the energy is flowing freely. Knowing I’m going to a rave or a festival excites me, as I know instantly the taste is going to be different. No matter if it’s the genre I play or another, there’s always a certain track that will flip the whole script and turn your mind upside down, showing you it’s not all about this one genre; there are multiple worldwide to learn from.

I ultimately would say don’t let streaming music dictate your taste and your capabilities of expanding your mind to different waveforms of sounds. It doesn’t matter what position you’re in as an artist; make sure you step foot on that dance floor once in a while to regenerate your flavours of taste.

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What’s something you’ve recently added to your crate that you wouldn’t have touched a few years ago?

A slipknot breakdown or vocal from a metal band is something I never thought I would’ve played in one of my harder style sets, but again, with experience of listening to different genres of music, you learn stuff. As a child, Slipknot or any other heavy metal artist didn’t exist in a Caribbean household, so implementing their vocals in parts of my sets when I play harder has worked out in the long run.

This is something I’ve tried so many times, and it’s resonated more than I thought it would have; especially for someone with my background in deep underground music, people wouldn’t expect that. Knowing this has taught me to venture with different style intros and even outros, as anything that doesn’t fit in a box I’m all for, especially if it’s making the ravers go back in time to a special place.

Alongside these vocals, I’m known for venturing into different genres while I’m mixing the 140 BPM+ techno and making it my own. For example, my love for grime music is known, so as most of the tracks are around the same tempo, I tend to throw in a track or two to give it that twist to make sure people remember the set.