Djs From Mars single, “Phat Ass Drop” is now out on radikal for stream/download.

First off, how do I actually pronounce your name?
Eye-ah. Everyone says Aye-yeah but it’s easier than that.

You’ve written with Toddla T, Jack Peñate and collaborated with Calvin Harris. You must have a very rounded view of the music industry.
I don’t know about rounded. I feel like I’ve built my own sector in the music industry just dipping in and out of different scenes. I mean, I’m underground and I always will be , and anything I do in the mainstream will highlight what the people on my side of the industry can do and as long as I can carry that banner, I will.

You’ve been accorded the title ‘Queen of Dubstep’. That’s not too bad.
It’s absolutely amazing! Queen of Bass also. It’s awesome.

Your wardrobe is savage. You should start wearing a crown onstage.
Savage? I like that. That’s awesome. Yeah, I got a crown tattoo the other day so I think I’ve got it locked. (She later tweeted: “Burger King cardboard crown maybe?”)

Your album The Real was released in October, you’ve had the big singles Mind Controller, Unstoppable, Alive and The Raver and we’re on the brink of festival season. Are you exhausted?
Not at all. Sometimes you think, “I’ve been doing this for so long” and your body is tired but your mind isn’t – so it’s like you wanna do stuff but sometimes it catches up with you. I never want to stop, so I’m finding ways to push myself further.

Are you working on your second album?
I had a moment at the start of this year where I said “let’s get onto album two” but now I think I’ll stick to singles for a while because I wanted to make an album and I did. But it’s not an album market now, especially with dance music, so I’m going to do a lot of writing and hopefully follow up with one of my own.

Tell me about your label, Hussle Girl.
Hussle is more of an umbrella. It started because I try to collect people along the way, especially strong women in the industry, but men too! I really want to start something like an agency for musicians and performers and people who make films, stylists and anyone to do with the music industry where they can come in and work together and help aspiring artists. So what I’m trying to do with the label is really gain a respect and a following.

You’re on Calvin Harris’s next single, Thinking About You. How do you feel about that track?
I love it! I’ve known Calvin for a very long time and now he’s smashing it and I am super proud of him. We wrote that and really enjoyed it. We didn’t think it would be a single but the response was so wonderful. It’s a coup again for
underground music. Hopefully, it will prove to people that we can do it.

Your career has been intertwining with Calvin’s for years now.
Yeah, we met in London about 10 years ago. He’s one of my closest friends and I love him to bits.

Have you been to Ireland before?
I toured with Calvin a few years ago and we were up in Giant’s Causeway and in Dublin. It was wonderful. I can’t wait to come back – it’s going to be awesome.

Sea Sessions is partly a surfing festival. Are you into that?
I am, funnily enough. I started last year and got on a surfboard for the first time. I’m well into it.

What should we expect from your Sea Sessions set?
It will be dirty, dark and bassy. Ha! It’s like a mini club experience for half an hour

The Real will be available July 9th, but you can stream/pre-order it right from our website. Click the artwork below.

All MP3s available below are encoded at 320 kbps for highest sound quality.

01. Alive (feat. P Money)
Download MP3 ($1.99)

Alive (feat. P Money) [Mizuki Remix]
Download MP3 ($1.99)

Download All Mixes In One Zip File ($2.99)

Alive (feat. P Money) – Single – Ayah Marar

You can purchase/listen to the rest of the singles package by clicking on the artwork below.

“Lethal Dose” is off Ayah’s debut album The Real, which is now streaming exclusively on our website! Click the artwork below to check it out.

The Real is set to drop on July 9th, but you can exclusively stream it on our website here.

What was the music scene like when you first came to the UK and what influenced you at the time?

To be honest I didn’t really know what the scene was like until I started spending time in London. I arrived and went to university in Warwick where we ran a weekly DnB night, then I started going to illegal raves in London, so that was my first exposure to the dance scene and I loved it!

What would you say was your inspiration to get into music?
I can’t even remember a definitive moment I decided to do it, at the risk of sounding cheesy there was never any other way for me. It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do.

You are quite close with man of the moment, Calvin Harris, how did that relationship come about?
We met a long, long time ago when I worked at a record shop in Soho and he moved into my spare room. We made some tunes together in his bedroom studio and have been the closest of buddies since.

What steps do you take to say writing a single or an album? Do you just go into a studio and start writing or write as and when you feel inspired?
In the case of THE REAL, yes Will Simms and I just locked ourselves in Kilimanjaro Studios and wrote day and night, it was epic. Otherwise I have to be able to write at a moment’s notice as I do a lot of songwriting for other people, but that is more work than play.

The album was great for your fans who wanted to see you do a lot of your own music rather than more features; it was a great hit amongst us at Influxxx, what song resonated the most with yourself from the album and why?
Thank you very much, I’d have to say LETHAL DOSE, as it means a lot to me, plus it’s the latest single so, every push helps!

You’ve put in the hours and hard graft to say the least, to get where you are, what’s your opinion on music talent shows such as the X-Factor and The Voice?
Honestly I don’t give them much thought, to each their own, as long as it doesn’t give people false hope I don’t mind what they do. Things like that will exist whether we like it or not.

What’s your take on the whole electronic music scene (that includes dnb, dubstep, garage, it’s such a hard genre to define!) experiencing a boom in the last couple of years?
It has always been the same in my eyes as it’s all I’ve ever know, but I’m very proud that it’s at the forefront of the music scene at the moment and I will continue to do my best to do right by it.

Which artists have caught your ear recently and what’s the one track you’re listening to most at the moment?
I love people like Funtcase, Marger, Eptic, Document One, More Like Trees, Trol23, Joe Driscoll. I’m rinsing the Kendrick Lamar album still!

Away from music what do you do as just to chill out?
I love movies and TV shows, I’m a bit of a geek about it.

As a fashion site as well, we feel compelled to ask, how would you describe your style and what’s your favourite brands?
I’m not very bothered about all that, I like nice clothes but I go for comfort. A mix of urban and grunge with a bit of elegance thrown in, I guess …

What advice would you give to people starting out in the music industry?
Take your time, nothing is so pressing that you have to compromise for it. And things NEVER go to plan so always be ready to face the challenge.

What does the future hold for you? Are you going to work on a second album? Plans for the summer?
I will be working on a bunch of singles, and a lot of UK and European dates over the summer.

Dance music is a broad church, but within each parish there’s usually a set of rules. A doesn’t always go with B, and X shouldn’t really mix with Y, but sometimes those rules are meant to be broken or manipulated into odd new shapes. Ayah Marar’s kaleidoscopic debut album, “The Real,” is a case in point: thirteen songs that take inspiration from the underground dance scene, cherry-picking the very best elements of drum and bass, techno and house and bolting them onto well-crafted pop hooks that look set to shatter dance floors. “It’s an homage to dance music in whatever form, whether it’s garage or two step or house or drum and bass,” she explains.

With seemingly every other new pop star trying to marry a gargantuan dance beat to a pretty melody, it’s a competitive world. The difference here is that Ayah Marar isn’t faking it. She lives the life of an underground dance fiend, of a DJ and MC, of a strong woman in a male-dominated industry. Her two worlds, the underground and the mainstream, have been brought together organically, co-existing in a way that sounds fresh rather than forced. “I’m trying something that I don’t think has been done in the way we’re trying to do it,” Marar states. “It’s what I love to do; it’s trying to find that balance.

“Dubbed ‘The Queen Of Bass,’ Ayah blends fiery vocals (you will be singing along
all day) with rattling drum breaks and bass that will slam you in the face.” – Vibe

“Ayah Marar establishes her own pop identity brilliantly” – Q Magazine

“Queen of UK Bass!” – Dazed Digital

Ayah Marar – “The Real”
Pre-Order On iTunes Now!

Buy Links will be available July 9th!

Track Listing:

01. Mind Controller

02. Unstoppable

03. Follow You

04. Lethal Dose

05. Beg Borrow Steal

06. The Predator

07. Alive (Featuring P Money)

08. Camouflage Girl

09. Stone Cold Heart

10. Go Hard

11. Sign Your Name

12. The Real

13. The Raver

Bonus Tracks:
14. Unstoppable (Metrik Remix)

15. Lethal Dose (Dilemn Remix)

16. Alive (Mizuki Remix)

The Real physical CD will be available July 9th, but is now available for pre-order over at Amazon. Click below to pre-order your copy today!

The good folks at Dubstep.net featured on their homepage French producer Dilemm’s awesome dubstep remix of Ayah Marar’s “Lethal Dose.” Here’s what they had to say about the track!

“Lethal Dose” is a deadly combination of top-notch production and deliberate, soul-wrenching vocals. When Dilemn is set loose upon the already excellent original, the resulting remix is an undisputedly massive dance anthem that will rock listeners to the very core of their being.

The single package with the remix is available on iTunes, and can be purchased here:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/lethal-dose-single/id647251890

Check out the music video as well!