Fresh Beats: Meet Hudson Valley DJ Sarah van Buren (SVB)

If you’ve ever been to any of the very memorable 24-HOUR DRONE events at Basilica Hudson or a dance party at Catskills’ Avalon Lounge, you’ll likely know the unique style of DJ Sarah Van Buren (aka SVB).

For the latest installment of our series on Hudson Valley club and party DJs, we profile this unique talent, who curates a mix encompassing everything from dark disco to leftfield pop to field recordings, drones, and pioneering electronic music.

INSIDE+OUT: When did you first become interested in music, and how did you start your DJ career?

Sarah Van Buren: I’ve been interested in music my entire life. One of my earliest memories is dancing around to my favorite songs from the early 80s: “Gloria” by Laura Branigan, “You Can Do Magic” by America, “Beat It” by Michael Jackson and “Maniac” by Michael Sembello.  That was when I was probably three. I became a young dancer and was part of a youth ballet company until I graduated from high school. I wasn’t playing music then (or DJing), but being a serious ballet, modern, and jazz dancer taught me how to count music, how to hear musical cues, and how to build a library of melodies in my head that I could access later like a card catalog. 

While living in New York City in 2008, I started an art and party collective with my friends called CHERYL. That’s how I started DJing. We threw parties all over NYC and toured the UK and Europe like a band.

Describe what makes you unique in the DJ space, your favorite music to spin, and your favorite kind of place or event to work.

My favorite DJ place is the Avalon Lounge in Catskill, NY. My favorite dance music to spin is EBM (electronic body music, not to be confused with EDM, haha), new beat, industrial, dark disco, and leftfield pop.  These days, I like lower beats per minute, and sometimes, I intentionally slow down a record or spin downtempo stuff. I also love playing weird out-there stuff that isn’t dance music—like field recordings, drone, electroacoustic stuff, and early electronic music… You name it, really. 

My favorite types of events are parties and festivals that are strictly for the freaks and the weirdo music lovers. I used to be a wedding DJ, and it paid well, but to be honest, it crushed my soul. I’m unique because I consider DJing like casting a spell, and no two spells are alike.

What have been some of your favorite experiences DJing in the Hudson Valley?

Starting a casual DJ skill-sharing school that morphed into a collective. We were first called Mostly Girls, but then we changed our name to Community Rave Network. My collaborators—Rager, Scotia, and Brad D and I have thrown many incredible parties together, mainly at Avalon Lounge. But before all that, I threw two parties before Avalon was Avalon, when it was called Doubles II. Those nights were a trip—hyper-local Catskill energy. Back in the day, I used to throw a monthly party called Power Dance at Half Moon in Hudson. It used to get wild there, and I miss that feeling of everyone in Hudson being in one place together. I also spun at a queer party in Troy called Polly a couple of times, which was super fun. Once in a while, I used to DJ at the Basilica (when I worked there during the pre-pandemic days). We had an annual goth party called Freak Flag Day. We fogged up the room and let the Depeche Mode rip.

What is your go-to song to spin when you need to pump up a crowd that’s not feeling it?

I don’t have a go-to song because every set ends up being site-specific. Every crowd is different; every event calls for something different. I DJ all types of music across genres based on what the occasion calls for.

What are your three favorite desert island discs?

THREE?! This is hard because I listen to many different types of music. So here are seven on the quasi-dance side:

COIL: “Love’s Secret Domain”

Meridian Brothers: “Desesperanza”

Dee-Lite: “World Clique”

Cibo Matto: ”Viva La Woman”

Björk: “Homogenic “

KLF: “The White Room”

Susumu Yokota: “Acid Mt Fuji”

Give us a mini-biography – where you were born, where you live now, and what you do outside of DJing.

I, Sarah Van Buren (SVB), am a raver, sound maker, soothsayer, and DJ living in the Hudson Valley, where I have been based for a decade. I investigate buried histories, facilitate communal rituals, and resonate well with others. I was the longtime co-curator of 24-HOUR DRONE: EXPERIMENTS IN SOUND AND MUSIC at Basilica Hudson, am a founding member of Community Rave Network, and a certified Deep Listening® facilitator. I am starting a new full-time job as Youth Services Manager at Hudson Area Library, where I will facilitate a program teaching tweens and teens how to DJ using records and analog equipment. I lived in Brooklyn before I lived here, and I grew up not too far away in Central Massachusetts.

Photos courtesy of DJ Sarah VB 

Follow/Connect with DJ Sarah Van Buren  website | Instagram

Contributing writer Sal Cataldi is a musician, writer and former publicist living in Hudson Valley NY.

+ + +

Check out more of our features on the HOTTEST DJs in the Hudson Valley

Fresh Beats: Meet Hudson Valley Spinner MK Ultramatic 
Fresh Beats: Meet Hudson Valley Spinmaster Dave Leonard
Fresh Beats: Meet DJ Tryst, Goth Queen of the Turntable
Fresh Beats: Meet Laura Lynn
Fresh Beats: Meet Hudson Valley Spinner Tommi Calamari
Fresh Beats: Meet Hudson Valley DJ Jams Bond
Fresh Beats: Meet DJ Andre Acosta

+ + +

Click HERE to see all of our exclusive interviews with the amazing folks who proudly call the Hudson Valley home.