History

Everyone loves a good origin story!

Slist is a project that was founded in Mexico City on July 10, 2021 by Saimon Sekta – a New York City native visiting Mexico City as a tourist at the time. At first it was a response to the need for a one-stop weekly listing of local electronic music events.

A private Instagram account through which the event offerings of Mexico City’s scene was compiled and disseminated was created. This would quickly evolve into a larger project which would shift its focus toward curating and honestly critiquing local events.

Slist’s confrontational, avant-garde approach was mostly well received at the time, even by promoters whose events were criticized. This fostered an environment in which feedback became a key tool to improve the quality of local parties. From there, Slist’s scope expanded to promoting guest list invitations, which gained the project greater notoriety.

After a year and a half in Mexico City, Saimon returned to NYC and Slist undertook a new endeavor in February 2023. Two courses of action were taken – a public WhatsApp group was created to retain the growth that the project had achieved in Mexico City, and a new Slist Instagram account, ever-so-cleverly named Slist NYC, was created with the aim of doing similar work focused on the New York City scene.

On the Mexico City side, Slist’s WhatsApp group, “Chismé,” ended up going viral and opened up a new niche in the market: a space for self-promotion, local scene gossip, and guest list promotions. Slist became the largest and most controversial guest list platform in the market, responsible for hosting courtesy contests for some of the biggest raves in Mexico City.

In NYC, a similar group chat was started in March 2023, leading to the first Slist party organized in December 2023 in SoHo. Since then, Slist events have become a mainstay in the NYC rave scene, with no signs or intention of slowing down. However, this explosive growth met the ire of certain, not-so-wonderful individuals.

Due to an unrelenting speak-from-the-heart policy, brutal honesty, and a NYC scene very much stuck in its ways, controversy inevitably would follow the project everywhere it went. Slist would consistently find itself on the battlegrounds of cancel wars contrived by people who have nothing better to do than to desperately try to tear down others doing something that disrupts the status quo (please get a life, you would be so much happier if you did, we promise). Fortunately, the controversy only carried the project to greater and greater heights, cementing not only its foothold, but its vision, adherence to its core values, and the bond it has with its community. 

Through trial by fire, Slist now finds itself on firm ground, attracting like-minded and wonderful artists, ravers, entrepreneurs, shitposters, and casual observers – all comprising a proud and genuine community making its voice heard in a space which has become cutthroat, stubborn, and rife with opportunists. Every day, this community valiantly stands up for an ethos more consistent with what made people fall in love with music and raving in the first place. No BS, no exclusion; just vibes and vision. 

The movement pushes onward!