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MIX NOTES

I made this mix for my friends driving through the Nevada desert this week, heading to Burning Man. It starts out mellow as they make their way out of the city, then slowly picks up speed as they reach the open desert. The drive from Vegas to Reno is especially otherworldly.

As for the song selections, like every DJ I know, I purchase SO MUCH music that never really sees the light of day beyond the financial transaction. Mixes like these, meant more for background textural consumption, are a welcome opportunity to shake some old leaves out of the tree and give these kind of tracks some room to shine.

Movements (Chapter III) – a bit of downtempo moodiness to warm up the engines. This is from UK DJ and producer Leon Vynehall’s debut album, “Nothing Is Still”, released this past June on Ninjatune.

Ode O (Victor Norman remix) – Richard Rossa aka Acid Hamam released this in December of last year. He’s a Stockholm DJ and runs his own label, Tom Tom Disco. Another Swedish native, Victor Norman, gave it a slight acid baseline and some atmospheric FX that make it ideal for this kind of mix.

Glance Backwards – Another gift from the soundtrack to HBO’ “Sharp Objects”, this mid tempo Jeffrey Brodsky track bounces along and rides a nice line between spooky techno and chill out house. Jeffrey is an LA-based composer who is probably just about to blow the fuck up, so keep your ear to the street.

Mañha – keeping on the slow build up trajectory, this 2016 track from Berlin’s Nicklaus Katzorke picks up the pace ever so slightly. If you dig this, check out his very weird remix of this throwaway Wycleff song from way back when

Sufi – A nice, slow, Caribbean feel gets us out of the tech sounds but keeps the motion ever-forward. This Muno track came out this year on the Miami label Cosmic Awakenings, which seems to focus on this type of sound to great effect.

One for Kenny – Pretty sure I put this on another mix about 5 years ago, but no matter. I always love to hear a real band play house music, especially when they lean on the piano. The pianist in question is Norwegian band leader Bugge Wesseltoft, who appears on the very next song (by pure coincidence, no less!). UK producer/DJs Dan Tyler and Conrad McDonnell aka the Idjut Boys have been rocking dancefloors since the early 90s. I always look for their stuff because we share a love of dubbed out house music and should probably go camping together one day.

Furuberget – Another DJ and producer I always check for is Prins Thomas, who put the term Space Disco on the map then very quickly transcended the genre more and more with each new release. This is from his 2018 collaboration with Bugge Wesseltoft, mentioned above. The whole record is beautiful and loose and jazzy and great for what ails you.

Waves – Some songs were just made for driving on a long straight road. Max Cooper was born in Belfast of Australian parents. He received his Ph.D. in computational biology before relocating to London and focusing solely on music around 2010 or so. He has since released a lot of dope records that strike a great balance between techno and experimental electronica. He has a particularly elaborate write up about this 2016 album on his own website.

Ghost – One more spooky from The Acid, who I’m somewhat obsessed with. Peep their other track on THIS MIX.

The Clown (Floyd Lavine Remix) – I don’t really know much about Capetown, SA DJ and producer Thor Rixon, but I reaaaalllly like the drum sounds on this remix. Sparse and deep and dope.

Muyé – Keinemusik is a collaboration between Rampa, Adam Port and &Me, who have all individually released music on the Berlin-based label that shares the Keinemusik name. They released their debut album together this year – “You Are Safe” – and its full of this kind of chill minimal techno and downtempo grooviness – with a few curve balls thrown in too.

Love Lost – I loooooooooooove tracks like this. Linkwood is consistently mellow and minimal and moody as hell. Reminds me a bit of Pepe Braddock’s “Deep Burnt”. Resident Advisor brilliantly described it as “ a thousand-yard stare of a house tune.” I couldn’t have put it any better. Turn on tune in vibe out.

Nihari – Some 2016 stuff from Iranian-born Swedish transplant and techno superstar Aril Brikha & Irish born DJ Chymera. Aril always comes through with something lovely and this is no exception. This came out on the German label Connaisseur Recordings, who put out music from other dudes I dig like Holtoug and Kollektiv Turmstrasse.

Come Down – I’ve sung The Revenge aka Graeme Clark’s mastery of old school house sonics too many times to mention. Maybe he and Larry Heard are very very distant cousins or something. Sheeeeit. If you can’t dig this, even a little, I’m not sure you really like deep house music (in the classic / Chicago / Mr Fingers sense of the term, at least).

Visions (Greymatter’s Ruff dub) – a 2016 dub from Greymatter‘s second full-length LP entitled “Visions”, released in May 2014 on WOLF Music.

Endeavour – Berlin-based Aether follows up his collaboration with Mind Against on ‘Solaris’ with a 3 song EP that just came out a few weeks ago. In another life I was a DJ in Berlin and playing this type of shit at 6am to a bunch of wigged-out techno weirdos and I had a blast.

Bardo – The mix was in need of a switch-up, and GoGo Penguin are just the thing. A great live band and some funky timings and BOOM there’s a whole new face on this thing. Does that even make sense? You tell me.

Gloria Muse – Sometimes I just want to hear my Shelter classics, nahmean? Oh, the memories this record stirs in me. Was it 7am? Or was it noon? Had I been dancing for 6 hours? Or 12? I’ll never be sure. No matter how you slice it, Blaze are among the best house music that ever did come out of my neck of the woods – and the world is better for them. Yes I’m Brooklyn but claiming Jersey too. Come at me.

Observing The Night Sky – A siiiiick slice of dubby techno that just came out in June. This song could be 30 minutes long and I’d still play it.

Every Moment, I am – A perfect song to end a mix. Long and hypnotic and slowly winds down to a whisper. Thanks for listening.