Midweek Mixes (01/09/21)
A run-down of some of the mixes and radio shows that have been soundtracking my existence – from the box-fresh to the tried-and-tested – all guaranteed to brighten up your week.
Lakuti w/ Gonnie Rietveld @ Universal Rhythms
On her latest Bring Down The Walls show, Lakuti interviews Hillegonda ‘Gonnie’ Rietveld, founding member of Quando Quango. They were one of the bands from the early 80s that was experimenting with incorporating synthesisers and drum machines into post-punk structures, while also infusing influences from outside their European base. The other founding member of the band was Mike Pickering, who went on to be a resident DJ at The Haçienda and, later still, a third of my favourite band from childhood: M People.
Among the fabulous anecdotes dotted through the interview, we hear how the Afrobeat and Latin influences in tracks like ‘Love Tempo’ came about: Rietveld saw Fela Kuti perform in Brussels in the early 80s, and first heard Latin rhythms played on a hand organ owned by her grandfather. Just like Charanjit Singh over in Mumbai she was an early user of the Roland 303, though she does point out that on tracks like ‘Go Exciting’ she programmed it strictly according to the manual!
Of course there’s a Paradise Garage memory, and it doesn’t disappoint:
To this day I still remember the sound system. And I don’t really remember the sound system of many clubs, but that one was a memorable sound system. That’s the thing that really impressed me. Where you could have a conversation like we are doing now, and you could actually feel the music touch and move the hairs on your arm. It was really an embodied sound. You didn’t have to spit in someone’s ear to have a conversation.
She also speaks about the dissolution of the band and her subsequent academic career, recounting how she ended up doing a PhD on acid house. It’s a fascinating conversation that shines even brighter for the intimacy between interviewer and interviewee.
Lakuti’s mix in the second hour is a treat that, among others, includes ‘Back In Balance (Equilibrium)’ from the latest Abstract Eye release on Neroli.
Kaitlyn Davies w/Joseph Clarke @ Cashmere Radio
Previously a resident at Dig Deep, Joseph Clarke has done a string of great mixes for various series, always finding a thoughtful space between chillout abstraction and the dancefloor. Here he guests on Kaitlyn Davies’ Breakfast show on Cashmere radio, which focuses on the more chillout end of that spectrum, illustrated well by the first hour of wonderfully dreamy, psychedelic and droney things played by Kaitlyn.
Joe begins his guest mix in a similar vein, before slowly building up through chuggy downtempo, IDM and slow electro. My favourite moment - which is an even bigger moment because of the really good work leading up to it - is right near the end when the heavily slowed-down arpeggiated attack of An Anomaly’s ‘Sunset Storming Heaven On LSD’ emerges out of the untitled broken IDM sketch before it. It’s a cathartic release that sets you up for the rest of your day.
PHOEBE - Live @ Quantum Leap 3.0
A shorter version of the concert he gave at Galeria ZDB a couple of months ago, this is a good introduction to where PHOEBE’s head is right now musically: glitch, noise and ambient soundscapes with a strong psychedelic shoegazey lean to them, all underpinned by frenetic beats. The drum programming is a step far beyond his earlier production work for singer nëss (e.g. ‘Karma’), breaking up those already steppy patterns into less obvious fragments and taking sandpaper to the sounds themselves.
The resulting rhythmic barrage is much more upfront than before but doesn’t feel oppressive, and frequently it takes on a recognisably danceable shape: check the final track in this set, where a rapid-fire gunshot-meets-door-slamming cleverly resolves into a seriously funky break. Another highlight is the appearance of ‘All My Homies Hate’, whose opening salvo of garbled vocals, crunchy guitar riffs and distorted jazzy chords is for me the pivotal moment of his recent cassette album If I Was Simple In The Mind Then Everything Would Be Fine.