Midweek Mixes (04/08/21)
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.
XOGN - Yuri Gagarin In Space
“четыре, три, два, один, ноль!”
So begins this spectacular and celebratory audio voyage that lasts 1 hour and 48 minutes, precisely the time it took Yuri Gagarin to complete the first ever outer-space orbit of the Earth, in his Vostok 1 capsule, on 12 April 1961.
Brussels-based record dealer and collector XOGN connects the dots between cosmic, psych, krautrock, experimental synth music and beyond, from now and back then, in a way that really places you inside that capsule 60 years ago, whizzing through the void and (I imagine) peering down at the vague and now rather inconsequential mass of blue and green below.
Alongside the cosmic material we get flashes of historical and political context: a good example is 2015’s ‘Je Suis Marxiste’ by Groupuscule following hot on the heels of a 1979 Soviet orchestral synth disco take on old favourite ‘Popcorn’. There are traditional songs of Gagarin’s exploits, though some seem to be modern recordings from Russia and other now ex-Soviet states, reminding us that familiarity with the past is intrinsic to understanding the present.
A mix that feeds the imagination as much as it educates, it’s the kind of thing that impresses and intimidates me in equal measure. It impresses for its ambitious horizons, almost scholarly levels of research, and eminent skill in the construction. And it intimidates for exactly the same reasons. Hats off to XOGN for a set that has kept me dreaming big these past few days even as I am confined to my own little space capsule on a very 2021-style voyage called Quarantine.
Joe Delon - Dimensions Mix 247
Last week my mix for Dimensions Festival was published, a trailer of sorts for when I play there in September. The festival happens at the Garden Resort in Tisno, Croatia, from 2-6 September and I will play on the beach stage on the Saturday evening. I’m on the lineup after NTS residents SNO and Minus Kendal and Cosmic Slop/World Treasures Music’s Mike BC, before handing over to Underground And Black’s Ash Lauryn and *the* Marcellus Pittman.
“Excited” is an understatement. As is “shitting myself”.
I’ll be sending out a longer post about this shortly to paid subscribers, including a download and tracklist.