Midweek Mixes (06/07/22)
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.
Italo, wave, synth, body music - this is a single-minded mix that still keeps things fresh over 70 minutes by varying the mood and groove (if not the speed: a sensible 118bpm throughout). The tension expertly built over the first 30 minutes finally breaks with an edit of Nathalie’s huge ‘My Love Won’t Let You Down’. The edit is here but tbh I think it saps the original of some of its pleasant jauntiness. We then go into spacier Slow Motion/Franz Scala territory (a name Sharlese checks in the lovely accompanying interview), before some more robotic electro vibes round things out.
I enjoy how the mixing is quite varied, sometimes fast sometimes measured, never intrusive, taking advantage of the fluxes of the tracks themselves to generate those energy-giving moments of progression. (Check the switch ups from 53-55 minutes for a good example.) The chug is intensely strong with this one and it would be very well suited to Sharlese’s choice of dream dancefloor, the Lab.
Schuttle - Reform Radio (03/07/22)
For his latest show, Schuttle (who you may know from the persistently vibey Manchester label Bakk Heia) went into his iTunes, hit shuffle until he had an hour’s worth of tunes, and mixed them together in Logic. What sounds like a recipe for disaster turns out to be a satisfyingly coherent set of moody, noodly, glitchy tunes that are later punctuated by a series of big left turns - like the exceedingly tasteful fade-out of Actress key-matched into a jazzy disco number from a late 70s Miyazaki anime. Then Mogwai’s ‘Acid Food’ takes me right back to feeling emo at university. That’s the vibe and it really works.
(This show has galvanized me into starting work on the next part of my own nostalgia trip series started during the covid lockdowns - check out part one and part two for some teenage feels.)
Tracklist for Johnny’s show is here.