Midweek Mixes (08/02/24)
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.
Before we get to this week’s listening, some housekeeping. I’m in the process of migrating this newsletter to Buttondown — all subscribers will continue to receive the newsletter, and all paying subscribers will continue to receive any extra paid-only posts without having to change any details (the money part will still all be managed through Stripe). And I’m working out how to move over all the archives so that everything is still accessible in one place.
Also, a quick update on my upcoming gigs. I don’t often advertise my DJing through this newsletter (at least not in advance), but I’m just coming to the end of about six weeks off travelling, so I’m excited to get back on the road. Here’s what’s coming up:
16/2 Welt Discos @ Arroz Estúdios, Lisbon (RA) — w/Dana Kuehr and Velvet Velour
18/2 Fandango, Berlin (IG) — four hour set in a Lighthouse on a Sunday afternoon
24/2 Night Tales, London (RA) — dream warm-up slot before Prosumer like at Dimensions last year
2/3 Cobalt Studios, Newcastle (RA)
E ASIA TOUR
29/3 Loopy, Hangzhou
30/3 Bolero, Seoul
6/4 Equation Festival, Mai Chau (RA) — cave rave!
11/4 Oil, Shenzhen
12/4 Hex @ Mihn, Hong Kong (RA) — w/Xiaolin, who made one of my favs of 2022
13/4 Savage, Hanoi — back to this amazing place I wrote about a year ago
19/4 TAG, Chengdu
Finally, I am kicking off a monthly residency on Kiosk Radio in Brussels, starting this Saturday at 21h CET. The first show will be a tribute to the Sundaze party I played at last year (revisit my report here) — it features a re-recording of part of what I played, and an actual recording of the epic closing set by Dana Kuehr b2b Islas. Tune in on Saturday night!
OK that’s enough about me, here’s this week’s mixes.
Sharlese first featured on Midweek Mixes way back in the summer of ’22 for the pi pi pi series (here). This new podcast for Berlin’s Feinstoff party once again showcases her contemporary take on italo/EBM/new beat and their siblings, which she also plays every week on her KEXP show Mechanical Breakdown. Sharlese’s level of dedication to this specific sound fills me with both admiration and a kind of fear, but I always say I’m glad someone is doing this kind of work. I only know one track here, Made’s simmering ‘When Straight Lines Become Curves’, and the mix out of that into the austere but funky track that follows it is one of many great moments in this set.
To be frank, I’m not going to be able to describe this mix any better than Sharlese did on her own IG post, so I’ll quote her in full:
I made a hot pants space disco mix for your listening pleasure! Full of galactic surprises and star painted twists and turns. It tells the story of sexy insecurity, fire meticulous imperfection and raging alien love.
Don’t you wish all my blurbs were as evocative and to the point as that? Put this mix on — and some hot pants while you’re at it — and follow Sharlese’s lead down the star painted road.
Aaron Clark - Pacific Spirit No. 85
Three hours of warm-up at Pittsburgh hotspot Hot Mass from one of the crew, Aaron Clark (who was my guest on the Spaced Rinse FM show late last year). This recording is from Humanaut, one of the nights Aaron co-runs, which in October 2022 had Shakolin from Kyiv institution Closer as a headliner. Having played at Hot Mass for their big queer night Honcho back in July 2022 — on the same weekend as Antrhocon, one of the world’s biggest Furry conventions, was happening in town — I was interested to hear this set from an ostensibly non-queer night, though to some extent every night at the club must be pretty queer given its setting (it occupies the first floor of a multi-storey bathhouse).
This is meticulous warm-up action, from the playful, pliable tracks in the opening section — many of them beatless or with soft hand percussion to ease us in — through more expansive, chuggy house, disco and acid and into the machine-funk techno and electro that, over the years, has been Humanaut’s bread and butter. Personal favs pop up from The Persuader (‘What Is The Time Mr Templar?’), The Mole (‘Last Ditch’) and Efdemin (‘Acid Bells’ — though not in full, so maybe some three-deck action?), but it’s not the recognisable tunes that make the difference, it’s Aaron’s cool pacing and gradual ramping up of energy. You can just imagine it getting sweatier in Hot Mass as the clock ticked round to 3am.