Midweek Mixes (11/05/22)
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.
Budino - EOS Radio guest mix for Maricas (Feb 2022)
The slightly eerie ambient opening already speaks of organic meeting synthetic, man meeting machine, before a pulsing drum beat drives the feeling home - is it played by a groove box or by human hands?
It’s difficult to decide what it is and where it’s from, and that’s a sensation that marks the entire selection throughout the mix, providing immense satisfaction to those of us who like music that falls between neat categories. It’s Chicago-y and post-punk-y and italo-y and acid-y in a wholly Muzic Box-y kinda way, so of course the closest other contemporary reference point I can reach for is Traxx, though I sense that Budino, perhaps unsurprisingly given her roots, has higher levels of trance flowing through her veins.
My favourite tunes are the ones leaning into rapid fire drums and crunchy guitar riffs, ‘Destroy Inc’ on Discos Paradiso (one of the shops I visited on my recent trip to Barcelona) being one of a solid handful.
The mix ends with the heartbroken wishfulness of IMS’s ‘Runaway’:
And all I can think about is how I want to close my own eyes on the Cocktail D’Amore dancefloor, searching for and perhaps finding, somehow, in the sound and the bodies around me, something approaching the truth.
Janko - Savage Residency, Bangkok Community Radio (April 2022)
Janko is a new resident at Savage Club in Hanoi, which you can read more about in the Q&A I did with one of the club’s founders, Ouissam, here. Janko and I semi-regularly exchange messages about tunes via social media so it was nice to hear the news about his residency, and also to hear this radio mix for Bangkok Community Radio.
It shows off his range - jazz, downtempo, (new) disco, electro, and onwards - with an unmistakable, slightly wonky, minimalist but playfully pop current that runs through the whole thing. He says he selected tracks that are not that club-friendly, but there are plenty of moments in these two hours that I’d love to hear in a club. Hopefully that is something that will happen in the not too distant future.