Midweek Mixes (13/10/21)
A short 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.
This week’s Midweek Mixes comes a little late mainly because I thought today was Tuesday, not Wednesday. I’ve been on the road so much this past six weeks that I’ve lost some of my grip on time. On the upside, I’ve been playing regularly and seeing a lot of friends in different places. On the downside, I’ve missed planes, lost sleep and generally felt the absence of my home life in Lisbon.
My pre-Covid plan was always to try DJing regularly for a year and see if it agreed with me. Now I’m finally getting the chance to go through with that plan, and the early results are mixed. Thankfully I can always rely on mixes and noise cancelling headphones to get me through the hardest moments, like waiting for three hours in various queues in Rome Fiumicino simply to get a cold buffet dinner and a bed in the airport hotel.
But the less said about that the better… Enjoy these recommendations.
Listening to this mix on the train up from Euston to Birmingham New Street earlier today, I found myself looking out at the grey sky, the green fields and the browning trees and thinking how cool it was that a Colombian living in Barcelona recording a show for a Frankfurt radio station could evoke so fully, for me in that moment, the drizzly detachment of a British autumn. And that was even before ‘Cliffs’ came in.
There’s a sort of pagan energy running through this selection that is only heightened by the edge of distortion on the recording. This peaks with the bass drop at 27 minutes, which introduces what I can only describe as a vigorously overdriven space-synth instrumental take on the harmonic progression from ‘Weird Fishes’ by Radiohead.
Towards the end of the mix, a bizarre and echoey piano-led cover of ‘Not Gonna Get Us’ by t.A.T.u played out as we went through Rugby, a flock of starlings swarming over the roofs of houses with England flags fluttering in their gardens. I always have mixed feelings coming home, but this time the soundtrack definitely helped with the transition.
Ryan James Ford - Bleep Mix #207
I’ve been an ardent follower of Ryan James Ford’s output since late 2019, when my friend Roy from Carpet & Snares introduced me to his work via the Eastern Exposure EP on Dream Ticket. Here is someone making fully formed music that draws on the full breadth of 90s sounds without sounding derivative or pat (something that much other 90s-influenced music fails to achieve).
In general, though I do enjoy some of his straight up techno tracks, I tend to lean towards the more broken or melodic material and like to end my sets (be it at parties or in the comfort of my own living room) with his the-world-is-ending stunners like ‘Rachel Whiteread’.
The same applies to this mix of unreleased RJF originals. While I do find interest in the measured variation in the techno sections - especially the moments where he plays with triplet metres - it’s the big, broken and almost poppy bangers that stick in my memory. Check the huge dubstep-meets-EDM (but still techno) moment 12 minutes in, or the closing double header of tough yet delicate broken ballads.
Lakuti & Tama Sumo - Bring Down The Walls @ Universal Rhythms Radio
I’ve said it before (here and here) and I’ll say it again: Lakuti’s Bring Down The Walls show is an edifying lesson in music (and music history) packaged in a groovy and danceable listening experience. As Lerato says in the intro to this episode, BDTW as a platform celebrates “the things and people we love and admire for their contributions to the music community, with particular emphasis on those who paved the way for us to be able to enjoy nightlife”.
You can hear this in the selections and the care with which they’re mixed together. In this month’s show she goes toe-to-toe with partner Tama Sumo, taking a tour through boogie, electrofunk, broken beat and disco-leaning house in the first half, before some tougher peaktime-ready beats come in for the second half. It makes me wish I’d been there for their joint set at the Berghain reopening two weekends ago.