Midweek Mixes (17/11/21)
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.
Robbie Leslie - Live @ The Saint, 25/06/83
After a summer neglecting them, it’s been a thrill this past few weeks to rediscover my collection of pre-1986 records, that is, all the disco, italo and other surrounding bits that I love playing but often don’t manage to fit into my club gigs. Helping me get my disco mojo back is this recording of Robbie Leslie on the last night of the 1983 season at The Saint, the legendary East Village superclub which operated from 1980 to 1988 and from the stories had more crazy things happening in it than the Old Testament.
You can imagine why just from the first part of Leslie’s marathon 12 hour set. It opens spectacularly enough with with an excerpt from Gershwin’s Rhapsody In Blue (thank you to my sister for the ID on this peaktime banger), builds through soft soul and chuggy boogie and sleaze (including the instrumental of ‘Working As A Waitress In A Cocktail Bar’) until before you know it ‘Menergy’ is on and we’re in full on space disco mode, shirts off, hands (and poppers) in the air.
At least that’s the mental image I have and cherish when I play these records out today. Don’t be surprised if I cover the remaining parts of this odyssey on future Midweek Mixes!
ISAbella - HNYPOT 399 (Seducción En Los Dos Dialectos Mix)
I’m not sure where the strapline for this mix by ISAbella comes from but what it makes me think of is how her selection - here and in every other online mix she does - speaks not in two musical dialects but in many. Aside from her evident care and technical skill, the thing I find most fascinating about her DJing, and which resonates most with me, is how she moves between styles and genres in a lateral but wholly persuasive way. It’s what I aim for myself, so to hear someone do it so consistently and articulately is really inspiring.
This mix for Honey Soundsystem has it all and fits it together beautifully. There are clever matches everywhere (between keys, percussion sounds, rhythmic motifs) and then there are contrasts that surprise before making total sense. There’s an appreciation for the roots of dance music and how these are still present in the sounds of today. The queer scene is present in recent tracks from Sedef Adasi and Peach (presumably among others that I don’t know) - and indeed the mix out of Peach’s ‘Kenneth’s Drama’ is one of the many triumphs throughout these two hours.
There are only a couple of moments when things get a bit big room and trancey for me, but that’s because I’m going about my midweek business and not off my tits at Maricas (the queer rave and activist platform run by ISAbella and friends in Barcelona).
(Sidenote: as a label owner I felt very proud to hear my edit of Huerta vs Midnight Fantasy near the end of the mix - the icing on a perfectly baked cake. Get it if you haven’t already - all money paid goes to GLADT in Berlin and Mind UK.)
Stephen Howe - SH101 @ Refuge Worldwide (Freaky Chakra Special)
Another Midweek Mixes regular, Stephen Howe’s SH101 show always makes for educational listening. This month he dives into the catalogue of Freaky Chakra, a Californian production wizard active through the 90s and early 00s. If you’re even a light connoisseur of the more leftfield fringes of dance music of that era you will probably have a Freaky Chakra record or remix. I remember there was a vogue for them in London a few years before I moved to Lisbon - out-there tracks like ‘Come Back Here’ blowing people’s minds at afterparties, at a time when the main sound being played out was far more buttoned down.
Stephen revisits Freaky Chakra’s early period and (my favourite thing about his show) highlights the production techniques that make the tracks what they are, in language that is entirely accessible to the lay listener. When he describes the gating on the delay of a sample as an ingredient of instant ‘psy prog’ it both raised a smile and gave me something to look out for in the track playing and in the future.
I think this was Stephen’s first live show broadcast from the Refuge Worldwide studio in Berlin, so you can hear how the spoken parts are more improvised than usual - it’s a different style that I found made the show a bit more interactive and exciting. I’m keen to hear what lesson is next on the SH101 curriculum.