Midweek Mixes (21/12/22)
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.
The Campout coverage continues on Midweek Mixes with this year’s anchor set from Ciel, who closed out the festival on Sunday evening. I can only imagine how exciting a challenge this was as a DJ, and when listening to these three hours of Ciel, in Honcho’s words, “connecting the dots” from across the rest of the festival experience, it’s clear she faced it head on. Right from the dreamy opening statement on fear - and the fear of fear - as an emotion to be acknowledged and handled collectively, mixed patiently and sensitively into the next track’s encouraging “come on, yeah” and energy-giving bassline, there is no doubt that this will be a safe pair of hands to see us through to the end. The third track - a bouncy banger from Spandrel’s upcoming LP - cements the feeling further and drives us onwards and upwards.
When I first listened to this recording I found some of the crowd noise a bit distracting from the music. But as I listened to it again and became more familiar with the contours of the set, more space opened up in my mind for an appreciation of that added experiential detail: the engagement of the dancers near the booth, the “oohs”, whoops and fragments of conversations, the feeling of being in something political and hedonistic together. When Ciel plays Dominique Jackson’s “You will respect me…” speech over what sounds like slowed-down gabber near the end of her set, she cuts the music briefly and someone from the crowd fills in the blank with a scream: “…for who I am!” The crowd goes WILD. It’s a brilliant moment, both sublime and somehow absurd, the weight of the message followed seconds later by the sound of a dancer patently beside themselves: “Ooh my gaaad”.
In the end it’s Ciel’s precisely calibrated selections and mixing over the course of the three hours that earn her - and the crowd - that moment, and others like it. The records all sound very modern but within that sonic world they are super varied, and when an older sound does break through it provides a welcome complement rather than an interruption or loss of energy. Just some of the highlights for me include an unreleased Olin tune just over an hour in (all rapid fire Chicago house drums and wonky acid); the tune that sounds like a sister track to ‘Rissp’ around 2h15m in, which has a beautiful shimmering break that gets a huge cheer from the crowd; and finally, against my better judgement, the edit of ‘Freestyler’ right near the end. In fact, the whole point of this edit seems to be our judgement, better or otherwise, as it plays a clever game of cat and mouse with the basic-bitch build-up and drop of the original tune. It’s a kind of musical joke, but a very good one.
I saw Ciel do her thing at Lighthouse Festival earlier this year, closing out the Villa of Gaze stage mid-evening as the crowd sprayed prosecco over the decks, and I wrote at the time that it felt like “proper DJing”. This recording from Campout is another demonstration of that craftsmanship and ability to rise to the occasion - and the extended ovation at the end is the proof of what a spectacular finale it provided for the festival.
Stephen Howe - SH101 October 2022
Stephen follows previous shows on vocoders, Freaky Chakra and bleep with an episode entirely dedicated to the “solid bass” and “lately bass” patches on Yamaha DX synths from the 1980s. He opens with a lovely anecdote about the lately bass being Yamaha’s attempt to reproduce the bass sound from Janet’s “What Have You Done For Me Lately”, which itself had been produced with the solid bass from one of their own earlier synths. As someone who knows very little about music production I always enjoy Stephen’s patient explanations of synthesis, as he relates the technical stuff to what the musical output actually sounds like and why it has the desired effect in certain tracks over different eras.
This show runs through a who’s who of 90s house - Boo Williams, Kerri Chandler, Mad Mike, Mood II Swing - before taking a trip over the Atlantic for Exquisite Corpse, DJ Tonka and, of course, Orbital and their iconic bassline from ‘Halcyon & On & On’. There’s even a house reworking of E2-E4 by the recently departed Manuel Göttsching, making this the second time SH101 has anticipated a musical hero’s death (the first was Richard H Kirk). Who’s next for the chop, Stephen?