Midweek Mixes (27/03/24)
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.
I am just about to set off on tour around E Asia so expect some reports about how I get on along the way. Last time, in January 2023, I went to Vietnam and S Korea. This time I'm also playing in China three times, Hong Kong, Singapore and the Philippines. It's going to be a wild ride, and I'm even stopping off in Mannheim for May Day on the way home.
One thing that suffers a little on trips like this is my mix listening. You'd think that travelling would be a great opportunity for it, but when internet is patchy or inaccessible it can become a challenge. In these situations I often fall back on an archive of downloaded mixes and live recordings on my phone, my own or from close friends. This can be a reassuringly familiar experience when you're far away from home, but I won't lie, it can also get a bit boring when you've heard the same thing 10 times.
So for this trip I'm digging out some very old recordings off an old hard drive to see if there's anything I can learn and reincorporate into what I'm doing today. Ableton mnml sets c. 2008 here we come!
Right, time for this week's mixes.
Rumi von Baires Live @ Menergy (23/02/24)
Three hours of hot hot house from Rumi von Baires, founder of the nights A Party Called Jack and Gaze in Vienna. This was recorded live at the gay party Menergy in Paris in late February and for a peak time set (01h30-04h30) it opens at an admirably restrained 120bpm. Also admirable is Rumi’s adventurous selection throughout, with some real moments of drama conjured from one track to the next, so while not all of it is my bag I find myself excited about what turn it’s going to take next.
Rumi’s A Party Called Jack night celebrates the Black roots of underground house music and my favourite moments in this set are those that recall the gnarliness of Ron Hardy or the driving funk of Derrick Carter. For the former, check the multiple drum trax sprinkled through the set: at 1h04m; in the stretch from 1h37m to 1h45m; and again from 2h07m onwards when things get stripped right down to the basics of drums, claps and whispers, before a big Chicago bassline comes back in. There’s another fab one at 2h36m — more drum tracks in 2024 please! As for the latter, there’s the filtered exuberance of Intrallazzi’s ‘Pik Nik (The Cube Guys Mix)’, which instantly transported me back to Phlegm’s ecstatic set at last year’s Honcho Campout.
A lovely deep and spacey interlude almost exactly halfway through comes from fellow Viennese mainstay Jorkes’s ‘Meet Me In The Toilet’, but elsewhere I can take or leave the rave tunes trading on sounds and samples that have by now turned stale. Dance System’s 2022 release ‘Work It’ is the nadir of this tired old trend, smashing together everything I’ve grown to loathe about 90s revivalism into one single track, Camisra sample and all. Thankfully, after that, Rumi closes out with a run of OG material: a Siedah Garrett remix, Gat Decor’s ‘Passion’ and Shaun Imrei’s ‘Dance With Me’, the latter of which really made me smile, since I included it near the end of my Ghostcast.
Joe Milli b2b Roska – Rinse FM (06/03/24)
Not much to say about this other than it’s one hour of concentrated UK Funky fire. If anything needs recognition by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage it’s ROSKA ROSKA ROSKA. (Indeed, Juba makes a passing remark in favour of UK Funky getting the nod in this podcast.) Here the Don goes back-to-back with one of my favourite producers right now, Joe Milli, and the results are predictably flammable. I’ve mainly been listening to this as I head out on a Friday or Saturday evening and I can’t recommend a better way to get your night started. “Belter!” observes Joe, as Roska drops yet another one of his own bangers — among them the still-fresh ‘Count Me In’.
(PS please tell me someone can identify the tune that samples Plastikman’s remix of X-Press 2's ‘Rock 2 House’ 18 minutes in.)
Taylor McKenzie - Fixed Rhythms Label Mix
(Listen on Nina — NB the Nina website player is somewhat temperamental so pause and restart at your peril…)
I’ve been aware of Oklahoma City label Fixed Rhythms since Escaflowne’s debut EP Emulations back in 2021, and a favourite from that release, ‘Ray Cloud’, puts in an appearance early on in this label mix by co-founder Taylor McKenzie. It is quickly followed by a forthcoming track by Ali Berger, here in bouncy techno mode à la Casey Tucker. I can’t wait to play this one out. Right after that comes ‘Prisão’ by Marcela Dias Sindaco, a tune I have already played out a lot, before Taylor takes us into the label’s more techno mode.
In the interview that accompanies the mix he says that Fixed Rhythms is “not a techno label but we put out a lot of techno”, and that feels like a self-aware and charming way of putting it. He lets these tracky tracks in the central section of the mix breathe, with quick, subtle transitions, which is not necessarily how I’d want to hear them in the club but makes total sense for a label mix.
Towards the end of the session the techno cracks into squelchy breaks and funky electro, with a personal highlight (and new to me on listening) being ‘ACAB Shimmer’ by C Powers. In Taylor's always apposite words, C Powers’ tunes “will slap the fascism right out of any environment they’re dropped in”.
You can find the full tracklist here.