Monday Mixes (26/06/23)
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.
There’s been a dearth of Midweek Mixes this past month so I’m coming in early this week with three sets that have been easing me into the Berlin summer. I identify very strongly with each of these DJs thanks to their selection and way of presenting that selection. Two of them are Midweek Mixes staples, while the third (actually the first) is someone I only heard for the first time last week when doing due diligence for my North America mini-tour in August. Dig in and enjoy!
Jaime Sin - Live @ Cloud Club 006
On 13 August I am playing on the same bill as Jaime Sin at the Promise Cherry Beach summer event series in Toronto. So I checked out her soundcloud and got hooked on this mix, which uses classic house as a through line from which to explore acid, dub, balearic and even a bit of UK territory.
Personal favs like Basement Jaxx’s Dreamz Dub of their own ‘Rendez-Vu’, the early Kerri Chandler novelty-vinyl-scratch banger ‘Get It Off’ and Pangaea’s covid hit-that-never-was ‘Like This’ (which I also played last week in Pbar) all strike a chord, but it’s as much the tracks in between and the way they’re put together that keep me coming back. The tracks are allowed to breathe and the joins between them riff off different percussive and melodic elements and moods. In short it’s a musical ride that puts me in a good mood already about the party in Toronto.
Lakuti - Pride 2023 fabric mix
Lakuti flies solo on this Pride mix for fabric and it’s a seamless hour that runs from deep and soulful house into tough percussion jams and invigorating acid/synth proto business old and new. The build is impeccable and when Larry Heard & Bernard Badie’s ‘Was It Love?’ comes in 45 minutes of the way through, it feels like that moment when the dancefloor really lifts off. This Friday it’s Lakuti & Tama Sumo’s party Your Love at Panoramabar featuring Gayance and another Midweek Mixes staple, the wonderful Chima Isaaro, who’s coming over from Lisbon. See you there?
(Check previous Midweek Mixes for Lakuti +/- Tama Sumo in the archive.)
Nick Kagame - Live on NTS (10/06/23)
Nick is the King of Midweek Mixes for a reason: every time he puts the DJ equivalent of pen to paper he writes a bloody masterpiece. I listened to this while dazed but not confused last Monday afternoon after almost 20 hours in Berghain (split over two shifts, I hasten to add), and Nick’s opening gambit of “Hello. It’s Nick.” made me laugh out loud as I walked to the station. The selection ranges across the UK, Brazil, China, France, Japan and more and the interfaces the transitions create between genres and eras are just as ambitious. Successfully so, such that when I listen this mix it pushes me to want to listen more and do better as a DJ — a familiar feeling when listening to any set by Nick.
I didn’t know Tapes had taken a break from his Medieval ditties to release such a cool piece of machine-funk as ‘Surge Funk’ earlier this month, for example. And for some reason I passed over Phil Mill’s gorgeous ‘The Glow (East Mix)’ on Gop Tun when skimming through my Bandcamp notifications in April. Then there’s the Undertour Sensation Mix of Massimo Berardi’s ‘U Save Me’, a record I know I’ve heard several times before but never knew what it was, and, on listening again here, is now confirmed as one of those all-time great multi-instrumental multi-movement multi-everything Italian house epics, to file alongside the likes of Oneiric or Riviera Traxx or Don Carlos. You spoil us, Nick.
(Check previous Midweek Mixes for Nick in the archive.)