Track-By-Track: Ghostcast #01
This is the first entry in the Track-By-Track series for my mix for The Ghost.
Index
Track-By-Track: Ghostcast #02 (Ben Liebrand Special)
Track-By-Track: Ghostcast #03 (+ Datassette Q&A)*
Track-By-Track: Ghostcast #04
Track-By-Track: Ghostcast #05 (+ Øyvind Morken Q&A)*
Track-By-Track: Ghostcast #06
Track-By-Track: Ghostcast #07
Track-By-Track: Ghostcast #08
Track-By-Track: Ghostcast #09
Track-By-Track: Ghostcast #10 (Slowjam/Fastjam Special)*
Track-By-Track: Ghostcast #11
Track-By-Track: Ghostcast #12 (S.A.W. Special)
Track-By-Track: Ghostcast #13
Track-By-Track: Ghostcast #14 (Music Theory Special)*
Track-By-Track: Ghostcast #15
Track-By-Track: Ghostcast #16 (Spillway Q&A w/Polycron and Kellon)*
Track-By-Track: Ghostcast #17
Track-By-Track: Ghostcast #18
Track-By-Track: Ghostcast #19
Track-By-Track: Ghostcast #20
*These posts are free to read. Please consider paying for a subscription to read all the entries from this Track-By-Track series. Thank you!
Track-By-Track is a series that looks back at records you will have heard in my mixes, one by one in the order they were played. Who made them, and when? How did I come across them? And what do they make me feel?
This is going to be a real trip.
When The Ghost asked me to do a mix for their Ghostcast series we were deep in Lockdown S01E01 and I was still suffering from the disappointment of two months of gigs being cancelled, including their May 1st party at Hoppetosse. I found that the best way of mitigating that disappointment was to prepare and record mixes containing the records I’d be playing at those gigs: a sleaze session for Maricas (stream here), my BSU mix (already recapped on this substack, stream here and download here) and its companion piece, this Ghostcast.
I recorded the BSU and Ghost mixes in parallel starting from the same emotional moment in time, but while they share a common origin there is definitely a point where they diverge. The BSU mix remains introspective, reflective and only cautiously optimistic even at its close. The Ghost mix, I hope, develops from its ambivalent opening section into something unashamedly jubilant, revelling in what for me is the best of club music: fat basslines, machine funk grooves and above all else an exuberant pop sensibility.
That was the idea anyway!
Opening it all is an unreleased track by my friend Eddie aka Let’s Talk, a man I first met (as I recall) on a mountain in Bulgaria and who is a regular friendly face on the dancefloor in London, be it at Spaced, The Pickle Factory or Pumping Velvet. Eddie makes his music in long-form jams, resulting in tracks that unfurl delicately over their run-times – check his debut EP on Marlon Clark’s Albeit Records for a good illustration.
I played for Eddie’s party Okay Good on 21 February last year, in that strange period when Covid was a reality that still hadn’t quite hit home. ‘Anybody Could’ has an eerie quality that suits that unreal mood to a T, its harmonies on the cusp of dissonance without yet spilling over. The deep bassline is the warm, fuzzy foundation on which the groove works its magic, while the little vocal samples (something about Satan?) are just distinct enough to be suggestive and spooky without being a distraction.
This track isn’t uploaded online so the next best thing I can do is point you to the actual Ghostcast itself – a good excuse to revisit it as this series gets underway. I’m very excited about covering this mix and plan to organise some guest contributions along the way.
As always, any feedback or suggestions gladly received - just shout!
Let’s Talk - Anybody Could (Unreleased)
The first track in this mix: