This is a masterpiece, thank You for making this!

Hailing from the leafy surrounds of South London's Camberwell, the Videogamemusic label launches next month with a cassette/digital compilation entitled All Star Mode Volume 1 which features a high profile cast of contributors including Ondness, Not Waving, Bantam Lions, Uio Loi and more. The more switched on will have probably guessed that the sounds of computer games represent the driving influence for the label, who describe All Star Mode Volume 1 as "eclectic accumulation of tracks inspired by/based on/dedicated to/resembling, literally or loosely, music from video games".

Ahead of it's release next month, we are premiering Not Waving's contribution "Barbarian", a harshly textured exercise in feedback laden soundscapes inspired by the cultish '80s Commodore 64 game Barbarian: The Ultimate Warrior. Those wishing to get a fuller idea of the forthcoming compilation can preview some of the other tracks on the label's Soundcloud page. 

Not Waving - Barbarian

One of the aspects that made Dekmantel Festival so memorable that didn't make it into our subsequent review was the numerous conversations with performers at the festival in shared transit back to our hotel. Amidst conversations on Oslo taxi drivers with Prins Thomas and Gerd Janson and an exchange with Mount Kimbie's lighting engineer which rarely stayed on one subject for more than a minute, we were lucky enough to share some time with Mick Wills. Fresh from playing the Boiler Room stage, the Stuttgart-based DJ and producer revealed himself to be one of the nicest selectors currently operating and was kind enough to place in our hands the latest edition of his long-running Demo Mix series.

Back in London, with the benefit of a clear head we realised how well suited to our tastes this CD was, and indeed the Demo Mix series as a whole, and some polite enquiries regarding Wills interest in contributing to our podcast series was made. Instead of a studio mix, Wills offered up the chance to publish a live recording made during one of his DJ sets on the US West Coast earlier this summer. Clocking in at over 100 minutes, the performance at California festival Sunset Campout captures Wills in his element in a manner that a living room mix could not and it's easy to see why he's compared to the likes of Traxx and Ron Morelli in terms of fearless selecting.

Speaking to Richard Brophy for a Separate Mind column published earlier this year, Wills freely admitted it's taken some time for him to achieve this status. "With pleasure also comes pain - It took me almost 25 years to become the DJ that I am. There is so much good music that should be rediscovered and you have to listen to a lot of stuff until you find something that is suitable for you." That approach is fully reflected in a mix that swings through decades of music without pause, and contains a healthy dose of the producer's own self styled Cuts.

Despite being on vacation, Wills was kind enough to answer a round of accompanying questions we sent his way, revealing some personal memories of the '90s basement parties he ran in Stuttgart (and Guy Tavares' skills as a breakfast chef), the thinking behind his prolific edits and his future plans. You can read that here: 

Tracklisting:

1. A Thunder Orchestra - Shall I Do It? (M.W. Edit)
2. Claire - Milk (M.W. Cut)
3. Fishermen - Ribbonfish
4. Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft - Ein Bisschen Krieg (M.W. Cut)
5. Black Seed - Wild Rites
6. Minimal Drums (M.W. Cut)
7. The Mode - Balance (M.W. Cut)
8. Cabaret Voltaire - Automotivation (M.W. Cut)
9. S.M. Nurse - Frutta
10. Ngly - Speechless Tape (M.W. Cut)
11. Kel - Air Walk
12. Liit - Islando
13. Daywalker + Cf - Supersonic Transport
14. X2 - Dresden Sessions - Body Rhythm Science
15. Elec Pt. 1 - Acidmark (Mick Wills Mix)
16. CHBB - Go Go Go ! (M.W. Edit)
17. Cabaret Voltaire - Warm (M.W. Cut)
18. Kirlian Camera - Aura (M.W. Edit)
19. Umberto - La Llorona (M.W. Cut)
20. Nine Circles - Number Not Available (M.W. Extended Version)

Juno Plus Podcast 96: Mick Wills

From a text I wrote about this at the time of its release:

“Dawn” comes. The bass line echoes the melody of “Death Tunnel”, signaling return. Although we are beginning again everything looks, sounds and feels different. We are much stronger now. As the sun comes up and edges begin to become clear again, we drive slowly through the still sleeping city.

Black Meteoric Star - 06. Dawn

As the digits align and we reach our 111th podcast, it gives us great pleasure to welcome Daniele Cosmo into the fold. We’ve become increasingly impressed by Cosmo in his ventures at the helm of Lux Rec, providing the perfect distillation of the decade spanning crossover between vintage technology and new ideas within a rough framework of grubby house and techno. With all the industrial, coldwave and synth-addled influences that feed into the signings to Lux, we felt sure that a mix from the man himself would come up with just as many time-travelling surprises.

As well as curating all things Lux and recently launching the MRT sub-label, Cosmo also turns his hands to production from his Zürich stomping ground. He makes up one half of Savage Grounds with Florin Büchel (also known as CCO), the pair having dropped the Over Fences EP last year. On Lux’s label defining The Dying Lights compilation, he teamed up with Italian producer Luciano Lamanna to whip up “The Darkest Hour”, prompting Oli Warwick to hail the track, “a wonderfully bloated and extravagant celebration of gutter-wave sludge techno.”

The hour-long mix Cosmo submitted is, by his own admission, representative of what you might experience him playing in the club; expect to hear An-i rubbing up against L.I.E.S. artist Slugbug and MRT discovery Tuning Circuits. He was also kind enough to answer in details some questions we had on Zürich, MRT, and some of the lessons he's learned running Lux Rec over the past five years. You can read that here: http://bit.ly/1JA3BgE

Tracklisting:

1. Benedikt Frey - Portal
2. Parrish Smith - Revolution will always be televised
3. Drvg Cvltvre - Running in front of cars
4. Luciano Lamanna & Daniele Cosmo - The Darkest Hour
5. Slugbug - Statues
6. An-i - Save Us
7. Tuning Circuits - No Compassion
8. Echo 106 - Wretched Souls
9. Benedikt Frey - Stereobate
10. Gavin Russom - Telemetry
11. In Aeternam Vale - Valium Water
12. CCO - Pale Distant Lights

Juno Plus Podcast 111: Daniele Cosmo (LUX REC)

Black Meteoric Star is an ongoing experimental performance project of interdisciplinary artist and Voluminous Arts founder Gavilán Rayna Russom. Beginning in 2006, to date the Black Meteoric Star project has included audio recordings, works of visual and graphic art, videos, social media transmissions, live performances, and writing. Black Meteoric Star has released recorded music accompanied by graphic artwork via DFA Records, Nation, Modern Obscure Music, and Voluminous Arts. In addition to presenting performances in clubs and underground art spaces, Black Meteoric Star has appeared at museums, galleries, and festivals, sometimes in collaboration with the artist collective Assume Vivid Astro Focus. In 2017 Black Meteoric Star appeared in, and composed the soundtrack for, Gavilán Rayna Russom's film No More White Presidents.

Black Meteoric Star - 06. Dawn

Black Meteoric Star

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