Bliss Point Archive

Ephemera / Tuggle / Max In The World


Bliss Point Resident DJs are Duane Island, Tuggle, Ephemera, and Max In The World

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Bliss Point Resident Mix | March 26, 2021

Hi friends,

This week we have a mix from Sobriety, LYL Radio resident and host of Manifold and WAIFU, a queer + femme party in Tokyo, where she resides. Lately I’ve been getting lost in Sobriety’s LYL residency, The Greater Good, a genreless and consciousness expanded monthly offering, where guest DJs are encouraged to embrace the possibility of sonic landscapes.

When I’m feeling particularly heady I like to imagine my own consciousness as a landscape. It comes to me looking like the cover of Unknown Pleasures: a varied field of sensory data floating forward in time, generated by my body and translated into meaning by some shrouded internal mechanism. You have to wonder what Peter Saville was thinking when he converted a range of radio signals into a data plot for the iconic cover, capturing a chaotic pattern that’s become a ubiquitous image of modern life. The record is amazing but I’m not sure the music sold all those t-shirts!

Any time I’ve taken long stretches of chemical-free living, I’ve been struck by the feeling that the landscape of my everyday consciousness becomes a more exciting thing. Without regular chemical spikes (fun as they are), the amplitudes of daily living grow large, and I find myself riding a range of tiny, unexpected pleasures woven tightly into the fabric of the everyday. It’s a good time! And I like the reminder that sobriety can in fact be quite psychedelic.

A range of unexpected, psychedelic pleasures is exactly what Sobriety provides in her Bliss Point mix. She’s blessed the series with another of her imagined landscapes, unfolding at various speeds over a horizon of 83 unpredictable and deeply enjoyable minutes. It’s my pleasure to welcome her to the series.

Enjoy!
Max

@sobrietymusic

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Sobriety | May 7, 2021

Hi friends,

For many people, myself included, creating something and putting it out into the world is an attempt to kick start a virtuous circle. You work to make something that is meaningful to you, then send it out as far as you can. You hope that if it could provide so much to you, alone here in your apartment, it might be able to do something for someone else. For me this is a beautiful act.

With music, the results of sending out your work are not easily tracked. Besides top cities analytics in the backend of your streaming services, or the names of a few shops your distributor mentioned took your record, it’s not possible to know where your work ended up, or is being played now, if anywhere. The hi-hat you agonized over might be blasting from a pocket Bluetooth in Belarus right now, or it might not. You don’t know!

If you’re lucky, what you’ve made will find a few like-minded people out there and become meaningful to them.  Tiny channels of connectivity opened up between people amid an ocean of noise; positivity that will continue to travel in some form. This is the fuel that powers most creative endeavors. 

As the Bliss Point catalog slowly grew over the past year, I noticed the same profile kept supporting our releases. The avatar was a hand drawn face that reminded me of Tin Tin. Seeing that avatar pop up a fourth or fifth time, I finally dug a bit deeper, and discovered that cartoon face belonged to Ippei, a house DJ in Chiba Prefecture, Japan.

Ippei’s mixes gripped me, nailing hour after hour of impeccable, high energy club journeys. He and his crew have run a regular party, homework, at a number of clubs in and around Tokyo the past few years. Judging from the recordings on the homework Mixcloud, these parties sound very, very good.

I thought right away that Ippei would be a great guest on the Bliss Point series, and I love the contribution he's made. I’ve been unsure what kind of music I want to make next, but in a number of Ippei’s selections here, I’ve found much needed inspiration. The circle forms, the circle grows.


Enjoy,
Max

@hara-ippei

Tracklist:
01. Anther - Lawrence Le Doux
02. Fast Track To Bliss - Tom VR
03. Le Tigre -  Overmono
04. Design Of The Body Sublime - Call Super And Parris
05. Espresso - DJ Plead
06. ALEX (いつまでふたり) - Oyubi
07. Snake Dance - Al Wootton
08. Blitz (Hodge Remix) - Hodge & El-B
09. Ignite - Instinct x 0113
10. Midnight Request Line (Pj Bridger Refix) - Skream
11. Lyrical Tempo - Ghost
12. Back 2 Earth - DJ Swagger, Luz1e
13. People (Original Mix) - Stylistic
14. Untitled - 3 In Key
15. Brothers - Housey Doings
16. Let It Play (Rap Mix) - Bushwacka! Featuring E.Q.
17. Let's Dance - Makesome Breaksome
18. Pocari Sweat (Ft. Borai) - Denham Audio
19. The Rest Is Bullshit, You Know It - Robbenspierre
20. Strontium 90 - Chris Moss Acid
21. Destroy Your Concept - DJ これからの緊急災害
22. Can't You Feel It (Soundbwoy Killah Remix) - Chrissy
23. I Won't Forget - Logic1000
24. Juli - Brand

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Ippei | April 30, 2021

Hi friends,

I’m very excited about our mix today - it comes from Catalina, a DJ hailing from Romania, now based in Brussels. 

Catalina’s propulsive, break heavy and future-focused mixes are an enormously good time. She has a modern digger’s ear for unearthing some of the tastiest club workouts, and remains unafraid of allowing otherworldly sonics to enter from stage left. 

Catalina honed her craft in London, holding court in clubs like XOYO, Corsica Studios and Printworks, as well as community stations Balamii and the late 199radio. Now back in Brussels, she continues her contribution to the vibrant local scene, mixing for Kiosk Radio, the Word, and collectives Club Dramatik, Queer Future, C12 and nacht. In addition to her mixes, Catalina has begun making tracks of her own, the first of which will appear on a Greenpeace x DJs for Climate Action compilation out later this summer. 

Bliss Point is very glad to welcome Catalina to the series with 82 minutes of the DJ and budding producer in top form.

Enjoy,
Max

Tracklist:
PAS1 -- Overpowered
Cabasa -- Al Chase
Masha -- Doris Day
Yaleesa Hall -- Daisy Wright
Mor Elian -- Move Like Atoms
Korzi -- Basmati Bandit
Bolam -- Honeycomb Kiss
Innapau -- Dcassab
Adam Pits -- Variation 2
Lisene -- Mind Palace
Oblique -- Faulty
Rassan -- Rota De Fuga
Briki -- Call from UFO
Awo Ojiji -- Ridicoloum
Billy2Chips -- Trieste

@djcatalina

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Catalina | May 21, 2021

Hi friends,

This week’s Bliss Point mix makes its way to us from Melbourne, Australia, provided by local selector DJ Reg. Reg regularly contributes to Kiss FM with his show contact radio, which effortlessly spans genres and originally caught my ear.

DJ Reg’s Bliss Point mix is quite the journey in just over an hour - he starts off with laidback hip hop and downtempo breakbeat, and seamlessly guides us into the upper regions of club sounds without ever losing the thread. 

It's quite an efficient slice of euphoria, and one you’ll have no problem throwing on for another go. I’m on round three. Chef's kiss.

Enjoy, 
Max

@regcooper

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DJ Reg | June 4, 2021

Hi friends,

Ron Like Hell is my favorite DJ. He's also a truly kind soul, a consistent source of inspiration, and a friend.

I met Ron at the Lot Radio several years ago, during his tenure as buyer at Academy Records. It was almost summer and already hot. I remember seeing a tall figure with a large brimmed hat cutting a dark shape in the sun, like a friendly Jordowosky character arriving with a big bag of records from the horizon of Norman Ave. His set that day was mind expanding for me, psychedelic, jamming and guitar forward, yet revealed almost nothing of the damage he could do to a club system. This is the miracle of Ron's DJing: his uncanny ability to deliver a jaw dropping plethora of sounds, between mixes and within them; to be comfortable in an enormous range of styles, and yet always true to himself. It always sounds like Ron.

Among the club memories that kept me going through 2020 was one of hearing Ron play at Wrecked, the music-first queer dance party he runs with collaborator Ryan Smith, during their Basement residency. It was a slamming journey that kept me dancing into the morning hours (the party goes to at least 6am). Memories of the club's flood lights rushing the darkness periodically throughout the night, revealing the bodies around me, locked with me in sound, became a touchstone of hope in a quiet and difficult year.

Ron approaches a DJ mix as an assemblage, aligning sound with emotion, focusing on texture to create psychedelic soundscapes, imaginative spaces for comfort and surprise spectators with an unexpected crafty transition, many of which you will hear many in his Bliss Point mix - a "light sweat / mushroom tea in the woods" vibe, in Ron's own words. Beyond this mix, you can hear Ron play monthly on his Lot Radio residency, at  the off-the-wall Pride party he will be playing this month, or find him and Ryan on the coveted cover of the latest Love Injection fanzine, celebrating their ten celebrated years as Wrecked.

There's so much I could say about Ron and his work. It's more than I can fit in a newsletter, but when we meet on one of his dance floors, I'll be glad to tell you the rest. For myself and so many other DJs in NY he has been a beacon of passion, professionalism, and a true loving-kindness, the best kept secret you could never keep to yourself. 

Enjoy,
Max

@ronlikehell   

Tracklist:
Mecánica Clásica - Columnas De Agua
NRLSD -He Got Game
Nueen - Hum
Hoshina Anniversary - Michinoku
Spacemen 3 - Hypno-Beat
Angela Werner - I Gotta Little Love (Leo Young's Cosmic Edit)
Naum Gabo - Feln
Clarinets - Afternoon
Don Carlos - Alone (Social Disco Club edit)
YS - Kinetic Love
the Phenomenal Handclap Band - All of the Above (Frisvold & Lindbaek mix)
Spin (aka Groove Armada) - Cowbell Rock
Iglew - Caffeine Dream
Martin Solveig - A Few Words (Of Norway Bootleg)
the Orb - Vuja De (Living City remix)
Fra Lippo Lippi (Til Lippo Lippa edit)

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Ron Like Hell | June 25, 2021

Hi friends,

This week we have a mix from Alyssa Stowers, a NY based DJ who I had the pleasure of sharing a bill with at Secret Friend, a local night run by Noah Prebish and Michael Rudinski. The party was over Memorial Day Weekend, kicking off their monthly residency at Queens club h0l0. It was the first real night out for most of us, and we were doing our best to make sense of suddenly being back, readjusting to the once familiar feeling of other people and a sound system in a darkened club space. 

Alyssa’s set that evening was two hours of deep dug funk and disco gems, full of heart and built with care to please a dance floor. I remember turning to my friends and commenting on how it was exactly the kind of spirit lifting music I’d missed so much, and how pleasant and surreal it was to be back, hearing it loud and with others. The crowd was having a blast, and a number of dancers were keen to ask Alyssa for IDs as she slid records back in their sleeves. Who could blame them?

For her Bliss Point mix, Alyssa has provided us with an hour of meandering soul and laidback, heartfelt song, all supported by tight, percussive grooves. It's a mix that has kept me at the perfect tempo every afternoon this week - I highly recommend taking it for a walk or to the park in these dog days of summer.

Enjoy! 
Max

@alyssastowers

Alyssa Stowers | August 6, 2021

This weeks’ Bliss Point mix comes to us from Igor Dampé, a Belgian producer, DJ and graphic designer whose track “The Earth Prelude” caught my attention, and who was good enough to provided us with an hour of spacious downtempo gems, the perfect requiem for the summer that never was. 

@dampesounds

Tracklist:
Henry Mancini - Lujon
Minor Science - Spoken and Unspoken
Nicolas Jaar - Shame
Igor Dampé - The Earth Prelude
Suzanne Kraft - Renee Sleeping
Yves Tumor - Economy of Freedom
Gacha Bakradze - The Single Hound
Ulwhednar - Midvinter 5
Neel - Life On Laputa Regio
Acronym - Isolated From the Land
Portico Quarter - Ways of Seeing
Asio Otus - Waterdemon
Khotin - Water Soaked In Forever
Turner Street Sounds - Stoned Mix (Midnight T’s Broke Bones Dub)
Stones Taro - Digital Vintage
Breaka - Stretch 130
Pluralist - Gallak
Nuyorican Soul & George Benson - You Can Do It (Baby)
Flying Lotus - Drips / Auntie’s Harp
Age Coin - Damp
PNL - Naha
Eversines - Insanity Is Normal
Ivan Chestopaloff - Seeing (Beyond)

Igor Dampé | September 4, 2020

Hello friends, I write to you from the woods. 

Did you know trees talk to each other? My wife is reading a book called The Hidden Life Of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate - Discoveries From A Secret World, and all week she has been feeding me fascinating tidbits about the quiet but eventful lives trees are leading all around us. So far I’ve learned that they share resources, parent their young, and communicate with each other through vast networks of mushrooms, a conversation I believe I have dropped in on once or twice. 

This week we are are blessed with a mix from Duane Island, a New York producer and DJ whose joyful and uninhibited approach to sampling is on full display in this hourlong venture. Here, as in his edits - which have been praised by Resident Advisor and sport some of the best cover art of 2020 - Duane’s deep love of Italo, trance, and party starter breaks blend into a euphoria that I deeply admire. Easy as it is to forget, chasing moments of elation and escape is among the highest callings and largely what this whole music thing is about.

Enjoy!
Max

@duaneisland

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Tracklist:
Italian Ice - Mars Re-Pumped
Chocolate Bam Boo ‎– Gotta Make A Living
Atlantic Starr - Secret Lovers
Klein & M.B.O. - I Love You
Jaap Eggermont - Formula One
Guitar Interlude
Atahualpa ‎– Toca Las Congas (Mr. Marvin Mix)
Duane Island - Pablo Toto / Watching Guillette Medley
Cosmic - Cosmic Lullaby
Jessica Blue - The Dark of Light x MDMC ‎– How About It (Duane Island We Make Drums Medley)
Giusy Ravizza - Light
Komanoff Brothers - Trust Your Heart
Pepsi & Shirlie - Dreaming
Cetu Javu - Situations (Razormaid Remix) [Duane Island No Vocal Edit]
Cetu Javu - Situations (Razormaid Remix) [Duane Island Chopped n Screwed]
Mr. & Mrs. Dale ‎– It's You (NU Style Mix)
B.W.H. - Stop
Fabrizio Fattori - Babihe
R.E.M. ‎– Computer Communication (Remix)
Judie Tzuke - She Don’t Live Here Anymore
Duane Island Ambient Midi Interlude x Lectroluv ‎– Dream Drums
The New Morning - Anthems
Ann Marie ‎– Just Waiting For You (Bonus Dub)
Chico Hablas - Marguerita
Mi Muchila - Spellbind
BT - Love, Peace And Grease (BT's Puma Fila 7" Mix)
Arlene - Who Will It Be (Dub Mix) (Freestyle Side)
Duane Island - Another Galaxy
Boris - Looprider (Hatchback's Pacific Wind Mix) [Extra Drums]
Duane Island - Voco Slab
Duane Island - Cold Beat
Duane Island - Balearic Blues

Duane Island | July 24, 2020

Hello friends,

I’m excited about this week’s mix. It comes to us from Ani Phoebe, a DJ currently based in Hong Kong, with roots in NYC and home in Rio de Janeiro. Ani’s contribution to our series is a propulsive hour, spanning cultures and rinsed through with emotion - the work of an internationalist in heart and practice. 

Shortly after meeting Ani last summer, she boarded a plane out of New York and entered my life’s Pantheon of Virtual People, where I was treated to fractured moments of her life.  Parties Ani was playing in Berlin melted into the shops of unnamed cities, finally reforming into the streets of Hong Kong, where she has been living since the pandemic began. 

I've developed a strange condition, one which impels me to fill an enormous hole towards the back of my head with the lives of everyone I've ever met. I find this condition mostly painful, but oddly, what this person I’d been introduced to on a Monday night the previous summer was showing me from the other side of the world wasn’t making me feel like shit. Somehow amid the draining minutia it was managing to be positive, to be life affirming. 

Months after the walls of my apartment had closed in on me, it was through Ani’s stories that I saw what seemed like a glimpse of life under COVID beginning to start again. I had no idea what the conditions were like where Ani was, but I knew what I saw. I remember telling a friend, “I know someone in Hong Kong, they’re dancing there…” 

I can’t wait to hear Ani DJ in a proper club once all this is past us. Things are fucked at the moment, but I know I'll get that chance. Until then, we have this mix, which, true to form, is a much needed reminder that there is plenty of life beyond my borders. Seriously, so much life!

Enjoy, 
Max

@aniphoebe

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Tracklist:
3 Men Gone Mad - You Try (mix) 
Marie Touchet - College Infernal (House Infernal Version)
Ma Ritter - Flamenco Rap 
Колибри - Подсолнух
Jacques Default - Calissons D'Aix
brooklyn - car 
Body Party - Muscles/Theme 
Micaela - Si Señor (Running Hot Edit) 
Patrizia Pellegrino - Automaticamore 
Arakatuba - Pelé 
Charanjit Singh - Raga Bhairav
Luci Spectra - elenão (escape from Vice City)
Nsue - Rebelde Silhueta 
Dutch Dream Girls - Finlandia 
Putochinomaricón - Tu No Eres Activista 
Juliana R - Desde que cheguei

Ani Phoebe | August 7, 2020

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Hello friends,

Before I met The Josh Craig I read about him in my local newspaper, a phrase you don’t find too often anymore. 

It wasn’t until several months later, preparing for a release party that would never be, that I met The Man Himself. I’d shown up to Magick City a few days before the party to say hello, and was surprised to find my friend Jakub sitting with TJC on the dance floor. 

Though I hadn’t yet recognized him from the paper, something seemed familiar about Josh. I immediately found him a very comfortable person to be around. All going in the same direction, he Jakub and I left together back towards the center of the neighborhood. 

I sometimes reflect on this particular Wednesday evening,  gliding back up Greenpoint Avenue with like minded people, running into several more friends, feeling at home in my city the way I imagine it was meant to feel: the shopkeepers recognizing me on my way home aren’t shopkeepers at all, they’re DJs, which is funny but no less warm. We stopped in at McDonalds and got McFlurrys. Later on, while booking the summer mixes, I was keen to get The Josh Craig involved. 

Josh’s contribution to the series is a snapshot of an artist in process. My first few times through the mix, I thought I recognized Josh’s voice on a few tracks, only to discover that more than half of the selections are his own outsider deep house, the fruits of a producer comfortable in the emotive, liminal-subspace that is the crux of the genre.

Every time I've listened Josh has pulled me in deeper.

Enjoy!
 Max

Tracklist:
THE HISTORY OF MUSIC - The Josh Craig 
FORIEGNUNDERWORLD - The Josh Craig 
THE OUTCOME - The Josh Craig    
MORETHANEVER - The Josh Craig 
NOTSU - Bolam
 FILTHY ROSES - The Josh Craig 
CENT'ANNI - Phil Moffa 
EPISODE003: GALACTICA99 - The Josh Craig
OMNIA - Akyra
 SEGMENT 04 - The Josh Craig 
BLACK JASPER  - The Josh Craig
 RELEASE - The Josh Craig 
EPISODE002: ENTER THE OTHERS - The Josh Craig
 IM A LAWYER - The Josh Craig 
DUNES OF JAGABAR - Vagara
DONIS’S ACID - Acemo 
INTERNAL CONVERSION - The Josh Craig 
THE ASSEMBLY - JTC
 B.A.T. - TJC vs OG AG 
THOUGHTS OF SCHISM - Solpara 
KARA - HALFBOY
S TRANSPORTER 1 - S Transporter
 LOST WORLD - Charles Trees 
3STRIKELAW - The Josh Craig 
WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING - Shigeto  
FCK THE BELIEFS - Saul Williams       

@thejoshcraig

The Josh Craig | August 21, 2020

Hi friends,

How are things on your end? 

In New York things feel tenuously optimistic. The Met has opened, the parks are still lively, last night I saw live music for the first time in six months.  We’re here another day today, and we deserve as much life as we can get without hurting anyone else, right? Cautiously, cautiously.

This week’s mix is from SPF 50, Stephan Kimbel by another name. SPF 50 is an accomplished producer, a resident of roaming party Bob & Shirley, and has recently launched his Professional Music imprint with MDThie’s Reach, one of my favorites of the year. Crucially, it raises the question: what do you do when you’re not sure if the Samo DJ remix is your favorite track on a record? You buy it!

Stephan and I started our respective labels around the time we met. It’s been invaluable to have a friendly ear to bounce things off of while navigating this new territory - comparing notes on distributors and mastering engineers, pricing, shipping, packaging ethically. Mistakes made, plans for the future. I think this is what community is - it’s trust, collaboration, shared interest. It's invaluable, and am glad to report it has persisted through All This.

Stephan’s contribution to the series was recorded live in studio at Newtown Radio in the peak of August, but for me it’s the perfect soundtrack for entry into the cooler months. It’s emblematic of the kind of DJ I’ve always loved: one that can deepen a mood for an hour plus, sink you until you’re floating alongside them in a vat of slowed time, dancing.

“Sounds like water!” my wife said excitedly just now, hearing Stephan’s lush pads escape from my headphones. She's right!

Enjoy,
Max

@professional_music

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SPF 50 | September 18, 2020

Hi friends,

Last month I was invited by the team over at OnAire to join them for a two hour set at their home and on their Twitch stream. It was a really nice time - I hadn’t recorded a mix since the summer, so it felt great to have a new place for all the Bandcamp purchases I’ve been overspending on lately. The OnAire crew were super welcoming, and the evening ended with homemade fried chicken tacos. 

The result is a freewheeling two hour listen that I’m quite proud of, so I thought I’d share it as my next contribution to the Bliss Point series. Be sure to peep the tracklist for some unreleased gems from the extended Bliss Point family.

By the way, today is Bandcamp Friday, so after you’re done with the mix, you can go purchase your favorites and rest assured that 100% of proceeds will go to the artist/label that made the music possible.

Enjoy!
Max

Tracklist:
James Marrs - Image May Contain (feat. Ju Canon)
Black Mighty Orchestra - Give Me Your Love (Crazy Penis Re-work Instrumental Mix)
Keita Sano - Missing Dub
DJ Harvey - I Want It
Atsushi Yano - Fat Tail
No Smoke - O.A.U In Music
Gerd Janson & Jacques Renault - Just Wanna Pry
Studio Mule - Carnival (Superpitcher Main Mix)
Yukihiro Fukutomi - Feel My Love Vibes (Feel My Love)
Akasha System - Climate Bend
Bawrut - Rumba
Deeper Kenz - CDO Palms
Daniel Stefanik - #six
Jestofunk - Special Love (Soulfuric Special Dub)
Cabin Fever Trax Vol. 34 - Cheryl From The River 
Castillo - Bellisimo
Max In The World - Exodus NY [forthcoming on Bliss Point]
Sentiments - Taken And Handed Back
Franck Roger - La Baraka
Takuya Matsumoto - Be
Fit Of Body - House Music (TWINS edit)
Ase Manual - Lawdaa Mercy
Wa Wu We - Opens The Door
Max In The World - Ah Ha!
Frames - Completely Club Tool
Cleveland - Gamma
Active Surplus - Yaye
Gunnar Haslam - Margareten
Sim Hutchins - Like Herding Cats
SPF 50 - Sumimasen / Track 1
Jori Hulkkonen - (I Got) Pressure Control
Perko - Plover (Perko Remix)
Sentiments - I Like T h a t Bee [forthcoming on Light On Earth]
Ubahnrider - Poppin It Since '86
salute - Fortress
ind_fris - Guitar Under Water

Max In The World | October 2, 2020

Hi friends,

In November, when this kind of thing was still possible, I collaborated with IRL Gallery on a sound installation called Club Chrysalis.

The idea behind Club Chrysalis came to me on the bike ride home from my first visit to the gallery. Upon hearing the formidable sound system owners Chris and Alice had secured for the space, I realized it had been months since I’d experienced the full body sounds - subs, arpeggiators, enveloping pads - that were such a big part of my life before the pandemic. I wondered if the space might offer an opportunity to free these sounds for an evening. I immediately went to work on the piece, which I thought of as a meditation on what might happen to the sounds of the club when the club goes to sleep. 

Without the gravitational center of the dance floor, these sounds are unmoored: kicks and hi hats hit once before floating off, the familiar voices that had sung to us ecstatically appear to be exiting to another dimension. Classic tracks are manipulated to the edge of recognizability, and giants of the form - Theo Parrish, Terre Thaemlitz - offer frank commentary on the club and its music.

There’s a single photo from the evening: pink light colors a foggy room, masked guests are seated in rows, all facing two black monoliths where a deep shade of blue has emerged. It’s clear some kind of ritual is taking place. Listening back, the piece strikes me as an elegy for something deeply loved, a requiem for communal listening, a performance of last rites so something new can emerge. 

I’m very proud of this piece and the collaboration with IRL, and hope to do more like it!

Enjoy,
Max

Club Chrysalis | December 18, 2020

Hi friends,

Yesterday morning, while standing masked on a subway platform with my wife, now in her fifth year in New York, it struck me that she’d endured hardship here, one of the currencies traded by residents of the city. 

Across bars and deli counters most of my life I’ve heard stories of collective shocks (“where were you for Sandy?”) broached less as a point of pride than a yearning to reach over the divide for a moment of urban communion. Like so much in this city, the exchange is not lingered on for a minute too long, but keenly felt. 

This yearning for connection may be a bit stronger in New Yorkers; COVID is a stark illustration that things really can hit harder here. What we endure together tethers us to one another, I think. The trauma is a weight shouldered citywide. 

I admit this is a romantic view of things, but I take no shame in it; the stories we tell ourselves about our place in the universe are as powerful a tool as we have. In a shop window not far from my apartment, a sign hangs - Together We Will See It Through. If I’m living in a fantasy, I’m not alone.

This series, itself an exercise in connectivity, continues with a contribution from MNTY, a DJ who has been making her name with stellar appearances on NTS, The Lot Radio, and Dublab, among others, turning out high quality mixes at a breakneck speed. 

There is a dedication to quality that comes through incredibly strong in MNTY’s work and practice. This particular mix was rerecorded three times before it was up to MNTY’s standard, evidence of a gripping need to do her best work - a need I have a lot of respect for, and which continues to garner her well deserved praise.

MNTY has been on the short list of DJs I’ve hoped to host for some time now. Our first interaction was a series of excited voice notes I sent her, explaining that her recent mixes encapsulated exactly the sonics increasing at the center of this project: chopped breaks, expansive pads, propulsive subs, an ear toward the horizon; exactly the kind of life affirming music I need to pick up the burden of my city and keep going, going, going. 

Enjoy, 
Max

Tracklist:
SW. - ELEctreC
HVL - Lush Breeze
Konduku- Lila
Ebi-San 
BOOF- Butterfly
Priori -Tech Ne (Beta Librae Remix)
D. Tiffany - Low 
Eusebeia - Evolution I
Bliss inc. - Radiant Reality 
Priori - Dreams Of A Digital Sublime (Roza Terenzi Remix)
Two Shell - Touchpad 
Kim English - Learn 2 Luv  Pearson Sound Remix)
Adlas- turn 
Rhyw - Loom High
Skee Mask - Zodiac
Lou Karsh - Extraterrestrial Highway
Blue Hour - Lotus Bells
Shanti Celeste & Saoirse - Solid Maass
Solitary Dancer -Persuasion

@mntymx

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MNTY | October 19, 2020

Hi friends,

This week our mix comes from German DJ, producer, and label head Han Duo, who has delivered a 75 minute journey through the New York of his imagination.

I hear the New York Groove in this mix. It’s a real thing, but now it’s subdued, a quiet energy that propels you forward, a current that carries you through difficult, painful or off-kilter moments, like the extended one we’re in now. Things are dim but I can still feel it, an energy waiting down the steps of my building, a togetherness, alongside me in a greyish cityscape. It’s of me and it keeps me here.

I was impressed Han Duo could glean something of this from Berlin, although maybe it’s not so different in his city. Since connecting via email (how else these days?) we’re shared music, anecdotes, politics, and I’ve learned a bit more about his Enbeezee imprint, to which I will contribute a track next year.

Han’s mix has had a lot of replay value for me these past few weeks, and I hope it does for you as well. Maybe you’ll hear your city too.

Enjoy, 
Max

@hanquadruo
@enbeezee

Tracklist:
John T. Gast – Congress
Kato Wong – Balance
Han Duo – Down with the (unreleased)
Marco Shuttle – Spaziale
Levon Vincent – INVISIBLE BITCHSLAP
Baronhawk Poitier - Gasp & Grasp
Jackie House – Stydive
Sepehr – I Just
Marco Shuttle – Tokyo Aftermath
Microlith – Ostkreuz
Deep88 – Someone’s On The Phone At 3 O’Clock In The Morning
Oni Ayhun – OAR004-A
Ase Manual – NJ Transit
SANSIBAR – Liquid Programming
Yebisu303 – Anatomy I: Electro
Gosub – Tra-Fuse III
Ovatow – Flame

Han Duo | November 13, 2020

Hi friends,

Today I'm pleased to share a mix from Ak:ra, a Barcelona based DJ and Noods Radio radio resident whose monthly Cooking With Ak:ra show has become a favorite of mine.

I love Ak:ra's mixes because no matter the genre, they bounce. Even when leaning into heavier moments, there's always buoyancy - you can tell he's the kind of DJ adept at keeping dancers up on the balls of their feet for much longer than they expect to be.

I first listened to Cooking With Ak:ra while carrying a bunch of laundry back from laundromat on another weekday afternoon, deciding on it after a prolonged dig into my cell phone. I was pulled in more or less immediately. It was a good one, a really good one, with life in it. I remember chuckling. The best music is like a good joke, it's immediate and undeniable, and when I hear it I'm often shaking my head with an incredulous smile, like how 'bout that, can you believe it, they got me again!

I'd really love to see Ak:ra play out sometime, either in my city or at one of his Stop Making Sense parties, once all this is done. Until then, I'll be cooking with him, knowing I can rely on this mix for the laundry, or heading to the post office, or boiling the potatoes, or any of those moments when I'm in search of the good push, the music I've always needed plenty of, now mostly in headphones on the way to the bank but no less at the center of my life.

Enjoy,
Max

@neo-akira

Ak:ra | October 30, 2020

Hi friends,

This week we have a sub / heady mix from NYC based DJ and producer Ephemera, equal parts rude and revelatory.

Ephemera, real name Stewart Whitmarsh, spends most of his time deeply enmeshed in sound. By day, he fixes plugin issues for composers at Spitfire Audio, and by night he co-hosts Ambient Fauna, a bi-monthly genre-less radio show and occasional party, collects field recordings around lesser traveled corners of his city, and produces “in-your-face, emotionally large” electronica of the type you’ll find on his debut on Fixed Rhythms, the label he co-runs. Phew.

Somehow, despite all this movement, Stew remains among the deepest chillers I’ve known. Fixed Rhythms describes his new release as music to which “you can dance hard and fast or find the beats in between and chill on a blunt.” 

I laughed at this because it is really Stew encapsulated - the man adores weed - though to that I would add the integrity, openness and deep thought Stew brings to everything he touches, and the effortless warmth and presence he exudes, all of which I hear in this mix.

Enjoy,
 Max 

@fixedrhythms

Ephemera - HF:
https://ephemeraaa.bandcamp.com/album/hf

Tracklist:
Ephemera - Worms
K-Lone - Sine Language 
Laurel Halo & Hodge - Opal
Zoe Zoe - Church
Throwing Snow - Sanctum 
Bjarki - Bheiv_Sheep
Joy Orbison & Overmono - Bromley 
DJ SWISHA x OSSX - Woldmart
Martyn - One Eye
Skee Mask - Flyboy VR
Peverelist - Roll With The Punches 
Walton - Steppa 
Walton - PMTBM
Kllo - Too Fast 
Physical Therapy - Mischief Maker 
Ephemera - Preserves

Ephemera | December 4, 2020

Hi friends,

I took a short winter break from the newsletter to focus on the release of my latest 12", and to relax. I hope you got some time off, too.

This week we welcome ATripp, real name Aaron Tripp, for a guest mix. Aaron has been a fixture in New York's house + techno community for years now, a friendly face often found at radio stations, label fairs, and all nighters at his fabled former studio / living space on Moffat. 

He co-runs the International Winners label, and is probably the first DJ to release an EP via hotline (no, really: 207-401-4991). Aaron goes deep, and it’s been a pleasure to catch up with him whenever we cross paths.

His mix is an hour plus of lo-fi house goodness, a mélange of club favorites and original MPC productions, both just raucous enough to keep you warm and at home.

Enjoy!
Max

Tracklist:
City Life - Javonntte 
Winter Beach - Ben Christensen 
Rooftop Party - Steve Miggedy Maestro 
Altar II - Compassion Crew
It’ll all be over (DJ Koze Remix) - Gerry Read 
Casanova - Workerz 
Flim Flam - Yellow Sox 
Marvin Dash - Motorcycle 
Generation Next - Ypree 
Chelector (feat Wrong Water) - Flaty 
At Interfaces - Cromie 
Liu Kang Orchestra - B-TRIPPEN (Abelson Live & ATRIPP) 
JKIT - ATRIPP (MPC) 
Down To It - Jacques Renault 
Morning Fever - Ron Trent 
jazz tool - Brain Abelson 
808z - ATRIPP (MPC) 
DJ Dove - Sesame Groove 
Bootleg Bass - Blair Sound Deign 
Monday Funk - ATRIPP 
100 Years - ATRIPP (MPC) 

*MPC= played off MPC on third channel. 

@aaron-tripp

ATripp | February 12, 2020

Hi friends,

I’m excited to share a special contribution to the Bliss Point listening / mix series: a 45 minute sound bath courtesy of Philadelphia artist Saapato.

Saapato is one of a number of projects powered by the insatiable creative appetite of Brendan Principato, a friend and fellow Long Islander who I met while at a record label in North Brooklyn. Brendan worked in the label’s warehouse for a brief period before leaving to focus on his own projects, but not before easily befriending everyone at the company, myself included.

One of the joys of the years I’ve spent working in music has been witnessing the convergence of young artists in the label’s warehouse. Many small labels are made possible by musicians in search of rent, glad to have found a gig that does not follow them home, and which allows them to listen to and talk about music all day. When I had a free minute during the week, I’d make a point to walk over to the other side of Greenpoint to dive into whatever record Brendan and the warehouse manager Jake had on the turntable. I was never disappointed. The best kept secret is the best ears in the operation are usually in the shipping department.

Brendan embodies a contagious positivity, one which manifests itself in his work. Alongside releases with his band Boon, his Saapato project, and on his tape label Glass Orchard, Brendan has spend the past several years offering sound baths at a number of arts and meditation spaces in Brooklyn and Philadelphia. When COVID hit, Brendan transitioned this practice into a virtual format, which for lack of a better term, blew up. Armed with the lush soundscapes he’d been manifesting for years, Brendan offered serenity to a community that badly needed it. As the series grew, Brendan began using it to raise money for worthy causes, generating over $15,000 for Planned Parenthood, Feeding America, Black Lives Matter, Artist Relief Tree, and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund among others.

This week I’m honored to offer a recording of one of those sound baths, a gorgeous sonic journey and a snapshot of an artist hard at work on the project of togetherness through sound, which is, of course, what it’s all about.

Enjoy,
Max

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Saapato | February 26, 2021

Bliss Point is a label, party, and mix series from New York.

LABEL:
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MIX:
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Mixes and thoughts from NY
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