This is a collection of mixes from TJC for your listening pleasure. Always live. Always fire tracks. Enjoy

DJ MIXES

Bliss Point Archive

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,

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

A gentle wind to rap on the shutters, Brooklyn/Los Angeles label Youngbloods present an eccentric morning show featuring ambient, classical, jazz, and experimental selections. This month features special guest The Josh Craig.

http://www.instagram.com/youngbloods___

Youngbloods with The Josh Craig @ The Lot Radio 03-30-2023

The Josh Craig steps up as special guest on Black Rave Culture

http://www.instagram.com/thejoshcraig

Black Rave Culture featuring The Josh Craig @ The Lot Radio 01-14-2024

Recorded live inside Music Bar At En in New York City, The Josh Craig provides a celestial listening experience. In true hi fidelity fashion, En houses vintage turntables, a rotary mixer, Westminster speakers and a Macintosh amp with VU meters flashing all the while guests enjoy the finest Japanese delicacies tapping their feet as the music plays. 

Carrying tradition of the Japanese listening format, founder Reika Alexander is one for quality music that can stand the test of time. With that in mind, The Josh Craig ventured deep into his record collection to create the perfect Jazz soundtrack for the evening. From laid back to upbeat to funk in the trunk, this is a joyous display of appreciation for music. 

In describing the music he says "Soulful live music is Jazz. The tone is the message. 2 hours of some deep cuts that highlight pocket and melody is always well spent with a bag of records I love to get down with. Since the bands featured in these albums were all dressed up on stage, I reached out to Vestium for the 'Electric Blue' suit which is a play on Shades Of Blue album by Madlib." 

(Music Bar At En is located inside En Brasserie at 435 Hudson St, New York, NY)

The Josh Craig @ Music Bar At En 050824 NYC

https://www.instagram.com/thejoshcraig
https://www.instagram.com/photay

Suprise Set: Photay and The Josh Craig @ The Lot Radio 06-02-2024

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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

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

LABEL:
https://blisspointsound.bandcamp.com/music
https://linktr.ee/BlissPoint (EU)

MIX:
@thelotradio every 4th Monday 10-midnight EST

NEWSLETTER:
Mixes and thoughts from NY
https://tinyurl.com/4sm7ck6u