Liquid Lovers Lounge Series *Live on Twitch*

While working this last week I had a continuous playlist on YouTube automatically select the first couple LTJ Bukem's Progression Session mixes. Listening to those mixes again (after a really long time) totally brought me back to that mid to late 90s period when atmospheric (or "intelligent drum & bass" as it was known back then) was really cutting edge stuff. I have such fond memories of that period of time — going record shopping and playing my first big boy raves... Anyway, long story short, that spell of nostalgia made me go digging through my Rekordbox collection for suitable tunes to try to recreate that heady, spacey, blissful vibe on the stream this week, albeit with as current as possible tunes.

A large section of the first hour is all classic sounding atmospheric with that chunky drum programming. Some jazzy and funk-influenced bits thrown in there too... From there it moves into hour two with some drumfunk roller energy before slipping into "endless summer" liquid vibes featuring a nice section of classic amen rollers; some old, some new. I kept playing a bit longer again this week, since my boy Dough who usually follows me was still out of commission. Ended with some of my favorite deep soulful cuts. I had lots of fun playing this week. Big shouts to the LLL chat crew for keeping it lively!

LLL is live on Saturdays, 5pm EST: www.twitch.tv/drcmachina

Liquid Lovers Lounge (EP109|JULY29|2023)

Crammed a range of sounds in this session that's a  bit of a switch up compared to the last couple of weeks. I've been playing on the sunny soulful side of liquid and deep rollers lately, but this week's focus was a bit darker and moodier. Things start off on a melodic and soulful deep liquid roller tip before switching gears about halfway into some euphoric trance-y and techy big room rollers. I was trying to ride a line between big room liquid, dancefloor dnb and rollers with a touch of neuro and I feel like it mostly worked out. There's some tracks I tried to play that I hadn't familiarized myself with beforehand so the energy level management for the 2nd half of the set was perhaps not as great as I would have liked, but it was still cool to get into that groove and mash some basslines together.

Big shouts to my loyal LLL crew, big up yourselves 👊🏽 Had some  great fun kicking it with you in the chat

LLL is live on Saturdays 5pm ET: www.twitch.tv/drcmachina

Liquid Lovers Lounge (EP110|AUG05|2023)

It felt good to be back behind the wheels this week after an extremely hectic work week for me. One bonus result of having to skip last week's stream is that I had amassed an extra fat stack of new music. The downside of that is the feared "paralysis of choice" scenario where I start second guessing what to play and risk sounding unfocused. To counteract that I tried to stick to my classic formula of deeper organic feelgood liquid bops in the first hour, and moving into the darker tech synth material after the halfway point. I think it  worked out pretty good in the end. Great times hanging with the homies in the chat. 

S/O if you came through, see you next week at 5pm EST live on Twitch for EP112: www.twitch.tv/drcmachina

Liquid Lovers Lounge (EP111|AUG19|2023)

This one's kind of a "everything but the kitchen sink" session. There's atmospheric, jazzy liquid, soulful liquid, amen rollers, dub ragga rollers, jungle, minimal tech rollers, sci-fi liquid rollers... Big shouts to all the homies who pulled up. I was feeling the love and quite enjoyed this sesh even if some parts were not as technically perfect as I would have wanted. There's always next week 💜

Liquid Lovers Lounge is live on Saturdays at 5pm EDT: www.twitch.tv/drcmachina

Liquid Lovers Lounge (EP112|AUG26|2023)

Constantly on a quest to showcase the musical side of drum & bass, these sets are primarily a way for me to be as self-indulgent as I chose to be with my selections. The fact that people tune in live (or catch this recording on soundcloud the next day) to see me sink or swim every week is an added bonus. This week we got some feelgood soulful stuff in the front half of the first hour, vocal rollers and summer strummers that flow right into some more driving rollers of the uptempo and uplifting dancefloor variety. Things get a bit darker in the 2nd hour with some classic personal picks in the mix before moving into some minimal sci-fi tech vibes towards the end. Considering how little time I had to sort through my new promos and Bandcamp releases this week, I was pretty stoked on how it all flowed (I think?). Big shouts to my loyal crew, kicking it in the chat today. Big ups!

Liquid Lovers Lounge is live on Saturdays at 5pm EDT: www.twitch.tv/drcmachina

Liquid Lovers Lounge (EP113|SEPT02|2023)

Besides all the new music that came out this week, I went deep into the LLL archives to find older tracks I've played on the stream before but for some reason I never revisited or put more widely into rotation. There's definitely a few gems in there I was able to slip into the mix. EP114 covers some ground starting on a deep and melodic soulful liquid note and expanding on that over the first 45 min to an hour when things get a bit more bassline driven. We move into minimal and dubby tech roller territory at the start of hour 2 into some darker rollers and some big room vocal numbers. For the last 30 we dip back down into some sci-fi and futuristic soul rollers till the end.

I was quite happy to be back after being away for a week. Music is forever therapeutic and spending time sharing it with friends is always a double win. Join us live at 5pm EST on Twitch for some chill Saturday sessions: www.twitch.tv/drcmachina

Liquid Lovers Lounge (EP114|SEPT16|2023)

You would think that after going to a Sub Focus show like I did Friday, I'd be pumped to play some "dancefloor" DNB, but in reality kinda the opposite happened. I played way more minimal tech rollers and dubby rollers in this sesh than I usually do. I started with some deep and liquid soul vibes and moved into some minimal things about 45 minutes in and cycled through some different energy tech and sci-fi-liquid choons with a touch of austere ragga rollers. Fun sesh with an active chat today, some of my besties were dropping bits and buying Gift Sub Packs to my channel. I was definitely feeling the love — 2 hours seriously just flew buy. Big shouts to the homies for the support and see you for the next Twitch session.

Liquid Lovers lounge with ya boy on the controls goes live at 5pm on Saturday (except the next one when I have to attend a friend's wedding): www.twitch.tv/drcmachina

Liquid Lovers Lounge (EP115|SEPT23|2023)

I played some tunes and blended them together in a certain sequence for 2 hours while streaming it live on the internet, and some people tuned in for it. This is the recording of that. See you next week perhaps when I'll do the same thing again.

Saturdays @ 5pm EST: www.twitch.tv/drcmachina

Liquid Lovers Lounge (EP116|OCT07|2023)

Wide range of sounds on display in this session; from the head-nodding hip hop and soul influenced deeper beats at the start, to angular minimal tech stuff, to tech rollers, vocal sci-fi rollers, some neuro tech classics in the 2nd hour and quite a bit of new stuff that just came out or is forthcoming soon. Bit of a rough start on my end because I felt rushed getting the stream set up and running, but I feel like I was able to recover and still laid down a set I was pretty happy with overall.

S/O to all my LLL people in the chat — see you next time!
www.twitch.tv/drcmachina

Liquid Lovers Lounge (EP117|OCT14|2023)

2 hour Sunday session to make up for missing my Saturday stream. I tried to cycle through a few  flavors of vibey drum'n bass, starting off with some spacey bassline driven liquid at the start, then dipping into some deeper cuts for the first hour. The beginning of the second hour is mostly techy and minimal rollers before moving into some wonky rollers and ending with some jungle-tinted numbers. Glad I decided to fit this sesh in!

Holler at me if you need track IDs, and don't forget to smash that repost if you dig the sounds. Big up!

LLL is live on Saturdays at 5pm EST: www.twitch.tv/drcmachina

Liquid Lovers Lounge (EP118|OCT29|2023)

After a super hectic work week I had very little time to prep for this session so I was a little iffy as to how things would work out for this recording. I've become a bit obsessed with always playing new music and keeping the right pacing and the flow of a mix according to my own standards. Sometimes I forget that it's fun as a DJ to just kind of let loose and rely on what you know and go with it. At the moment I haven't listened back to this session yet, but I was having fun while playing. Sometimes that's really what matters most.

Liquid Lovers Lounge | Livestream on Saturdays 5pm EST: www.twitch.tv/drcmachina

Liquid Lovers Lounge (EP119|NOV04|2023)

For this cold and rainy Saturday session I wanted to aim for some classic sounding liquid. Funky rubber band basslines, horns and chunky drums. Soul and jazz samples and groovy vocals. I had a handful of new gems I wanted to drop for sure and I dug up a whole bunch more from my archives to refresh my playlists. LLL EP120 ended up turning into one of my favorite streams in a while. The energy in the chat was amazing with the usual LLL crew and some VIP drop-ins really making for a memorable live session. S/O to all who came through and for the continued support. Big up!

LLL is live on Saturdays at www.twitch.tv/drcmachina

Liquid Lovers Lounge (EP120|NOV11|2023)

Last show before the holidays was a pretty chill affair. Kind of a grab bag of sounds within this installment of LLL. There's melodic deep and soulful, there's jazzy/funky liquid, deep rollers, vocal rollers, minimal tech stuff. LLL crew was reppin in the chat. The set ran a little longer than usual but still went by quicker than expected. Good times.

Liquid Lovers Lounge on Twitch every Saturday 5pm EST: www.twitch.tv/drcmachina

Liquid Lovers Lounge (EP121|NOV18|2023)

A last minute change of plans made it to where I didn't have to cancel this session, and I'm so so glad about that. It was a tense few hours of scrambling to refresh my playlists in time to go live by 5, but once I was in the mix everything felt right with the world. I anticipated the chat to be a bit sparse on account of a championship football game playing out at the same time as the stream. In all honestly the heads that did show up are the same die hard peeps who come through for me every week, ready to vibe out for the duration of the sesh. My true ride or dies. Shoutout to my LLL fam for making this session fly by in no time with all the emote cheers and bit contributions. You know who you are. Big up!

Liquid Lovers Lounge is live on Saturdays at 5pm EST: www.twitch.tv/drcmachina

Holler at me if you need track IDs, don't forget to hit that like/reshare button to spread the good word of drum'nbass music!

Liquid Lovers Lounge (EP122|DEC02|2023)

First stream of the year was dope. After taking December off for work and holiday season obligations, I was way ready to get back into things and showed up with a fat stack of tunes. I tried to cover the gamut of sounds from deep to soul to tech with a spot of dirtier dancefloor stuff during peak hour time. Lots of homies came through and the vibe in the chat was very lively. Much love to friends and fam, it felt good to be back. Big up LLL crew!

Liquid Lovers Lounge is live on Saturdays @ 5pm EST: www.twitch.tv/drcmachina

Liquid Lovers Lounge (EP123|JAN06|2024)

This week I announced that Liquid Lovers Lounge would cease to exist as a weekly stream, and moving to a monthly format instead. While this is certainly not the end by any means, it definitely marks the end of an era of sorts. When I started LLL as a weekly stream in early 2021, we were all still navigating pandemic times. Like most other DJs, it became the way for me to share music and connect with friends and fans during the uncertain times of social distancing and no live gigs. It was something I looked forward to doing every week as part of a very grounding routine and creative outlet. Lifelong friendships were forged and loyal contacts cemented inside that chat room over that period of time.

We're now quite removed from that. We've all since largely moved on with our collective lives. We're not spending as much time glued to our devices looking for entertainment anymore. I'm playing IRL DJ gigs, we're all attending real shows. In that context it makes sense for me to dial back the frequency of these streams.

Vetting that much new music every week, curating playlists, digging for music on a daily basis... as much as I love doing it, it's extremely time-consuming. My day job has very demanding hours. I've also set some personal work-related aspirational goals that will consume even more hours per week. In order to maintain a proper life/work/creative balance I had to rethink things. This was a tough but necessary decision to make.

Liquid Lovers Lounge is returning in February as a monthly stream and mix upload. Obviously, you can expect the same commitment to quality on my end. I'd like to thank everyone who's tuned in, listened, liked, shared and otherwise supported my content week in and week out. I hope you continue to do so. S/O to all the homies who've been sending me tunes, keep 'em coming ;)

Big up LLL Fam! Much love 🖤

- Darcy

Liquid Lovers Lounge (EP124|JAN13|2024)

It felt great to be back for the February installment of Liquid Lovers Lounge. I've missed hanging with the crew every week and as always it was all vibes in the chat with the homies. I kicked things off on a soulful tip, veered into rolling tech soul territory and into some  rollers for the 2nd hour,  before bringing the vibe back to some vibey futuristic soul at the end.

As always, holler at me if you need IDs, I'll do my best to respond quickly.

See you guys in March for the next episode!

Liquid Lovers Lounge (EP125|FEB10|2024)

Despite the disappointment of having to reschedule the return of LLL as a monthly stream for a couple of weeks, I could not be happier with how this session went down. The chat was thick with positive vibes and the LLL fam was reppin in full force. At the time of this writing I have yet to listen back to the full set but I felt pretty happy with how it was all coming together. Lots of new stuff in the mix with a couple of classics in there. Pretty wide range of sounds , but the overall feeling I was shooting for was just positive, upbeat and fun and by the end of it I was feeling like I had succeeded in that. Always thankful to my friends for spending this time with me. I was definitely reminded how much I miss hanging with the crew. Keep an eye on my socials for an announcement about EP127 once I take a look at my calendar. Hope to see you in the chat!

Liquid Lovers Lounge (EP126|MAR23|2024)

It's been a pretty busy month of gigs for me, but it's always a good time returning to the stream to hang out and vibe with old friends. Bonus level, I get to play all the music I don't get to play out all that much to IRL dancefloors! It being 4/20 and all I'm sure many people had Saturday plans, so it was kind of a low key affair, but the core group of the LLL fam were still present in the chat. I opted for a deep heady vibe in the first hour and brought up the energy in the second hour with some dancefloor and big room rollers into some minimal tech stuff and finally into some futuristic R&B style vocal rollers at the end. Good times were had for sure and I always appreciate the support.

Keep an eye on my socials for an announcement about when I'm streaming next. If you dig this content, hit the "like" and "share" buttons to pass it to a friend. BIG UP!

Liquid Lovers Lounge (EP127|APR20|2024)

Even though I have yet to listen to this session myself at the time of this writing, I'll go ahead and apologize if you hear a couple of train wrecks. I didn't let on when I was mixing live but I was having some severe technical issues with Rekordbox glitching out on my MacBook Pro. I'd have 2 records perfectly locked into the mix and they would inexplicably skip. I couldn't figure it out and rather than stopping the stream, rebooting and killing the vibe I opted to keep going. I'm still choosing to upload this mix with errors and all because I feel like there's some good music on here.  Might change my mind after I listen back and it's actually horrible lmao, so enjoy while you can I guess? I swear I can mix guys! 😁

Shoutout to the homies who came through, thanks for vibin with me and for the bits and subs 🖤

See you guys next month. Follow me here for the live sesh: www.twitch.tv/drcmachina

Liquid Lovers Lounge (EP128|MAY18|2024)

Liquid Lovers Lounge livestream on Twitch. 2 hours of liquid rollers + minimal tech + other vibey drum'nbass: www.twitch.tv/drcmachina. Check socials for schedule 

D:RC came up DJing (mostly drum'nbass) in the mid-90s while attending the University of Georgia in Athens, Ga. As founding member of the local Phungus, Playtheavy and Sleuth Empire crews he found himself at the center of a burgeoning rave scene, collaborating with friends on dance music events in the Athens/Atlanta areas and beyond.

In 2004 he founded Studio:Machina, a graphic design practice geared towards the music industry. Building on his behind the scenes expertise and keen artistic instincts he's become an in-demand contributor on artistic projects in a variety of media. He's toured the US as member of the Smookie Illson bass music trio, serves as creative director for the Chicago-based Illeven:Eleven Recordings label and functions as brand/art director of several nightlife concepts. 

Behind the decks he currently heavily favors the sounds of DNB, but brief forays into breakbeat, house, UK Garage + Bass and dubstep are not uncommon. Get to know.