Please meet London based DJ and producer, former Cafe Del Mar resident, and our long time close friend Phil Mison (@cantomamusic). Interview (excerpt) down below.

www.musicfrommemory.com

MFM: Hi Phil, many know you as one of the DJ's who has played all the best sunset spots across the globe. How did your summer look this year, still been scoring sunsets here and there?

PM: My summer was great. I travelled to Amsterdam, Cork, Copenhagen and Barcelona and had some nice gigs in the UK. My friend Deke has opened a bar on the seafront in Margate, you get pretty epic sunsets down there. I played a few records one evening and managed to fit in a few old cafe classics as the sun disappeared into the sea. 

MFM: Please tell us a bit about how it all started for you?

PM: I grew up in the 70’s, so there were quite a few different influences. David Bowie ‘Life On Mars’ was an early memory, and I was obsessed with Blondie. Parallel lines was the first album I bought. Later it was Northern Soul, Electro, nothing really that mellow! In 87 I met a couple of people who were really into House. I started going to groove records in soho to buy records like Adonis - No Way Back, Ten City - Devotion. Then as 88 rolled around I got into the more Balearic side of things. Later in 89 I’d pop into Reckless Records for second hand stuff and started to browse the New Age section where I got things like Kitaro  ‘Tunhuang’ and Paul Greaver ‘Joy’. Those records were the starting point really. 

MFM: DJing in clubs to make people dance never really attracted you?

PM: I’d say pretty much most of my DJing has been in clubs. I started at the Milk Bar in Soho in 1992 after giving Darren Emerson a tape. Even though I was doing the warm up and playing mellow stuff at the beginning, you had to build it up to a full dance floor by the end. In 1996 and 2000 I was the tour DJ for Lefttfield, playing in front of 1000 odd people. ‘Just get it going before we come on!’ Alongside Ross Allen and Rob Da Bank, I was resident at Bar Rhumba for our Next Level night in 1997. It lasted a year and we opened with Harvey and closed with Andrew Weatherall. I Have to mention Moonboots and Jason Boardman’s night Aficionado too. I always enjoyed playing to a dancefloor there, they’ve kept the Balearic flag flying since 1998. 

MFM: At what point did you got into making music on your own? 

PM: I’d worked on a project for Kenneth Bager in 1994. Then later on he started his Music For Dreams Label, and asked me if I would be interested in making an album.  So the first Cantoma album was started in Copenhagen in 1999, and finished in London in 2003. 

MFM: How do you come up with a new song, is there a certain Phil Mison way to it? Do you write the parts for the musicians?

PM: It usually starts with an idea that pops into my head. Sometimes a memory or travelling will get a melody going, and I’ll sometimes hum it into my phone and use that as a starting point. Ive worked with Engineer/Producer Robin Twelftree on all the Cantoma albums. I’ll go into Robin’s studio and usually start with some basic keyboards, then I’ll play a bassline in. I’ll take the demos away and think about what would work on the tracks. For some musicians the music is written down. Ive worked with Robin Lee from Faze Action on a few Cantoma tunes, and he usually transcribes my basic melodies onto sheet music. Other times I’ll play the melodies on a keyboard or hum the tunes for the musicians to follow along to. On some tracks I’ll write the lyrics too and get a singer to record on a track. There’s a lot of going back and forth until I’m happy with the final cut. The music rarely ends up sounding like the first version.

MFM: Making a mix must have been a piece of cake for you :) What is this mix like?

PM: I went back through my 92-94 selection and picked a selection of the lesser played records. Memories of magic times at the Milk Bar and warm summer evenings at the Cafe del mar.

MFM Mix 044: Phil Mison

Lovefingers from the Sunrise Session at Love International 2022.

Love International returns in 2023 from July 12th - 18th, tickets available now at: www.loveinternationalfestival.com/

Live from the Adriatic 2022: Lovefingers

Luke Una live from The Beach Stage at Love International 2023.

Live from the Adriatic 2023: Luke Una

NIKS live from The Beach Stage at Love International 2023.

Live from the Adriatic 2023: NIKS

At Field Maneuvers 2023, Optimo (Espacio) played the final set in the Sputnik tent as part of the Watching Trees takeover. "We expected everyone to be on their final reserves of energy," they said. "But it was instantly apparent that there was electric energy in the tent. It ended up being one of the most joyous, life-affirming gigs of [the year]."

@optimo-music @fieldmaneuvers

Find out more about Field Maneuvers 2024: https://ra.co/news/80472

RA Live - Optimo (Espacio) - Field Maneuvers, UK

J D Twitch in the pocket for Sameheads resident party Perfumed Garden --- 

Put ogether by honey bunnys Bad Boy Baader & Electric Evelyn.

Cheers Keith x

Basement Parties

J D Twitch (Optimo) - Perfumed Garden @ Sameheads 19.04.24

The breezy sound of the Canadian Riviera, from Mood Hut's Pender Street Steppers.  
Find the full tracklist and related episodes on NTS: https://www.nts.live/shows/pender-street-steppers/episodes/pender-street-steppers-19th-august-2025

Pender Street Steppers 190825

The second volume of Invisible Inc’s 10-year anniversary celebrations has landed, hot on the heels of the scorching first volume.

Where Volume 1 focussed on the dub-style, electronic and ambient side of the label’s output, the second volume leans towards the ‘psych’ side of the label.

As has been a consistent pattern with the label in its decade of existence is its ethos of releasing new and exclusive tracks as well as releasing on vinyl pre-existing tracks that only ever saw the light of day in the digital realm. This compilation is no different. Alongside exclusive new material from Anna vs June, E Ruscha V, Banda Magnética, Exotic Gardens, Kanot and a Coyote remix of Sordid Sound System we also have for the first time on vinyl two tracks by Hena and Futurum that went somewhat under the radar first time round and really deserved to be shared with the wider world.

Three vinyl edits are also available as bonus tracks when downloading the whole album:
Hena - Nuan (Vinyl Edit) 6:06
Sordid Sound System - Gimme Fever (Coyote Remix) (Vinyl Edit) 5:38
Kanot - After Age (Vinyl Edit) 4:58

Hena is Ukrainian producer Volodymyr Gnatenko. I first heard "Nuan" in a mix by Andrea Ida & immediately needed to know what it was. Pure peyote-powered desert music that went under the radar and needed to be heard by more!

"Is It Balearic?" label boss Coyote does the honours and remixes the title track from Sordid Sound System's "Gimme Fever" LP turning it into a hypnotic acid dub mantra.

Swedish duo Kanot are Anton Kolbe (Tross) and Jesper Jarold (Fontän) joining forces to make dreamrock for psychonauts.

Also from Sweden are Futurum who sent me a promo of "Prado" over two years ago. A regular feature in my warm-up DJ sets, it's well overdue it being pressed up on wax!

Exotic Gardens is the alias of Peaking Lights' Aaron Coyes through which he finds a space for acidic experimentation enhanced by live dubstyle mixer operations.

LA-resident Eddie Ruscha, a frequent visitor to the label under his cosmic Secret Circuit alias, appears for the first time under his experimental ambient E Ruscha V moniker.

Banda Magnética is the brainchild of Hugo Capablanca (Discos Capablanca) & Borja Caro (Metametal) offering a mindpuzzler of improvised musique concrète.

Athens-based Anna vs June returns to the fold and closes the proceedings with a song of love, relationships, vulnerability and patience drenched in dreamy electronics.

BUY/LISTEN

INVINC 40LPS Resonance: 10 Years Of Psychedelic Sounds From The Soul Of Invisible Inc [clips]

Kim Carnes :: Bette Davis Eyes The Remixes :: DSR001

Kim Carnes - Bette Davis Eyes (Cormac & Chinaski Remix)

The breezy sound of the Canadian Riviera, from Mood Hut's Pender Street Steppers.  
Find the full tracklist and related episodes on NTS: https://www.nts.live/shows/pender-street-steppers/episodes/pender-street-steppers-14th-october-2025

Pender Street Steppers w/ 22gsn 141025

Features a sample of the Rumi poem, "The Guest House", as read by Dennis O'Connor.

01 ASOK, "Information None"
02 Frederick, "What Can I Be"
03 Freaks, "Instrument" (unreleased 1999 edit)
04 Brian Ring, "Come Out Of Your Comfort Zone"
05 Chez Damier, ??? (unauthorized bootleg edit)
06 Savile, "1pm Morning"
07 Achterbahn D'Amour, "Trance Me Up (I Wanna Go Higher)"
08 Rahaan, "Dirty Boyz"
09 The Hard Hats, "Tear Down The House!" (Wrecking Crew Mix)
10 Stress, "Tear It Down"
11 PBR Streetgang/X-Press 2, "Cosine" (A Sagittariun Futuro Re-Dream)
12 Trackman, "Four"
13 Tom Trago, "Avenido" (Young Marco remix)
14 The Citizen's Band, "Smalltown Blues"
15 Fresh & Low, "Seven Miles Up"
16 Terre Thaemlitz, "Hobo Train"
17 Nightlife Unlimited, "Disco Choo Choo" (Scratchandsniff re-rub)
18 Truth Is Light, "Potential"
19 DJ Nasty, "Aphrodisiac"
20 Black Science Orchestra, "Headspace Lullaby (Part 2)"
21 Schatrax, "Get It Right"
22 Shanti Celeste, "Strung Up"
23 Basses Terres, "Until I Am Gone"


GUEST HOUSE

Nov. 1 @ Hell In Paradise (TBA)
Nov. 6 @ Buvette chez Simone
Nov. 16 @ Aloha Verdun (Palco)
Nov. 23 @ Buvette chez Simone
Nov. 29 @ Hell In Paradise x Chambre Noire (TBA)
Dec. 4 at Buvette chez Simone
Dec. 19 @ Bar de Courcelle
Dec. 20 @ Buvette chez Simone
Dec. 27 @ Club Pelicano
Jan. 3 @ Buvette chez Simone
Jan. 11 @ Aloha Verdun (Palco)
Feb. 1 @ Hell In Paradise with Traxx (TBA)
Feb. 8 @ Buvette chez Simone
Feb. 21 @ Bar de Courcelle
Feb. 28 @ Palco
Mar. 6 @ Buvette chez Simone
Mar. 19 @ VanLife MTL opening
Mar. 21 @ Palco
Mar. 29 @ Salon Daomé with Christian Pronovost
Apr. 9 @ Bar de Courcelle
May 7 @ Club Pelicano
May 23 @ Barbossa 

Booking: faulkner.erik@gmail.com

GUEST HOUSE

Erik Faulkner (Hell In Paradise)