Our latest mix is from musician CFCF, Mike Silver, who’s recent album Memoryland is a staple at Editorial HQ.  CFCF hones his skill for world-building in his latest release, which serves as a sentimental homage to the 90s intersection of commercial electronica and angsty alt rock. In his Editorial Mag mix, CFCF explores this milieu further, breathy foreign vocals breeze over mid-late 90s vinyl lounge music, taking us into a European internet cafe with bowl sized cappuccinos and beautiful jet-set youth.

@cfcf

CFCF - i regret the jet-set: global lounge 1994-2001

It's a great pleasure to welcome Japanese electronic music stronghold Kaoru Inoue (@kaoru324), also known as Chari Chari and founder of the Seeds And Ground label, to the mix series. Interview (excerpt) down below.

www.musicfrommemory.com

MFM: Welcome on board of the series Kaoru. You're from Japan and are living in Tokyo. Do you find Tokyo, and Japan as whole, a positive place to be at as an artist?

KI: Tokyo is a fascinating city, full of crazy stimuli and exciting noise, but I don’t need it anymore as the years go by, especially after the pandemic. So now I feel like an outsider loving Tokyo and living a quiet life in its suburbs. I think it’s a positive place for artists in the sense that it’s still rich in nature and food, and the population is decreasing, despite having experienced the high economic growth and the high information society, but what we learned again after the pandemic is that government protection policies are fragile. 

MFM: Your musical output as a producer is quite large and rather versatile, from acoustic guitar sessions to more new age like soundscapes to broken beat and deep house. Where does this versatility come from? 

KI: I think it's because I've been deeply committed to music since my teens. From YMO to post-punk, ethnic, rare groove to deep house, I was already looking for and listening to music like a researcher from a young age. So I started DJing naturally as a way to mix and share my records, and my outputs could be a fusion of them. However, so to speak, I’ve been most influenced by the contextuality of House music, and when looking at everything from a bird’s eye view, I can say that my main interest is, in a word, in “Minimalism”.

MFM: Your music -regardless which moniker you use- sounds extremely organic, very earthly but also mystical and sacred. As if it was recorded far deep in nature amongst some indigenous tribe's ritual. Where does this signature sound come from, what are its origins?

KI: My early tunes were strongly influenced by the atmosphere of Bali & Java in Indonesia, where I used to visit in my twenties, and I think it still remains somewhere in me. I also have a cultural anthropological interest in folk or tribal music from all over the world, and I even am influenced by ecological ideas. (In recent years, I’ve been more into traditional & contemporary music from my own country than ever before.) I think that’s why it is.

MFM: Hence your own label's name Seeds And Ground too probably? 

KI: Indeed, and it’s a metaphor for sex and creation.

MFM: How about the instruments? There's guitar, lots and lots of percussion, marimba, field recordings, plenty chords too... Are you a trained musician and do you record all these parts yourself (with the real instruments)? 

KI: I had learnt to play piano as a child and taught myself to play guitar from the age of 13. However, after encountering DJ culture in my early twenties, I quit a band and didn’t play an instrument for a while. So I know a little more about harmony, chords and so on than the average DJ. I’ve also started to play the guitar again a little bit in a few projects since I started producing electronic music, but only in a very specific way. I’ve also recorded with many different musicians so far.

MFM: So, what can you tell about the mix you've made? Did you record it with a certain vibe or theme or purpose in mind?

KI: It’s a rethinking of “New Age”ish or “Obscure”ish music, past and present. Some Japanese music from the 80s and 90s has also been included with respect to Eiji & Norio who compiled “Heisei No Oto”. And two of my recent tracks as Chari Chari are also included.

MFM: By the way, by the look of your shirt you're a Jodorowsky fan? :)

KI: I look up to Jodorowsky as my mentor, especially after reading his autobiography. I got this shirt as a return from the Endless Poetry crowdfunding campaign.

MFM Mix 034: Kaoru Inoue

Last mix of the year 2021 comes from long time friend of the label Alex Ho (@j0-j0armani) out of Los Angeles who has just released his debut album 'Move Through It' with us. Interview (excerpt) down below.

www.musicfrommemory.com

MFM: Hi Alex, you're known for being deeply involved in LA's party scene through your Moony Habits events for quite some years now. How did you roll into the music scene?

AH: Some friends of mine in college were doing parties at this smaller, 200 capacity club in Glendale. I was hanging around these nights, sort of helping out, and eventually decided to do some events of my own at this spot. Eventually I was doing parties at this other place 333Live in DTLA - Prince used to own the spot but then it ended up in the hands of ex-Chinese mafia guys. My last event there, we got shut down because the owners of the venue didn’t have a valid alcohol license and were missing a number of other permits. From there, I just started doing warehouse parties like a lot of other promoter friends were doing, and it became a regular thing. 

MFM: So you've been a promotor and DJ at first, yeah? When came the first steps into producing music?

AH: In college, I learned how to DJ first, yeah. At the time, I had the software for production but didn’t really know what I was doing - still don’t. But I started making some tunes that I actually liked in maybe 2017/2018, and that’s around the time I passed some stuff over to Jamie.  

MFM: Did the Covid situation affect your productivity?

AH: I had my ups and downs with Covid for sure. Isolation didn’t necessarily increase my productivity, it gave me a lot of time to think about my life and I think I just came to the conclusion that I need to be doing more. When Jamie brought up the idea of doing a 7 inch or an album, I didn’t want to just settle for the two songs so I went for the album.      

MFM: On a few songs you've collaborated with other artists too. Those guitar and percussion parts for example. How did that process go?

AH: On those ones I was actually feeling a bit stuck - I knew I had some good ideas but didn’t know where to take them. I passed the sketches to some friends and thankfully they were supportive enough to send back some nice elements that I wouldn’t have been able to produce on my own.  

MFM: What's the story behind the album cover? 

AH: For the cover, Jamie had the idea of using a photo of the city at dusk. I reached out to my friend Kaleb who’s an incredible photographer and he was able to make it happen. We originally had the idea to use a nice, vintage car along with a number of other props in the shot. We got a bunch of different shots on 2 shoots, but ended up narrowing it down to the simpler ones. 

MFM: Is there a masterplan now that you've got your debut LP out? 

AH: No real plan. I just know that I want to make more music. I’ve had a lot of help on this record - from additional instrumentation to extra mixdowns from friends. I want to be able to do it all on my own but still have similar results - I guess that’s a goal, to be a better producer. This doesn’t mean that I don’t want to collaborate with homies - I’ll likely be doing that more as it’s more real and rewarding, and it’s not just one big fantasy in my brain.

MFM: Let's talk about the mix. It actually took a while for you to, as you put it, “get in the DJ mood” and record it. How come? 

AH: It’s not that I need to get in the mood necessarily, I just haven’t been digging or thinking about DJing as much lately. I think a lot of people spent the pandemic/quarantine getting dope records and working on their DJ skills in preparation for this big reopening. And for me, despite being a party promoter, I think I got really comfortable being together with only close people in the last couple of years - being in the party feels a little foreign and crazy to me now. Hoping to catch the party bug again, but I’m trying not to force it!

MFM Mix 035: Alex Ho

Saur

19-year old Toronto based producer Harrison is the newest SoundCloud star to fly under the wing of Ryan Hemsworth and Starslinger. Sample savvy and super smooth, Harrison's beats craft percussive sweetness around playful synths, while his studio smarts have seen him sit comfortably on line-ups alongside the likes of Cashmere Cat, Com Truise, Wave Racer, Purity Ring and John Hopkins. With the release of his album due some time this summer, it's time to get into this exclusive mix. Press play, grab that special someone, and make some sweet summer love. 
https://soundcloud.com/harrison_music

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More music on i-D

Harrison: Music To... Make Summer Love

dl: https://www.dropbox.com/s/90c10w82iisbz80/summer%20plants.mp3?dl=0

Summer Plants

want It

Interview and tracklist: http://www.thefader.com/2017/04/25/fader-mix-harrison

The FADER

FADER Mix: Harrison

@StampTheWax welcomed me onboard their Diggers Directory series and so I put together a selection of music from my travels and from home. I could not be more flattered they asked me and I hope you enjoy :)

Interview: www.stampthewax.com/2018/02/08/diggers-directory-lauren-hansom

I pay my respects to the traditional custodians of this great southern land, the Gadigal of the Eora nation and their Elders past, present and future. I acknowledge their culture and relationship with the land and water. Aboriginal land; always was, always will be.

Stamp The Wax Diggers Directory: Lauren Hansom

For tracklist requests write a comment below and tag https://soundcloud.com/andrepahl

Photo by Dragana/Drug§tore.

Forthcoming in December: Furikuri

Pingipung Podcast 98: André Pahl - Plancton

Hello! A few months back DJ D.DEE put together a mix called "First Thought" for an excellent club called Public Records in NYC. It was nestled tightly on their Patreon until now. Have a listen. We think you'll like it!

Subscribe to their Patreon to unearth other interesting audio and support one of the best clubs on Planet Earth: https://www.patreon.com/publicrecordsnyc

Saur

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