Any clues on this one @organicchee? Beautiful.

Smooth jazz

Up for the 27th installment in our mix series is dear friend and colleague Kennedy (@kennedyams) who's a keen member of the MFM crew and recently started his own label Dream Machine. Interview (excerpt) down below.

www.musicfrommemory.com

MFM: Hey Nick seemed like a good time to finally get you to introduce yourself and join our mix series since you’ve been helping with MFM a while now. Can you let everyone know a bit more about yourself?

K: Hey hey. Thanks for the opportunity :) So, I live in Amsterdam where my life is (and always has been) centered around music. I've been helping out at MFM for some years now and besides that I have my studio that I religiously visit 3 days a week. In a normal world you'd also find me working at Red Light Records once a week and playing shows on the weekends where they'd have me.

MFM: You’re also working on your own productions, can you tell us a little more about your own music?

K: So it had always been a dream to release my own music on vinyl and after messing around for over 10 years the time felt right and I recently realized my own label Dream Machine. Both musically as aesthetically the idea was for each release to reflect a dream but in tangible form. As I tried to put it into words it is “A series of thoughts, sensations and sounds occurring from a person's mind, translated by machines”, and it really is just that. 

MFM: How has the situation affected your productivity with making dance music?

K: A bit double to be honest. Of course I've had my rough times, which can be frustrating. Quite often I wasn't feeling motivated or inspired at all, the purpose felt a bit misplaced or something like that... On the other hand and above all I felt relatively lucky to be able to go leave the house and get lost in the studio. Having the luxury to escape to a creative environment surely helped keeping calm. Eventually it did result in Dream 1 being released and with Dream 2 coming up.

MFM: What would you say does inspire your music? Is it very process based through jamming and so on or do you start with ideas and try and see where that takes you?

K: For me inspiration goes hand in hand with motivation, it's all very much based on how I feel. I don't work well at night for example, daylight is my natural battery. And anything can be a source of inspiration really. Often an idea comes to mind when walking through the park on my way to the studio, listening to music or just wandering off. A melody, a chord, something rhythmical, a vibe... Depending on what idea it brings I choose an instrument or tool and go from there. Mostly through jamming yes, and then see where the machines take me. 

MFM: What would be some ways you would like to see the world of dance music evolve and grow now we’ve all had a moment to pause and reflect?

K: I actually would rather see it all take a couple steps back first. It would be nice if (dance) music gets acknowledged and valued as an essential form of art more. Music really unites and it needs proper breeding grounds for people, free from any social, economical, racial or whatever context to express, connect, create, collaborate, learn, etc. It's essential, and it should be treated and used as such (not in the last place also by governments), with more care, necessity and sustainability. 

MFM: Tell us more about the mix and what vibe you were trying to bring here?

K: I sort of tried to reflect my perception of this recent change in life. As a big fan of Lonnie Liston Smith (and The Cosmic Echoes) the song 'Visions Of A New World' first came to mind and I just took it from there. If you're in for an atmospheric laid back magic carpet ride with lots of percussion, spiritual jazz, ambient techno and forest sounds, this is for you :)

MFM Mix 027: Kennedy

Ben Fester - PN 116

Isolée - Initiate 2 
Soylent Green - After All 
C-Rock – Night Falls 
Whirlpool Productions – Nothing 
Frankie Patella – Sunshine 
Jürgen Paape – Triumph 2 
Marvin Dash - Small's Paradise 
Der Marschall & Herb LF - Rizzla Tune 
Hair - Blances 
Random Factor – Broken Mirror (Italo) 
Hair – Polykur 
System 360 – Canon 
Losoul - Ex.or.zis.mus One + Hans Nieswandt - Freakapella

Hausmusik 29 (1998)

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

Amsterdam selector Orpheu The Wizard connects oddball and straight forward jams from different decades and different record shelves in a monthly two hour show.

https://www.nts.live/shows/orpheu-the-wizard/episodes/orpheu-the-wizard-19th-august-2022

Orpheu The Wizard 190822

Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about the spiritual end of the jazz spectrum and what collectivized forms of knowledge it contains. After playing a lot of these records at our local hifi bar, Little Jerry, I thought I’d put together a mix of some favourites from across decades and continents -- sounds from the UK, Finland, Sweden, and of course the US. From the early ‘70s right up to last year.

Image: Douglas R. Ewart's Eric Dolphy Sonic Dread, 2017

Séance Centre Radio Episode 57 - Notes on the Spiritual Jazz Continuum

NO WEAPON IS ABSOLUTE - Interstellar Funk - 05-04-2023 - NTS 2

Arohanui Recordings - August 20th 2023

Chee Shimizu - Guest Mix

ALONA K INDIA

Fragments Of Delta

Embers Of Yesterday

Hdsp : Embers Of Yesterday

Jazzopédie is a new jazz mix series curated by Vallès in collaboration with the talented painter Carlos Herraiz for Stepbystep Collective.


☞ Stepbystep Collective
 
stepbystepcollective.com
facebook.com/stepbystepcollective
instagram.com/sbscollective

☞ Vallès                         

facebook.com/vallesmusique
instagram.com/vallesmusique

☞ Carlos Herraiz
            
caroloherraiz.tumblr.com
instagram.com/carlosherraiz


Painting by Carlos Herraiz.


Jazzopédie | 1

Saulk channels his eclectic taste spanning “chic’n’dark electro-funk, avantgarde and 90s ambient style” into 3 distinct labels: Mélodies Souterraines, Musiques Electroniques Actuelles & Hybride Sentimento. Preview ‘La Passion Du Bourdon’ (bit.ly/2Rz502k) - the anonymous release from parent-label/manufacturer Late-Night Rec. Highly Recommended -->  (http://melodiessouterraines.bandcamp.com)

Saulk Regurk (Mélodies Souterraines) - SANPO 133

The sound of a saxophone coming through the open window. A warm morning breeze comes along. The candles went out hours ago but the odour has not left the room. An open city map lies on a table in the darker part of the room, next to a book about romanticism. Is it sunday yet?
Welcome to the room of Daniel - collector of romantic moments on record. If this breeze feels right you should check out the forthcoming album of Daniels band Unhappybirthday here: https://orcd.co/unhappybirthday

Daniel Jahn - The Green Ray (Guest Mix, 2020)

Julien Dechery & Ivan Liechti played Lossless. 
@thesorrowandthepita
@ivan41

Blueboy - Nimbus
The American Analog Set - Waking Up Is Hard To Do
Trembling Blue Stars - A Single Kiss
Northern Picture Library - Love Song For The Dead Che #2
Mojave 3 - You're Beautiful
Jessica Pratt - Aeroplane
The Shapiros - Gone By Fall
Lush - Scarlet (Long Version)
The Autocollants - Send Me Back
Sun Dial - Tremelo
His Name Is Alive - Underwater
Labradford - C. Of People
Spiritualized - Cop Shoot Cop (Demo)
The Verve - A Man Called Sun
Pure X - Heavy Air
Slowdive - Good Day Sunshine

No Weapon Is Absolute:
www.facebook.com/noweaponisabsolute

I’m a Cliche:
www.imacliche.com
www.facebook.com/imacliche
@imaClicheLabel

Dj Sundae:
www.facebook.com/djsundae
@djsundae

Cosmo Vitelli:
www.facebook.com/cosmovitelli
@ilcosmovitelli

Chee Shimizu - Guest Mix

Lullabies for Insomniacs

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