MDC Mix Archive

Interview:  http://truantsblog.com/2022/truancy-volume-293-downstairs-j/

Soundcloud: @downstairs-j

Access the download and full tracklist (Confirmed) on our Patreon: patreon.com/truants

http://truantsblog.com

downstairs J

Truancy Volume 293: downstairs J

Crown Ruler Mix #25 - Ben Fester B2B Cousin.

We’ve got another mix for you snatched from the wild - this time from iconic brothers @ben-fester and @secondcousins. Recorded at our open-air party co-presented with @planettrip earlier this year, the siblings warmed up for maestro @floatingpoints in the breeze of twilight, where they proved themselves as well-seasoned DJ’s no longer necessitating introduction. 

Sink into this mix of trippy downtempo, percussive electro and cherished vocal house from two masters of their craft. 

Illustration by Ben Keynes.

This mix was recorded on the stolen lands of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We acknowledge their Elders past and present, and recognise efforts in the ongoing resistance against colonialism. Always Was, Always Will Be.

Crown Ruler Mix #25 - Ben Fester B2B Cousin

almost 4 hours bubs to bubs @kiernanlaveaux live from de sound room September 2022

CCL b2b Kiernan Laveaux Live @ Public Records [09.09.2022]

011 - Kassem Mosse:

@livwutang has really arrived on the world stage in the last year. The Seattle-raised, NYC-based artist came up through DIY raves and pirate radio and is now a regular at cult clubs and festivals across North America, as well as being booked in for next year's Dekmantel Selectors. Her sound freely moves between dub, Central and West Africa rhythms and a history of Black American music. All this comes out in her widescreen sets, her curation of the Eto Ano label and her hosting of their show on The Lot Radio.  

The confidence of her selections and ability to shift through moods from the serene to the deep, the energetic to the melodic is evident in this week's mix. It slowly works through the gears from dubbed-out depths to buoyant club rhythms via tribal techno. There is an ever-present mysticism and spirituality that adds an extra layer of intrigue to the body-popping rhythms and it's that which will keep you coming back for more.

Dekmantel Podcast

Dekmantel Podcast 413 - livwutang

Our friend in Berlin, Flørist, also known as his moniker Pavilion, sent us a special one. It’s an hour-ish mix of a few vinyls he collected over his summer travels. Chuggy, bouncy, some great basslines, spiritually it’s somewhere between the pacific west coast and Anjuna Beach. Enjoy your trip.
Thank you all for listening to our mixes this year. Stay warm, and see you again next year!
@fl-rist

DREAMING 018 : Flørist

DJ Voices @ Nowadays Nonstop, 27th November, 6-9am 

<3

@latenitesbookclub

ani/live Five: DJ Voices @ Nowadays Nonstop

PLO Man @ The Lot Radio 01 - 23 - 2023

One of the minds behind the inimitable NYC record label @inciensorecs, DJ'J aka @jennyslattery is a curator at heart, carefully sculpting the look, feel and sound of the label she began with Anthony Naples back in 2017 while establishing her own blueprint as a top-tier selector of deep dance rhythms from around the globe. She's also one of the three DJs behind the wonderful @down-2-earth mix series, a local music hub with a heavy focus on emerging talent from New York City and beyond.

Immerse yourself in hour of chunky grooves and mysterious moods with plenty of freshly sliced cuts from the Incienso inner sanctum alongside some bonafide UKG and rave nostalgia!

www.melbournedeepcast.net

Interview

MDC.279 DJ'J

For Trushmix 203 Tatjana is back in the mix! A now familiar name here on Trush with her fourth mix. Always delivering crafty mixes, with her underground sound and on point mixing. This mix recorded live in SVN's Neues Deutschland studio, an over two hour session exploring the different directions of techno and beyond: Classic US and Detroit style, UK, bass-style, German techno, ambient, chill-out sounds and touching into experimental, the sound, always deep! 
Her shifting seamlessly between different styles makes this mix a real pleasure.

Music from the top, always!

Enjoy!

Trushmix.com

Trushmix 203 - Tatjana

Xi'an-born and Toronto-based producer, pianist, and DJ Ciel steps up for the next Phonica Mix with a slow building club room warm up. With a selection of deep and chugging bass, house and techno this is a mix that equally see itself lending its ears to the home listener as well as the club dancefloor frequenters. Its this diverse sound that has seen Ciel take the helms of some of the greatest clubs, festivals, radio shows and podcasts as well as releasing solid records on labels like Mister Saturday Night, Peach Discs, Coastal Haze and more her sound is truly solidified through these outputs. We are delighted to have Ciel join us ahead of some of her amazing shows this year like Kala Festival & Multi Multi(Where we will also be hosting a 20 Years Of Phonica Stage). We had a chat with Ciel about the mix and about some of the releases she has coming up.

Phonica Mix Series 107: Ciel

Rounding out the year with two and a half hours of perfectly weighted dream grooves, tech savvy-transcendence and heavenly vintage house music from a beacon of the deep dancefloor, Hannah D! 

@hld
@thespacebetweenus

Q. Hey Hannah, what inspiration did you draw upon when putting this mix together? Is there a sound, feeling, or time/place in dance music history that connects all the different elements in one way or another?

A. Hey Myles! Thank you so much for having me on, I’m over the moon to be a part of the series. This mix is a bit of an ode to my favourite time and place to DJ — sunset at a festival or doof in the bush. When the day turns to night is such a special time, especially in these settings, and I really wanted to try and emulate that feeling — starting out soft and building into something a bit euphoric.

Q. Are there any records in the mix that are especially close to your heart, or new or old favourites that you’ve been keeping up your sleeve for the right moment?

A. Yes actually! One that comes to mind is Dario - Sweet Love (Evolution Mix). I found it a few years ago and was obsessed with it but the record was so expensive on Discogs (currently $200!) and I couldn’t find it anywhere else so I kinda gave up on it. When you asked me to do this mix I decided to have another look for it and ended up being able to trade someone for a rip of the vinyl. So happy to finally play it!! Another special one is Kalle-M - This Place. My partner David actually found this and sent it to me a while ago and I love it so much, so shout out to Dave for that one :) and a final special mention for Blue Noise - Coldflow which is close to the end. It gives me goosebumps every time, so intensely emotional and I would be crying if I heard this on a dancefloor!

Q. I know you’ve had quite the busy year on the events front, hosting a number of different parties with great local and international DJs as part of the Luna Blessings and Send/Return collectives. What were some of your favourite moments from the year that was, and what projects are you looking forward to working on in 2024?

A. Thank you! It’s been a crazy year looking back and I’m so grateful to be a part of so many special parties. A moment that stands out was the Waxo Paradiso x Hope Street Radio party the other week, the vibes were so perfect all day. This year I’ve actually played quite a lot of b2b sets which has been so fun, and I’ve had the chance to play interstate a couple of times and in Europe which was amazing :) We’ve got a super stacked year ahead with both Luna Blessings and Send/Return which I can’t wait for! We’re hosting one of my favourite artists ever for Luna in January which we’ll announce very soon. I’m looking forward to more of all of the above in 2024!

MDC.291 Hannah D

Extending a warm welcome to our good friend P.Bud! A wicked producer of swirling deep cuts and the solo brains trust behind the NYC based @aroniarecords, Philip's leanings span the intersecting vibe-sphere of groovy, dubby 90s house, early 00s tech house and prog with subtle deep hypnotic trance nods for the early morning inclined. 

Get set for two-hours of classy digs and exquisite blends from one of the realest out there! 

@p_bud

Q. What inspiration did you draw upon when putting this mix together? Is there a sound, feeling, or time/place in dance music history that connects all the different elements in one way or another?

A. I moved to New York from Berlin a couple years ago and I’ve been so impressed and inspired by the North American scene since coming here. It’s so welcoming, inclusive, and community oriented, and is pushing really interesting music forward. This past festival season in particular was amazing. I attended Sustain Release for the first time and it totally blew my mind. Best Out Of Town, a festival organized by some friends in Canada that I played at, was also just next level. I definitely drew on those musical experiences when putting together this mix. 

I also love digging, so a lot of the records in this mix are ones I picked up in NY record shops–shout out to A1, Human Head, Boom Service, and Academy. I’ve been really into 90s / early 00s tech-house and progressive lately so that’s definitely the throughline in this mix. 

Q. Are there any records in the mix that are especially close to your heart, or old favourites that you’ve been keeping up your sleeve for the right moment?

A. In terms of records close to my heart, I’ve been obsessed with The Age Of Love Suite (Neverending Voice Mix) by Unity 3 for a while now, such a beautiful vocal trance track. I also just adore Groove Control by Variable Frequency Technician–when the pads come in it gets me every time. Those are both tracks I’ve had on repeat while cruising through the city on my bike and I’m glad I found places for them in this mix. 

I love making edits of tracks that are almost perfect but just need little tweaks to get them there. For example, Only When I'm Dancing Do I Feel This Disco by The Mighty Dub Cats is cheesy in the best possible way, but the breakdown is just too much so I took it out. Storyteller by Urban Clockers has an amazing groove but the arrangement was lacking so I worked on that. Groove Society - Push Upon It has been stuck in my head nonstop since I found it, but the pitch was drifting too much so I smoothed that out.  

Q. What’s the latest with your label Aronia Records? We’ve been treated to a couple of seriously deep, hypnotic and at times experimental dance records from yourself and the Toronto based producer Emissive in the past couple of years, is this the kind of direction you’ll be looking to explore even further with the label and your own production going forward?

A. Thanks for the kind words! I’ll definitely try to keep things ‘seriously deep’ haha :)

I want to focus on dancefloor material–it’s so rewarding seeing people move to Aronia tracks–but I’d also love for Aronia releases to work in different contexts too. I’ve been very lucky to collaborate with Evan (Emissive) in that regard, whose music ticks both those boxes. Resounding Yes for example is an amazing, hypnotic track that works both on headphones as on the floor. 

I’m lining up some releases for 2024, mainly my own productions so far. I’m always keen to put out other people’s music though, so please send stuff my way if you like our sound! I’d also love to get Aronia more involved in the NY scene, so I’m looking for ways to do that.

I’m partial to vinyl as a format, but it’s so costly and time consuming, and I’d really love to put out more music. So on top of vinyl, maybe there will be some digital only Aronia releases too. Maybe some Bandcamp or Nina Protocol exclusives? We’ll see.

MDC.292 P.Bud

We return to NYC where the wonderful @lycheefrut has us fully submerged in a wobbly world of ambient techno moods and grooves. Restorative mind state hypnosis for the early morning acid dreamers with moments of total serenity! 

Q. What inspiration did you draw upon when putting this mix together? Is there a sound, feeling, or time/place in dance music history that connects all the different elements in one way or another?

A. There are a few recent moments that I drew from: I had pulled a lot of dreamy tracks to close out the intimate Sunday evening queer party I throw with my friends called Antidote, and for a b2b with my friend threehz at their party dream/self. I usually spend a lot of time planning a tracklist for studio mixes, but this time, I was struggling to sequence or choose between the tracks I had pulled.

On New Year's Eve, a few friends came over to my studio to pass some time before going to a rave where I was working the door at 8am, and they all ended up dozing off while I was DJing. I was trying to play music that was both energetic enough to keep me awake, but not too intense for people who were sleeping. A few days later, I ended up recording this mix in one take with no strict playlist, drawing from that moment; it was a fun experiment in trusting myself to find a more organic flow.

Q. As someone who’s actively involved in a number of interconnected projects and events within NYC’s underground dance scene, tell us about the idea behind your Spontaneous Affinity outlet for zines, mixes and long form interviews that regularly feature important insights from DJs, producers and organisers alike. 

A. The series has been on a bit of a pause / slow paced moment lately as I focus on getting some other aspects of my life together :) but the idea was to use the interviews to draw connections between different nodes of people working to build scenes in different places. Everyone gets the same set of questions to choose from; it's always fun compiling it all into a zine and seeing what kinds of commonalities emerge. I hope to find time to work on another zine before the end of this year!

Q. And finally, I really enjoyed your set opening up The Grove at last year’s Sustain-Release! Tell us about how you found that whole experience, and how did you approach a set like that where you could seemingly take things anywhere over the three and half hours..

A. This set was a heavy one for me – I've been to every Sustain, and it was a formative part of my journey deeper into DJing and music. This summer also came with a lot of big losses and transitions. I spent as much time journaling and meditating as I did organizing music, and wanted to make space for others to process difficult things before diving into party mode in a psychedelic environment.

As far as the musical approach, I thought of the set in 7 or 8 "chapters" that could expand or contract depending on the energy and vibe. I've played a lot of opening sets over the years and lately have wanted to push myself within that; here, instead of the standard ambient → techno type opening set, I wanted to play with a structure where the set built into a mild frenzy and then settled back down before the live acts that played after me.

MDC.293 Lychee

Dipping into warmer waters with the Life Classics mood masters tapped into a soul defining well of exquisite late 90s and early 00s house music. Dreamy, techy, jazzy, groovy, this one has it all. 

Deep house at its absolute finest.

@sanctuary3

Q. What inspiration did you draw upon when putting this mix together? Is there a sound, feeling, or time/place in dance music history that connects all the different elements in one way or another?

A. We’ve always had our heads locked into the deeper shades of house from the late 90’s to early 00’s, in particular those nostalgic tracks that tap into that spacey special place. The mix is shaped around a bunch of records that resonate that feeling for us, a nod to those dance floor dreamers found late into the night with stars in their eyes.

Q. Are there any records in the mix that are especially close to your hearts, or old favourites that you’ve been keeping up your sleeves for the right moment?

A. The opening track is from Ronin's Night Grooves EP. A firm favourite of ours that we've kept on rotation over the years. And also the last track from Aurora Borealis on FNAC, this one has been on the shelf for long minute, but don't often play it out so it felt right letting it run here.

Q. What’s the latest with your Life Classics parties in Berlin? Do you have some fun nights planned at OHM once again this year, and who have been some of the guests that have blown your minds in recent years, and why?

A. We just had a banging start to another year's residency a couple of weeks back with Telephones. Next month we've got Antal coming through again, he has been a staple of our nights since the A.S.E days and it's always a wild one. Red Greg was definitely a recent highlight, treated us all to a master class deep into the wee hours.

MDC.294 Sanctuary

With a remarkable fourteenth season of their Mister Sunday open air parties just around the corner, @mistersaturdaynight's @misterjustincarter shares with us a special excerpt from his NYD sunrise set at Nowadays back in January, pulling out some definitive house and disco classics with heartfelt nods to NYC's deep-rooted dance music history.

Q. What inspiration did you draw upon when recording this mix at Nowadays? How would you describe the feeling in the room that day, and is there a sound, or time/place in dance music history that connects all the different moments in one way or another?

A. I know Nowadays' indoor dance floor intimately, and this slot in particular, starting around 5am on New Year’s Day, is one I’ve played for the past four or five years, so I came in with a very specific idea of what to do.

I knew that the party would be in full-tilt New Year’s Eve energy and that I’d want to hold the pace but move into a more liminal space, so I played records that are propulsive but dreamy. Once I established that headspace, the sun started to rise, so there was a natural energy shift, and I leaned into that. I stopped mixing and played Loft-style for about thirty minutes. Letting records play from beginning to end, playing music with vocals and live instrumentation, it’s grounding, makes it feel like a house party, reminds us that we’re connected with each other. That felt important to me, knowing that the dance floor had been in a more driving mode for eight hours. After that interlude, I built it back up, because there was still like twenty hours to go!

In general, I’m piecing together a few elements in my sets these days: deep, soulful elements that first drew me in when I arrived in NYC in the late 90s; psychedelic, minimal music that was coming from Europe in the 00s, when I first started to DJ; and then that Loft thing I referenced above.

Q. Are there any records in the set that are especially close to your heart, or old favourites that you had been keeping up your sleeve for the right moment?

A. I hadn’t played my 45 of “Be There In the Morning” by Renee Geyer in years. (It’s a record I found on my first Australian tour in Melbourne, at Licorice Pie, back in 2015, actually!) Good sunrise record, obviously. “Will you be there in the morning?” Yes! Here I am!

Q. With the winter months in NYC now behind you, how are preparations coming along for the return of your legendary outdoor Mister Sunday parties? Will you and Eamon be planning to do anything different for your fourteenth year? And after doing it for so long now, how do you guys continue to keep yourselves inspired?

A. We purposefully try to keep Mister Sunday consistent. Of course we’re always digging for music, and we always invite a couple guests who’ve never played, so there’s something that feels fresh for every season. But the consistency that comes from having a weekly party that’s been happening for such a long time, it’s something we consciously try to maintain – it’s one of the main ingredients for the community that has developed around the party. No one has to wonder where the party will be this week, whether it’s happening this Sunday or not, etc. That said, we’re going to be throwing our 500th(!) party this season, and we’ll do something special to commemorate that.

MDC.295 Justin Carter

Deepcasting since '09 📡

Naarm / Melbourne / Worldwide

MDC.279 DJ'J

Melbourne Deepcast

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