Through the Clouds

Right when you thought the 80's had been mostly dug out, the "Night City Life" compilation hits the shelves. 
Ever since we heard his compilation for Spacetalk we were blown away: one of the best curations of early MIDI dancefloor/radio oriented productions we'd heard in a while. Truly refreshing to the human ear, not to mention the heavy research behind it. As such, we've wanted to book Ilan ever since but then COVID happened. Still a wet dream to see him do his thing live but for now here's this amazing bit of aural goodness to get you in the right mindset. 

Ilan is a London-based record collector. He can often be found posting the artwork of 80s vinyl from his collection on Instagram; a patchwork of nostalgia from musical days gone by.

Check him out on IG and listen carefully - your discogs wantlists will never be the same.

H.A.N.D. MIX 027 - Ilan (Night City Life)

As part of our celebration of 21 years of club culture, we're featuring some of our favourite DJs from around the world, highlighting the parties and clubs most important to their lives in dance music. 

The Loft is one of the most storied and sacred spaces in dance music history. Founded in Manhattan in 1970 by the late David Mancuso, The Loft was a party unlike any other: relaxed and gently psychedelic, with pristine audiophile sound played at a medium volume level kinder to the ears. You didn't need to blast the music to appreciate the sonic perfection of the music and the system it was played on. Over the decades, Mancuso invented his own influential style of DJing, letting the records breathe rather than mashing them together. Mancuso, who died in 2016, had many acolytes over the years, perhaps none more prominent than Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy, who provides our final 2122 birthday RA Podcast: a tribute to The Loft.

Murphy has an impressive resume without The Loft: she's a long-time radio DJ, founded the Classic Album Sundays series and started her own Lucky Cloud Loft Party in London, in collaboration with Mancuso. Her DJing style, slow, steady and respectful of the music, channels those years spent at The Loft, and her RA Podcast embodies the disco-influenced sounds that define the party, played with care, love and reverence.

RA podcast

RA.859 Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy

A live recording taken from one of our opening sets up on the Globus floor at Tresor

Sanctuary Live at Tresor 2023

Deep house with heaps of soul to guide spring into summer.

"House music to me is about emotion… it's about how it moves you," says Suze Phaff, better known as Suze Ijó. Emerging from a thriving Dutch scene, Ijó belongs to a generation of DJs reshaping dance culture from the ground up, restoring soul and musicality to the centre of house music. It's a conversation happening not just in her home town of Rotterdam, but globally, among kindred spirits like MUSCLECARS and Dee Diggs in New York, Errol and Alex Rita of Touching Bass in London, and OMOLOKO in Belo Horizonte.

You could call Ijó a deep house DJ, but it's much deeper than that. Her sets embody house music in its most musical sense, rich in nimble percussion, woodwinds, calypso drums, gospel vocals, and romantic string sections. They channel the jazz-inflected heartbeat of the East Coast, the breeze of Balearic shores, and the light-footed rhythms of the Caribbean.

As Ijó explains in her Q&A, her RA Podcast "hopefully feels like a loving embrace." Opening with Key Trunks Ensemble's "Calypso of House (Paradise Mix)," she sets a buoyant, life-affirming tone that carries through the next 90 minutes. As the mix unfolds, her affinity for timelessness is clear, with selections that hark back to the golden age of house, from Lonesome Echo Production's "Sweet Dream (Shrine Sweet Mix)" to the euphoric swell of Blaze's "Klubtrance."

Listening to RA.986, it's no surprise that The Loft—David Mancuso's legendary, much-missed New York party—serves as a key influence for Ijó. "He wasn't confined to just one genre but would just play 'good music' in the right context," she explains. "He allowed the music to breathe."

If ambient music is defined by its ability to breathe in and reflect its surroundings, then Ijó's RA Podcast is ambient in the truest, most human sense: a deep, enveloping soundscape that feels like sunrise, like community, like home—wherever you may choose to listen.

@suze_ijo

Find the tracklist and interview at ra.co/podcast/986

RA.986 Suze Ijó

 Mars aka HeathenBEAT 50th Bday - Podlasie Club Chicago

Mars / Specter / Jose Rico - Podlasie Club Chicago

For Episode 02 of the Balearic London mix series we're joined by the amazing Jaye Ward. Jaye is an expert at all things weird and wonky, from ambient to techno, and in this mix she explores the trippier sides of balearic. DJ Harvey selected her several times to support him - be it at his album launch or clubs like KOKO - so you know she must be excellent with his stamp of approval. Expect the unexpected and dive in.

You can see Jaye play the upstairs room at our party this Saturday 19th July at 17 Little Portland Street, with Willie Graff headlining. Sign up here to join us: https://www.little-portland.com/booking-options-htfs

Balearic London Episode 02: Jaye Ward

Recording of Pender Street Steppers and Beautiful Swimmers's back-to-back at Dekmantel Festival 2016.

Dekmantel Festival 2016

Pender Street Steppers & Beautiful Swimmers at Dekmantel Festival 2016

hello hello,
here is a selection of songs recorded for my friends (javybz - anna & yulia) "all styles all smiles" radioshow on nts. 

we went on a roadtrip together in november with sam and this was a little musical remembrance of that trip - excuse my nasal voice-overs, it's been cold in berlin!

wish u all lots of time to breathe deep, think clearly, read good books, walk often, dance a lot and love, always.

Hunee for All Styles All Smiles (NTS) - Xmas Special!

Recording of Loud-E's set at Dekmantel Festival 2019.

Dekmantel Festival 2019

Loud-E at Dekmantel Festival 2019

High-octane outlandish obscurities of decades past, courtesy of Berlin’s Nemo & Castro.

This power duo are the masterminds behind several creative outlets; from soundcloud.com/sound-metaphors - the renowned record shop, label, and its sub-labels (THANKYOU, MISSYOU, BLESSYOU) - to the infamous H.A.N.D. (Have A Nice Day) parties in Berlin. Their undying love for music and passion for digging up rhythmic masterpieces lost in time has manifested itself in their Kreuzberg record shop, which has become known for its exquisite selection of hand-picked releases. Their unique unfiltered style has earned them regular slots playing for esteemed steaming dancefloors like Cocktail D’Amore and Panorama Bar.

This 70-minute mix is jam-packed with fun fast-paced percussive selections, self-made edits, Hi-NRG guilty pleasures from Canada to China, and upbeat synthesizers. Dig in!

Through the Clouds

Mike Simonetti

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