Next up in the series and hailing from Montreal is phubu (@phubu), who's also known from her many interesting works as RAMZi. Interview (excerpt) down below.

www.musicfrommemory.com

MFM: Hi Phoebé, great to have you on board. You're from Canada, what has been keeping you busy there lately? 

P: Lately i've been reconnecting with family, old friends, and myself. I went back to university where, after trial and error, I'm now enrolled in 'fibres & new material practices' and this program in sustainability, which combined, should respond better to my visions and ambitions. I try to be outdoor as much as possible, 're-materializing my life' after too much computer time last winter (university on Zoom). Recently I started to work at this community based garden and just started my dream job working in a myco-lab where they grow mushrooms for their medicinal properties, among other projects. Also I just got back into composing music after 1 year break. I found a synth in this thrift store that is finally giving me some inspiration.

MFM: People might be more acquainted with your other project as RAMZi. What is the reason for you to use your phubu alias for this occasion? 

P: RAMZi is a wild spirit and also refers to a parallel autonomous world that keeps evolving. It's never been about me, I always see that entity is bigger than myself. Its why I've been reticent to promote the music with pictures of me. The music remains as doorways to that world. Phubu is an alias I use sometimes for dj mixes, it was one of my names in high school and always liked it.

MFM: Your music is very versatile in sound and sonics, it rarely ever sounds the same. Where does that come from, can you share a bit about what inspires and influences you? 

P: That's nice to hear cause often I feel I used some of the same sounds over and over. Its also what made my sound signature I guess. My main influences are from growing up in the 90s between Montreal and the countryside in this very free-spirit, progressive, intercultural, artistic environment. I grew up with my dad listening to music from all over the world, much jazz and experimental music and we use to go to music festivals during summer. He exposed me to cultures that create musical fusion of genres. That gave me this strong impression that music has no borders, it can transport you in some far off state of mind without bringing you to a specific geographic place.

MFM: So do you listen to other music a lot then? 

P: Yes I do, I listen to NTS and Youtube quite a lot. I often need music to soothe myself. I like to be transported in another world, I seek music that elevate me spiritually.

MFM: Do you have a specific go-to approach or workflow when composing? 

P: It's quite a go with the flow, intuitive approach. Now that i'm more stable and have the space, I want to work with musician friends in my studio for my next album. Being busy with other projects, anything else than music, always helps me to feel more inspired when I get back to composition. Music can't be the center of my life, and I never wanted it to be, but it became difficult to keep a distance from it when I started to go on tour. 

MFM: Thanks a lot for your contribution. Initially you said you had been struggling to finish another mix. Do you find it a challenging task? 

P: Every time it’s like a puzzle. I always have tracks of different genres for which I need to find a way to make it all fit together as a narrative, a journey. For me it only works by playing around in Ableton Live, let intuition, luck, my environment and personal events enter in the equation. I always like to make my mixes in Ableton – it has a sound collage approach to it where I can slice and edit, add layers of voices, play around with the tempo and pitch. I tried to use CDJs this time but that didn't inspire me much so went back to Ableton. Hopefully there’s a flow somehow :)

MFM Mix 028: phubu

Long time pal and driving force behind Invisible City it's Gary Abugan (@invisible-city) from Canada serving up the 29th mix in the series. Interview (excerpt) down below.

www.musicfrommemory.com

MFM: Hey Gary. How's life in Toronto today? Did you manage to do some more gardening? :)

IC: We have a really nice garden in front of the shop and also at home in my backyard, both get some nice sun and shade and are where I spend all my time. So yes, gardening everyday ;)

MFM: (Before the pandemic hit) You've seen quite a few bits of the world by now while touring. How would you describe Toronto as a city if you had to promote it to the readers who haven't been there yet? 

IC: It’s summer here now in Toronto and we’re in the middle of a heatwave. We’re lucky to have an island with nice beaches as a nearby getaway via ferry. Toronto is a very large sprawling city compared to most European cities. Our multiculturalism definitely sets us apart. We have heaps of reggae and island music here along with lots of record shops, and the variety of food here can’t really be beat. I miss giving guided Invisible City tours of the city to any traveling DJs passing through.

MFM: Would you say it's a good place for an artist to be, whether being a young upcoming talent or professional and all in between?  

IC: Sure you can make it here if you’re skilled/talented and not overbearing, the problem is that there isn’t that many music venues to play. Between the crazy expensive visa you need to play the USA and the costs of flights to Europe, we are kind of isolated musically. Rent is crazy expensive here and most artists have another job, but I’m not sure if Toronto makes it specifically harder or easier compared to other cities. 

MFM: People may know you as the driving force behind Invisible City, the record store and label. How much time do you spend with the one compared to the other? 

IC: I would say pre-Covid more focus was on the shop and getting that to a sustainable level and stocking the store. We didn’t even have a sign for years until recently. During Covid, when the shop was closed for about a year and a half, a lot of focus was on development and signing artists paying advances and getting back into production. I learned alot about Music Publishing too… Laura helps me a lot with organizing everything, label and shop, I would be lost without her.

MFM: Looking back on running a record store and label for over 10 years now, what would you say are some key changes that took place over time?

Back then there were not that many reissue labels and it wasn’t as competitive or extensive, now everyone has a reissue label. I only wanted to put out records that I was strongly connected to or somehow found on a whim. If someone showed me a record, I would ask them if they were planning on reissuing it, now people just go ahead. It’s crazy how many reissues there are so it’s challenging now as a label to dig even deeper. The record shop also was really niche and specialized in the past and now there’s just more in each genre. It’s still pretty curated, but I am finding that I didn’t know a lot of good common records, so we like having “high end cheapos”. I like that most people can just come off the street and buy records now, although we still have some niche stuff too. It feels overall more balanced and varied and for the people.

MFM: The label seems to run at a nice and slow pace. Is it on purpose to not have a heavy and steady output? 

IC: I like to only do a couple records a year, it’s only me and Laura who do it all and it takes me ages to figure out artwork, I’m very picky. The shop, DJing, and occasionally throwing parties also takes up a lot of our time. We always have a lot on the go. I also like to focus on one or two artists at a time, but also it costs a lot of money to make a record! Now things are totally slowed down and our plant says I can’t get pressings out till next March!

MFM Mix 029: Invisible City

While dropping their self-titled debut LP with us in August, Anya and Izaak from Loveshadow (@loveshadowdjs) were kind enough to also record a lovely mix and answer a few questions. Interview (excerpt) down below.

www.musicfrommemory.com

MFM: Hi Izaak and Anya, nice to have you on board. Both living in Bay Area, how would you describe your daily surroundings? Is it a nice place to be as an artist?

LS: Right now we live in SF. We grew up one town away from each other near the airport, though we didn’t meet until much later. The landscape is inspiring for sure- we spend as much time as we can out in the parks and wild areas and draw a lot from that. The art and music scenes here run deep, though the cost of living and of course covid have made things tougher.
 
MFM: The songs on your debut album as Loveshadow -which will be out in August- sound incredibly fresh where they also remind to certain pop, boogie, funk and even house from the mid and late '80s. What were some of your main influences for this project? 

LS: Thanks! We have to mention the UK act Fashion after whose song we named the group, but our tastes range all over. You could say that Loveshadow is kind of a lap around the 80’s prehistory of today’s dance music, when things were still firmly rooted in pop songwriting but had a simultaneously psychedelic and funky sensibility- one that grew out of dub/disco/punk counterculture. Getting more serious about learning the records at the roots of the whole thing allowed us to see how we might contribute something new to it in a way that was more than a style exercise.

MFM: Of course also the use of specific instruments ad up to that flavor - it seems that for example the Linndrum plays an important role. Did you aim for that sound and gathered the instruments around it, or the other way around maybe?

LS: We had an overall idea in mind that definitely informed the instrumentation but we’re not purists. A lot of the sounds on the record are replications of or deviations from the iconic originals. Those famous drum sounds in particular are like symbols, they impart a particular meaning and we use them to set a mood.

MFM: What's the dynamic between the two of you like in the studio? Is there a certain steady structure or does this change all the time? Maybe you could tell a little about your writing and recording process?

LS: It changes all the time- we’ve lived and worked in so many places separately and together since we started recording. Either one of us might come up with an idea that we’ll design sounds around, demo, arrange, and then throw it all in the trash and start again. Most of the songs on the record have had a few lives.

MFM: It feels that the music from the LP could work really well live on a stage too. Are there any plans for you to go touring? 

LS: We’re going to play a gig in Detroit later this summer that will be sort of a test run! After that, we’ll see. The project started out as an interest in records and recording, but anything’s possible.

MFM: Thanks a lot for contributing! It seems you quite regularly record a mix. Have you both always been busy collecting and sharing records? 

LS: Our pleasure, thanks so much for asking us! We’re always looking for new music. Sharing mixes online has helped us organize our favorites but playing parties is the best. We were gigging around before covid and we’ll hopefully get back to it as things continue to open up. This mix is definitely on the hype side of things- new digs, old favorites, some edits, tunes pals graciously sent our way, and what we’ve been dancing around our apartment to while we were stuck inside.

MFM Mix 030: Loveshadow

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

From the forthcoming compilation "Gigi Masin - Talk To The Sea" 2013 © Music From Memory

Gigi Masin - Call Me (4:24)

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

It's a real pleasure to welcome highly respected and experienced musical selector, DJ, radio host and curator Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy (@colleen-cosmo-murphy) with a special 'audio yoga mix' to our series. Interview (excerpt) down below.

www.musicfrommemory.com

MFM: Hi Colleen, thanks for sharing your thoughts and music with us. Hosting your weekly online radio shows, making plenty mixes for several outlets, DJing clubs and festivals... How do you keep motivated and inspired?

CM: Sharing music has been focal to my life since I was a teenager hosting shows on our 10-watt high school radio station and working in a record shop after school. Turning people onto new tunes and artists gives me immense joy and courses throughout every aspect of my vocation. I’m a communicator at heart. That’s balanced with the more internalized creativity of music productions and remixes. Being in the studio and playing with ideas and sounds is very focusing and the rest of the world seems to fall away. It’s therapeutic. And playing records as a DJ or musical host is like a lively musical conversation in which I draw energy from the dancers and give it back in turn. A great party is a collective creation. Throughout all of my endeavours I try to impart the life energy of music, a healing and motivational force that inspires me every day.

MFM: In a time and place where the context of a DJ seems to have changed over decades, do you feel your “classic” approach of DJing gives you an advantage in keeping relevant and reaching a crowd?

CM: It's important to have your own point of difference. I have never been a ‘cookie-cutter’ type DJ and used to struggle with the idea that I didn’t fit in. But then I recognized that all the different aspects of my vocation had one thing in common – myself. Once I integrated everything and became more holistic in my approach, I felt happier and more confident. Being authentic to oneself is first and foremost and then it is up to others to decide whether or not they like your creative output. You can’t please everybody, but you have to try to please yourself otherwise there is no point. I get immense pleasure in what I do and hope that it brings joy to others. I do have a classic approach to DJ-ing but I’m also always looking for new sounds that resonate. I also admire other DJs styles even if it’s quite different to my own. There’s room for everyone.

MFM: You're a DJ who encourages the listener to open up and really listen to music, its definitions, context and aesthetics. Probably one of the foremost reasons why you tend to let a song run from beginning till end. With such strong values, what's your view on the modern way of “consuming” music?

CM: There are many different ways to enjoy music and none are the wrong way. Any experience of music is good. When I started Classic Album Sundays in 2010, it was a response to music only being ‘consumed’ rather than experienced and I wanted to share the way the I often listen to music with others to provide an alternative. At that time, we were in the midst of shuffle culture and the almighty MP3 and whilst both have their place, it shouldn’t be the end-all experience. When people come to a Classic Album Sundays event and hear the subtleties and nuances of an entire album played without interruption, on one of the world’s best sound systems and in a communal setting, they experience music in a different way and most find it transformative. But listening to music in a car or dancing to a DJ who scratches and cuts up songs can also be inspirational. I can only try to offer what is authentic from me.

MFM Mix 045: Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy

Last mix of the year 2022 comes from Rotterdam based Suze Ijó (@suze_ijo) who has been making heat across dance floors world wide. Interview (excerpt) down below.

www.musicfrommemory.com

MFM: Hi Suze, welcome to the series. You used to work at Clone. Do you believe working in a record store has helped you as a DJ and the other way around?

SI: I think that the type of person that gets attracted to working in a record shop are usually music geeks(like I am). So it was wonderful being surrounded by only music geeks for three years and sharing with each other our influences, hearing all the records coming in and finding out about some cool releases on labels you would never even think of listening to if it wasn’t for it being played in the store. I did get a discount but in the end my salary was basically being spent on new records. I think as a DJ working there it did inspire me to dig deeper because you need to advice all different kinds of people about what’s in store. As for benefits for the record store, I guess having qualified music lovers is a good thing to have around.

MFM: By sticking to the more soulful sounds, such as gospel, soul, disco, broken beat and house, and also being outspoken in championing the black community, it seems like you're expressing a message through music. Could you please share your thoughts on this?

SI: Being a black Dutch-Caribbean woman is definitely a big part of my musical identity. I like to weave Afrodiasporic sounds together mostly because they have so much in common, whether it’s House music, Salsa, Boogie, Broken Beat or Techno. I can hear the connections so clearly. Each time I might have a different message but a lot of them have to do with: losing and finding love, letting go, finding community and expressing joy. 

MFM: With playing so many shows at different places on this planet, how do prepare for your gigs?

SI: Sometimes it’s hard to prepare because you won’t know where you’ll end up playing or for what kind of crowd. I usually bring a variation of new finds and old classics with me. Also I try to make a playlist per event in Rekordbox. I kind of see it like puzzling, you want to make sure the pieces fit together. It usually starts with me overpacking and then slowly taking out the records that aren’t necessary or most likely won’t be played. I used to spend a lot of time preparing but because I play so much these days, I am almost always in a state of preparation and that takes away the stress that used to come with it. It allows for more spontaneity.

MFM: Please tell us about this mix, was there a certain vibe or idea you wanted to capture?

SI: I wanted this mix to be slow paced and imaginative, to almost make it feel like a movie soundtrack when closing your eyes. I don’t want to say too much about it because I want every listener to have their own interpretation but the transmission of intergenerational trauma and memory is something that I had thought about a lot lately. Then I found a poem by Brazilian Maestro Milton Nascimento which is the guideline of this mix. The Poem “Era Rei e Sou Escravo” (translation: I was a king and I am enslaved) tells the story of an enslaved person, being taken from the African mainland and no matter how badly he is treated or wherever he is taken, he says that the memory of his country and the memory of the music of his people stays and never goes away. It keeps him hopeful, he ends the poem with: Sou Escravo Serei Rei(I am a slave, I will be a king). From that moment on we travel.

MFM Mix 046: Suze Ijó

First up in 2023 is Los Angeles based Juan Izguerra (@juanizguerra) who runs his residencies at Dublab and Homage Brewing. Interview (excerpt) down below.

www.musicfrommemory.com

MFM: Hi Juan, welcome to the series. You're based in Los Angeles, right? Can you tell a bit about what keeps you busy? 

JI: Hey there! Super stoked to contribute. Well, I was born in Pomona, California and I started DJing about six years ago. I recently found myself as the event coordinator at Homage Brewing in 2021 and It’s been a great experience to be on both sides… I love being able to DJ at some of my favorite parties, and then host locals and out of town friends at my own events with Homage. My girlfriend and I made the move to LA in the summer of 2020. Early on in the pandemic rent was pretty much the same in Pomona as it was in LA so we thought we’d just live in the city. When clubs/bars opened up again I got involved with Homage. Since then I’ve been able to host parties at our space and focus on bringing people together for the music. 

MFM: What triggered you to initially get interested and involved in buying and playing records?  

JI: I’ve collected records since my teens but it wasn’t until I was 20 that I met one of my now super close friends Josh da Costa (Confusing Mix on NTS) who put me onto crazy records he found during his time living and touring in Europe. He showed me things like Roberto Musci, Thomas Leer, The Antennas, Cherry Red records, and weird compilations. Hearing things like that made me so curious. I saw Josh DJ one day and I was fascinated with how he made people dance. It made me want to learn how to do that! 

MFM: Nice. Did you have any other role models you felt inspired and motivated by?

JI: Definitely. My friends Josh (who I mentioned), Jimi Hey, and Shags Chamberlain were an early influence on me. They toured all over the world and would come home with bags of records, share their discoveries, and give a story about where they found it. I saw that as a way to connect with people and It inspired me to travel and want to find things of my own to share. As I got more curious on the DJ’ing side of things, I definitely got a lot of inspiration from my good friend Bianca Lexis. She’s one of my favorite DJ’s!

MFM: You've done quite some traveling yourself too, within the US but also intercontinental. How is LA nightlife compared to some other places you've been? What's the LA style?

JI: LA’s nightlife definitely needs some work. In New York, Europe, and Mexico City, there’s an audience for every genre and a club for it as well. I think that’s what we struggle with most. People have to resort to attending warehouse parties which involve a lot of financial strain on the organizers. Still, we do have a lot of people putting together great parties here such as Third Place and Moony Habits. Lots of great house/outdoor parties which are really fun and unique to LA. 

MFM: Where and how do you go finding new records and music? Do you have your secret or not so secret methods?   

JI: When it comes down to record shopping I typically like to leave LA. Visiting suburban areas is where I get the most luck. Something about those areas feels more zen since it’s less competitive. It puts me in a mental space where I’m able to focus on looking through records thoroughly. 

MFM: Looking forward to anything specific in '23? Any future plans you'd like to share maybe? 

JI: I’ll be visiting Tokyo for the first time in May so I’m super psyched about that. Also planning to be in Europe in August/September so I'm looking forward to setting up some gigs there!

MFM: Tell us about your mix! How did you approach selecting and recording it?

JI: I wanted to make it a bit cerebral but still keeping it rhythmic and having plenty of songs with lyrics. It has an ambient start that works into downtempo tracks and slowed down Italian house. Hope everyone enjoys!

MFM Mix 047: Juan Izguerra

We welcome Tornado Wallace (@tornadowallace), long time friend of the label and whose record 'Falling Sun' we released through Second Circle back in 2016.  Interview (excerpt) down below.

www.musicfrommemory.com

MFM: Hey Lewie, how have you been lately?

TW: I dipped out to East Asia and Australia for the infamous Berlin winter and now I’m back ready for the euro warmth. Though it’s in no hurry to arrive here just yet.

MFM: There's a new record coming on Basic Spirit, the label you run with Jamie Tiller, and it all looks rather secretive... Can you tell us more about it Lew E? :) 

TW: I made these tracks when I was holed up sick for a week. Not being able to go to the studio I relied strictly on samples and software, which was fun to change the workflow up a little bit. I wanted to make some very club ready tracks, without any intention for a release. They (rather obviously) sample two well known tracks, but there’s a lot of new ideas too. I use a different name as it felt like a different style and approach to how I usually go about things. I think there will be more Lew E things on the horizon though :D.

MFM: Previous releases on Basic Spirit also had this '90s touch to it. What is it that you like about (music from) that era?

TW: I grew up in the 90s so a lot of the music coming out then really hits the nostalgic feels. But also, really interesting things were happening with technology, and it became a lot more affordable to put together a record. So there were a lot of - for lack of a better term - laymen releasing electronic music. Some of which had very new and out-there approaches to processes like sampling, mixing and arranging. But trends and technology all moved along so quickly that some of these sounds and ideas never had a chance to get fully fleshed out. Which is why it’s nice to pick up where some left off. People are currently very responsive to this late 90s/early 2000s sound, which is great for me because that’s a time when I really fell in love with electronic music. As a DJ, I’m playing these really personal tracks that I discovered as a teenager, and for the first time since I began playing parties/clubs 18 years ago, people seem to really understand them. It’s a very cool feeling.

MFM: You've also started a new more pop oriented project called a.s.o. together with vocalist Alia Seror O’Neill. Has it always been a dream or goal of yours to start a more band kind of project? Does it require a different writing/recording approach compared to when making dance music for the clubs?

TW: I like making music that I like listening to. And with the pandemic in full swing in 2020, I was having a little break from club music, and diving deeper into other styles of music I enjoy. Both from a listening and producing perspective. I found it to be a very different approach. It’s more melody/hook driven and focuses on getting ideas down quickly as they’re forming. A lot of the time I would use a basic keyboard and guitar to record, and Alia would add vocal melodies and harmonies on the fly. Sometimes it could get difficult when we would both want to put our fleeting ideas down at the same time! On that note, collaboration is never easy for me as I like to have full creative control of whatever it is I’m working on, and sometimes the creative paths divide and compromises have to be made. Sometimes the compromised path is thick and thorny, and sometimes it is paved gold and smells of roses.

MFM: How did you go through the selecting and recording process, any specific record or mood you had planned?

TW: I came across a bunch of really nice tracks all in a relatively similar downtempo/shoegaze style, and wanted to make a mix of music like that. For moody home/car/train etc listening. I also included a forthcoming Cousin remix of an a.s.o. single which I love and wanted to share early!

MFM Mix 049: Tornado Wallace

From Oakland with love comes the 50th submission in the mix series comes by the hand of prolific producer and deejay Space Ghost (@space-ghost-1). Interview (excerpt) down below.

www.musicfrommemory.com 

MFM: Hey Sudi. How's life in California, what's been keeping you busy?

SG: Hey, not much! Just trying to enjoy the summer with friends and get in the studio when I can.

MFM: Looking at your discography it seems that you favor the LP over the EP format, having released well over a dozen albums. How come?

SG: I can’t say that I favor one over the other, just seems that as a musician you strive to write full length LPs. I enjoy LPs for home listening and it feels good to create a nice body of work that flows through a journey. Writing dance singles and eps are trickier for me. It feels harder to write 1-4 really good stand alone songs.

MFM: With such a prolific output, does writing music come easily to you? Can you tell us a bit about how you go about writing and recording, is there a certain flow or method?

SG: Hmm I wouldn’t necessarily say it comes comes easy but I’ve definitely gotten a lot better at getting ideas in my head out into my recordings. It’s still a process of getting into the studio and spending time on it. Sometimes I can spend a whole day or two just spinning my wheels and not being able to get my ideas out. But once I get that perfect dose of creativity and I’m in the right mood, then things can definitely start flowing out. When writing music I often need to start with a very specific idea based on a song I’m listening to at the time. It’s helpful for me to start out with that initial inspiration, whether some chords, style of drums, bassline or a tempo or something. Once I get a few elements working around that idea the song can start to morph and move in any direction, but I really need that specific direction to start. I find that I can often make a rudimentary idea fairly quickly this way and then if it’s inspiring me, I’ll start to try a little bit harder and flush out more of the idea.

MFM: How do you cope with not being inspired or motivated when in the studio?

SG: Honestly it can be a bummer to be in the studio and the ideas aren’t flowing. I’ll just have to step away and do something totally unrelated for a few days.

MFM: Your sound overall has a very soft and melodic touch. The mellow part may be from living close to the Pacific and nature, but where does the melodic part come from? Did you ever learn how to read and play notes?

SG: You know I’m really not sure if I can pinpoint my melodies and where they came from but ya I grew up taking music lessons of all sorts. Piano, drums, guitar, band class, all that stuff. I wasn’t the best at reading music, I learned basic stuff but eventually didn’t progress much farther. Now everything I do is by feel.

MFM: Is there some kind of masterplan for Space Ghost? Like, do you have certain goals to achieve or dreams to chase?

SG: I think my master plan would involve me getting to focus on writing music full time. Honestly I’m not really sure how to get there specifically, seems like everyone gets there on their own path so hopefully mine will end up there as well.

MFM: Tell us about the mix. How did you go about selecting and recording it? Does it have a certain theme or idea to it?

SG: I’ve been wanting to put out a nice lil ambient sort of electronic mix for awhile. Really soft deep introspective vibes. I’ve been holding on to a lot of these tunes for awhile and just listening to my playlist of ambient tunes while traveling or relaxing with friends. After coming back from my NZ/Australian tour, I was ready to play some non dance music for a sec and listen to some other stuff. This mix is just a nice break from DJing a party. I also really want to make an ambient album soon if I have the time, so there are a lot inspirations in this mix.

MFM Mix 050: Space Ghost

Taken from '10' (MFM066)
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© 2023 Music From Memory

Just Ducking Around

B2. Terekke – Just Ducking Around

Dream It Right

B1. Jonny Nash – Dream It Right

W.I.O. (micmac mix)

A4. Androo – W.I.O. (micmac Mix)

When You Stopped Sleeping

A3. Ströer – When You Stopped Sleeping

The Legend Of Haziz

A2. The Zenmenn – The Legend Of Haziz

Taken from 'Winter Sun / Fever Dream' (MFM067)
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© 2024 Music From Memory

Winter Sun / Fever Dream

Fever Dream

B. Fever Dream

Winter Sun  / Fever Dream

Winter Sun

A. Winter Sun

Taken from 'Elevations' (MFM068)
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© 2024 Music From Memory

Elevations

Arp Phase

B3. Arp Phase

Pots

B2. Pots (ft. Abraham Parker)

Balafon C

B1. Balafon C (ft. Simmy Singh)

Elevation 3

A4. Elevation 3 (ft. Abel Selaocoe & Rebekah Reid)

Elevation 2

A3. Elevation 2 (ft. Abel Selaocoe & Rebekah Reid)

Elevation 1

A2. Elevation 1  (ft. Abel Selaocoe & Abel Francis)

Bike Shed

A1. Bike Shed (ft. Yadava)

The System - Find It In Your Eyes (4:35)

Roberto Musci - Claudia, Wilhem R. And Me (02:57)

B1 - Say You'll Say So (5.08)

B5 - 220+g (2:33)

A2 - Kuniyuki Takahashi - Your Home (5:11)

For the August edition we've invited Donna Leake from London who handed over a high spirited 2 hour mix. Interview (excerpt) down below.

www.musicfrommemory.com

MFM: Hi Donna, welcome to the series. How's your day so far? Does your day normally involve music from the moment you wake up?

DL: Hi. Thanks so much for having me. My day so far has been real sweet. I woke up at 6:30am and all I’ve done is make coffee, listen to and dig for music, draw and paint. It’s now 13:30. Not every day is like this though! 

MFM: Before lockdown, was DJing the only thing that brought food on the table? How is that now, did you revise your approach or strategy after the whole live events scene collapsed?

DL: Yes it was the only thing bringing money in and turned out it was one of the main things keeping my soul full and my spirit high. So I’ve had to re strategise a few areas of my life recently. I haven’t come up with anything solid yet, I’ve always just gone with the wind. But I think now there is a sense of urgency to save myself getting into more debt because of this! But I did gain something massive and far more valuable than money since losing it, a new perspective as to what it was we were doing and what I was a part of. I now appreciate the beauty of people making the effort to gather and listen and share music together and the industry and all it's efforts more than ever. I always had thanks, but I guess you can really check in on something more closely when you stop and look at it from the outside.

MFM: Do you then also feel positive about the future of nightlife and culture?

DL: Yes I feel positive about it. The force of music is so strong and what it does to people is unstoppable. It may take some time and maybe it will change, but that might even be a good thing. We all got an opportunity to check in with ourselves and stop and even though this was a disaster for the economy and the effects of that will last a while, the essence of art and music have nothing to do with money and that’s where it should restart. If anything it might have a wonderful impact. Art can sometimes be richer if we’ve been through some heavy experiences. 

MFM: What in your opinion actually makes a DJ stand out?

DL: Most importantly, and this probably applies to everything, I think is to be yourself which will naturally be unique if you are able to harness your true essence. I know that sounds obvious but it’s often a journey to feel as though you know or to find yourself, but I think being true and present in every moment of that journey is how you’ll be able to tap into what’s unique about what you do. Being fully present and playing with the times whether that’s trying to express what's going on inside you or a response to what’s happening in the world. Also not to think but feel your way through. This will often be more accurate since our heads are pretty full and busy! Authenticity and truth can be applied to any taste and style. For me I like to go on a ride with twists, turns and surprises and hear a story with a variety of feelings from the lowest to the highest, but keeping it coherent and without being too much of a mess. Although a bit of mess is all right too!

MFM: Thanks a lot for your contribution. Can you take us through your process of recording mixes?

DL: I would say all of the above is the general process for any mix, or at least as much of this as possible is considered. But since recording mixes is the only way I’ve been sharing music recently and I’ve made so many, I have started to try to give each mix more of a focus. For example one I did recently was called music for chess. And this mix has a particular focus on psych. This is because I can feel summer ending is just around the corner and it’s been the most hazy, mind bending, deep, confusing but colourful and dream like summer I’ve ever had and I’ve never felt so inside and removed from my head and the world at the same time as I have this summer!

MFM Mix 019: Donna Leake

The last mix of 2020 comes from Jonah Sharp (@reflecto), electronic mainstay and part of 'Virtual Dreams' as Space Time Continuum. Interview (excerpt) down below.

www.musicfrommemory.com

MFM: Welcome to the series Jonah. Originally from Edinburgh, San Francisco resident since 1992, do you still live in San Francisco?

JS: Actually I recently just moved back to SF after spending most of 2020 in the UK. I had planned to be in Europe for an extended break from the US but Covid saw an end to that and my plans had to change. I miss British and European culture. I have family and friends there so I intend to be back over as soon as I can!

MFM: According to your discography the majority of your output started to shape up right after you moved abroad, in '91. How would you explain this creative outburst? 

JS: Before I arrived in San Francisco i was still figuring out how to produce the music that I wanted to make so when I got here I started to collect gear in earnest - it was a little moment in time when most people thought analog synths and drums sounded shit so I managed to find a TR-909 for $150, a Roland SH101 at the flea market and so on. So yes, suddenly having some decent gear and fun gigs to play was very inspiring! I did feel a kind of creative freedom being so far from South London and the pressures of living there as an artist. SF in the 90’s was very affordable for artists and it gave us the freedom to really focus on the music.
 
MFM: You started your own label Reflective in '93 and had quite a busy release schedule, especially during '95/'96, before it suddenly seemed to stop right after. What happened? 

JS: I started Reflective in '93, the year my first son was born. Flurescence EP was my first solo release and it got noticed around the world so that enabled me to keep putting releases out. With the momentum of the Terence McKenna collab album, things were going pretty well. But what we found was that even though there are lots of amazing labels in the US, it was actually pretty hard to sell them domestically so most of our stock was exported to Europe and Japan. We ended up pressing in the UK and running the label from SF and that presented problems so I had to put the release schedule on hold. At that time I had also signed a deal with Astralwerks so had contractual obligations to deliver albums and tour. It was a very busy time and by 1997 when our second son was born we decided to take a hiatus from the label. Not to say the label is gone forever though!
 
MFM: Flurescence, now found its way to the Virtual Dreams compilation, almost 30 years later. How does it feel that your older music is being re-released and rediscovered by newer generations?

JS: I am very happy and honored to be part of the Virtual Dreams compilation. Yes, there seems to be a bit of attention for this time period of electronic music at the moment, and the chill out thing in general. With so many online resources, everything is discoverable by anyone so all those tiny labels like Reflective that were putting out small runs of 1000 records (that was a small run then) are maybe enjoying some retroactive attention now. 
 
MFM: Does this new interest change your motivation and/or inspiration in the studio maybe?

JS: I follow my own interests and direction when it comes to making music but reaching new audiences has to gratify the artist whose work was made for sharing. My development as an electronic musician has come through thirty years of studio experimentation, initially with hardware and then incorporating digital software. When I made Fluorescence in 1993 there was no computer in my studio, but by the early 2000s San Francisco was the epicenter of computer innovation, people like my friend Josh Clayton were writing amazing software and so I went off on a long exploratory trip to integrate digital technology both in my studio and in my live rig. My aim right now in the studio is the same as always: make sounds and keep the good ones.

MFM Mix 023: Jonah Sharp

Taken from 'Heisei No Oto - Japanese Left-field Pop From The CD Age (1989-1996)' (MFM053)
Buy Vinyl: https://www.musicfrommemory.com/
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© 2021 Music From Memory

Heisei No Oto - Japanese Left-field Pop From The CD Age (1989-1996)

C3. POiSON GiRL FRiEND - Nobody (4:17)

NO DEMOS, thanks...

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Amsterdam based record label releasing visionary electronic music from both past and present.

Sublabel: @secondcircle

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