This is one of the best tunes I've heard! WOW

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

Metropoli

M August - Shades of Love

Outro Tempo launch at Brilliant Corners with Jamie Tiller and John Gómez(26/02/2017)

Artwork: Wonderland 07 by Alice Quaresma

@jamietiller
@johngomezldn

John Gómez & Jamie Tiller at Brilliant Corners

139 minutes on the wind-down after our Resident Advisor session at Brilliant Corners back in June.

Organic Music maestro Chee Shimizu joining in for a loose B2B-ish jam just after the hour mark. 

https://soundcloud.com/organicchee
http://organicmusic.jp

What's Good? w/ Customs & Chee Shimizu

Nuttin' too rare just some classic jams for sunset on the white isle - ask for id's but come on, y'all should know these..:}

TASCAM DR-05

MoonlightingMix - BHS IBIZA

2 hours of soft water music recorded live from the No Fun Radio studios right here in beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia on October 6th, 2017

DJ D.DEE up for the first hour, Jack J on the second.

Enjoy the audio and please tune into Pacific Spirit every Friday from 4-6pm on http://nofunradio.com/

Pacific Spirit 002 | Soft Water Music Special w/ DJ D.DEE & Jack J

Here's episode 14 of our ongoing NTS Radio show. This time we're joined by our man in Paris, @raphael-top-secret ! This b3b session was recorded live at Mood Hut Studios when RTS was visiting Vancouver. 

Tracklist available - https://bit.ly/2PnMn0t

Please make sure to check out our last show with RTS, way back during our residency at Berlin Community Radio (RIP) - https://bit.ly/2mIZWKE

NTS Radio Episode 14 with guest Raphael Top-Secret (27/8/19)

Trujillo - SANPO 164 (Lockdown Series)

010 - Julian Horn (@giuliodj)

The 10th installment in our series comes from Vienna's Julian Horn. As one-third of the brainpower behind Edition Hawara, Julian's been responsible for a string of impeccable reissues over the past few years with an ambition to shine a light on "Music from the past that sounds like the future."

For the podcast, Julian takes us on an adventure into the depths of his world with an hour of deviant Pop, forgotten Balearic gems, and Japanese Synth Pop all strung together in a sophisticated manner.

Continuous Movement 010 - Julian Horn

Joris Caloud and Pierre Hubert, who run the always reliable Lorem Ipsum mix and party series sent over 4 hrs of summertime, in the form of electric soul, balearic hip hop, and drum machine AOR. Sit back, have a mimosa and enjoy the flight!

Séance Centre Radio Episode 32 NTS feat: Lorem Ipsum (Feb 2021) NO BANTER

Patreon: patreon.com/refugeworldwide
More shows available at www.refugeworldwide.com

We are an independent, community radio station. So that we can continue building this platform to amplify the people, music and issues that we care about, please consider joining our Patreon as a supporter.

Linda & Norm - Guest Mix February 2021

Facilitating dance opportunities and releasing music in Vancouver, B.C since 2013. Founded by @derekdee & @stayearly.

For distribution inquiries contact: distribution@rubadub.co.uk

Bookings, greetings and everything else: info@pacificrhythm.org

Pacific Spirit 002 | Soft Water Music Special w/ DJ D.DEE & Jack J

Pacific Rhythm

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