an exhaustive list of every mix recorded by me between 2016 and present day

dank mixes

˚ mixes ˚

Mixes, streams, and radio bits since 2020

RECENT MIXES 'N' STREAMS

Toronto's Cindy Li, AKA Ciel, has a knack for balancing warmth and pressure. Her productions and mixes often feel coated in an iridescent gloss, evoking the trippy stylings of '90s UK tech house and the swung drums of classic New York house. In between that, though, there's lots of vigor via sleek electro, rippling trance, barrelling techno and big, bad breakbeats. Her style may lean towards the atmospheric but it's loaded with moxie, giving her the versatility to close out a main room or kick off the afters.

Her fluid movements between bouncy basslines, spiraling synth patterns and weightless house grooves are just one facet of her impressive rise as a DJ and producer. When she's not behind the decks, presenting radio shows or working on the excellent Parallel Minds label she runs alongside other Toronto acts Yohei S and Daniel 58, Li throws herself into community work. Committed to diverse dance floors, affordable housing and overall equality in the music industry, she's a hard worker in the realest sense of the phrase.

Li's RA mix is a treat. Rolling through scintillating drum work, wonky rhythms and dreamy pads, it feels like quintessential Ciel. In her interview below, she described how she enjoys "the challenge of trying to combine and make cohesive all the diverse styles of music I loved in a DJ set." Judging by this mix alone, it's safe to say that Li succeeded.

Read more: http://ra.co/podcast/832

@ciel_dj

RA podcast

RA.832 Ciel

@secondcousins

For the extended  Q&A plus OG pi pi pi track game... please visit our website -------> pipipi.life <---------

Introduce yourself? Pronouns? Where do you currently reside? 

Ello, I’m Jackson. Pronouns are He/Him. Residing in Eora/Sydney

Who/what currently inspires you music-wise that has nothing to do with music?

Water and light mostly 

What is your favorite party/collective where you reside and why?

Too many faves. Some heavy hitters off the top are Umami/Echo Flats/Heavenly/Community Chest. They are %100 in it for the experience. Community Chest is a joint force crew of about 7 great crews from Sydney – It’s kinda like when the power rangers come together to make that big robot fighter guy

What was your best moment at the supermarket?

They were playing Bill Withers in a Woollies once and it got me

What is your most recent favorite DJ mix and why?

Max D – Indie Rock on C- was maybe the last one that got me good. Max D only plays by Max D’s rules

Any advice to upcoming DJs/producers? 

Enjoy your life & be kind to others

What would you like to see in the future for the dance community?

More love and respect, always

Cousin - 8˚

@ciel_dj

Introduce yourself? Pronouns? Where do you currently reside? 

Hello, I'm a producer and DJ going by the name of Ciel. My real name is Cindy, my pronouns are she/her, and I'm based in Toronto, Canada.

How do you deal with being nervous before a gig? 

Try not think about it :) It doesn't always work, but i find it happens from time to time if I'm really exhausted from not sleeping on tour and my brain has naturally shut off. If I can't stop thinking about it, I will try to select the first track from my vinyl bag and have a vague sense of what Rekordbox playlists I plan to play from. I ad-hoc all my sets because I love picking tracks in response to the audience's energy, but sometimes that is a lot more stressful for me and I find myself doom scrolling the USB. Devising a strategy, even if I end up not following it, does a lot to soothe my anxiety. 

Where do you see yourself musically in 2044?

I don't know what the future holds but I hope to be a full time composer of film and TV scores when I'm in my 50s and no longer want to tour constantly.

If you could have anything on your rider… What would you choose?

An indica-sativa hybrid joint (no tobacco), nice bottle of orange wine, German flat peaches, and a bathroom in the booth (anything is possible, right?)

What would you like to see in the future for the dance community?

Less celebrity worship, less influencer culture, less fame & money-chasing, more focus on behind-the-scenes folks (whether DJs or producers or labels) who foster community and tirelessly build their local scenes.

Ciel - 36˚C

@mikemidnight

For cheeky pi Q&A... please visit our website

pipipi.life

Mike Midnight - -2˚

@hystericalloveproject

For Q&A with Hysterical Love Project... please visit our website 

(((((pipipi.life)))))

Hysterical Love Project - 31˚C

@adobeprincess

For Q&A with adobeprincess... please visit our website

(((((pipipi.life)))))

adobeprincess - -9˚C

@2shy2dj

For cheeky Q&A with DJ Fart in the club... 

https://pipipi.life/mix/djfartintheclub

DJ Fart in the Club - 12.7˚

the 11th entry in our series come from a dear friend and label regular, Toronto based musician and DJ - @ciel_dj

Words from the artist :

"little sounds in huge expansive spaces"

This mix was my musical extrapolation of this quote. As I put together the tracks in the mix, the idea of small sounds in big spaces became more metaphysical, as a metaphor for memory and nostalgia. Small, seemingly insignificant events in our past can expand in significance over time, informed by our experiences later on in life, and with our emotions acting as a tool of reverberation, extending their presence in our lives far past their time of occurrence. What begun as a process of selecting tracks that quite literally feature "small sounds in big spaces" soon morphed into a dig into my distant past, to nearly 20 years ago when I first started learning to DJ. I pulled from the mnml tracks that had an important influence on my formative years, their impact can still be heard in the contemporary tracks I play today, all of them bouncing next to each other in this nearly 2hr musical collage.

naffcast011 ⦾  *̣̥☆·͙̥‧‧̩̥·‧•̥̩̥͙‧·‧̩̥˟͙ Ciel ˟͙‧̩̥·‧•̥̩̥͙‧·‧̩̥‧·͙̥̣☆*̣̥

Ciel - Live From Dimensions 25'

We met Ciel at a party by Forth in Toronto, where she played a dope Drum & Bass set after the Zenker Brothers. So we asked her for a contribution to our podcast series and here it is. Enjoy!

Check out a short interview here: http://www.iliantape.de/ilian-tape-podcast-series-026/

ITPS026 CIEL

Toronto's Ciel goes deep on this exceptional journey through house, electro, breaks and techno.

For more information and tracklist head here: https://www.factmag.com/2019/08/20/ciel-parallel-minds-fact-mix/

FACT Mixes

FACT mix 724 - Ciel (Aug '19)

The Toronto producer eases in with a tranquil blend of fresh Australian electronica.

Interview with @cl_lit:

melbournedeepcast.net/portfolio/ciel/

About the mix:

"I had toured for the first time in Australia late 2018 and it made a massive impression on me. In many ways, it reminded me of a warmer version of Canada. People were incredibly kind and welcoming and I was blown away by the hospitality the promoters and local artists showed me. I also absolutely adored the incredible nature I saw in Australia, having played in Hobart and Brisbane and Melbourne and Sydney and Adelaide and Hopkins’ Creek Festival in a volcanic crater, I fell in love with the landscapes I saw and the animals local only to this part of the world. So when I first sat down to think about this mix, the bushfires had just started raging and the news was beyond depressing to see. Everywhere I saw online was just videos and pictures of burned animals and ash that was once blooming flora & fauna. A fan from Australia sent me a DM on IG, telling me how my song “Terracotta”, as it’s a track that talks about the sea and land, was able to give them a lot of peace during a time that was anything but.

And so I decided I wanted to make a mix that not only paid tribute to this incredible music scene and country and its amazing artists, but was musically able to provide a sense of solace to people who perhaps feel hopeless about our time on this planet. That is partly why I began the mix with music by indigenous tribes from East Timor—as “modern” people it’s sad to see that we’ve lost touch with the roots of our life on this planet as we know it, and I think we have so much to learn from indigenous cultures and their respect for mother nature. I also chose a lot of dub music, and music that featured lots of organic drums for similar reasons, as these styles of music owe as much to indigenous folk music as they do to modern electronic music. Ultimately I wanted the mix to feel like slipping into a warm bath. Hope it was successful. 🙂"

www.melbournedeepcast.net

Read the interview

MDC.238 Ciel

mix series and label by @deep_creep

Q&A's on ----> pipipi.life <------

label ~ https://pi-pi-pi.bandcamp.com

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