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Phonica Mix Series 85: DJ Python

Get the full tracklist: https://blrrm.tv/48thpr7

This weeks SYSTEM comes from Lot Radio resident Yumi, who’s deep at the heart of an exciting new wave of DJs emanating from New York.

SYSTEM Mix 104: Yumi

Juanita's Mix 100 with Ciel @ciel_dj

Q. How would you describe yourself?
A. a music maker with too much sincerity and a passion for sampling, film, and leftist politics

Q. What drew you to the music scene in the beginning and where do you hope to see it in the future?
A. Looking back at my life, I think everything from my birth led me on this path towards music. It was my first love. But as an only child, my experience with music growing up was always very solitary. I yearned to be part of a community radio station with Iikeminded music nerds, and it was working for a radio station eventually during my undergraduate that brought me toward DJing and rave culture. Back then I never thought I could do this full time, but once I got the chance to make a living doing this, I realized the scene was far from perfect, in fact it's very exploitative. I hope in the future we can find a way to fairly compensate music makers for the incredible gift of music they bestow upon the world, without becoming beholden to corrupt corporate & military interests. Artists can be hyper individualistic and self-interested, and I hope we can get better at looking out for each other instead of just our own paycheques.

Q. Tell us a little bit about this mix.
A. I wanted to present a different side of myself to international audiences on such a wonderful mix platform. Perhaps people outside of my home city of Toronto are less familiar with my downtempo sets, but it's been a significant part of my wheelhouse for years, and have gained even wider affection from me since I started doing a downtempo party in Toronto last year. Like I always say, 80-100bpm is the most natural tempo for extended human body movements. I also liked the idea of doing a mix that doesn't build in a predictable way, instead it waxes and wanes like the natural rhythm of life. So many of my favourite mixes build and release tension in a way that's very satisfying to listen to, the sounds intensify to a frenzy before disintegrating into nothingness. I wanted to play with that rise and fall and mix downtempo and dub with double time d&b in a non-linear way that is evocative of our most precious memories and tells stories we've only seen in dreams. Downtempo and dub also seemed like the perfect genres to play in the 100th mix for Juanita's, and in the lead up to my fav April holiday. :) I hope the listeners enjoy it.

Juanita's Mix 100: Ciel

Simon Aussel is known for a particularly wild DJing style and leftfield bassy bangers, and it's his curious and playful approach to clubland that's won him loyal fans over the years. Whether photographing drink tokens from gigs or creating an 8-bit version of his debut album on a Game Boy cartridge, he seems to approach every endeavour with childlike joy and wonder—rare qualities in an industry that can leave so many jaded.

The Nantes-born, Paris-based artist's love of club culture, digging and world-building has set him on a blazing path in club music. He's released an exceptionally wide range of music, including a Memphis rap tape for Trilogy Tapes, dubstep-trap-jazz hybrids with Egyptian singer Abdullah Miniawy and deadly hard drum for Livity Sound. His mixes, meanwhile, are fast becoming DJ lore thanks to his knack for connecting seemingly opposed genres like new wave and fast techno. Look no further than his now-infamous Dekmantel Selectors set from 2021 or a marathon back-to-back with Skee Mask in 2022. 

As the French DJ gets more comfortable with story-telling, he's getting more personal and focusing on deeper, slower sounds. That's evident on this RA Podcast—six months in the works—which incorporates woozy downtempo, weighty dub and bleepy beats. Of course, in the chaotic middle section there's plenty of huge basslines, plus old-school electro, acidic techno and even a bouncy edit of the Montell Jordan classic "This Is How We Do It." Showcasing his quirks, influences and growth, this is Simo Cell in prime time.

@simocell

Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/934

RA podcast

RA.934 Simo Cell

This was a special one! I got a chance to play out some of my favorite downtempo & chill out music I’ve been collecting over the years before I even knew anything about dance music. It was even more special since it was a day before my birthday. Many of these tracks hold a special place in my heart as it’s mostly what I listen to when I’m not at the club. The first hour is what I consider favorites & essentials with some deep jazz cuts thrown in there. Thank you to the nowadays team for having me play! 

Special thanks to William Orbit, The Orb, Jah Wobble, Nobukazu Takemura, Talvin Singh & Nitin Sawhney amongst others for making this beautiful music that I find myself listening to over and over throughout life…

Echor @ Nowadays Backyard 09/10/24

livwutang thrives in the fluidity of genre, delivering eclectic, high-energy sets with introspective depth and chaotic dexterity.

Rooted in dub’s spatial awareness and the rebellious spirit of dance music, her sound blends the vibrant rhythms of Central & West Africa, the innovation of Black American music, and timeless vocal melodies spanning six decades.

livwutang @ Kiosk Radio 10.03.2025

Monthly missives from a London club selector par excellence - expect anything from finger-on-the-pulse UK rap, to deep house and techno records, to jungle & UK funky.  
Find the full tracklist and related episodes on NTS: https://www.nts.live/shows/ok-williams/episodes/ok-williams-27th-march-2025

OK Williams 270325

Bristol-based @k_means operates at the fringes of electronic music. It's not tempo and genre that unites their sound, but more an exploration of mood and texture underpinned by bass-heavy low ends and hypnotic rhythms. The Noods, Rinse FM and Kiosk Radio regular is also resident at Bristol's Psychotherapy Sessions and will debut at Dekmantel Festival where you should fully expect to be taken into plenty of unknown musical territory.

It is the same with their mix for us this week - a wild trip into futuristic drum patterns and interplanetary sounds that melt the mind and contort the body. There is a constant push and pull between the organic and the synthetic with tribal percussion and warped vocals brushing up with bleeping synth modulations and experimental minimalism. It's a magnetic selection that's as much an imaginary movie soundtrack as it is a dance floor escape.

Dekmantel Mix 487 - k means

muxopaloysinremedio

http://blowinguptheworkshop.com/project/ccl

A re-imagination of a mixtape I never finished.

I started putting the pieces of this mix together in early 2018, and stopped after a head injury that made listening to music painful. These songs have gotten me through some of my darkest times, I hope this trip can provide you with some solace in 2020. 

Re-imagined, reorganized, re-edited songs, personal recordings, voice memos, bits of books...from “before,” from now. 

Recordings and music from: Amazondotcom, Ash Ra Tempel, ASMZ, Barefoot, Babyfather, Beautiful Pea Green Boat, Beat Happening, Carmen Maria Machado, CCL/Cecu, COH, Cocteau Twins, The Congos, Drome, The Durutti Column, Echium, Faye Wong, Freeway Fusion, Graham Lambkin, Jana Rush, Jake Muir, Jonathan Fitoussi & Clemens Hourriere, Koñca Taniec, Kelsey Lu, Kuedo, M. Geddes Gengras, Madteo, Miles Davis, Mark Van Hoen, Mark Clifford, Nat, Sky High Diamonds, Second Woman, Siete Catorce, Sun Araw, Tricky, Ulf Lohman, Vince Watson, Wilson Tanner

Blowing Up The Workshop

111 ◆ CCL

Connecting club culture to the wider world, on screen and irl through parties, film and video.

SYSTEM Mix 104: Yumi

Boiler Room