Yu Su, Pender Street Steppers, and Hotspring 270721

Up next are our dear friends The Zenmenn (@user-847972032) with whom we have a new 7" and more coming up soon. For the special occasion they came up with an unexpected mix extraordinaire while being generous in answering our questions. Interview (excerpt) down below.

www.musicfrommemory.com

MFM: When did the first idea for The Zenmenn project present itself? Did it start with a few existing songs, or is it a conceptual project?

ZM: A couple of years back we got the opportunity to join this cool studio run by a gentleman called Franz. We did some stuff with friends and at the same time we just began jamming and recording what we did, and eventually we had a couple of songs in our hands, that we thought sounded interesting, and it dawned upon us that we should spend our time working on our own stuff. The name The Zenmenn came later, probably most of the album was recorded by then. There are still some old jams on the Zenmenn hard drive filed under Pharaohs Lounge, which is one of the earlier name ideas stolen from an alcohol free coctail bar near the studio.

MFM: Quite some fans refer in their comments on the LP to the '80s and include terms like 'melancholic' and 'nostalgic'. What are your thoughts on comments like these? 

ZM: Oh that’s nice. It’s generally very nice to hear people describe our music. Today a guy told us he thought we sounded like an Ethiopian band played on 45 with John Mayer on top… could be something to it. 
But true - it’s not really a party record and some of the songs like topaz or homage to a friendship certainly have a nostalgic, melancholic tone. Also the 80s vibe is well helped along by the Dx7 that features on every song. The presets we use are mostly the legendary e piano which features in all the 80s power ballads and the amazing fretless bass that still sounds better than any of the other fretless bass presets we’ve come across. Harp and steel drum are also great.

MFM: If all your current equipment would break down and you'd have to work with newer instruments of modern technology instead, how would that affect your music? Do you think you'd still non-mistakenly sound like The Zenmenn?

ZM: Most of our keyboards are from the 90s or even early 2000s, like the Triton Le and the Casio Ctk900 with which we recorded this whole mix. The 90s stuff is way more affordable. In some way we would probably sound the same cause we don’t loop, quantize or produce music in a contemporary fashion, and we’re into certain chord progressions and grooves. If we wanna play one pattern for 5 minutes, that’s what we mostly do, and then you always end up with some embellishments and quirks. But making music comes a lot down to workflow and if we had some fancy new synth in your hands with a thousand effects, sequences and menu diving we would probably do something different. That could be cool too,  but at the moment we prefer the old school approach. 

MFM: Thanks so much for this very special "mix". Tell us about it please?!

ZM: We made a mix of tracks we liked but it didn’t really come across too original so we decided to take another approach. Magnus plays around on keyboards whenever he can, and the way we make music is mostly just jamming something and then giving it structure as we go along. Magnus made 2 jams and we put them together and chopped out things that didn’t seem to fit, but mostly everything is recorded in one go. Our friend Helen Wells came by and played some harmonica, guitar and tweaked some pedals. We overdubbed some Casio, cool voices etc. Ben had a couple of curatorial suggestions in the end and did some great spoken words. Since our first little tour this summer Magnus has been carrying around some small drawing books and has been noodling away. This has been a great influence on this mix where all the decisions have been quick, with a loose hand and not too many layers. We’re happy to have the opportunity to make a mix and we’re very inspired to do more just like this.

MFM Mix 037: The Zenmenn

Delighted to host @melodyastruth influence mix on Oddity Radio.

@jonnynash : It is a selection of music I've been enjoying over the last year, with a loose focus on "guitar music".

Turn on, tune in and don't drop out!

For regular updates please follow : www.instagram.com/oddityradio.fm/

Jonny Nash - Oddity Influence Mix

https://www.nts.live/shows/bill-spencer/episodes/a-month-of-sundays-w-bill-spencer-21st-august-2022

A Month of Sundays w/ Bill Spencer - 210822

Efficient Space's Swiss connection Ivan Liechti expands on his Ghost Riders compilation with an hour of North American coming of age garage ballads, salad day hymns and small town criers.

Image Credit: Elise Gagnebin-de Bons

https://www.nts.live/shows/efficient-space/episodes/efficient-space-20th-october-2022

Efficient Space w/ Ivan Liechti 201022

recorded at daytime session 13th of july 2019, Samo and 5ive warmed up before DJ Jus-ed and Powder. slowed down the recording in december 2022 - to make the moment last forever.
how about slowing down the tempo of life this year, let´s not be hasty.

find the official merchandise at www.alfabetbutik.com

Sattaoja Musik Mix - Episode 3 - 5ive & Samo - TUPPLURS mix 2

We are stoked to welcome British born, Boorloo residing Patrick Little AKA Shari-Vari Records for the seventh instalment of our ONOMIX series. 

Having moved over to our sunny shores a few years back, Patrick has lived and played records around London. Spinning at revered listening bars such as Brilliant Corners and was a mainstay presenter on the globally loved internet radio station NTS. Patrick now owns and operates Shari-Vari Records in the beautiful State Treasury Buildings at the heart of the CBD where you can find an incredible array of esoteric records of all flavours, hand curated by Patrick himself.

Patrick displays his breadth of taste in his beautiful ONOMIX here, spinning folk and outsider rock rarities. The perfect mix to sooth your soul post silly season madness. So recline, unwind, listen and enjoy!

Artwork by Alex Malkovic

ONOMIX 007: Shari-Vari Records

Back by popular demand: Tako's wonderful Holiday Mix!
Here's what I wrote 7 years ago:

I was about to post this beautiful summer mix of Tako with the following words:

"What do you expect from a mix when it's done by a supernice guy with an excellent taste in music and a wonderful record collection? Yeah and that's exactly what you get here. Also make sure to get a copy of the first 12" of the Sombrero Galaxy, released on Lovefingers long awaited ESP Institute. Sombrero Galaxy is the collabo between Tako and Jonny Nash and their "Journey to the center of the sun" is one of my favourite releases of the last years, cheers!"

That was yesterday. In the meantime something terrible happened. Tako's friend Petros Malevis from Athens passed away without a warning. This mix is dedicated to Petros! He will be missed. Rest in peace, Petros.

Tako - Holiday (Guest Mix, 2010)

Tomoyuki Fujii - SANPO 129

@earlgreyradio

E2E: Did your move to Melbourne influence the mix? 

A little bit, yes. I have been feeling particularly nostalgic lately and that probably came through in the selections. Last week, I drove from Glebe to Brunswick in a 12 seater bus with my cat Romeo. We listened to this mix together to see how it sounded on the road. Unfortunately, Romeo did not like it and he did not like much that day. 

E2E: Were there any environments or contexts that you had in mind when putting this mix together? 

As the title of your mix series suggests, music can be a wonderful accompaniment to activities. When I have watched a film that has really affected me I’ll often listen to the soundtrack for weeks after and sometimes make my own imaginary soundtrack of songs that fit with the world of the film. While I was reading Cormac McCarthy’s ‘Border Trilogy’, I wanted to find ways to stay in the novel when I wasn’t reading it. The novels are set at the southwest border of the United States and the characters spend a majority of the novels riding on horseback, often alone and usually on a quest to avenge a loss. I found myself preoccupied imagining the sort of music the characters and their horses could be listening to, riding under lonesome skies, contemplating their place in the world. 

I don’t expect that much of your audience owns or has access to a horse. Still, I hope some of them can enjoy these songs on journeys of their own. 

E2E: Any news or projects coming up with Best Effort, Ken Oath Records or Rimbombo?

Nothing is planned on the release front and my bank account implies that maybe it’s time for a bit of a break. Best Effort Dance Parties will continue every few months at Freda’s and I’m looking forward to some summer parties in Sydney with my Rimbombo buds Adi and James at the end of the year.

music for... horse and rider - DJ Earl Grey

The Red Light Radio resident from Amsterdam is, in symbiosis with PAM, behind one of the best Blogs/Youtube Channels out there going by the name of Onkokole y Trompa. A quiet but persistently excellent fixture in the city's fairly digging-oriented club-culture, he seems to represent the really good stuff about the Amsterdam scene (together with a handful others maybe). For 5918mins., he pulls his tissues out for this emotional weeping boogie mix. Maybe in light of the current situation, maybe in light of the recent closure of his home-base Red Light Radio (R.I.P.)

Tomoyuki Fujii - SANPO 129

Sanpo Disco

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