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.

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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

Mix of the Week #563 is "Get Up And Go" by DJ Sanza
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Dream Chimney 'Mix of the Week'

Mix of the Week #563: DJ Sanza - Get Up And Go

Internal Selection 054: Nick

SMUT002 - A3 - She Wears Them Everyday (MLiR Edit)

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Hot Ones - Running Hot - 05 Jul 2025

Joe Morris, never afraid to scorch the listeners with another cosmic excursion into downtempo, balearic and deep dance.

SHADES OF SOUND W/ JOE MORRIS - 19 JUL 25

Free Download

Fisher- Blackberries (Classic Tom Remix)

Welcome back y'all! Welcome back to the Idle Cellars Mix Series. This time around we have yet another special treat for you. We reached out to one of our good pals up in the Great White North to supply us with a special downtempo mix! The manlike JEX OPOLIS is in the house, putting together this killer 90-minute joint, full of late 80's & early 90's downbeat house, ambient trance & post-acid house groovers. You may know the man from his Nu Disco Good Timin' and evil twin Bad Timin' labels, where he amps up the Italo & 90s Progressive vibes with massive kicks for the dancefloor, or his well-known mixes for The Lot Radio NYC. We're so stoked to present this to you, and grateful that our man hooked us up with this jammer! We hope you enjoy - more to come soon!

Mike Bee
San Francisco
September 2025

@jexopolis
jexopolis.bandcamp.com/

Jex Opolis - Moon Chasing

bytestory. - SL CLUB

Alineat - Lady Bloom [WNGVA008]

Recording of Loud-E's set at Dekmantel Festival 2019.

Dekmantel Festival 2019

Loud-E at Dekmantel Festival 2019

After a long spell of Goa Trance and other electronic music since the 90s here in Anjuna Beach, I sat on the beach over a bowl of Mayo with Frietjes and a lobster one day when it hit me, I realized I should assemble an A-Team of the best diggers and edit makers to start a new label based around the genres where my music journey began back in 80s Amsterdam -  Disco / Synth-Pop and New Wave, perhaps even some early House. After some deliberation over a big pitcher of warm Heineken with ice cubes, I decided on the name Smutty Edits. I will get some help on curation and Art Direction from friends in Europe, some of whom feature on the upcoming releases. Let's see what we can come up with. Bear with me!

If you message me, please be patient, I don't log on to Soundcloud very often