Telepathic Fish co-founder DJ Food, aka one part of Openmind, takes us on a trip into the world of 90s chill out.

Strictly Kev likes the company of plants whilst working on music so that's handy for us isn't it?! We're assuming he's talking about a beautiful Calathea sitting in the corner for inspiration, tho his dream plant setup - a conservatory packed with Romanesco broccoli, trippy Caladiums, and Persian Shields - is something we'd be well on board with too.

Enough of the plant talk for a second and back to the music, ambient music to be clear. For those that weren't squatting in South London back in the early 90s, Openmind were the four-piece behind the mighty Telepathic Fish - the legendary ambient afterparty that transformed chill-out rooms from dub-playing afterthoughts into proper destinations.

Kev, along with Chantal Passamonte (Mira Calix, RIP), David Vallade, and Mario Aguera, started in a shared house above a shop with no neighbours to complain/bash the door down. What began as art school parties quickly grew into Sunday afternoon sessions in squatted venues - a former dole office in Brixton and even the derelict Roundhouse on New Year's Day. They hosted everyone from Aphex Twin to Mixmaster Morris among wall-to-wall mattresses, UV installations, and  Coldcut's Matt Black with his boundary pushing video projections.

The idea was simple: recreate that post-clubbing comedown vibe but on a massive scale, as an "aural and visual blanket" for club-rattled minds. They even published a fanzine called Mindfood and worked at the scene's hub, Ambient Soho record shop, helping shape what Simon Reynolds called a "wombeldelic sound-and-light bath" in contrast to the current trend of hardcore and it's relentless assault.

Thirty years on, that spirit's having a comeback. Events like London's A Loose Ting are bringing back the bedding and the hushed reverence, while Berlin's Overflow is going full sensory overload with vibrating mattresses, fountains, and harpists. New York's Planetarium gatherings have people mostly horizontal, inspired by psychedelic therapy sessions. There's even and ambient sauna in South London you might have come across via the wonder of Music To Watch Seeds Grow By's recent takeover.  Our very own Watching Trees dabbled in said chill out space this year, pairing the abstract and the ambient with projected dappled sunlight visuals from the mighty Jamie House. Turns out people still need those little havens away from the madness, especially in this day and age!

Also handily 30 years on the Openmind crew have just compiled the first-ever Telepathic Fish retrospective for Fundamental Frequencies - a double vinyl love letter to those hazy early-90s mornings when the music finally slowed down.

For this Seeds Mix, Kev has leaned into his love of minimalism and systems music - repetition built from layers of loops offset against each other to form subtle polyrhythms. There's a deliberate avoidance of drum machines here in favour of organic percussion, and around the eight-minute mark, a section from Psychick Warriors Ov Gaia that captures the feeling of being deep in the forest, phone abandoned, discovering that paradise was just a forage away.

Full interview here: https://www.theransomnote.com/music/mixes/seeds-mix-005-openminds-leave-your-phone-at-home-discover-paradise-after-a-forage-in-the-forest/

@strictly

INTERVIEW

Seeds Mix 005: Openmind's Leave your phone at home & discover paradise after a forage in the forest

I like everything dark, liquid, technoid, slow, fast, deep, chill, soft, broken, heavy, industrial, noisy, abstract, experimental in all kinds, forms and excesses of D&B, Jungle, Chillstep, Dubstep, Atmospheric, UK Future Garage, Ambient, Old School East Coast, Old School Techno/Rave, Autonomic, Ragga, Dub (Soundsystems), Downbeat, Lowbeat, Trip Hop, Downtempo, Noise, Industrial, Rythm n Noise, Breakbeat, Experimental, Accid Jazz, 90s UK GRIME, such kind of breaks, beats, bass ALL AROUND just like I also discovered electronic synth/cold/darkwave/postpunk as an VERY interesting new paths. My understanding of music mainly characterised by: David Bowie, Depeche Mode, Prodigy, Wu Tang, LTJ Bukem, Krush, Kid Koala, DJ Food, Goldie, Roni Size, CAM, Andy C, Kid606, Dieselboy, Q_Bert, BTTB, Tricky, MC Conrad, Ed Rush, Portishead, Antipop Consortium, Vadim, Massive Attack, KanKick, Enduser, Coldcut, Architect, Broken Note, DJ SHADOW, And One, Project Pitchfork, Hype, Shy FX,  Grooverider, Optical, Rebel MC, Marky, Zinc, Krust, Kool Herc, Tim Westwood, Beastie Boys, Kris Kross, KRS One, Busta, Snoop Dogg, DUB FX, Black Moon, Boards of Canada, Björk, Salt n Pepa, TLC, Janet Jackson, Missy Elliot.....
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Second account created for my new discovery of the genres electronical Wave/Synthwave/Darkwave/Coldwave/Pop, Industrial, Rhythm 'n' Noise, Noise, Postpunk, EBM, IDM, IBM & appropriate in all facets and wings around to separate this incredibly interesting and beautiful new door in https://soundcloud.com/noone-2-310434778.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
If you're SO insanely happy about every single new follower here like i am......i think it should give me and my self-worth (a lot) to think about, I absolutely know. For this reason: my biggest THANK YOU to every single follower. You and all this here really mean a lot to me.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
I know that music can neither heal nor prevent the decades-long existing global sick capitalism, consumption, politics, lobbyism, corruption, systems, society/s that are sick of it, nor the imminent climate collapse resulting from all these causes. But what it can heal and fill up wonderfully I know: hearts and souls - even empty, cracked, damaged and discarded ones. And that completely free of charge. Unbelievable nowadays...what is also clear: we will never be enough people to be able to break the capitalist climate-damaging sick system globally in time, now it has been really too late for too many years gone by. I live against this system as far as my framework as a system-dependent taxpayer allows me to do so. Music is an enormously important part of it. We should tune in together to the inevitable real climate collapse. With happy hearts & souls filled to the brim with music, contentment & love. Only then will the demise of our livelihoods be bearable for us all.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
War, natural disasters, politics, violence, protests, riots, injustices, attacks, terror and much more. Back then, compared to today, it was all relatively completely unfiltered, clean and completely free of any media and political fake news manipulation and twisted propaganda. All the  pseudo massiv CAPITALISTIC problems, much more its numerous symptoms of illness such as "burn outs", "social media", "depression", "shortage of skilled labour", "housing shortage", with manipulation, fake news, advertising, capitalistic, political influence soaked "media", or topics such as "urban gardening", "gentrification", immigration, all that "self-love, self-worth, what is happiness, the search for the self" madness, "gender", LGBT, "metoos". ... didn't exist back then or were healthy, normal, simple, clean. And yes, people's worries and fears back then were the same as now, just as real, normal, simple BUT FREE from any capitalist distortion, self-promotion, exaggerated and inflated hyperbubbles. Without the very large, constantly spreading epidemic of capitalism, there would probably be less than 40%? of all these problems on our planet, and a global negative climate collapse would never have been an issue. Religion does not affect our climate alone, but in numerous religious political disputes harms people beside climate, nature and all living creatures the most.

Strictly Kev aka DJ Food aka Openmind - Music producer, DJ and Graphic Designer. I've worked with and for Ninja Tune since 1993, designing covers, mixing radio shows and producing records as well as touring the world DJing. 

Ransom Note is an online music, arts and culture magazine. We provide a home for readers and writers with boundless enthusiasm, esoteric knowledge, fierce opinions and impeccable taste.

With our core team immersed in all aspects of dance music, we publish news, articles, and interviews covering the greatest in innovative, underground culture from across the globe. We offer regular, exclusive music and mixtapes from our favourite artists, and publish features shining a light on everything from the freshest new artists to the untold tales from rave history.

Alongside this we offer musings on film, books, life, and art, generating some context and controversy as an antidote to the reheated PR that clogs up the internet. Our office is fuelled by Tunnock’s Bars, cat memes, hangovers and a ridiculous, never ending love for our culture.

We're always interested in getting new writers on board – feel free to get in touch if you’ve got a story to tell.

With love until the grave.