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.

www.musicfrommemory.com

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

we celebrate Black History Month as an annual observance 
of important people and events in the history of the African 
diaspora presenting the 5th studio insert series entitled:
Compass- An Obsolete Musical Voyage.

Traxx- Studio Insert 5- Compass- An Obsolete Musical Voyage

Emission spéciale Festival Udada / Gros Volume Sur La Molle invite Vidal Benjamin pour 1 heure de sympathie sur 45 tours.

Les épisodes de Gros Volume Sur La Molle (GVSLM) se suivent mais ne se ressemblent pas. Deux fois par mois les frères Pochez se relaient pour vous emmener dans leurs tribulations sonores éclectiques.

www.diaradio.live/emissions/gvslm

Gros Volume Sur La Molle #10 w/ Vidal Benjamin (Spéciale Udada) - (25.07.22)

If we were to pick one word to describe Ziggy Devriendt, AKA Nosedrip, it would probably humble. He runs a one-man empire out of the modest Belgian coastal town of Ostend, and his STROOM label is one of the most quietly brilliant outfits in Western Europe. A mixture of obscurer-than-obscure reissues and quirky new material makes for a label as unpredictable as it is essential, and Devriendt's unusual touch is all over it—he prefers to make up his own compilations and sequences instead of just repackaging old records, for example, which explains how important curation and putting songs together is to him.

So it's not a surprise that , in addition to being a music nerd supreme, Devriendt is also a remarkably good DJ, whose ear for oddball cuts translates well into intuitively danceable music. Judging from his RA Podcast, he's had trance on the mind—the mix features flighty beats that range from CJ Bolland and Psychick Warriors Ov Gaia to new-school practitioners like J-Zbel, plus a major highlight from Peter Van Hoesen that you might remember from Marcel Fengler's Berghain 05 mix and plenty of new material from Stroom. (He's also putting out a compilation of Belgian trance, which might explain the direction of this mix.) It's a three hour-ride that varies from jaw-dropping mixing to abrupt, almost shocking transitions that might startle you out of your chair. 

@ziggy-devriendt

Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/843

RA podcast

RA.843 Nosedrip

Satoshi Yamamura promo mix for HEAT x IFM 11.02

for the 3rd chapter from the definitive days 
of house music, as the previous 2 chapters 
is education that a lot of alleged "House" 
DJs and Producers are obviously lacking.

Traxx plays again from the early 80s, 90s and today 
from vintage and out of print record labels: 
polar, trojan, dirtyblends, westwood, smack trax, 
slip n slide, trax records, to productions from: 
boyd jarvis, urban soul, blaze, virgo, prince, 
romanthony, colonel abrams, leron carson,
tyree, MBD, marcus mixx, ron morelli, nature boy, 
delroy edwards, turtle bugg, cliff solomon and also 
a new joint from Deep Concentration bridging and 
building blocks of the early dance music scene culture 
with selections of today and yesterday incorporating 
musical blueprints of Chicago and New York’s timeless 
heroes we admire, honor and inspired by their education.

we hope this will give people the chance to listen to music many 
may have never heard on this side of sound that provides a 
provocative and thoughtful musical workout in your mind..

this musical timeline is literally all over the rhythm scales ⚖️ 
with vinyl turntables, a vintage mix console…effects box and cd players.
****more chapters to come in due time****

(trAxx) presents: The Definitive Articles Of House Music Chapter 3

One of our favourite DJs, OKO DJ, brings her quintessential Off-Kilter charm to the latest podcast. A delve deep into her varied collection, head-twisting sonics and complex oddities for at home listening and for moments on the dance floor, packed with intricacies, weaved together - an education, a story. 

Recommendation: Save yourself just under 2 hours and listen to it all at once.

//

Athens based Marine Tordjemann alias OKO DJ is Preceded by a well-earned reputation as one of the most forward thinking and genre expanding selectors in the game. Her sets weave the weird and the wonderful into dance experiences that hit every extreme. Tender, disturbing, refreshingly unpredictable - she isn’t an artist to miss.

Tordjemann has been a core element of Judaah’s label Brothers From Different Mothers for a decade, besides being also the founder of LYL Radio’s Paris department, where she has been hosting her show Pu$$y Nightmare since then.

Pu$$y Nightmare has evolved into a unique party series shining a light on FLINTAQ* artists, and focusing on bringing more consciousness and spirituality to the underground music scene. 

The key element of PU$$Y NIGHTMARE events is a Sacred Circle guided by OKO DJ herself as an opening ritual to any party. It’s a grounding practice that focuses on the mind-body-soul connection and celebrates what makes us unique: our inner beauty, our vulnerability, our magic.

As a producer, artist and energetic work facilitator, Tordjemann is a master at channeling surrounding energies and forces in her art with unrestrained panache and authenticity. She is greatly inspired by the power of nature and the Divine Feminine - that’s how she crafted an acclaimed first mini-album between experimental and spoken-word about the teachings of the Cycle, featuring « one of the coolest downtime tracks of the year » (RA).

There is definitely a lot more to expect in the future from OKO DJ, as her inspiration continues to unravel along her personal and spiritual journey.

// 

@okodj

OK027 - OKO DJ

Seuls sur mars

the 6th chapter as the previous 5 chapters is education 
that a lot of alleged "House" DJs and Producers are 
obviously lacking showcasing modern, vintage and 
out of print/promo labels:

trax records, underground, house records, precision,
sunstar records, dezzarotic records, l.a. club resource, 
gherkin records, chicago connection, still music chicago,
dark entries and chiwax to productions from: 

ron hardy, felix de housecat’s 1st production, sweet d,
gene hunt, larry heard, farley jackmaster funk, virgo 4, 
x2, dmarc cantu, steve summers, boyd jarvis, juju, 
leron carson, g strings, ron morelli, terence woodard, 
delroy edwards, mutant beat dance and a new production of jakbeat to come from chicago 
with a new alias project dropping later this year 
in 2025 for a label we support.
(more news on that later)


⚠️ warning ⚠️ 
this selection covers the building blocks of the 
early dance music scene with selections of today 
and yesterday incorporating musical blueprint dubs,
a couple of vocals in between but overall: 
a raw style of basement underground tracks 
of Chicago and New York’s timeless heroes & icons 
we admire, honor and inspired by their education.

we hope this will give people the chance to 
listen to music many may have never heard 
on this side of sound that provides a provocative 
and thoughtful musical workout in your mind 
with vinyl turntables, a vintage mix console 
with an effects box and cd players.

this selection is personally dedicated 
to my beloved heart ♥️ vicki, jason, nestor, 
mark grusane, naughty wood, ron morelli,
kozmik, strangeland, alex from queens, uncle tom
and the dancers and dreamers for the continuation 
of the lessons and storytelling of chicago with 
sincerity 🎶✨

runtime: 3 hours 50 minutes 

****more chapters to come in due time****

{Traxx} Presents- The Definitive Articles of House Music Chapter 6

More info & buy the EP : http://versatilerecords.com/release/icube-ver105-12-ep

05 I Cube Sequence III VER105 12 EP VER105 Preview

Artiste : @i-cube
EP : Cubo Live Sessions
Label : @versatile-records
Sortie : 18/09/20
100 copies vinyles sont disponibles sur Bandcamp avec une carte postale écrite à la main et signée par I:Cube. Chaque carte postale est unique.
Acheter : https://bit.ly/3hN5OZK

05 I Cube Sequence III VER105 12 EP VER105 Preview

Versatile Records