Vortex Mix ✻

Vortex Mix ✻ Nat Salih

@secondcousins

For the extended  Q&A plus OG pi pi pi track game... please visit our website -------> pipipi.life <---------

Introduce yourself? Pronouns? Where do you currently reside? 

Ello, I’m Jackson. Pronouns are He/Him. Residing in Eora/Sydney

Who/what currently inspires you music-wise that has nothing to do with music?

Water and light mostly 

What is your favorite party/collective where you reside and why?

Too many faves. Some heavy hitters off the top are Umami/Echo Flats/Heavenly/Community Chest. They are %100 in it for the experience. Community Chest is a joint force crew of about 7 great crews from Sydney – It’s kinda like when the power rangers come together to make that big robot fighter guy

What was your best moment at the supermarket?

They were playing Bill Withers in a Woollies once and it got me

What is your most recent favorite DJ mix and why?

Max D – Indie Rock on C- was maybe the last one that got me good. Max D only plays by Max D’s rules

Any advice to upcoming DJs/producers? 

Enjoy your life & be kind to others

What would you like to see in the future for the dance community?

More love and respect, always

Cousin - 8˚

Perhaps best known for his association with beloved dance music blog Truants, @riccardovillella is also one of our favorite DJs—with a streak of mixes that always feel like instant classics—and a staple of the broader dance music scene in his own right. Villella's penchant for community began on early dance music forums and extends into today's social media networks and elevating others through mixes and in-depth interviews on @truants. His mix for us, inspired by timeless mix CDs like those of Fabric and a 'spiritual successor' to his mix for our friends at @sure_thing, is also a vivid memory of teenage bike rides along the beach in 2006.

Read the interview and see a tracklist:
spontaneous.zone/051-villella

"For the last 11 years I’d been living in London and for a long time, I had no desire really to leave. People say you can call somewhere 'home' after living there for a duration of seven years, so I was well past and on my way. The last three years though, I had really burnt out quite hard creatively, and was kind of just trudging along. It took me a while to realize that I’d maybe needed a break away from London and the constant living for the weekend parties. Work had gone remote, so the option of moving back home to Brighton on the seafront for a temporary reset and to save some money seemed like the logical next step.

I was quite excited about moving back, as one of my friends Bobby had moved back home from London a year prior to also work remote, my friend Sean was still down there and had been making some really cool art recently so we’d been reconnecting, and my friend Sam who moved to Australia 10 years ago was going to be back for a short trip in Brighton this year for a couple weeks. This felt kind of important to me as, as we’d all be in the same city for the first time in a very long time, and these were people that made up my favourite summer ever - the year 10 one in 2006.

... We spent most of that summer going on these really long bike rides from Shoreham-by-Sea, past the cement factory before reaching Brighton beach, and just cycle as far as we could until the sun went down. Me and Bobby would pack our little MP3 players (think I had a Creative Zen Touch then) the night before with as much ‘feels’ music as we’d like to call it, anything that would make our cycles feel like an extended Michael Mann movie, or "LA Action" we’d say. There was just something quite life-affirming as a 16 year old, headphones in, cycling back as the sun sets after exploring some beach cave and you’ve got either of Fila Brazillia - "Subtle Body", Groove Armada - "Paris", or DJ Shadow - "Blood On The Motorway" playing in the background. It was all very Stand By Me in the most musically liberating way possible. I’ve caught myself thinking of those times a lot lately.

I’ve tried to channel a lot of those feelings quite subtly into my studio mixes over the years—hopeless nostalgia, bittersweetness, a sad euphoria—more so on ones where I’m trying to achieve something other than a club-mix. The Sure Thing mix comes to mind especially, but that was also very influenced by the techno aspect of the series and certain life events. Whilst this feels very much like a spiritual successor to that mix, I didn’t want to be so subtle with this one. It’s a straight ode to a single perfect 24 hours that summer, and all the tunes that I was listening to back then, plus some that capture that perfect world-at-your-feet, carefree, teen vibe for me. It covers many moods and feelings of a hot day down at the beach and the transition as the sun sets and you’re getting ready to dance the night away.

I’ve wanted to record something like this for a long time, something that kind of felt like a timeless mix CD, and think you gave me the best opportunity and timing in wanting to put it together, especially as I’ve been doing that same cycle route every other weekend whilst down here."

@riccardovillella / @truants

Spontaneous Affinity

Interview + Tracklist

Spontaneous Affinity #051: Villella

We’re launching this season’s podcast series with a slow burn set from Detroit veterans Scott Zacharias & Bill Spencer from our June 25th party, where they played directly before BMG who was playing before Titonton. This set is perfect for heady winter exploration, and this podcast also functions as a teaser for Erika’s album release party Tomorrow’s Fires happening Feb 25, where they will both play solo slow motion sets in the Gallery.

Interdimensional Transmissions Podcast

IT Podcast

IT.podcast.s12e01: Scott Zacharias & Bill Spencer

Vortex Mix ✻ Mike Midnight

Vortex Mix ✻ Tadhg

Vortex Mix ✻  DJ Netburner

Vortex Mix ✻ Sasha Geyer

Cousin is the founder of Moonshoe Records and is a talented producer who tends to focus on creating delicate soundscapes reflective of abstract environments and worlds.

His music is deep and pensive, at times club focussed yet at others anything but.

Over the past few years he has self released material on Moonshoe alongside records on the likes of Mood Hut and Well Street Records. His music has been supported broadly and his dj sets are versatile and multi faceted in respect to style and genre.

Cousin’s remarkable discography and dedication solidify him as a trendsetter in ambient techno and electronics. This mixtape offers a brief insight into his own taste and outlook when it comes to dance music – dubby, dusty and atmospheric throughout it really is quite the trip and is perfect as we approach the cold nights of winter and those dark early rises.

Cousin: The 'Wednesday Alternative' Mix

Command D summons the gods of the deep to have us completely submerged in a world of interdimensional dub techno, traversing us through an hour and a half of infinitely looped reflections and subaquatic soundscapes. 

@commandd

Q. This certainly feels like one of your most immersive mixes to date, deeply contemplative and full of dreamy dub techno atmospherics. What inspiration did you draw upon, and what type of setting or situation could you imagine it being enjoyed in? 

A. I started to get into this sound when I was putting together my mix for the Moonshoe mix series. I didn’t know what to call it at the time but I found all of those tunes and tied them together with a certain feeling that was really inspiring me then, it was very organic and that is still one of my favourite mixes. You can hear dub elements scattered throughout that whole mix.

As I started incorporating more dub elements into my productions I discovered artists like Stephen Hitchell and Rhythm & Sound that had created a kind of music that was really extremely satisfying for me to listen to, especially considering my developing love for hi-fi and larger sound systems. I incorporated those artists into my FHUO mix which was a much more considered exploration of the style. Looking back on the process of making the mixes and how much I enjoyed them really assures me that the deep and contemplative sound is a big part of who I am.

For this mix I’ve taken inspiration from the MDC series itself which I’ve been listening to for years. I wanted to add little hints of deep house sounds as a nod to the mixes of the past. I personally think mixes like this are the best to listen to when you’re travelling and looking out a window, otherwise maybe sitting at a desk on a rainy day doing some work. I’d like people to listen to this in a time where they won't be distracted by something else or feel the need to skip forward, I’d want people to just throw it on and let it play, drifting in and out of the tracks and their own thoughts.

Q. Are there any songs in the mix that are especially close to your heart, and what is it about these tracks that resonate with you so much?

A. My favourite tracks in the mix are Saftig Komposition by Rasmus Hedlund and Sedlec Ossuary by Persuasion. At a base level I love these tracks because they take a more modern approach to a dub techno track with tight production. Going deeper, the thing that really resonates with me is hard to put into words and best left unsaid. I think this kind of music (along with many other kinds) allows the listener to feel emotions that aren't able to be put into words, part of why I love it so much. I find that dub techno specifically can feel sad and happy at the same time like lots of jazz ballads. That to me is a really beautiful sound that kind of encapsulates life in general.

Q. Tell us about the development of your live set, and where things are currently at with it? Do you feel like you’re able to explore different shades of your sound when playing in a live setting?

A. Putting together my first live set was an awesome experience. I got to play it all around Australia from clubs to rainforests. I’ve put the current live set to bed for now and am starting to work on a new one with a slightly different setup. Although it was a challenging experience, I loved making a live set because often when I would dig for tunes to play out I’d think ‘I wish I had a song like this’ and writing a live set meant that I could bring those ideas to life and curate a set exactly how I wanted. I think I’m really starting to settle into ‘my sound’ in production and DJing, but there are creative limitations in both like finding new music or learning new skills. Overcoming technical barriers in production allows me to get closer to my most true form of expression when it comes to what’s coming out the speakers so I’ve been really working on that recently. Hoping the next live set will be bigger and better : )

MDC.302 Command D

Vortex Mix ✻ geo

Week's end with pi pi pi curator and The Lot resident deep creep.

deep creep @ Kiosk Radio 04.05.2025

We could not imagine a more fitting Podcast Series contribution to soundtrack the peak of our of summer than this lush dubby mix recorded by the New York via Chicago DJ & productress Eden Aurelius 🦋

Back in April last year, the inaugural record on the Glaswegian label co:clear lands in the crates at Phonica Records and it steals the show. It was the debut release by Eden Aurelius titled ‘Plateau’ with it’s soft-edged downtempo take on dub techno dancing through clouds of ambient textures and perfectly embodying that netherworld in between ambient and dance music that is the beating heart of Introspective Electronics. Over a year later, we are so grateful and proud to have Eden feature on our Podcast Series with this stunning hour-long recording 💕

Nothing else to do now but to plunge into the dubwise depths of this magick mix where tender energy ebbs and flows in the spaces between not-quite-ambient and not-quite dance. It’s in the liminal space of the soft cracks in between. Aren’t you curious to hear? ✨

Sounds by @edenaurelius
Visions by @marcomaldarella

Buy Music Club: https://www.buymusic.club/list/ie-podcast-series-54-eden-aurelius

TRACKLIST

Rhauder & Paul St Hilaire - No News (Assemblage Mix)
Purl - Hollow 
Attila Jahanvash - Morning Glory 
Rod Modell - Body Sonic
Illuvia - Khalani
The Urban District - 100.2
Purl - Saraide
DT-90 - Kone 
Alex Humann - Recovery Passage 
Rhythm & Sound - Aerial 
Electric Birds - Stem 
DJ Paradise - Ssumo
Fonica - 1899-12-31
Off The Sky - Cumulae Movement

Podcast Series 54 | Eden Aurelius

Dark3r

Free Fall

As is

@mgmldrm & @nenaghnenagh
vortexmelbourne@gmail.com
✻✻✻✻✻

✻ art by Selena Repanis

Vortex Mix ✻ Nat Salih

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