Recording from my closing set at the final Shaker Mountain, 8/31/24.

Closing Set @ Shaker Mountain

*recorded live in Field, ON at Best Out of Town Year 4 (09/01/24)

Ciel was gracious with her eight hours on the beach, offering an extended trip through house and techno’s touchpoints before dropping it down and bringing the whole festival together for a downtempo singalong. In truth, we’ve come to expect this fidelity and care from Cindy. Memories of old Geary Ave, 500 Keele, the grotto, and community radio rebound through these blends, solidifying her place as one of the Toronto underground’s biggest exports of the past half decade-plus. Take a listen and enjoy the ride.

@ciel_dj

Ciel // Best Out of Town Year 4 (09/01/2024)

Name: Alicia Greco
Alias: Leesh (@dj_leesh)
Pronouns: they/them
Location: Chicago

Influences: Flowers, prisms, the sun and moon and stars and planets, addiction and recovery, kung fu, interconnection, acceptance, love.
 
Affiliations/Residencies/Projects: Daisychain

Favorite Quote: “Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” 

Advice for the DJs, producers and artists of our community:
You are good enough. Your voice is important. Do not let anyone put you beneath them, and if they try to - use your FORWARD ENERGY. When the punches get more intense, relax harder. Breathe. Keep going. You’ll get stuck sometimes, and then you’ll keep going. Things will change, and you will keep going. 

There is not something deeply broken inside of you. We all have parts of us that are hurt and need healing, but the core of you is not broken. The core of you is beautiful and whole. And that beauty can be found. Listen to your inner voice, speak kindly to yourself. Healing is not linear. When you feel the urge to isolate, reach out. It is OKAY to ask for help. Learn what form of self-care works for you at any given moment. You deserve to love and be loved.

Imposter syndrome happens to all of us. But all of those minutes you spend questioning your sound, your message, your decisions, your selection, your transitions - all of those minutes you spend questioning and judging YOU - enough time will pass and you’ll look back or listen back and you’ll be proud of who you are and what you made. The mistakes that felt blinding will fade. You’re still going to sweat about it, just try not to sweat too much because it will keep you from enjoying the moment. You are not a machine! You are a human! 

Fuck the system. Use that DIY energy to create the space you long for but don’t go it alone. Find others, build something, do it together. Play the game if you wish, but remember you also don’t have to. You can forge your own path, one that’s less trodden. It will be hard and you will have doubts but if you keep going, you will find authenticity. It’s never too late.

Know yourself. Learn to love yourself. 

About the mix: In all of these years, I myself have never made a Daisychain mix. Now, here it is. Talk about daunting pressure! But with these ideas of time, transition and change, I did a retrospective to create this concept: my sonic journey through Daisychain. I went back and listened to all of my old mixes to select tracks that were of utmost significance to me during this span of time. I wrote down 125 tracks on 125 post-its that took over the walls of my dining room. I somehow narrowed it down. [Continued on website]

With this mix Leesh asks for you to please learn more about and consider donating to:

❁ Dogs Matter: An organization that provides temporary foster service for folks going into rehab for alcoholism and addiction. (https://www.dogsmatter2.org/)

❁ FreeFrom: This LA-based organization was created to help survivors of domestic violence achieve financial security and help to dismantle the systemic economic structures that perpetuate the violence. As a survivor myself, this organization is doing something incredible and I truly believe in it.(https://www.freefrom.org/)

❁ Beagle Freedom Project: Beagles are the most used dogs for experimental testing due to their kind and trusting nature and temperament. BFP rescues and rehomes beagles from these labs to provide for them a better, safer life. If you know me, you know Yahtzee. He's the rescued beagle baby angel of my life. Rescue the beagles! (https://bfp.org/)

Read more - https://thedaisychain.club/2025/01/16/daisychain-360-leesh/

A goodbye (for now) letter - https://thedaisychain.club/2025/01/16/a-letter-an-end-a-new-beginning/

Daisychain

Daisychain 360 - Leesh

Day Thief's set from The Ever Afters Campout 2024

Day Thief - The Ever Afters Campout 2024 - Heart Lodge

Clark Price - The Ever Afters Campout 2024 - Heart Lodge

Our first track is a free download! Enjoy

KOLOR - GET HIGH [FREE DOWNLOAD]

"In November 2007 Pinch’s debut album Underwater Dancehall was released to widespread acclaim. Four years later in July 2011 Space Shuttle Atlants commenced its final voyage from the Kennedy Space Centre. Unbeknownst to NASA and the crew, somehow a CD copy of Pinch’s landmark Dubstep masterpiece found its way aboard.

While the CD itself survived the journey into space physically unaltered the music contained within morphed and warped in its new zero gravity environment, Underwater Dancehall had become Dancehall in Outer Space. The weighty throb of the original floated away to leave a lean and spacious soundtrack for a new kind weighless wineing.

Whether through alien interference or some other miracle the CD started to play all by itself just as the Shuttle docked with the International Space Station. Beyond their control the crew found their bodies begin to contort into odd shapes as their muscles spasmed, seemingly in time to the beat. What follows is a recording of that moment from the Space Shuttle Atlantis sensors."

@sam_pv / @pumpingvelvet
IG: @sampv____ / @pumpingvelvetldn

Sam is the founder and a resident at Pumping Velvet, a London-based Queer dance party, and regularly plays at queer parties across the UK alongside a US tour and other international gigs including Planeta Manas (Lisbon), Savage (Hanoi), Kockiri (Seoul) and (Re)treat Festival (Vietnam).

Sam grew up in London, his tastes moulded by the city’s diverse dance music scenes: from childhood trips to Notting Hill Carnival, to formative dancefloor experiences at nights like FWD, Trash and Süd Electronic. He brings these influences to his DJing in sets that span a broad gamut of genres, tied together by a love for big drums, pop melodies and sleaze.   

Frustrated by the lack of queer spaces where you could hear both a Svek record and Kylie in the same night, Sam founded Pumping Velvet in 2018, driven by the firm belief that any barriers erected between pop and ‘serious’ dance music are entirely artificial and that there’s no such thing as a guilty pleasure. It’s this same ethos and disregard for boundaries that makes his DJ so thrilling.

Tracklist:
DJ Giant - Something Bady
Schuttle - Junkman
Joe - MPH
Leo - Jade Floors
Malcolm - Damâa
Brenda - Masato!
Kaval - Druid Potion
Product Toss - Willow
Yuseemi - Roll With It
Xzavier Stone, DJ Plead & Phillip Jondo - Bellydance
Plus One - Zero Chance
DJ Pausas & DJ Fofuxo - Tarracho Exxelentt  
Ayesha - Roll
Wes Lee - Gates
DJ Pitch - Juan Mecanico

Distant Signals 075: Sam PV

Jennifer Spektor (she/her)

Jennifer Spektor is a trans DJ, producer, artist, poet, art therapist whose performances aim to foster communal, rhythmic experiences grounded in love. Hailing from what is known as the Chicago area and now based on the stolen land of the Coast Salish people in Seattle, her sets blend the emotional energy of underground dancefloors in the midwest and the UK with the cultural influences of her diasporic Jewish heritage, turntablism, and the oceanic landscape of her current home. She hosts the monthly radio show Echolocation on Particle.fm.

Notes on the Mix ///

"I wanted to lean into my love of house music while including some of the tracks that I had the best memories of playing for dancers over the past couple years (mostly at the Kremwerk Complex here in what is known as Seattle.) This recording was made with CDJs, turntables, and a Pioneer mixer. I hope you enjoy the mix!"

SOCIALS
@jenniferspektor
http://instagram.com/jenniferspektor
https://ra.co/dj/jenniferspektor

Photo Credit: Valerie Calano

TRACKLIST:
K'Alexi Shelby(KKlasik) - Afro-disco P3
Krimp - Get Up (Original Mix)
Davis Galvin - Qorlii Propagule
Leonce - Not Here For It
NAASHA - WATCH ME
Armando - Land of Confusion (Confusion Mix)
DJ Hyperactive - Chicago
Ehua - Roman
Doja Cat - Woman - (Leonce Refix)
Hiroaki Iizuka - Drum Unit 2
QB Project_01 - Inspace
Shanti Celeste - SLB (Original Mix)
Blatant Breaks - Never Felt (Breaks Mix)
Loris - Mizmar drip
Raj Ghai & Pedro - Keys To The Madhouse
Aguila - Zenith's Groove
Scratch record: Scratch Fossils by Moschop

XOXA BLEND 245 - Jennifer Spektor

 Kiernan Laveaux, She/They

Kiernan Laveaux is a connective rhythmic energy conduit & ecstatic beat conductor from the Great Lakes. A boundless ball of discordant energy, she’s an adventurous spirit - conducting the vibrant forces of our world that are transmitted through the unbridled passion contained within her DJing. 

Inspired by forces of universal chaos & the innovative, experiential visions found within midwestern electronic music, she's since embarked on a lifelong journey of channeling binary dissolving phenomena throughout our known universe via her unbridled musical vitality & the multifaceted Sweet Abyss imprint. 

Originating from within Cleveland's multiversal DIY underground, she materialized through the rhythms of life & her loved ones - soaking up influence in everything from the enchanted & irreverent joys of disco, the raucous mayhem of hardcore punk & noise gigs, the spatial manifestations of dub, nonlinear revelations & outer reaches of free jazz expressionism, bewitching industrial conjurations, lineages & contrasts of freeform DJing across the world, & dancing with many weirdos in rooms full of fog, neon mesh, & skate ramps.


Notes on the Mix ///

"This mix is a live recorded portion of a set I played late at night at the wonderful club Outra Cena in Lisbon, Portugal in April 2024. The vibe of it is pondering the orb, watching your life and emotions play out in arcane swirls in front of your eyes as you embody the role of an unreliable narrator in your own existence. Sometimes this view allows clarity, other times overwhelmed by imagined insecurities, other times allowing a reprieve from strife into self love. Emotions and mental findings that feel held in many sets of mine. Sonically, I really felt encouraged this night to dive into my love of the stranger ends of house music, and combinations of industrial/dub/breaks on top. Specifically the influence of my lifelong love of industrial and synth music can really be felt throughout, as well as lamentations on loneliness and connection within capitalism that lots of that music speaks to - industrial music for industrial people. Discotekno, Haunted house, whatever name you want to apply to this music - as well as a healthy dose of dubwise rave stylistics. A strange dream within a stranger reality, living in the paradox. Musick for dance, musick for new corridors of your mind, musick against the fascist, ogliarchal pacification of who we are - viva la differenze!"

SOCIALS:

@kiernan-laveaux

http://sweetabyss.bandcamp.com - my debut collaborative EP with Johnny Zoloft as JZKL entitled "Pancake of the Infinite"

In lieu of a tracklist, here's 3 tracks that encapsulate the set to Kiernan:

Melancholy Man - Born to Rock (Rocking Dubwise) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0RYelZ9xGU

Junito Perez / I.M.T. - No Quiero Estar Solo - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2b5K-GPWSok&t=1s

Outa Tha Blue - Pressures of Life - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_t_USokvfc


XOXA BLEND 247 - Kiernan Laveaux

Inside

Deep Deeper Techno House

XOXA is a boutique booking agency and events promoter based out of North American and the United Kingdom. Their mission is to support and highlight talented marginalized artists in the electronic dance music industry. 

XOXA BLEND is a long running mix series featuring a wide range of genres and sounds from queer people & womxn (& select allies). 

Agency Roster: @tammylakkis | @honeybbzz  | @shannon1dj | @panooc_music

& residents: @heidyp @kandylion

Email kira@xoxanyc.com for artist bookings & mix pitches.

Upcoming events:

Berlin, DE
March 22nd 2025 23:00 - 08:00
BXB (FLINTA* Takeover) @ Renate
BLVSH x XOXA x BRENN.
GREEN ROOM: Panooc, DJ Shannon, zikade

Edinburgh, Scotland
March 27th 2025 23:00 - 03:00
treasure, treasure @ Sneaky Pete's
DJ Shannon, Robin Flux & Panooc

Brooklyn, New York
April 5th, 2025 10pm - 5am
XOXA 8 Year Anniversary @ GoodRoom
Fatherhood (Michael Magnan b2b Physical Therapy), Jubilee, HONEY B, Kiernan Laveaux b2b Sobolik & DJ Shannon)

London, UK
April 19th 2025 20:00 - 03:00
Extracurricular @ Cu Dalston
XOXA x Fortune Signal
Seb Odyssey, John Xie, D.D. Curry & Panooc
Open Decks - Application on our Linktree

Past events (2024-25):

Edinburgh, Scotland
January 30th 2025 11pm - 3am
treasure, treasure @ Sneaky Pete's
Hayley Zalassi & Panooc

Berlin, DE
Nov 29th 8pm - 4am FLINTA* Open Decks & Les Libertines after party w/ Panooc & zikade @ Secret Location

Brooklyn, NY
Nov 16th 10pm - 5am Good Room 10 Year Anniversary Party @ Good Room w/ Powder, Gee Dee & XOXA Bad Room Takeover: HONEY B & PlayPlay

Berlin, DE
July 24th 8pm - midnight FLINTA* Open Decks w/ Panooc & Amy Dabbs @ Secret Location

Brooklyn, NY
June 28th 10pm - 5am PRIDAY @ Good Room w/ Amy Dabbs, DJ Shannon b2b HONEY B & KNDYFRK (Kandylion b2b SPRFRK) - Peer Pressure Bad Room Takeover (That Matt, Drew Beck & Heidy P.)

Brooklyn, NY
June 14th 10:30pm - 4am Flamingo Pride @ Black Flamingo w/ Robin Flux, Charles Hawthorne & Heidy P.

Berlin, DE
May 25th 11pm - 8am XOXA x BRENN. @ SchwuZ w. Olive T, Flemish.Fetish, Panooc & Open Decks

Edinburgh, UK
May 16th 11pm - 3am Have a nice rave @ Bongo Club w/ Ron Like Hell, Panooc, Bartek & Feena

Glasgow, UK
May 11th 11pm-3am XOXA - Glasgow @ Stereo ft. Kilopatrah Jones, Robin Flux & Panooc

Brooklyn, NY
April 27th 10pm - 5am XOXA 7 Year Anniversary @ Good Room w/ Ariel Zetina, Tammy Lakkis, HONEY B b2b nextdimensional, DJ Shannon, Heidy P. & Kandylion

Brooklyn, NY
April 26th 10pm-midnight XOXA w/ Panooc & Tammy Lakkis - The Lot Radio

London, UK @ Dalston Superstore
April 12th 2024 
￼
Berlin, DE @ Renate
January 20th 2024

XOXA BLEND 245 - Jennifer Spektor

XOXA NYC

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