Whether you’re prepping for the weekend ahead or still recovering from the last, we trawl the internet for the mixes you need in your life right now.
Get lost in the rhythmic pulse of Nidia Minaj’s NTS show, submit to the sparkling genius of Grace Jones or – if you’re feeling brave – dive headfirst into Finn and Mumdance’s thumping bedroom session.
Finn B2B with Mumdance
Manchester’s Finn, fresh off the back of signing Sometimes the Going Gets A Little Tough to Defected Records, turns in another of his bedroom B2B sessions, this time inviting Mumdance to join him in his world of breakneck club tracks. They cover more ground in 90 minutes than the most insatiable of box-to-box midfielders, never once dipping below 100mph. It’s a face-melting experience. Special mention for the Trance Nation classic I Feel Love (Phatt Mix). Huge.
Carla dal Forno – Noisey Mix
Carla dal Forno delivers a typically cerebral, sumptuously unsettling mix of covers for her entry to the series at Noisey. From the first, a doom-laden meander through California Dreaming, she leads the listener through a world of misty, mournful tones and understated sexiness. The droned-out version of Radar Love is a highlight, nailing that trick of a great cover that reveals a hidden mood or atmosphere lurking in the source material. So too are the two by dal Forno herself. Apparently these were recorded as part of a collection on tape to be sold on her forthcoming tour of the States. All the more reason to go and see her.
Nidia – NTS LA
In a world inhabited by what seems like an endless stream of geniuses, Nidia Minaj’s brand of batida somehow feels more verdant and lush than most of her peers. Her position among those on Príncipe and beyond is similar to that of Jlin among footwork producers: a relative newcomer somehow discovering an unnoticed angle that was there all along. All the energy and fierceness of the scene is here on her guest show for NTS Los Angeles, but a wide-angle synth stab here or a soft pad there suggests that the potential of Portugal’s vibrant club music is limited only by the imaginations of its makers.
Lucrecia Dalt – Blowing Up the Workshop
Another gorgeous mix among BOTW’s ever impressive catalogue with an unreal amount of tracks crammed into what still comes across as a slow-paced collection. There’s menace here too – an early blend of Ruth White’s Spleen into Marcus Schmickler’s Mystery Bouffe is pure, squirming evil – but from this context emerges Robert Ashley’s devastatingly beautiful Love Letter Part 1, at which point all you can do is submit to the whims of the selector. It’s a hell of a ride.
Kelly Twins Live at Doppler Cardiff – Berceuse Heroique
Word on the grapevine is this party went off in a big way and listening back to the recording it’s not hard to imagine. Happy Skull label-heads and concerted party movers The Kelly Twins centre around their favoured electro and shift the dancefloor this way and that with a textured groove. There’s an increasing toughness in the second half, throwing down breaks and techno before peaking with Pangaea’s hoofing classic from 2011, Hex. A double wheel-up tells you all you need to know about the vibe in Cardiff that night.
Roza Terezi – Truancy Volume 214
The latest entry from Truants comes from Perth DJ Roza Teresi, spanning techno, electro, acid, house and jungle. The binding thread is metallic sheen coupled with a dizzying sense of acceleration. She does reign it in midway through the hour, injecting some dreaminess to proceedings before turning up the heat again with some grubbier electro and woozy breaks. Catch her first UK show this summer at Corsica Studios.
Barbie Bertisch – Grace Jones for Crack Magazine
What is there to say about this one? Bowie, Prince, Björk, Nina… the list of artists it feels right to put Grace Jones next to is short. She is one of a few artists who somehow transcends music, but it is her music that she is rightly revered for. It is a joy to hear it put together so lovingly, and Barbie Bertisch dives headfirst into the murky, sexy sleaze that defined so much of her best work, heavy on the dub and peppered with snippets of candid conversation. One of the best mixes you’ll hear all year.
Tourist Kid – Sanpo Disco
Coinciding with the release of the delicate Crude Tracer on Melody As Truth, Australia’s Tourist Kid guests on Sanpo Disco with more of the woozy drama that makes up his record. An arresting blend of soothing piano and synaesthesia-inducing synth play makes up the lion’s share of the mix until beats eventually make an appearance at the tail end. Closing out with celestial new wave and some joyous digi-dub, this one sticks around.
Parasite – Dimensional Waves 40
Though techno filtered through the gnarled gaze of EBM and post-punk has been du jour for a minute now, there’s still something immensely satisfying about the marriage of percussive techno with that gothy blackness. Parasite is a relative unknown who mines this fertile crossover for his own productions and delivers here an impressively menacing hour for the ever-reliable Dimensional Waves podcast series.
Paquita Gordon & Ece Duzgit – Terraforma
A stunning mix of exploratory sounds, teetering on a knife edge with ghosts and whispers hovering at every corner. Over two hours, these two DJs manage to create a mixture of sounds that feels like it spans the entire globe, uninhibited by confines of expectation. One almost constant hallmark are tracks underpinned by incredible drumming – at every corner it feels as though there’s some hidden mastery of percussion that drives these tracks onward. Terraforma is well known for sets that go beyond what is expected of a DJ. If this is anything to go by, here’s as good a reason as any to travel to Italy next month.
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