Whether you’re prepping for the weekend or still recovering from the last, tap into our nine-point guide on the most essential online mixes from the past month.
For our latest roundup, Nick Höppner unearths a mystical time-capsule from the Moschino-clad days of yore, DJ Seinfeld steps away from lo-fi house, Eartheater joins PAN for a mind-bogglingly broad radio set and RP Boo reminds everyone why he is footwork. Whatever mood you’re feeling, grab the aux cable, scroll down and plug in.
Nick Höppner
Field Maneuvers 33Given how great they’ve been in recent years, it’s a shame Field Maneuvers haven’t been publishing mixes in 2018. Finally, with a few weeks to go before the next festival, a new mix (i.e. a set not recorded at last year’s event) has surfaced on their Soundcloud. Except, it’s not a new mix – instead they published this UKG recording from around the turn of the millennium, unearthed by Nick Höppner in a collection of old Minidiscs. The curious format is fitting for the slightly strange notion of Höppner slamming out garage classics to the crowds in Hamburg almost 20 years ago, but the tunes are on point and the man’s love for them apparent. Break out the brandy.
Bill Kouligas & Eartheater
NTS RadioPAN’s Bill Kouligas turns up the heat at NTS with his guest Eartheater. She’s become a regular on the show and whenever her name pops up it’s worth diving in. One of the Europe’s finest abstract labels and one of New York’s most abrasive performers together – what’s not to like? In two hours, they throw down corrosive noise, dark and moody soundscapes, bang-out techno and some smoother, verdant textures.
DJ Seinfeld
DJ KicksDJ Seinfeld made much of his desire to move away from the lo-fi house scene/not-scene he made his name helping to define last year, but with crunchy percussion and hyper-emotive sensibility, his (admittedly great) debut LP Time Spent Away From U slotted snugly into its brief moment in the limelight. By kicking off his entry for the famed DJ Kicks series with a cassette-crackled edit of I See U that departure is now definitively realised. From there the mix more closely resembles his club sets: still firmly rooted in mood, but with more freedom and attention paid to the dancefloor. The strength here lies in his selection, and tracks by Andras, S.O.N.S and his own alias Rimbaudian have all become firm favourites since first listen.
DJ Python
Crack MixDJ Python occupies a strange space within the context of his native New York, filtering the reggaeton that rattles windows all over America’s most famous city through a dreamy lens. His Crack mix dives deep in the warm summer glow, drawing on the aforementioned sounds with a trip-hop wooze and hints of an icier edge, culminating in some outrageously euphoric moments. He was many people’s standout at this year’s Freerotation festival, and one you should keep a keen eye out for.
Khidja
Dekmantel Podcast 185Dekmantel have released some storming mixes this month, and Samuel Kerridge’s entry of hard-edged techno deserves special mention. But Romanian duo Khidja’s delivery of the punkier side of electronic music is incredible. A far cry from Romania’s more famous, minimal musical exports, they make and play music that is the result of hurling sonic elements from all over into a cauldron and draping the sodden strips of matter that emerge out in an angry sun. Their Dekmantel mix is tough, sleazy, slippery and weird; and you should put it on your stereo.
RP Boo
Truancy Volume 219It’s great to hear RP Boo bigging himself up in interviews like the one he gave Truants to accompany this mix. Statements like “It was then I knew who I really was” and “I am very uncommon” are welcome because, well, he is. The man with a bigger claim to have invented footwork than anyone else has resisted resting on his laurels and his mastery of atmosphere and ability to manipulate a sample, particularly snatches of vocals, remain second to none. In true style his Truancy Volume contains RP Boo tracks only and it’s absolutely killer.
Forest Drive West
Appian Mix 009Sweeping chords, chimes and sampled beach pebbles and waves transport us through the opening section of this mix, giving way to some woody percussion and beats. The mysterious producer then takes a turn as the atmospheric noises become more tumultuous and tracks from Ploy and Freund Der Familie set a moodier tone. Succinct and satisfying, this one is a dream to work to or for lounging in the sun.
Monika Taneska
Pretty Pretty Good Mix 30In just a couple of years Pretty Pretty Good have spread from Sheffield, with parties cropping up in Leeds, London, Manchester and Bristol. For the thirtieth of their underrated mix series their Bristol conquistador Monika Taneska steps up for her first ever recorded mix just nine months after she first put her hands on a pair of platters. Despite the relative inexperience, an hour spent with her sonic whims is a joy, opening with a one-two knockout in Shed’s Estrange and Avalon Emerson’s remix of Adrift by Octo Octa and reeling back through choice, murky electro.
Sofia Ilyas
Red Light RadioSofia Ilyas runs the FLOAT label, home of Andrea Belfi, and used to work at Erased Tapes. For her debut show on Red Light Radio she plays for an hour under the supposed mantle of ambient music, which serves as a reminder that you can break up the mind-sharpening moods of ambient with a beat here or there. There’s a healthy dose of jazz in the rhythms and instrumentation, too, but it’s when restraint goes out the window towards the final 15 that the show takes off.
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