Selections: DJ Tennis

Welcome back to Selections, a series of exclusive artist-curated Spotify playlists from those in the know.

For the first ten years of its existence, DJ Tennis’ Life & Death was one of the most consistent imprints around. Now though, having parted company with the biggest crossover act on the label, Tale of Us, Manfredi Romano’s idea for its future is pretty much the opposite, heading into a new decade with hopes to stay as unpredictable as possible. When Life & Death began, Romano had designs on emulating the great multi-faceted labels like Warp or XL. Despite the fact that direction has shifted somewhat, his own reputation is still in line line with this keep-them-guessing ideal, both in the booth and in the studio.

At home in mega-clubs and on mainstages as much as dark rooms and afternoons in the sun, eclecticism is something he holds dear, but the one consistent thread you can count on is his love of all things psychedelic – a hangover from years spent promoting indie music and playing in bands. Unsurprisingly then, his Selections playlist, picked ahead of SXM 2020 this month, leans in this direction, full of hypnotic grooves, twitchy, kaleidoscopic beats and cosmic rollers. ‘The theme of this playlist is When Psychedelia meets Electronica,” he told us. “The selection [is] stripped down [to] some of my favourite psychedelic tracks or artists, [and] several of these tunes [were] part of my sets in special places like Burning Man.”

DJ Tennis plays SXM 2020, St Martin, 11 – 15 March