The 8 Best Mixes of June 2019
Every month, Philip Sherburne listens to a whole lot of mixes so that you only have to listen to the very best ones. In this edition, IDM heroes Autechre offer up some popping-and-locking juvenilia, Hot Chip soundtrack your next backyard barbecue, and New York’s Doctor Jeep investigates what happens when he plays old drum’n’bass vinyl at 33 rpm instead of 45.
object blue – Mixmag Impact
object blue was a producer and live performer before she became a DJ, and this new set for Mixmag’s Impact series shares many qualities with her original productions: It’s full of shuddering, overdriven rhythms, eerie tendrils of melody, and moments of head-twisting whiplash. Born in Japan, raised in Beijing, and having immersed herself in electronic music during her studies in London, object blue has fashioned a sound that includes concussive club energies, rolling breakbeats, and full-throttle techno. She knows when to lean back, too. The result is a set that comes in waves, surging and then offering welcome moments of respite.
Hot Chip – Bleep Mix 65
You know what summer could always use more of? House music. Specifically: sweet, melodic, disco-kissed house music. That’s just what Hot Chip deliver in spades in this light, breezy mix for Bleep. A touch of Ethiopian keys lends an early hint of worldly psychedelia; Hot Chip’s remix of Lizzo’s “Juice” conjures memories of Basement Jaxx at their most boisterous; Paul Woolford’s remix of the band’s “Hungry Child” supplies the requisite piano-house uplift. The closing stretch of edits by Hot Chip’s Felix Martin is particularly lovely, folding in songs by Ghanian disco musician Kiki Gyan, Malian Afro-pop duo Amadou & Mariam, Italo titan Giorgio Moroder, and Irish producer Phil Kieran’s Le Carousel alias. Keep this one handy for pool parties.
Autechre – Warp Tapes 89-93
Long before they became dance music’s answer to Karlheinz Stockhausen, Autechre’s Sean Booth and Rob Brown were a couple of Manchester b-boys obsessed with electro and acid house. With the exception of their 1991 album Lego Feet, which few people heard until its reissue in 2011, very little of their earliest material has seen the light of day, but they recently revisited their roots in a pair of hour-long sets for NTS Radio. Full of shuddering drum machines, agitated bleeps, and industrial-grade clang, it betrays little of the mournful sensibility that would distinguish their later albums. Still, even given the tapes’ relatively lo-fi qualities, these seamlessly mixed tracks show a snapshot of a sensibility that was already fully formed—a rough, rugged blend of contorted rhythms and sandblasted textures. Stream the sets on NTS or grab the gigabyte-plus files from the download link at the bottom of Autechre’s Bleep store.
Nazira – Fresh Kicks 108
There’s a moment about two-thirds of the way through Nazira’s set for DJ Mag’s Fresh Kicks series where a bright synth melody suddenly enters the mix. The effect is dazzling, as though the sun has suddenly broken through an overcast sky. That’s not to say the set has been dull until that point, though. Quite the opposite: The Kazakh DJ’s blend of bass music, acid, and lo-fi techno is electrifying in its own grim way. But holding back that sunny, color-soaked tune (Konx-om-pax’s “Missing Something”) only increases its potency, and Nazira extends that a-ha moment for the rest of the set, opening the floodgates to a succession of ecstatic chords and lush textures. It’s a master class in pacing.
Dee Diggs – FACT mix 710
Brooklyn DJ Dee Diggs’ mix is a celebration not just of house music’s black and queer roots but, just as importantly, its black, queer, and feminist present. Temporally and geographically, she covers lots of ground, taking in pioneers like Colonel Abrams and DJ Deeon, global star Peggy Gou, and rising talents like Portugal’s Violet and Philadelphia’s SCRAAATCH. The set is just as diverse stylistically, taking in acid, deep house, piano house, breakbeats, diva refrains, and more. For all that range, it moves with real purpose, cutting a clear arc that feels powered, even in its darkest moments, by pure joy.
DJ Marcelle – RA.679
DJ Marcelle’s sets are exercises in radical connectivity. The Amsterdam DJ has been involved in music since 1977, giving her some of the deepest crates of any current DJ. Venturing far beyond conventional dance music, she draws heavily on industrial and post-punk, as well as contemporary leftfield bass music; she mixes on three turntables, plus cassette, CD player, and reel-to-reel with multiple sound sources in play at any given time. Here, drum-machine patterns cascade through delay pedals; grooves slide between dubby clang and clubby punch; and all manner of vocal samples and sound effects are interwoven throughout. It’s a kind of controlled chaos, and a scintillating display of sleight-of-hand.
DJ Richard – Knekelhuius – IFM #49
Europe is currently experiencing a brutal heatwave, with temperatures in Berlin, for one, nearing 100 degrees. Whenever DJ Richard—a former Berlin resident now based in Philadelphia—recorded this mix, it certainly captures the way the continent feels this week: muggy, oppressive, suffocating. The White Material co-founder has always laced his productions with a fair amount of industrial drone, but in this set for Amsterdam’s Knekelhuis radio, he really outdoes himself, not so much mixing as smearing together a queasy hour of turgid beats, tattered synths, and apocalyptic ambient. Maybe that doesn’t sound terribly inviting, but for gluttons for punishment, the unrelenting bleakness of this set is truly something to savor.
Doctor Jeep – Slow DnB Vinyl Mix
Remember the “paulstretching” craze a few years back? It consisted of pop songs—by No Doubt, Justin Bieber, a-Ha—slowed by 800% until they sounded more like Sigur Rós (and also all sounded pretty much alike). Well, this is more interesting. The New York DJ Doctor Jeep (Andre Lira) dusted off a bunch of old drum’n’bass 12''s, flipped the tempo knob from 45 to 33, and made a mix. The results are woozy and strangely hypnotic, with the sound thickened and the spaces between syncopated beats turned gelatinous. He leans towards records that typified so-called atmospheric or liquid strains of the genre, which gives him lots of keyboards, voice, and even harp to get gloopy with. Still, despite the slow pace, the music retains its edge. This isn’t trip-hop; it scans as something far stranger.
Originally Appeared on Pitchfork
