It's Only A Mixtape Blog

Ibiza 2020 may be looking bleak in terms of the clubbing scene as we used to know it, as the Spanish government announced that the super clubs would not be allowed to open this year, all prospects of dancing in the garden at Circoloco with the planes passing overhead, or marathon sessions on the Amnesia terrace disappeared in front of our eyes. BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix has stepped up to bring us a slice of Ibiza life over 4 episodes, representing 4 of the clubs on the island and with a resident DJ taking control of the music for 2 hours.

Episode 1 sees Black coffee representing Hï ibiza in Playa D’en Bossa, formally the site that Space Ibiza sat on, It’s been under control by the Ushuaïa group since 2017 and with a huge budget and a massive modernisation project the group have taken the super club to the next level. Divided into two main rooms, the Theatre and the Club they both have impressive light shows and their set-up changes completely dependent on the night. The nightclub also has three open-air areas, lots of vegetation, special VIP amenities including private teepee tents and even a DJ booth in the unisex restroom. Alongside an impressive sound system and a roster of djs and promoters including Tale of Us, Armin Van Buuren, Glitterbox & Black Coffee, the club has set the new benchmark of superclub on the white Isle.

Black Coffee delivers a two hour mix showcasing the sound that has become his trademark on a Sunday night. Deep, emotional house music that takes the listener on a journey. With lots of tribal & African references, the track listing is packed full of music from the likes of Howling, Rampa, Soul Central, RY X & Black Coffee himself.

A musical two hours of lockdown partying direct from Sundays at Hï to your living room.

Roger Gerressen has been delivering tracks recently on many of the yoyaku imprints, including starting his own label Irenic records and dropping a full length on Yoyaku’s own label entitled “Heading in a backwards direction”. It’s an album that is full of deep, emotional moments from the slower paced tracks like Capturing Diversity & Draxis to the more upfront techno that can be found in Native Tongue. Indeed many of these tracks wouldn’t feel amis in the Giegling camp or one of it’s sub labels, and is a beautiful follow up to Monoaware on Sushitech which came in 2017.

Leafar Legov is a main staple of the giegling collective, playing out regularly at events as well as being one half of Kettenkarussell alongside Konstantin. Up until 2020 their was two full EPs and tracks dotted around on various giegling compilation outputs, but nothing full length as a solo output. April marked the end of that as Mirror saw the light of day, a double disc treat full of beautiful electronic moments and soundscapes for the ears, a full length album to go up against the already impressive work as Kettenkarussell.

Legendary Paris nightclub Rex starts podcast series, rexcast and enlists Molly to mix it’s first instalment. Started in 1992 by Laurent Garnier, Rex Club is one of Paris’ oldest and longest-running spots for house and techno parties, with a fully lit stage, walls lined with booths and seating, and a dance floor that stretches all the way to the bar, Rex Club offers plenty of options for clubbers.

Molly is no stranger to those that like their house music, making plenty of waves of late with both her record label RDV as well as her productions and close ties with Giegling. Her mixes have been dropping frequently online, and are always chocker full of unreleased new stuff as well as well dug out older classics. Her mix for Rexcast starts deeper, before slowly building up to acid tinged techno.

Transmoderna head honcho Dixon turns in a recording of his set from Club Quarantäne 27.06.2020. There isn’t much that hasn’t already been said about Dixon, running the legendary label Innervisions alongside Âme, his sets are both equally moving as well as four to the floor. From his all night marathon sets to his back 2 back sessions, Dixon has been making a lot of noise over the past 10 years and for good reason, he never fails to deliver when it matters most. His mixing is impeccable, and his track selection on the absolute money, so with recordings being scarce it’s amazing to finally be able to share a set recording from the man himself, complete with track listing. Enjoy.

It’s always a highlight when house maestro Brawther drops new music, from his deep productions which sit on the likes of Balance recordings, Secretsundaze, My Love Is Underground & Cabinet records, through to his podcasts, sets and live recordings which are chocker block full of records that send music heads searching for days and months.

Additionally Brawther has now set up a Patron page where you can subscribe on a monthly basis for upfront tracks, edits along side a hole lot more depending on the amount you subscribe for. In a time where artists are not playing out, this is a great way to get beautiful music direct from the artist.

Seb Wildblood has been making and putting out music since 2013, but it isn’t until recent years that he has come to the forefront and taken more of a centre stage. He’s a fan of running a label (or two) and heads up south London’s Church, All My Thoughts and Coastal Haze which have all seen music released not only by Seb himself but also the likes of Julius Steinhoff, FYI Chris, Chaos in the CBD, Mall Grab, Laurence Guy and many many more. The music is always of high calibre from beautiful electronica to the deeper lo-fi house that is surrounding the London house scene of late thanks to the likes of Lobster Theremin & Shall Not Fade.

Roman Flügels April radio show on Rinse FM. The German dj and producer well known for his electronica, house & techno style has been serving up tracks on the likes of Mule Musiq, Maeve, Running Back, Playhouse, Pampa & Dial Records to name a few. His radio show takes us through broken beats, ambient, house and techno as Roman takes control for 2 hours. A taste of what’s in the mix in the track list below, but this ones definitely for Friday afternoon and into the weekend.

#TBT

Sven Weisemann, a self taught musician who plays piano, acoustic guitar and percussion brings his warmth, jazz and soundtrack influences into his house records which predominantly sit on Mojuba record label along side Nick Solé & Oracy to form a distinct and highly collectible sound. Hi music can also be found on Kann, Wandering, Styrax Leaves, Freund Der Familie, Fauxpaus Musik & Delsin which gives you an indication of the type of textured deep house Sven producers.

Boiler Room has stepped up over the course of Lockdown to provide us with a selection of DJs playing live sets from the comfort of their own surroundings, a series entitled Streaming From Isolation. There has been over the course of the past 12 weeks big names and special sets from the likes of The Black Madonna, Disclosure, Floating Points, Four Tet, Peggy Gou & Dixon to name a few. But when Job Jobse took over the decks for 2 hours from his flat in Amsterdam we new it was going to be special. The man is known for his high energy sets, and blending of the new with the old, from Techno through to house.

His streaming from Isolation was no exception, opening with the beautiful vocals of Sun is Rising by The Beloved paving the way for Eris Drew and the party vibes to start. The energy is kept high with the likes of Tim Schlockrmann, Earth Trax & Paolo Di Nicolantonio which then delivers the first of many great moments with Lee Rodriguez - Make a Living coming into the mix. Other highlights throughout include Kingpin Cartel - Ghetto, SIL - Blue Oyster, Bicep’s Edit of Your Touch by R-2001 & D.O.P - Groovy Beat. The peak of the mix is provided by Moby - Go before the session closes our with the Rave Yard Mix of Crystal Waters.

The drifter (Mark Flynn) is responsible alongside Mano Le Tough & Baikal for the output of Maeve records. Known for it’s tight quality control and superb output, it doesn't take a lot for us to get excited when a new mix appears from any of this outfit.

Lord Of The Isles real name Neil McDonald has slowly been making a name for himself over the years with strong solid releases on the likes of Phonica Records label, Ene Records, Mule Musiq & Permanent Vacation to name a few. Recently setting up his own label DFSANT for his outputs his sound ranges from the more electronica side of things with broken baselines, to the softer side of house and anything that crosses in between it.

His mix for Inverted Audio layers squelchy textured electronic alongside beautiful house music, as tones, styles and textures are fused together.

Tracklist for this beauty:

1. Lord Of The Isles – One lifetime Is Not Enough For Us [Whities] 2. RDS – 224 [De Lichting] 3. Rod Modell – Jade [Tresor] 4. Galaxian – External Observer [Ilian Tape] 5. Pavel Milyakov – Dungeon [Gost Zvuk] 6. Kaiji – 赤ひげ [Kimochi] 7. SUED – Untitled 8. Quirke – Spinhaunt Coil [Whities] 9. Vril – Spes [Delsin] 10. Ground – Hayabusa [ESP Institute] 11. Afrikan Sciences – Have It All [ESP Institute] 12. Kuzma Palkin – Psychoticacidonset [Gost Zvuk] 13. Flaty – Celestial Bow (feat. 8ousy8oy & Muzzlebusf) [Gost Zvuk] 14. Lord Of The Isles – Luminous Black & Emerald [Zendama] 15. Edmundo – Opal Eyes [Borft]

With the festival season around the global looking bleak this year, there has been a flurry of recorded sets from festivals gone by appearing. With Waking Life slowly begging to make a reputation for itself from the awe inspiring line ups to the beautiful perfect surroundings of its location in Crato, Portugal. A small family and friends run operation with no corporate sponsorship or baking has created something beautiful over the past 3 years and no wonder that word is spreading on this event year on year, and a quick google search shows some of the incredible images taken at past events but doesn’t tell the whole story.

Solidarity Is Now is an initiative set up by Club Zukunft in Zurich. While the corona virus is leaving people in a state of uncertainty all over the world, it is important to continue to help the weakest. In recent months, cultural institutions and creatives have called for solidarity. SOLIDARITY IS NOW is a call for help for those who are in need of it.