Each week, FACT’s John Twells and Chris Kelly trawl through the untamed world of free mixes, radio specials and live blends so you don’t have to.
Except this week they’re getting sunburned and emotional at SXSW in Austin, so Scott Wilson and Chal Ravens are sitting in.
This week’s selection features humid house music, Night Slugs on a warm-up tip, death disco from Cologne, further adventures in the ever-mutating world of ethereal bass-heavy club music, avant-garde pop and a session from one of Bristol’s finest.
BRADLEY ZERO
Juno Plus Podcast 108
Last year we featured Bradley Zero in our list of 100 underrated DJs who need more shine, and his entry into the Juno Plus podcast series demonstrates why. Filled with the kind of humid deep house, abstract percussive jams and jazz-flecked exclusives you’d expect to hear him play at his South London-based Rhythm Section parties, it also shows off his uniquely delicate touch perfectly. If you haven’t been fortunate enough to make it to Rhythm Section, or you just can’t stand the sweat-inducing heat inside, this is the perfect alternative.
BOK BOK
Healing Mix
No whale song or incense here – Bok Bok’s “healing mix” is more Friday night warm-up than new age relaxation, but it does find the Night Slugs boss reaching for some deeper-than-your-average grooves on a pitch-perfect, near-hour-long set. Nestled among cuts from Helix, Neana and Romanthony you’ll find a handful of exclusives too, including Girl Unit as Hysterics taking on Bok Bok’s ‘Howard’ and Karizma’s “twyst” of Bokky’s new single with Sweyn Jupiter, ‘Papaya Lipgloss’.
LENA WILLIKENS
Beats In Space 773
Lena Willikens has one of the coolest CVs going: resident at Düsseldorf’s cult nightspot Salon Des Amateurs, presenter of the beyond-eclectic Sentimental Flashback show for Radio Cómeme, and a theremin player to boot. The Cologne DJ heads up a Cómeme special on Tim Sweeney’s Beats In Space show this week, bringing her punk sensibility to a grab bag of boot-stomping death disco music from Container, Broken English Club, Harmonius Thelonius and the like.
BWWWOYS
Astral Plane Mix 62
BWWWOYS are a web-based mystery who, while claiming to hail from Russia, exist primarily in the online sprawl, pumping out spooky, visceral, bass-heavy club tracks with regularity on their SoundCloud. The duo have delivered an annoyingly tracklist-free mix for The Astral Plane containing over 50 minutes fresh’n’weird grime inversions, regional club flavours and moody R&B edits that should appeal to nu-school grime fans and Janus devotees alike.
PEVERELIST
Ilian Tape Podcast 7
The gritty, bass-heavy techno put out by the the Ilian Tape label has much in common with the Bristol-influenced hybrid sounds of the Livity Sound trio, so it makes total sense for Peverelist to sign up for the seventh in the label’s podcast series. His hour-long mix is a great snapshot of where the veteran producer and DJ is at right now, splicing together a variety of crunchy techno workouts, good old-fashioned Bristol bassweight and abstract mechanical rhythms in his uniquely energetic manner.
WHERE TO NOW?
Truancy Volume 113
The Where To Now? label has been responsible for some killer releases over the past few years from Beatrice Dillon, WANDA GROUP and D. Hansen, and most recently a great solo album of compositions for dance from Dro Carey producer Eugene Ward. The label’s Truancy Volume shows off the diverse influences of the label heads, with avant-garde pop gems from Cabaret Voltaire, Social Climbers, Lutto Lento and Morgan Buckley sitting alongside the likes of Hieroglyphic Being, Black Dice and Steve Reich. If you’ve yet to familiarise yourself with what is one of the UK’s most interesting cassette-focused labels, this is a great starting point.
