Each week, FACT trawls through the untamed world of free mixes, radio specials and live blends so you don’t have to.
There’s an international flavour to this week’s selections, with grime from Mexico, techno from Russia and summery house sounds from Vancouver. There’s also a mix from the ever-reliable talent Jon K, a collection of cassette-based sounds and even a 100BPM trip into chopped and screwed ballroom. Turn up the heat.
Jon K
The Silencio Edit mix for Berceuse Heroique
A new mix by Hoya:Hoya resident Jon K is always something to get excited about, and this entry into the Berceuse Heroique podcast series is one of his strangest yet. In the first 10 minutes alone it swerves from what sounds like dark free jazz through echo chamber sounds through to ferocious industrial techno. Few DJs out there are able to take you on a journey quite so varied and keep you wanting to move throughout.
Rushmore
100BPM Ballroom Beats
If you’ve ever been to House Of Trax, you’ll know that the night’s mix of ghetto house, booty, ballroom and footwork is about as fast-paced as London clubbing gets. On this mix, co-founder Rushmore delivers the music you’d expect from the night, but chopped and screwed down to 100BPM. As well as still being very danceable, the effect gives the music a lot more room to breathe, allowing your ears the time to appreciate the sonic barrage that makes up a ballroom set.
D. Tiffany
ԅ(◕‿◕)／⌒☆⌒ ☆⌒♬♪
British Columbia’s Sophie Sweetland knocks out a 45-minute session of simmering, sun-dappled house which showcases the headspace she’s in when she makes ace lo-fi grooves for the 1080p label as D. Tiffany. With sultry voiceovers rubbing up against perky saxophones and a sprinkle of DJ Sprinkles, it’s music for the pool party of your dreams.
Aidan Hanratty
Spool’s Out – Bandcloud Guest Mix
Tape aficionado Tristan Bath invites Bandcloud’s Aidan Hanratty, lover of all things musty, ambient, abstract and gloopy, to put together the 10th episode of Spool’s Out Radio with a mix drawn from the cobwebbiest corners of the cybercupboard. Expect drones, crackly bits, psych-folk meditations, memos from the Middle Ages, lo-fi space-house, more drones, Bristol dread and the wonderful Kara-Lis Coverdale.
Art Crime
Truants Volume 121
Moscow producer Art Crime released his debut record on Willie Burns’ WT Records last year, a sleeper hit that also caught the ears of Bicep. His mix for Truants is full of the dark influences that clearly seeped into his unique take on the classic piano house template, with music from Massive Attack’s Robert Del Naja and Monoton sitting alongside Villalobos and Robotiko Rejekto. There are a lot of contemporary DJs drawing darker influences into techno and house right now, but Art Crime’s selections are fresher than most.
OMAAR
Astral Plane Mix
Grime’s late-onset contagion is a wonderful thing to behold. OMAAR, a member of Mexico City’s must-watch NAAFI collective, is another new artist looking to the frigid glamour of eski and the weightless abstractions of contemporaries like Logos and Strict Face to develop his eerie, spacious take on the club. Both those Brit producers feature in OMAAR’s cracking mix for The Astral Plane alongside a generous dose of his compelling solo productions..
