FACT Mixes show

FACT Mixes

Summary: Every week, FACT brings you mixes from the hottest DJs and artists in the world.

Podcasts:

 FACT mix 516: DJ Marfox | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:47:22

Around a decade ago, Marlon Silva was the driving force in forming the DJs Do Guetto, a crew of Lisbon producers that includes DJ Pausas, DJ Fofuxo, DJ Jesse and more, who made their name playing local parties and uploading tracks onto filesharing site eMule. DJs Do Guetto has more-or-less disbanded, but Marfox’s eye for talent has only strengthened with time. He’s become a key part of the Principe Discos label, both as an artist and an unofficial A&R-of-sorts, bringing younger producers like DJ Nigga Fox into the fold to help develop the label’s blend of tumbling drums and trancey riffs (in a neat things-going-full-circle moment, Principe reissued DJs Do Guetto’s eMule archives in 2013.) Principe’s status has soared in the last two years: Marfox has released outside the label, on Lit City and Enchufada, Nigga Fox has performed at Sonar, while DJ Firmeza and the label’s teenage prodigy Nidia Minaj will perform at this year’s Unsound festival. This Friday, October 9, new London party series Clock Strikes 13 will host a full Principe label showcase at Dance Tunnel, featuring Marfox, Nidia Minaj and Firmeza – for more on that, and to get tickets, head here. For more on Marfox and Principe, revisit Robert Barry’s feature for FACT.

 FACT mix 515: Kowton | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 01:02:04

Kowton’s first singles came under the name Narcossist back in 2008-9 (he also delivered a FACT mix back then), but it was after settling on Kowton as his full-time name that he stepped up his productivity, releasing a succession of singles on labels based in his then-hometown of Bristol (as well as an often-overlooked pair of trips to London’s Keysound) and forming the Livity Sound collective/label with Peverelist and Asusu. It was this period where he started to really find his own sound, combining dub-style delays, grimey strings and distortion on tracks like ‘TFB’ and ‘Des Bisous’. Presumably due to the development and popularity of Livity Sound’s live show, Kowton’s solo output has slowed down over the last couple of years, though he released the twinkling ‘Glock & Roll’ on Whities last year, and this month dropped a new solo single ‘On Repeat’, which combines wide-eyed rave chords with the sort of colossal drums that feel like classic Kowton. His FACT mix, he tells us, “sums up where I’m at right now musically: music for dancefloors that stands up to repeat listening; rhythmic and repetitive tracks that are heavy but don’t shy away from detail. It’s mostly unreleased and I’ve tried as best possible to piece all these angular sounds together in a way that flows but also gives variation. I think it just about works.” “Many thanks to everyone thats sent me this amazing music, I’m grateful to know such a talented and generous bunch of producers.”

 FACT mix 514: Natasha Kmeto | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:41:30

Portland’s Natasha Kmeto has been honing her brand of electronic soul for a few years now, breaking through with the smoky r’n’b of 2013’s Crisis. On her new album Inevitable, she takes her music into more dramatic territory; where Crisis was quietly spoken, Inevitable‘s tracks often build to breathless crescendos, her voice riding layer upon layer of electronics. “A lot of Crisis was subtle and quiet, and I wanted to contrast that,” Kmeto recently explained to FACT’s Chris Kelly. “From an emotional perspective, it’s very much the bookend to the storyline of Crisis. What I was going through has a lot to do with me becoming more secure and more confident, and the writing and the sound parallel that.” On Kmeto’s FACT mix, she takes vocal and instrumental stems from both Crisis and Inevitable, plus remixes from friends (there are also appearances from DJ Gigs, Kmeto’s DJ alias), piecing them together in a slow-burning live session that climaxes with the vocal from Crisis’s ‘I Thought You Had a Boyfriend’ and sinks back to earth with a forlorn mix of Inevitable’s ‘Peak’. “My objective”, Kmeto tells us, “was to re-imagine all of this original content in a new way for a different perspective on these tracks. It’s been a while since I complied a mix like this and I had a lot of fun with it.”

 FACT mix 513: Linkwood | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:51:55

Debuting back in 2004 with a pair of tracks on Firecracker Records, a label run by Linkwood’s pal and fellow Edinburgh resident Lindsay ‘House of Traps’ Todd (it was also the label’s first release), Linkwood has spent the last decade carefully releasing dance records that tap into a long legacy of star-gazing techno, romantic boogie and ecstatic disco. Linkwood’s records feel longing without being suffocated in nostalgia, and this year he released his second album Expressions, which contains some of his deepest work yet. Linkwood’s mixes appear at around the same rate as his records (that is to say, there’s not that many of them) but provide a vital insight into the music he makes: they’re clearly made with love, but never overthought. Often, to truly fall for something you need to see the seams, and Linkwood gets that more than most. Expressions is out now.

 FACT mix 512: Max Richter | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 01:08:21

Max Richter was born in Germany but grew up in the UK, eventually settling in Edinburgh. He’s classically trained, but also heavily influenced by electronic music, and contributed to Future Sound of London albums and Roni Size’s Reprazent before releasing a series of influential solo albums. He’s scored several films, most notably Ari Folman’s Waltz with Bashir, while his music has also appeared in Martin Scorsece’s Shutter Island, Ridley Scott’s Prometheus and more. Richter’s early albums (2002’s Memoryhouse, 2004’s The Blute Notebooks) are landmarks of modern classical in their embrace of electronics, and he’s continued to break new ground on his latest album. Titled SLEEP, Richter’s new album is eight hours long (though don’t worry, there’s an hour-long condensed version for the norms), designed to soundtrack a listeners’s sleep. In Richter’s words, it’s “an eight-hour lullaby … my personal lullaby for a frenetic world. A manifesto for a slower pace of existence.” To celebrate the release of SLEEP, we’ve coaxed Richter’s first ever mix out of him, a celebration of groundbreaking classical music both classic (Bach, Glass) and contemporary (Godspeed You! Black Emperor), plus the likes of Grouper, Cat Power and Boards of Canada. Richter explains that the tracks he picked for the mix are “all about transcendence, a going beyond the known, a questioning of the day to day. I feel like one of the things the sleeping offers is a sort of connection to the unknown part of ourselves and a journey beyond our normal experience. Music can feel like this too – a landscape of unknown possibilities, rich with questions.” SLEEP is out now in both full-length and condensed formats. Keep scrolling for a catch-up with Richter about his FACT mix, SLEEP and more.

 FACT mix 511: Fred P | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 01:30:19

Fred P has been holding it down for the Big Apple’s house scene for over a decade, originally under the name Black Jazz Consortium but also as Fred P and a series of other aliases (among them Anomaly and FP197). Early press around Fred tied him in with a revival of sorts in the New York house community, but although there’s clear links – both musically and personally – to the likes of Jus Ed and DJ Qu, there’s a subtle virtuosity and eccentricity to Fred’s records that makes him his own man, even at their most simple. It’s telling that he’s not content to release singles: between Fred P and Black Jazz Consortium he’s released five albums since 2007, most recently working with Tokyo label Mule Musiq on his fifth, simply titled 5. Fred’s FACT mix was recorded at Berlin’s Dark Flow studios. “I used two Technics 1200s and one CDJ for the last track, and a Pioneer mixer and effects module,” he tells us. “There was no method really, just weeks of pulling records to find the right ones that capture a particular vibe. I hope everyone enjoys this mix as much as I enjoyed putting it together. It’s not perfect but it’s perfect in its imperfection thus making it timeless. Peace, love and respect.”

 FACT mix 510: Throwing Shade | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:39:08

Nabihah ‘Throwing Shade’ Iqbal – musician, DJ, trained barrister and a black belt in karate, in case you were feeling proud of your ability to multitask today – has spent the last few years showcasing global music on her NTS show radio, from American street jazz to African field recordings. She’s also spent that time honing her productions, from 2013 debut ‘Mystic Places’ to a pair of EPs on No Pain in Pop, 19 Jewels and Fate Xclusive. Throwing Shade’s music often stands out most when it’s quietest: her tracks can feel like they peak at moments of intimacy (in the case of ‘Hashtag irl’, featured on this mix, things get so close they’re almost oppressive) and it’s not uncommon for her NTS show to linger in beatless territories. On her FACT mix, though, it’s party time. Things kick off with Deadboy’s recent ‘White Moon Garden’ (pitched up by at least eight BPM) and Stardust, ‘BBHMM’, ‘Babycakes’, Easyfun and more appear before we even hit the final third. Catch Throwing Shade at Comeme x Highlife on December 19, part of new London party series Clock Strikes 13. Her latest record, Fate Xclusive, is out now through No Pain In Pop.

 FACT mix 509: Flying Saucer Attack | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:56:21

David Pearce’s Flying Saucer Attack has been releasing transportive experiments with guitars, drones and home recording since the early 1990s. After the success of the project’s self-titled debut album, Flying Saucer Attack linked up with Domino and Drag City, releasing a series of albums that combined the feedback love of the shoegaze set with the longform experimentation of groups like Spaceman 3, almost always home-recorded (Pearce, so the legend goes, avoided recording studios like the plague). The end result was an uncanny combination of the intimate and the expansive. Late last month, Pearce released the first Flying Saucer Attack album in 15 years, Instrumentals 15, ahead of a Flying Saucer Attack reissue program on Domino. On Pearce’s FACT mix, he shines a light on a handful of the bands that have influenced him over the years, from 60s group Left Banke to American Music Club; German rockers Ramses to former Fairport Convention member Sandy Denny. For FSA fans it’s an invaluable insight into the project’s musical make-up; for newcomers, it’s simply one hell of a trip.

 FACT mix 508: Rome Fortune | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:43:27

It didn’t take Rome Fortune long to make an impact in Atlanta rap. He first turned heads with a pair of collaborative mixtapes in 2011 and 2012, but his breakthrough moment was 2013’s Beautiful Pimp. Featuring production by Childish Major, DunDeal, DJ Spinz and more, Beautiful Pimp cemented Rome’s status as one of rap’s most interesting new artists and attracted a host of high-profile collaborators: he’s since worked with Four Tet, ILoveMakkonen, Toro y Moi and Jacques Greene & Ango (albeit in unorthodox circumstances, in that case.) 2014’s Beautiful Pimp II was short, but contained some of Rome’s best music yet, while he continued to develop his connection with DunDeal on Drive, Thighs & Lies, later that year. Punctuated by his own material (including Toro y Moi collaboration ‘Pitch Black’ and a remix of Gucci Mane’s ‘Pillz’), his FACT mix features the same electronic longing that’s at the underbelly of much of Rome’s music. LSDXOXO, Tropics, Suicideyear, Jesse Boykins III and more feature.

 FACT mix 507: Nick Craddock | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 01:12:52

Hailing from the north of England but based in South London, his Gateway to Zen clubnight has become a noted home for techno across the board, and co-signs from the likes of Hessle Audio and Karenn (he’s featured on the former’s Rinse FM show, and supported the latter’s Boiler Room) have led to a raised profile. We also included him in last year’s 100 Underrated DJs feature. Craddock describes his FACT mix, which draws from spaced-out, experimental techno from the likes of STL and Population One before closing on a blissed-out acid section, as “a strange one”, which hardly surprising when you consider this is the third version of it that he sent. “I spent ages hammering away at a loose track selection – recording lots of takes over several weeks, which is very counter-intuitive for me,” he says. I pretty much rinsed any enjoyment of the tracks themselves in the process. Then a week before submission was due, I was getting some music together for a forthcoming gig. I had a lot of new tracks – freshly bought and a few promo bits, but I felt like there was enough of a thread running through the selection to have a bash at recording a mix. “Because it was mostly new music”, he continues, “I was very much feeling my way through it as it happened, but that’s often how my mixes come together. It’s nice to work with the energy of the tracks and your reaction to them in the moment. And I still like the tunes when it’s finished!” Gateway to Zen’s next party is on August 14 at Rye Wax, with sets from Leah Floyeurs, Tom Whatmore and Diskomo Oblast. The club have also recently implemented a safe space policy, which you can read about here.

 FACT mix 506: Masters at Work | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 01:01:01

Quite possibly. Since the end of the 1980s, Kenny Dope and Louie Vega – given the Masters at Work name, so the story goes, by Todd Terry – have been releasing house and garage anthems with unbelievable regularity. There’s ‘The Ha Dance’ – the track that gave ballroom its trademark Ha crash. There’s ‘Work’, one of the most remixed and sampled tracks in dance music history. There’s ‘To Be In Love’, one of the most perfect synergies of dance music and pop music ever made – and these are just the tip of the MAW iceberg, we’ve not even started on solo hits like Kenny Dope’s ‘The Bomb! (These Sounds Fall Into My Mind)’ and ‘No Hook’, and side gigs like Kenlou. You get the picture: these two could play nothing but their own material for two hours and still not even scratch the surface of their vast, influential and – most importantly – ridiculously fun discography. But ahead of a rare London show at Found’s 51st State Festival (where they’ll be joined by fellow vets Derrick Carter, Dennis Ferrer, David Morales and many more), we asked them to try. This is Masters at Work in the mix for FACT – sometimes all you need is what it says on the tin. 51st State takes place on Saturday August 8 in London’s Trent Park, and may feature more house and garage royalty than any UK festival in history. For more information, head here. Masters at Work will also be headlining the festival’s official after-party at Koko.

 FACT mix 505: Alessandro Cortini | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 01:12:28

The Italian musician has been building up a reputation for a few years now, under a plethora of different monikers, pushing his electronic instruments to near-breaking point. Cortini mastered the towering Buchla modular system, securing him a well-deserved spot on keys for Trent Reznor’s Nine Inch Nails. This, however, is only the tip of the iceberg. Last year Cortini dropped the excellent Sonno LP on Dominick Fernow’s Hospital imprint, and the Buchla was nowhere to be seen. Instead of showing his chops on an instrument that most musicians couldn’t dream of using, Cortini instead confined himself to the humble Roland MC-202. The 202 doesn’t have the reputation of some of its starrier Roland family, mainly because it’s notoriously difficult to use, but it’s basically a portable, keyboard-less SH-101 with a sequencer that requires an advanced intellect to take advantage of. The portable nature of the instrument allowed Cortini to pen tunes while on tour with Nine Inch Nails, and his follow-up LP, Risveglio, continues where Sonno left off. This time around he’s added some other portable Roland instruments – the legendary silver pair, the TR-606 and the TB-303. The message and basic sound, however, remains intact. There’s no squiggly acid here; rather, Cortini finds a way to tailor the familiar instruments to his own very specific sound, and emerges with something haunting and personal. That’s exactly the kind of thought behind this dense FACT mix – sure there are cuts from Plastikman, Aphex Twin and William Basinski, but these are drowned in abstract electronics and muted noise from Shifted, Powell and Peder Mannerfelt. Alessandro Cortini’s Risveglio will be released on Hospital Productions on July 27.

 FACT mix 504: Nmesh | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 02:00:01

His albums — 2013’s Nu.Wav Hallucinations and 2014’s Dream Sequins — were sprawling, overwhelmingly dense collage pieces made from commercials, samples from the depths of YouTube, and synth textures that ran from silly elevator Muzak to bad trip psychedelia to moments of startling beauty. As you stumbled through those sonic labyrinths you’d encounter others — disembodied voices, drifting through like ghosts. The chatter could shift from mundane to hilarious, from terrifying to emotionally resonant. Still, his albums are laser-focused compared to the impossibly huge worlds Koenig builds on his mixes. His 260-minute (that’s 4.20 in hours) Welcome To The Warp Zone mix for TinyMixTapes moved through each of its extended thematic sections like some kind of giant, slow-breathing beast. It was an easy pick for our Bandcamp Release Of The Month — but more importantly, it was a clear sign that we had to get this guy to do FACT mix. So now at just a single second over two hours, we present this double-wide FACT mix from Nmesh. It’s a hell of a ride, with a generous double-dip of LSD and all the peaks and valley that come with that. Here you’ll find the sonic trickery of iconic plunderphonics originator John Oswald holding court with anonymous vaporwave producers while Hype Williams and James Ferraro nestle in with Raymond Scott. It ties all these voices — young, old, dead, legendary, undiscovered, anonymous — together into a legacy of sonic adventuring with Koenig as a welcome host.

 FACT mix 503: Semtek | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:58:13

He’s best known for the latter. Don’t Be Afraid launched as a means to service Semtek’s own productions (the first three releases on the label were a trio of his singles), but reached a wider audience between 2011 and 2012 with singles by long-term friend Mr. Beatnick (the sublime Synthetes trilogy), Photonz and MGUN. Beatnick and MGUN have both assumed positions at the label’s core, while the last couple of years have seen DBA expand operations to cater for artists like Doubt, Halvtrak and Herva, while also housing DIFFER-Ent, a new alias by underground techno veteran DJ Bone. As a producer, Semtek’s also expanded his operation, moving away from Don’t Be Afraid to release music on Andy Blake’s World Unknown, In Plain Sight, Awkward Movements and, most recently, Wifey co-founder Robin Howells’ Niche N Bump label. His music sits at the experimental end of house and techno, but this isn’t high distortion, low substance outsider guff – it’s hard, raw club music from someone who’s more than served his time. As a DJ, he’s also pretty raw – we’ve seen him mix techno records like they’re 8-bar grime 12s” – but on his FACT mix he’s happy to let things breathe. Music comes from Mo Kolours, DJ Spider, Batu and more.

 FACT Mix 502: Trumpet & Badman | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 01:29:04

Veteran DJs and producers DJ Q and DJ Haus have spent the best part of the last decade mastering their craft, and putting a large, gaudy signature on a plethora of dance subgenres. In 2013, they formed like Voltron to birth Trumpet & Badman, and have since dropped three white-hot 12″s for Haus’s Hot Haus imprint, reaching a frothy peak with this summer’s ‘Body Ache’. The duo’s generously proportioned FACT mix illustrates how effortlessly Trumpet & Badman manage to surf through very different sounds without losing the all-important message: Dance music is supposed to be fun. This is a space where house gangster DJ Sneak can sidle up alongside Marquis Hawkes, and where DJ Haus’s excellent 4×4 edit of Fatima Yamaha’s destructive ‘What’s A Girl 2 Do’ sounds perfectly at home in the same selection as Josh Wink’s ‘Hypnotizin'; the mix even comes to a dramatic close with Cate’s cheeky ‘Doges In Costumes’. For those of you eager to explore more of what Haus and Q have to offer, make sure you head over to the brand spanking new Unknown to the Unknown website – UTTU.CLUB – where you can pick up a selection of teeshirts, freebies and tunes, all presented with a sense of humor that’s all too often missing in the polite, grey world of contemporary dance music.

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