PPGMIX048: GiGi FM
Netil Radio resident GiGi FM turns in a mix of healing frequencies and cosmic ambitions in response to Mercury’s recent retrograde. It’s very easy to become submerged in the aquatic, minimal techno laid out towards the start by the London-based dancer, producer and DJ, so it’s almost shocking when the electro breaks start hitting. The current finds its way to a climax in the form of CJ Bolland’s remix of the Black Dog and Black Sifichi’s Mental Health Hotline, a darkly comedic ripper that pairs a tearing synth with an automated answer-machine vocal that chirps out various medical conditions. GiGi FM brings things full circle, rounding out the experience in techno’s deep end for a refreshing finish.
FADER Mix: DJ Taye
Hailing from Chicago, DJ Taye embraced footwork, the city’s dance-battle-oriented evolution of ghetto house, early in his teenage years. He joined Teklife – the indomitable crew whose name goes hand in hand with the genre – at the start of the decade, and has become one of their strongest ambassadors in the years since. His mix for the Fader packs in almost a track per minute, with DJ Taye having produced the majority of his 30-plus selections. In between, there’s the heavy reverb and skittering percussion of footwork classics, vocal chops from edits of Travis Scott, Kanye West and Technotronic, plus his own raps and collaborations with label-mates across the board. Already acclaimed for stretching the confines of footwork, DJ Taye now guides us through the full breadth of his achievements. It’s a thrill to ride.
Lucinda Chua – Strings Mixtape 1-4
London’s Lucinda Chua is a cellist and singer-songwriter who, in addition to releasing her own music, is about to head out on tour with FKA twigs. Her Strings Mixtape series draws ambient pop, classical, jazz and beats into the folds of her own arrangements. She recently shared the first four editions online, but they’re very much worth diving into all in one go. Shabaka Hutchings’s sax is mixed over 1950s Blue Note piano by Bud Powell, before Chua introduces an audio rip of a freestyle from Ratking’s wise wordsmith Wiki – and these two minutes are but a drop in an ocean of memorable moments.
Dummy Mix 544: Swan Meat
High-octane trance, metal and video game soundtracks come together in Swan Meat’s mix for Dummy. The poet, audio engineer, producer and DJ injects narrative into the format to create a self-described “demented adventure”. Her own songs are on the dance-industrial-noise continuum, and these sounds seep into the twists and turns of this breakneck slalom. Music from disturbing and surreal games such as Silent Hill 2, American McGee’s Alice and Doki Doki Literature Club! is in the company of hardcore techno, drum and bass and Ligeti. There’s a turning point in the middle where Gaika’s anthemic dancehall feeds into Children of Bodom. After that there’s no leaving Swan Meat’s nightmare.
Back in the 80s, Robert Cox of Felixstowe, Suffolk, was recording refractive, shimmering minimalism under the name Rimarimba. His music expanded on the ideas of composers such as Glass and Reich, although his sound was that of a domestic tinkerer based in a seaside town who probably spent a fair bit of time packaging and posting cassette tapes to other unknowns. RVNG Intl’s sub-label Freedom to Spend reissued a four-album retrospective on the artist last year and in his newfound freedom post-retirement, Cox returns to the Rimarimba project after some three decades. Currently on the agenda is new composition Sea, Shore, See, Sure?, hosted by deep listening devotees Longform Editions. This hour-long piece uses processed guitars to recreate slowly moving shorelines and pebbled beaches, wielding time against the age of short attention spans and information overloads.
TTB – Morning Love
Years working as a senior member of the NTS Radio team has meant that Tabitha Thorlu-Bangura has seen many sides of the music business and listened to countless approaches to the mix and show formats. It’s always an occasion when she touches the decks herself as TTB; her infrequent-to-rare radio slots known for featuring dreamy, expansive takes on a theme strewn together seamlessly. Morning Love snuck onto SoundCloud without a squeak, and the mix holds true to its titular concept: delicate ambience unfurls into woozy hip-hop beats and vulnerable, devotional lyrics. TTB cultivates an atmosphere where every uttered word lingers in the air just a little longer.
