FMB MIXTAPE 214 | MICHELLE MANETTI

Posted on June 22, 2023 by Feel My Bicep

FMB MIXTAPE 214 | MICHELLE MANETTI

FMB MIXTAPE 214 | MICHELLE MANETTI (iTUNES)

FMB MIXTAPE 214 | MICHELLE MANETTI (320 DOWNLOAD)

This week’s mixtape guest is none other than Michelle Manetti! Having been on the scene for over 20 years, Michelle started as an underage clubber in the late 90s and now champions underrepresented artists in the music scene through her work with female-focused queer girl party Fèmme Fraîche and East London’s underground queer scene. You know the drill, we asked more about Michelle and the mix….

It’s been a pretty busy summer so far, this month I’ve had gigs in Ibiza, Madrid, Bristol, London and a little short break in Somerset and just gearing myself for a hectic festival season.

I recorded the mix at home, in the comfort of my living room, on some 1210’s and a DJM900nxs, rooted through a Pioneer DDJ1000 and recorded into Rekordbox.

So I wanted to do something really special for this mix, I decided to go back to my humble beginnings and record a vinyl mix. When I started DJ-ing over 20 years ago I was a vinyl only DJ (CDJ’s barely existed then) and used to record vinyl mixes all the time. I stopped playing vinyl about 10/12years ago and haven’t recorded one since then, so I thought i’d set myself the task and challenge to deliver one for this, as much for my own pleasure and benefit as anything else. Lately I’ve been digging around and buying much more old music than I have new current stuff, my sound is very 90’s influenced and right now, I’m really into the piano vibes of Italo and Euro house, as well as a lot of Ravey, leftfield and garage – especially speed garage (playing homage to my Croydon roots!), so wanted to bring these sounds into the mix to really showcase my sound, which is so eclectic, but always underpinned by house.

I’ve been buying a lot more vinyl again this last year, influence by the sounds I’m enjoying as well as by Vinyl loving DJ pals such as Eris Drew, Octo Octa, Marie Malarie and Angel D’Lite – I enjoy digging and finding those hidden gems, also shout out to a few instagram pages Belters4u, Discovery Vinyl, Todays Wax, Underground Sound who post little vinyl gems daily (some of the tunes in this mix actually came from recommendations from these pages) these are like the modern day music bloggers, which comes full circle as I actually first discovered Bicep from their music blog, when I was running a similar one back in the day. All of the tracks in the mix, apart from two are only available on vinyl, one of them however is some random track that’s only available on CD single, that had to be imported from Australia and record into the mix through rekordbox. I also snuck in my forthcoming track / collab with Demi Riquisimo, which is a vinyl only release coming out in July on Semi Delicious.

I’m gonna give a full disclaimer on the mix though, as enjoyable as it’s been to reconnect with vinyl, I’d forgotten how painstaking vinyl mixes are. I’m such a perfectionist and it took me more than a few attempts, a few swear words and some nifty editing to get this mix sounding right and I still wish the mixes were a bit tighter, but that’s the painful joy of vinyl for you. I was originally going to record the mix on these jenky old Numark belt drive decks that I’ve had since I first started to learn how to DJ, they’re cranky and wonky and I always told myself, if you can mix well on these old things you can mix anything.. they served me well, but at the weekend I was talking about my mix to my family and my brother-in-law, who used to be a DJ back in the 90’s offered to lend me his 1210’s he had sat gathering dust in the garage. There I am, about to record my mix (a night before the submission date, because as you well know, us DJ’s are always last-min) and I noticed the decks are coming out in mono, a little check and noticed the contacts were broken on one phono on each deck, I literally had to get nifty with some blue-tack and electrical tape to fix up the cables!! So when I tell you, this mix has taken blood sweat and tears, I’m not lying – but it’s probably the most heartfelt mix I’ve done in ages so thank you for the honour and I hope you enjoy!

Up Next?

Well I’m actually travelling off to Mexico in the morning, to play Mexico pride this weekend, but also have a super fun summer coming up. I’m playing 4 parties for London pride next weekend, including a big collab party called Studland Soho, which is a collab of my clubnight Femmme Fraiche, with Feel It, Little Gay Brother and Meat. I’m also doing some stage takeovers with my clubnight at Wilderness and Body Movements festivals and then just bouncing around for summer. it’s looking hot hot!

 

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FMB MIXTAPE 213 | GEORGE FEELY

Posted on June 8, 2023 by Feel My Bicep

FMB MIXTAPE 213 | GEORGE FEELY

FMB MIXTAPE 213 | GEORGE FEELY (iTUNES)

FMB MIXTAPE 213 | GEORGE FEELY (320 DOWNLOAD)

This week we have Ireland’s party starter on the mixtape. You’ve probably seen him on every festival line-up in the country, but we’ve managed to steal some time from his busy touring schedule. We asked George more about the mix & what he’s been up to outside of gigs…

I’ve been keeping my head down lately and working on as much music as possible. I’m really lucky to have my next couple of releases locked in on Armada Music and Boston Bun’s Circa ’99. Other than that, I’ve been playing gigs and getting myself ready for festival season!

I recorded the mix in my new home studio on a set of CDJ’s and Technic 1210’s. We’ve only just moved in, so it was really nice to christen the place with this mix.

To be honest, there wasn’t really much of a concept or idea behind the mix. I just wanted to put together something that really reflected what it’s like coming to one of my DJ sets. Packed with 90’s driven house bangers and splashes of funk and soul, I think this mix definitely highlights what I try to bring to each show I play.

And what’s up next?

Thankfully I have a very busy summer. I’ll be playing at a ton of festivals such as Otherside, Indiependence, Electric Picnic, as well as a few others that I can’t mention just yet. I’m also really excited to be heading back over to Canada to play a string of shows for Jika Jika and Groove In The Wild.

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FMB MIXTAPE 212 | JAY CARDER

Posted on May 25, 2023 by Feel My Bicep

FMB MIXTAPE 212 | JAY CARDER

FMB MIXTAPE 212 | JAY CARDER (iTUNES)

FMB MIXTAPE 212 | JAY CARDER (320 DOWNLOAD)

This week we have Jay Carder on the mixtape. Jay has been DJing across various radio stations for over 10 years, including Soho Radio, NTS & Rinse FM, and released her debut EP ‘Entropy’ at the end of 2022. We asked more about this mix & what she had been up to recently:

Firstly thanks so much for having me on the FMB mix series! 2023 so far has been a whirlwind…In January off the back of my debut EP, Mary Anne Hobbs asked me for a 6Music guest mix; she then playlisted the track ‘Eva’s Stoned’ for three whole weeks on the station – it was kinda mind blowing hearing it played daily. I also did a tour of India over Jan/Feb (15 gigs in 5 weeks say whaaat haha) before flying straight back to join Interplanetary Criminal for a few dates on his UK tour. 

Since then I’ve been playing most weekends around the country (plus a few cheeky sets in Barcelona), broadcasting on Rinse FM every Monday, and trying to squeeze in studio time as much as possible around other commitments (just about hanging in there with my ‘non-music-related-but-funding-the-dream’ day job too haha).

Ah yes, imagine the scene. I had an unusually free Saturday – I’d been playing in Peckham until 6am Friday night and crawled into bed for a few hours, then woke up around lunchtime to the sun streaming through the window. It felt like the first proper day of summer (aka festival season) and I just felt so energised and ready to dive into a day of digging. My normally chaotic house was empty with everyone away for the weekend and I had the whole place to myself to immerse myself in music, play it as loud as I dared (sorry neighbours) and dig to my heart’s content.

I’d been putting tracks aside for this mix for a little while, but that Saturday was a full 12-hour stint of finding, vibing and mixing tunes. The result is actually my favourite mix I’ve ever recorded – it’s full of twists and turns, highs and lows. I recorded it late into Saturday night, around 2am, on my humble yet beloved home setup of two XDJs and a DJM800.

I’m really genuinely excited to share this with the world! I know it’s been said a million times but a good mix is genuinely a piece of art itself – a collection of ‘moments’ strung together in a mesmerisingly coherent way. Of the tracks I chose, some I’ve never played before but am totally drawn to, and some have been causing some real damage in my recent club sets. Most of them are fairly new/some unreleased, but there’s a peppering of nostalgia in there too. With Bicep’s repertoire of huge melodies and chopped vocals in mind, I included plenty of euphoric moments and intertwined them with heavy breaks, bass and weirdly wonderful tension. I feel like the mix has a life of its own; it’s hard to explain really – you’ll just have to listen ;)

Up next?

I’m playing my first Boiler Room this bank holiday Sunday which is set to be a belter! Then festival season is well and truly underway. I’ll be at Gottwood and Glastonbury in June (big up Sports Banger for having me at their notorious Mega Rave), before heading for the first time to Canada to play at Bass Coast Festival in July. Secret Garden Party, Westival and Boomtown follow. By some work of magic I hope to find studio time for more releases, and of course I’ll be live on Rinse FM every Monday at 6pm throughout. I can’t guarantee I’ll make much sense, but I’ll be there ;)

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FMB MIXTAPE 211 | BIG MIZ

Posted on May 11, 2023 by Feel My Bicep

FMB MIXTAPE 211 | BIG MIZ

FMB MIXTAPE 211 | BIG MIZ (iTUNES)

FMB MIXTAPE 211 | BIG MIZ (320 DOWNLOAD)

All the way from Glasgow we have the producer and DJ, Big Miz, on the mixtape this week. As always, we first caught up with him to see what he’s been up to lately.

I’ve been in the studio loads in the last few months making some new tracks for the summer. Got some releases coming out on Dansu Discs, Homage and Shall Not Fade over the summer. Also been playing a few shows across the UK and hitting the skatepark when I can. 

The mix was recorded in the studio that I share with the guys who run Dixon Avenue Basement Jams on two cdjs. 

It’s basically a mix of tracks that I’ve been loving in my DJ sets recently alongside a good few of my own new productions. I’ve been playing a bit heavier than I used to recently and that’s reflected in the second half of the mix.

And up next?

Next I have shows at the subby, Egg in London, Riverside b2b w/ Eclair Fifi and Newcastle so I’m looking forward to those. Also excited for my new releases to drop so hopefully people are into them :)

Tracklist:

Ray Okpara – A Belover For
Wallace – Pump Up The Volume
Eden Burns – Rats A Rat
Big Miz – Believe
Matrixxman – Arrival
Big Miz – Make Your Bones
Spray – VT Trad
Big Miz – Wanna Get Down
Dj Emerson – Pump It
Dj Zank – Peggasans
Beau Didier – Bit 3
Big Miz – Satanic Panic
Datar – B (Alex Neri Remix)
Mene – No Me Impolta
Big Miz – Let The Smoke Out (feat. Theo Bleak)

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FMB MIXTAPE 210 | OVERLAND

Posted on April 27, 2023 by Feel My Bicep

FMB MIXTAPE 210 | OVERLAND

FMB MIXTAPE 210 | OVERLAND (iTUNES)

FMB MIXTAPE 210 | OVERLAND (320 DOWNLOAD)

We’re handing the mixtape reigns over to Canada’s own Overland this week. She’s a resident with Rinse.fm France and has released music worldwide through Lisbon’s Naive, New York’s Sweat Equity & has new tracks coming out on Berlin’s GARMO. You know the drill, we checked in about the mix and what she’s been up to recently…

I am currently based in Berlin, on my first European tour since March 2020. I played the last gig at Tresor before the world shut down, so it’s been nice to revisit and play the clubs here in Berlin.

To record the mix, I rented a Pirate Studio in Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin using a 3 CDJ setup.

I felt for a while that I wasn’t in control of my career or life.. I felt pressured to be “more techno” or play more “marketable music” or that I’m “too experimental”. After re-assessing where I was and stepping away from a lot of the pressures within my inner circle, I’ve found my joy for DJing again and am able to appreciate the beautiful blend of music I love to play. It’s a mix of old and new, friends and heroes, pumping yet trippy. A hint of the Midwest, a hint of Canadian, all things I love wrapped in one nice mix.

Up next?

I will spend the rest of April here in Berlin, then head back to Canada for a short while before heading to Detroit to play an off Movement party Meta Ta Physika, Chicago to play Podlaise, and New York twice later in the summer for some exciting debuts. I made the choice to tour less and focus on my own emotional and mental health this year, as I found being on the road a lot really disrupted that for me last year. Playing the music that matters to me, and the events that matter to me brings me closer to the joy of what I do best.

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