FMB MIXTAPE 174 | NIGHTWAVE

Posted on August 19, 2021 by Feel My Bicep

FMB MIXTAPE 174 | NIGHTWAVE

FMB MIXTAPE 174 | NIGHTWAVE (iTUNES)

FMB MIXTAPE 174 | NIGHTWAVE (320 DOWNLOAD)

This week on the FMB Mixtape Series, we welcome the Glasgow-based DJ & producer, Nightwave. As always, we first caught up with her to find out a bit about the mix & what she’s been up to lately…

The clubs officially reopened in Scotland a week ago after nearly 18 months so I was absolutely ecstatic to be back behind the decks at La Cheetah Club in Glasgow where I’ve had a residency for the last 8 years. I’ve also been recording a lot of mixes, a bunch of remixes and trying to finish up my next couple releases in my spare time. I opened a holistic therapy studio during lockdown so I’m pretty busy with the new business and music industry restarting.

Classic CDJ2000 and Pioneer mixed setup in my house but I sent it over from the hills of Slovenia as I managed to finally fly home last minute after more than a year.

This mix contains a lot of Chicago energy and quite a few Paul Johnson tracks – like everyone in our community I’m heartbroken that he’s gone and wanted to show some gratitude for all the incredible music he left us with. I’ve also included some other Chicago classics, some ravey banger and a VIP mix of mine and DJ Deeon’s tune ‘Hit It’. It’s raw and pumpkin and sometimes that’s all you need!

Up next…

Got a bunch of gigs lined up that I’m soooo excited to play – including Riverside, Lindisfarne and Playground festival and the reboot of Nightrave on the 21st of August. I’ll need to finish that record soon as well now I can finally play it out!! :)

Posted in FMB MIXTAPE SERIES | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

FMB MIXTAPE 173 | EMERALD

Posted on July 22, 2021 by Feel My Bicep

FMB MIXTAPE 173 | EMERALD

FMB MIXTAPE 173 | EMERALD (iTUNES)

FMB MIXTAPE 173 | EMERALD (320 DOWNLOAD)

On this week’s episode of our mixtape series, we reached out to Emerald, the London-based DJ and Rinse FM radio host, who was also recently nominated by DJ Mag for Best Live Stream in 2020 for her ‘Afters with Emerald’ livestream series. As always, we first caught up to find out a bit about the mix & what she’s been up to lately…

Mostly trying to stay sane and keep myself occupied, getting ready for clubs to reopen, my Saturday Rinse FM weekly show has given me some really nice consistency throughout the pause, plus my live stream ‘Afters With Emerald’ has been a joy to create and curate. I’ve also been doing a lot of knitting.

I recorded this mix live on CDJs at home in London on my set up in my living room.

The underground dance scene is in an exciting state of new equilibrium, and when it comes to London we’re seeing this amalgamation of new and old that’s somewhat reminiscent of a time 30 years ago when the polarisation of society and government was not dissimilar to how it feels now.

The new sound emerging from London, championed by young producers who for the most part were just being born in the 90s, heavily draws from this era. We’re hearing so much breakbeat, acid, rave and hardcore elements which I think is a sound thats reviving and thriving through a need and desperation to rave, dance and rebel against a system of constraint and divide, and for obvious reasons, isolation.

I think the reason I’m feeling in my element with the underground landscape at the moment is because I’ve always been a genre hopper, something I used to think was a bad thing but that I’m embracing more as I grow older. The line between subcultures is so blurred for our generation that it’s natural to draw from different scenes, genres, cultures, blend it together and create something new, unique and personal. Accessibility and the way we consume music has dramatically changed.

I think this mix is a reflection of this new equilibrium. I’m giving you all my favourite elements: breaks, electro, acid, techno, rave, stuff that doesn’t have or need a genre and a sprinkling of ghetto tech.

I cheekily asked a handful of some of my current most favourite producers and labels for anything special they might have been sitting on and combined it with some old 90’s belters.

Music from Ben Hauke, AK Sports, Client_03, Landstrumm, Breaka, Denham Audio, Karima F, Cherriep, WTCHCRFT, Snarexx, Doc Scott, Urban Shakedown, Local Group, Epitome Of Hype, Cryogenetic, Go Nuclear, Overmono.

Up next…

Plotting to re launch my night ‘Afters’ back into live venues, and finally, finally playing out to live venues and real crowds again! Also more knitting.

Posted in FMB MIXTAPE SERIES | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

FMB MIXTAPE 172 | TOM JARMEY

Posted on July 8, 2021 by Feel My Bicep

FMB MIXTAPE 172 | TOM JARMEY

FMB MIXTAPE 172 | TOM JARMEY (iTUNES)

FMB MIXTAPE 172 | TOM JARMEY (320 DOWNLOAD)

For this week’s episode of the mixtape series, we’ve invited Tom Jarmey to take the reigns – Tom is a DJ, producer and co-founder of the Manchester-based party Wax Villainy. As always, we first caught up to hear about the mix & what he’s been up to lately…

I’ve recently polished off my geography degree in Manchester and I’m now spending the remainder of summer at home in the countryside – a much needed rest from the carnage that ensues the final post-exam month at uni. It’s also set to act as a bit of downtime to get stuck into the production grind once more. In terms of DJing, I’ve been playing at a handful of sit down events across the UK—while fun, I’m itching to get back into a proper club environment come the 19th of July! Let’s also hope festivals can go ahead (fingers crossed).

The mix was recorded at my family home in Wiltshire with the aid of 2 XDJ 700’s, a DJM 450 and a pretty view of the quaint English hamlet – keeping things simple. A few heads were turned from passing dog walkers during the final third of the mix, I suppose the residents don’t take too kindly to drumfunk. 

I spent a long time deciding whether to theme this mix around my more ambient tastes, or take things in the grittier club direction. In the end I settled on a bit of both—dedicating the first half to the more atmospheric end of the spectrum, with a bunch of unreleased ambient and drill tracks from both my aliases (Tom Jarmey and Ocean Stirs), and dedicating the second half to the sort of music I’d play in a club set. 

Up next…

On the production side of things, I’ve got a lot of exciting bits on the horizon. Firstly, my good mate Ed Hodge and I have our second record from Mother Of Pearls – our collaborative project – dropping on independent London label Gunfinger Food later in July. Following that, I’m releasing two more Ocean Stirs EPs on Holding Hands and X-Kalay—both adopting more of a jungle-orientated focus, with the latter being blessed by a remix from none other than Tim Reaper. I’ve also recently finished writing and mixing my second Tom Jarmey album which will be seeing the light of day next year.

More generally, I’ll be continuing to play out and relentlessly produce so keep your eyes peeled!

 

Tracklist:

Tom Jarmey – Trill

Hidden Element – A Nice and Quiet Moment

Jeigo – Closed For Subsidence

Kawatin – We Live In The Balcony

Steve Hauschildt – Subtractive Skies

Mansur Brown – Serene

Ocean Stirs – Sightless

Ocean Stirs – Russian Doll

Moodrich – Mystical Crypt

Ocean Stirs – Luminescent (Tim Reaper Remix)

Moodrich – Serve Serve

X Nation – Someting Borrow Someting Screw

Etch – Lurch

Text Chunk – High Time

Coco Bryce – Trust Issues

Priori & RAMZi – Grande Ourse

dgoHn – Monsson Mercenary

Walton – Space Water

Round – Lucky Star

Daniel Avery – Lone Swordsman

Posted in FMB MIXTAPE SERIES | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

FMB MIXTAPE 171 | ANNA GRAM

Posted on July 1, 2021 by Feel My Bicep

FMB MIXTAPE 171 | ANNA GRAM

FMB MIXTAPE 171 | ANNA GRAM (iTUNES)

FMB MIXTAPE 171 | ANNA GRAM (320 DOWNLOAD)

This week’s episode of our mixtape series comes from Anna Gram, a Glasgow-based producer, long-standing resident of the city’s hugely popular queer party ‘Shoot Your Shot’ & one half of the beloved DJ duo LEZZER QUEST. With her debut EP coming out soon on Hammer’s label ‘Remmah’, we first caught up to find out a bit about the mix & what else she’s been up to lately…

I started producing last summer when I lost my job and got Covid in the space of a couple of weeks, and suddenly had loads of spare time. In the absence of DJing in clubs I needed to do something musically creative to keep me sane. I also went back to college to study Wildlife and Conservation Management, and am just about to finish my first year. Not being able to road-test my music properly has been a real trip, but I’ve received amazing support from the team at BBC Introducing in Scotland and Jaguar from Radio 1 Introducing Dance. I initially sent my tracks to Hammer as he’s a DJ and producer I really admire and thought he might want them for sets, so I was over the moon when he messaged me to ask what I had planned for the tracks as he wanted to sign them to his new label. The past few months have been a bit of a whirlwind, and it feels like I’ve gone from living a quiet, granny lockdown life to being shot into orbit! I’ve been totally bitten by the production bug and now just need to magic more hours in the day to make all the music I’ve been dreaming up.

The mix was recorded at home using 2 Pioneer XDJ-1000MKIIs, a DJM-700 mixer, an edible, and a positive mental attitude!

I always love having a theme for my mixes as it makes the track selection process much easier. For this mix I was imagining a group of friends going into a forest just as the sun is setting. The mix starts with Octo Octa’s beautiful ‘Spell For Nature’ which represents the friend’s performing a mushroom ceremony and casting a protection spell. ‘I’ll Keep You Safe’ follows, and is the promise to look out for each other, leading into Luca Lozano’s ‘The Afterworld’ which is where things start to get trippy and fun….then they have a massive rave and dance till the sun comes up!

Up next…

My first ever EP is being released on Hammer’s label ‘Remmah’ on the 9th July, and I’ll be warming up Room 2 at Fabric for him on the 10th July. I have a new track being released as part of a VA for Manchester label ‘Mixing Mates’ in August, and I’ll be playing at Riverside Festival in September, which will be a HUGE party as it’s in Glasgow and the same day as my birthday!

 

Posted in FMB MIXTAPE SERIES | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

FMB MIXTAPE 170 | BORAI

Posted on June 24, 2021 by Feel My Bicep

FMB MIXTAPE 170 | BORAI

FMB MIXTAPE 170 | BORAI (iTUNES)

FMB MIXTAPE 170 | BORAI (320 DOWNLOAD)

Next up on the FMB Mixtape Series is a mix from Bristol-based producer, DJ and label boss, Borai. As usual, we fired some questions over to find out a bit about the selection & what he’s been up to recently…

I have been working in my day job cutting dub plates for www.dubstudio.co.uk as well as spending as much time in my own studio as is humanly possible. I am aching to get back to some sort of live events and hoping that the clubs can start to open sooner than currently planned (……like thats gonna happen) but when they do we (Club Glow) have a load of nights planned so fingers crossed I will be dancing with my friends before the year is out. 

I used 2 Technics 1210s and an Allen & Heath mixer running the Pioneer DVS system, recorded to a Tascam recorder in my living room in Bristol. I’ve managed to get this all set up so I don’t have to rent anywhere, previously I was using a hire by the hour studio to record my mixes, COVID put paid to that very quickly, so I had to work something out. I’m happy with it, I’ve managed to record lots of radio shows and mixes over the last year or so. I recently switched from Serato as I didn’t like using 2 different apps for my tunes (Rekordbox box for USB, Serato for DVS) and have found the switch ok, there are a couple of functions that are missing in Rekordbox (no 45rpm option) but its nice to have everything all in once place. 

I went with a kind of trancey acid breaks affair, keeping the vibe lower and more subdued than I might do if I were in a club, but still with a bit of pep to keep the listener engaged. I dug deep for this one, there are tracks from as far back as 1991 alongside yet to be released remixes and originals that no ones’s heard before. It starts with the intro from AK Sports’ upcoming Club Glow tape and goes on a journey though the multitude of shades that make up the 130bpm (ish) spectrum. 

Up next…

Club Glow are just about to drop our latest tape, it goes live on the 25th of June and if your quick there might still be some copies for pre-order. It features newcomers to Club Glow, AK Sports and Kesser who have both provided 45min of amazing original content mixed together for our aural pleasure. 

I have an EP of Make Me remixes that is due to go to press (if the vinyl pressing industry hasn’t imploded under the weight of all those Record Store represses) so that should be out later in the year. I have an EP due out on Vivid Records that should be ready soon, as well as several tracks that are slated to appear on VA releases due 21-22. 

DJ wise, I hope to be back in the saddle in the near future, as I said earlier Club Glow have several parties lined up and I should hopefully be getting to dig into my record box that I have been expanding exponentially over lockdown. 

Tracklist:

1. AK-Sports – Intro [Club Glow]

2. Mantra – Craven Park [Club Glow]

3. LSG – Fragile (Vapourspace’s Gravity Fools The Magician Mix) [Superstition] 

4. Jag Limbo – They Had Everything (Borai’s Make It Trance 4 Jerry Remix) [Collective Leisure] 

5. Laidback – Rock Your World [Bolshi Records]

6. Indo Tribe – Bite The Bullet Baby (Jaques Reynoix Mix) [Jumpin’ & Pumpin’]

7. Basscult – Paradise Place (Acid ’93 Mix) [Round & Round]

8. Automation – Tramp On 45 [Triple Helix Records]

9. THC – Surreal [Twisted Records]

10. Frankie Bones – My House Is Your House (Mijk Van Dijk Remix) [Bash Again!]

11. Borai & Denham Audio – Make Me (AK Sport’s Dream Of The Club Mix) [Higher Level]

12. Indo Tribe – Owl (I Can See You Mix) [Jumpin’ & Pumpin’]

13. Dig The New Breed – Who’s No 1 [Cleveland City Records]

14. Force Mass Motion – Fantasy [Rabbit City Records] 

15. Estella Boersma – Highway Hell [Dubplate]

Posted in FMB MIXTAPE SERIES | Tagged , | Leave a comment