Defrosting Tools - Mixes To Plunge Into The Winter
From soothing ambient to unwind to energy-boosting techno, we picked some home listenings to enter the winter with the right mood
There’s no doubt we could have hoped for a better Winter ahead - the feeling is that we’re all out of resources to face further corona waves at this point. Zoom classes and meetings raise nausea, self-care acts of running and yoga sessions more overrated than ever, and we all had more than enough time to reflect on our lives and (bad) choices.
However, in all of this, I also get the feeling that the creativity boost in electronic music scenes given by these troubled past two years is not fading away. If anything, it feels like artists are building upon it, cultivating their inventiveness into more directions than before and being open to new types of output, sound scouting and collaborations. More and more artists surprise us with the unexpected, and this is certainly true for mixing and podcasts also. It might just be the time I’ve been putting into building Guerrilla Bizarre as a project and the collaborations and friendships that started from this, but I regularly find exciting mixes and unlooked-for recordings, to the point where it’s really hard to select just a bunch for these round-ups.
What’s selected here is not only the best I heard lately, but it’s also catered to this period of the year and the moment we are living. So, whether you are pushing to enter lethargy mode or trying to avoid it, we hope you’ll find your own delight in here - we got something for everyone’s mood.
"See You Soon" - Ambient Mix XXXX - Lux
German’s selector Lux joins Robert Johnson’s “See You Soon” series, the club’s recordings concept for ambient. This mix comes across as soothing, inspiring and ultimately very hypnotic thanks also to some rhythmic patterns delicately placed throughout the ambient selection. And there’s something hopeful about the iconic RJ balcony club view in the artwork aligned with the music - as much as this mix could be described as calming, I feel it’s its positive charge which strikes the attention through the listening. Overall this results in 70 minutes of pure ambient bliss that feel perfect to recharge after some of your tougher days.
Architextures 018: Dada - Francesca
London-based producer and selector Francesca Mackay delivers an unconditional stylistic lesson here - this Architextures mix for OpenLab Radio strikes some very elegant flair nuances. We are talking Dadaism, and in a more strict musical sense late 70s and 80s Post-Punk, New Wave and Synth Pop. Music from a time where bands put playfulness above all in their art, having fun with song-writing and a still-young concept of pop music. As you’ll listen to the mix you might recognise famous bands like Talking Heads and Cabaret Voltaire, however, most songs feel like unique findings that you wouldn’t have come across through Youtube recommendations. Personally, this mix gave me a huge mood boost - perhaps the dada nonsense approach to art and the absurdity of life can be a solution to survive the winter?
Flamingo #36 by Joe Delon (01/12/21)
Living in a dream boat
While the world goes crazy outside
Living in a dream boat
While the world floats madly by
- Sal Paradise summing up the state of things back in 1983 and right now.
I can’t help it, I got a soft spot for great 80s music. The latest and last of the year Flamingo radio show for Radio Quantica also hits in this direction. Joe Delon has been one of my absolute favourite DJs for a while now, not only when he plays more disco-oriented but also with his choices of the current house and techno sounds. This mix nicely puts together the two, with the second half progressing from 80s gems into hard-hitting, straight-beat dancefloor movers. Overall this radio show strikes me as something that you would like to hear when turning after taking the first sip of wine of the evening. Plus whenever I hear some Telex I just can’t help myself - props to Joe!
Picnic podcast 014 - Lola Haro
Lola Haro’s Picnic podcast hits all the right chords for a perfect winter recording. Dubby, elegant, suspended - the Antwerp DJ’s exquisite mix moves with a tranquil pace, softly bringing you to a celestial realm of melodic and atmospheric sounds. This is an example of how to deliver a great dancefloor-oriented podcast without the need for hard-hitting tracks or unstructured craziness to surprise at each turn. Something you’ll want to dance to this Winter while looking out the window on a snowy view of your city.
Sundowner. Mix #12 "Seafoam Melancholia" - Sibil
We’ve been following the work of Sundowner with excitement lately - the format recently launched a Thursday night party series at Hoppetosse Berlin with nicely-curated underground line-ups and has been killing it with its mix series which we included in our picks more than once. This 12th mix of the series comes from Berlin-based French selector Sibil, hitting with a curated progression of tastefully deep, at times soulful, house. This mix nails a certain house vibe that I love, laying somewhere in-between what you can dance to with passion in a club and what you want to listen to on a Monday morning to get things done in a good mood. We’re already huge fans of Sibil and can’t wait to catch her doing what she does on some dance floor soon.
EOS Radio Jasmín 04-11-2021
Amsterdam producer and selector Jasmín started her bi-monthly radio show ‘Petting Dogs’ on EOS radio with this recording. Expect broken rhythms, heavy suspended bass, avant-garde sound patterns. Most of all, this hour strikes me its high intensity - as much as you’ll get an idea of Jasmín’s picks as a selector, you’re left wondering what’s coming next from the very early part of the mix, some surprising highlights being the trance/dub reggae contraposition around the 33rd-minute mark, or the intermittent percussive magic around the 41st min (we couldn’t help to check out the EOS website for some IDs). Not the usual electronic music we feature on Guerrilla Bizarre but an interesting listen that we highly recommend.
Truancy Volume 286: Bakked
If you happen to be somewhere where the party just stopped and you are looking for some mix to transport your mind directly to the dancefloor, this one is for you. Bakked’s mix for Truants is one of those that best represent dancefloor sounds we look for - the feeling you get is a mix of older and newer underground house & techno records, elegant and deep but powerful when needed. As “Drum And Bass - I Love U” goes in around the 25th-minute mark, I was completely sold. Plus don’t miss reading the nice interview on the Truants blog that came out with the mix.
Dekmantel Podcast 357 - Gwenan
Since I heard Gwenan at a party last summer I’ve been an admirer of her selection and techniques. Her latest mix for Dekmantel features some irresistibly tantalising techno records, mixed with the skilful transitions that we know Gwenan for. The mix flows like water, at times through more house vibes while others on electro and broken rhythms - the recording is just incredibly enjoyable to listen to and we feel that it’s something that could work both on a Dekmantel main stage as well as your favourite underground club in the late hours. One thing is for sure, the quality level here is very high.
Diffuse Reality Podcast 081: Katie Drover
Let’s finish off the selection with a pure energy infusion - Katie Drover’s recent mix output for the Barcelona ‘Diffuse Reality’ label delivers a serious techno journey. Dark & Heavy as this type of techno should be, the Australian surprises with an unbarred, combative selection that hits hard from the first few tracks, as some tight electro stompers give the coup de grace. Probably an influence of my Berlin industrial landscape surrounding and 4 PM darkness in November, but I’ve been looking for some nice techno mix for the last few weeks now. This one completely did it for me. Recommended use with caution for your next run in the cold.
