My Last Stint

Sitting here in the Duty Management position for 209 Radio for the last time. The place has a forgotten feel about it. The final day of broadcasting will be this Saturday. There is an offer from another community radio station to take over the license but I'm not enitrely sure if this will be a popular move. I've made my decision anyway. My last show was three days ago and I won't be coming back. I've had a wonderful relationship with the station, an associate more or less since its inception, seven years ago, a producer/programme maker for five and a half. New sonic adventures await. Excited about producing a podcast as well as writing more. A wordpress blog will be starting up specifically for this very soon indeed. It will be mostly composed of subjective, opinionated ramblings. Now there's a surprise.

Machines Are Funky RIP

So that's it then. I must confess to feeling quite emotional regarding the death of 209 Radio, and particularly my show, which breathed its last at 9pm yesterday. For the first time since we started broadcasting at our studio I decided to play an almost exclusive set of vinyl, all of which had come out before my first show back in September 2004. The one concession to cds was the Omar S track, which paved the way for 'Hi-Tech Jazz' as my last ever track for 209 Radio and my show.

Here's the tracklist:

Time And Space - Francois K (Wave)
Forever Monna - Chez Damier & Stacey Pullen (Balance)
Make It Hot - DJ Buck (Siesta)
Faithfull (Prassay mix) - Fantomas (Source)
Theme From Blue Cucaracha (D's Rednail Reconstruction) - The Innocent (After Midnight)
Back To Back - Discocaine (Zoom)
Latin Seoul - DJ Sneak (Large)
Pick Your Poison - Chris Nazuka (Tweekin')
Can't Take It (Herbert's Some Dumb Dub)
The Dream (Sharam's Deep Dish Dreamscape) - Deep Dish Presents Prana (Tribal)
Generate Power (Wild Pitch mix) - Photon Inc (Strictly Rhythm)
The Preacher Man - Green Velvet (Relief)
Tick Tock (Apocalypse Now mix) - Chiapet (Yoshi Toshi)
Bon Voyage - Air Frog (Svek)
Casa - The Purpose Maker (Axis)
Kylie Said To Jason - The KLF (KLF Communications)
Cosmos - Omar S (FXHE)
Hi - Tech Jazz (The Science) - Galaxy To Galaxy (Underground Resistance)

As mentioned in an earlier post, I intend to, at the very least, podcast. These will vary from house/techno, etc to more eclectic offerings in the vein of my recent Modyfier 'Process' mix. They will all go on my new blog reserved for mixes, a link to which is at the top of the links section.

Out With A Bang

Tomorrow's show will be the last. So, expect some classics from the last twenty years. Lots of wonderful Chicago and Detroit grooves amongst others. I can't make my mind up what to play so tune in and find out.

Keep it locked


Machines Are Funky: 7-9pm GMT

105FM in Cambridge

209radio.co.uk globally

Process Part 191. Me.

I'm the latest mixmeister to be featured on Modyfier's "Process" mix series. It's been great to be asked to contribute to it. Here's some back story.

Like anyone who has got the nod to man the decks for this wonderful series, I spent more than a little bit of time thinking about what direction my contribution should take. I eventually thought I’d contribute a l mixtape. It’s been years since I’ve made a compilation of this nature, probably the first since I bought my Technics and CDJs. Having said that, the methodology behind this approach isn’t too dissimilar from the way I program my radio shows, something that I’ve been doing for more than five years now in Cambridge, UK.

The records I chose for this mix could have been very different, and I’ve wrestled with choices ever since I knew I was going to do the mix; but, as is so often the case, everything seemed to be hastily assembled in a matter of moments despite my carefully-laid plans. I’ve owned some of these records for a long time now and it’s no exaggeration to say that some of them are in my head for a time every day, but it’s been a while since I’ve played most of them. Consequently, getting them out of their boxes and laying eyes on them properly was like a reunion with old friends.

So these tracks have definitely been influential on me, but so have many others and they only represent a particular dimension through which I have consumed music. As far as the mix itself is concerned, as said before in spite of having it on my mind ever since I got asked to do it and wanting to plan it with military precision, it pretty much took care of itself once I found myself surrounded by the music. Like a lot of DJs, probably most, I rarely plan what I am going to play when out in a club or a bar, things come together and you react to the crowd. Mixing at home is completely different. I always have a direction in mind and like peaks and troughs, darkness and light. I like my mixes to be a mass of as many contrasts as possible within the house/techno template. It would be wrong to say there’s absolutely no spontaneity, but when recording a lot of thought goes into the shape and construction of the finished product. I’m definitely not a “big tune” person in that I don’t pepper sets with standout tracks, preferring instead highlights to be patiently built up over a reasonable period of time. Time is also very important. The longer the better, but if operating within strict confines, which is the norm, then I like symmetry and shape. Thankfully, after having done this for a while now it seems to happen quite naturally.

In any case, I threw all of these conventions out when putting this selection together and feel liberated by the experience. It came through a software crash, which would have annoyed me a lot if I’d been mixing more conventionally. Many thanks to Rayna for giving me this opportunity and the idea to reacquaint myself with my past. Oh, and just for the record, every bit of this mix was off vinyl. That’s just how it happened.

01. Introduction – Lightnin’ Hopkins (Charly)
02. Calling Miss Khadiju – Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers (Blue Note)
03. Ja Funni – King Sunny Ade & His African Beats (Island)
04. Degi Degi – Don Cherry (Horizon)
05. A Love Supreme/Acknowledgement – John Coltrane (MCA)
06. Black Satin – Miles Davis (CBS)
07. Last Tango In Paris (Ballad) – Gato Barbieri & His Orchestra (United Artists)
08. Two Sevens Clash – Culture (Joe Gibbs)
09. CB200 – Dillinger (Island)
10. Back To The Old School – Just-Ice (Fresh)
11. Put Your Filas On – Schooly D (Flame)
12. Strong Island – JVC Force (B-Boy)
13. Poetry – Boogie Down Productions (B-Boy)
14. Follow The Leader – Eric B & Rakim (MCA)
15 Mountains – Prince (Warner Bros)
16. Knife Slits Water – A Certain Ratio (Factory)
17. Somewhere Between Distance & The Impossible – Experience Chris Nazuka (Classic)
18. Movement – Ron Trent (Prescription)
19. Jailbreak – Paradox (Ronin)
20. Hard Life – Hard Life (Underground Resistance)
21. Sex In Zero Gravity – Red Planet (Red Planet)
22. Humana – Millsart (Axis)
23. Always Crashing In The Same Car – David Bowie (RCA)
24. You Did It, You Did It – Roland Kirk (Fontana)

Machines Are Funky: Final Episode

Unfortunately, what threatened to happen at the beginning of December has now come to pass. 209 Radio will cease to beat the end of this month.

This means that my show, which some of you have so graciously kept afloat with new music will be brought to a halt after five and a half years.

I'd like to thank everybody for their support and also state that I intend to carry on writing on this blog - which will expand soon - and producing a podcast. I would be very grateful if I could continue to rely on the support you have shown me so far.

There will be a final playlist to come this weekend, and at some point this week my contribution to Modyfier's "Process" mix series will go online.

The beat will most definitely go on.

UMakeNoSense - Freaks (Crosstown Rebels)

Read my RA review of Freaks' 'UMakeNoSense' here.

Last Night's Playlist

Last nights playlist:

Mastujakor - Terre Thaemlitz (Mule Musiq)
Rollers - Lerosa (Uzuri)
Ty - Alessandro Crimi (Broque)
Webaba (Black Coffee & Culoe de Song remix) - Culoe de Song (Soulistic Music)
Move On - Jacuzzi Boys (Cecile Numbers)
Cravin' - Zoe Xenia (Bass Culture)
Get It Right - Tensnake (Permanent Vacation)
Yeah - Deniz Curtel (Crosstown Rebels)
I Can Never Get Enough - Gadi Mizrahi (Spectral Sound)
Battle For Mouths - Cesare vs Disorder (Mean)
Tiempo De Calma - Aldo Cadiz (Einmaleins)
Be Like Olive (Levon Vincent remix) - NC (MoodMusic)
Viscoplastic - Ben Klock (Deeply Rooted House)
Mooger - Dino Sabatini & Donato Dozzy & Modern Heads (Prologue)
Echoes - Terrence Fixmer (Electric Deluxe)
B - Pattern Repeat 01 (Pattern Repeat)
Drain - A Made - Uo Sound (A Made - Up Sound)
Burock (Wareika remix) - Aufgang (Infine)

Tomorrow's Show

New material this week from, amongst others, Deniz Kurtel, Gadi Mizrahi and Pattern Repeat. It'll be a show of peaks and troughs. There'll also be the latest on Prologue, a typical journey through primitive soundscapes courtesy of Donato Dozzy and Modern Heads & Dino Sabatini. Thanks for the response to the Martyn competition from the previous show.

Keep it locked

Machines Are Funky: 7-9pm GMT

105FM in Cambridge

209radio.co.uk globally

Blu Samba - Queen Atom (Serialism)

Read my RA review of Queen Atom's 'Blu Samba' here.

Promo Mixes

I came across this site through Mnml Ssgs a few weeks back, downloaded the first mix, listened to it for the first time yesterday and felt compelled to post a little bit of publicity.

Here's their own blurb:


The premise is simple. A different DJ each month makes a promo mix from a club of the past. They might have played there, they might have danced there, they might have never gone there at all.
Hopefully it will be an exercise in nostalgia, imagination or great music. If we're lucky, it'll be all three.

Finn Johannsen mixed up the first installment, and it's unmissable. The second is released into our midst tomorrow.

Some Recent Bits

It's been a while since I've posted some links to mixes, but there've been a few corkers online so far this year. Here are links to some of them.


No Regular Play, John Johr & Lee Curtiss: 19/12/10 Detroit

I haven't listened to it yet, but it seems to be getting some good feedback. I haven't heard a new set from Lee Curtiss in a while, John Johr is supposed to be one of Detroit's finest and No Regular Play record on current trend setters Wolf & Lamb. What's, apparently, not to like?

No Regular Play

John Johr & Lee Curtiss Pt 1

John Johr & Lee Curtiss Pt 2





Ben Klock, Steffi & Sissi: Ostgut Ton Label Night, Harry Klein Club, Munich. 22/1/10

Got this on the IPod at the moment and, apart from some limp mixing early on, it's pretty darn good. Wouldn't mind knowing exactly who's playing when though. Oh, be warned, it's around eight hours long.



Ben Klock at Animal Farm, The Subclub, Glasgow. 28/12/09

Another one from the Klockster who just keeps 'em comin'. Check out some of the positive feedback and listen to some teutonic steam hammer melodies.



Seth Troxler at Casco Viejo, Panama. 16/1/10

Five hours of sublime electronics from Mr Troxler. All good and rarely a dull moment.

Part 1

Part 2