Ways Of Listening

Under the circumstances this is a frivolous post; those circumstances being events much bigger and more important than electronic music. This country is now under the yoke of a Conservative government for at least the next five years, probably ten. Once again the real world proved that it wasn’t social media, particularly Twitter. This also extends to other aspects of discourse as well. Without naming any names, the amount of bile and righteousness thrown about on said platform is ridiculous, with reserve being in very short supply. I realise I’m sounding off like a bucktoothed English lord, but I can’t get over the attack is the only means of defence mentality of so many when interacting with each other on what is a public platform. 

The end of the year has just passed and so has the opportunity to draw up some lists.  Never been one for them myself, except for monthly charts when I’m coherent enough to remember to do one. Amongst other things, I’ve been procrastinating about buying some quality electro, mainly because it costs an arm and a leg and I’m loath to make the first move. However, there is a sense of inevitability about what I’m going to do, mainly because I’ve heard these tracks in action. Living where I do can mean feeling a little out of the loop regarding developments generally, particularly when talking about house, techno and electro, that holy trinity of sonic bliss. Soundcloud and Mixcloud are great panaceas in this case. I have almost certainly mentioned this before on these pages, but I listen to a lot of mixes  as they are the modern day equivalent of the record shop. You here a track which grabs you and you chase it down. This is often facilitated by comments relating to the mix; it’s really down to luck and coincidence though. While recently listening to one of Dietroiter’s recent offerings, a number of tunes made me stop in my tracks. Thankfully, some of them were id’d by fellow listeners, and they turned out to be recent releases. Diertroiter is someone, like Rubsilent who, while not posting tracklists, will engage with comments and answer requests for ids. This is a good and constructive stance. It would be better if the track lists were posted, but it’s often difficult to write them down while mixing if you’re playing on the fly.

Other mix series I like and seek out are the My Own Jupiter series, the Dekmantel podcast, which until recently was the best series bar none. It’s still very good, but not as consistent as it was. Avenue Red is brilliant, consistently wonderful . . . . The Craigie Knowes series is one that I have only delved into sporadically, but need to explore more. What is annoying however, is the lack of downloadable mixes. It used to be a lot more common, but now it’s a minority made available. I digress . . . Loads of Rinse FM podcasts: Jane Fitz, Hessle Audio and Jensen Interceptor are unmissable, as is most of Beats In Space and Intergalactic FM (possibly the best thing on the interwebs) . . . Steve O’Sullivan’s Mosaic Mix Series does something that I wholeheartedly approve of in unearthing DJs which may be slightly off radar for most and asks them to style their set with a minimalist techy foundation. 

Here are some current recommendations: