FMB MIXTAPE 31 | DESERT SOUND COLONY

Posted on November 26, 2015 by Feel My Bicep

dsc

Been really enjoying the Desert Sound Colony project for a while now, mesmerising dreamy stuff! Can’t wait to hear his debut album next year and the forthcoming EP! Until there, he’s turned in a cracker mix for us! We caught up to see what else is in the pipeline:

“Last month I was lucky enough to go on a US tour with Bob Moses. We did 14 cities in 3 weeks on a bus and as you can imagine much hilarity ensued. Aside from the obvious messing about and stuffing our faces with American food we truly had some amazing experiences and the gigs were incredible!
 
The mix was recorded  at the studio on Traktor while drinking a nice hot mug of coffee and shacking out in my chair.
 
The previous mixes that I have recorded as DSC have all been for home listening and about as deep as the Mariana Trench. This time I wanted to showcase another side of my music collection and this mix is far more in tune with what I play towards the end of a set in the club, dark and grooving. Most definitely one for big speakers or decent headphones with low-end frequency response.”

Up next…

“We are working hard on music for a new EP and for our first album. These will be the first tracks that we record as a three piece in the studio so I am majorly looking forward to that. We are also off on a small European tour with Bob Moses next week starting in Amsterdam.”

FMB MIXTAPE 31 | DESERT SOUND COLONY

FMB MIXTAPE 31 | DESERT SOUND COLONY (320 DOWNLOAD)

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FMB MIXTAPE 30 | MELLA DEE

Posted on November 19, 2015 by Feel My Bicep

mella

Really been into lots of Mella Dee’s dreamy take on jungle, so we’re super excited to have him in the mix for us! His track Heaven was a big one in our sets this year and his forthcoming bomb “Deep Soul” is set to light things up further! We caught up with Donny lad to see what he’s been up to: 

“The same as always, I’m constantly writing new music and seeing what comes out. I recently started working on some new stuff with a friend in his studio, which has been a nice change. It’s been inspiring and a bit of a break from the battle it can be sometimes when working on music alone.  

This is mixed live, with the help of a friends studio in West London. Space is at a premium in my flat.

It’s a snapshot of where my head is at musically, and the sort of stuff that I find interesting at the moment across techno, house and breakbeat sounds. I’m trying to focus on new music, and the way things are heading. It’s quite dark and heavy in general, that tends to be the way I play. “

Up next…

“More music, more releases, just experimenting and trying to see where I can go with sounds. I’m also working on stuff for my ‘Noface’ project, which is more tougher, techno sound and just generally looking forward to what’s in the future and the shows that I’ve got coming up. “

FMB MIXTAPE 30 | MELLA DEE

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FMB MIXTAPE 29 | JAS SHAW

Posted on November 5, 2015 by Feel My Bicep

jas

Awesome mix from Jas Shaw, one half of the mighty Simian Mobile Disco! Many of you will remember the track we did together, Sacrifice, which was our first taste of working in a proper studio! These guys have been a big inspiration so it’s a pleasure and honour to have Jas turn in an amazing mix! 

“I’ve been alternating between making techno and building a studio. Building a studio really but that’s quite a chore if you just do that so I’ve been rewarding myself for plugging in and testing some outboard or synths by spending the rest of the day messing with them, the residue is techno. This whole process has been punctuated by weekends djing. It’s been great, I’ve made stacks of music and learnt a lot about building studios. It’s got to be said, I could do with a break from racking up gear and testing leads, I have a pretty high tolerance for that stuff but I reckon that I might have had enough of that for a bit.

I’m doing this in my studio, now I’ve got fancy pants monitors, a spinny chair and a treated room I’m completely spoilt and never want to leave.

At the risk of sounding like a just threw this together in a haphazard way, which I would never do, especially for you guys, there isn’t really a theory or concept attached to this mix. It would be disingenuous for me to claim that this is a musical voyage deep in the ocean of our collective consciousness. Now that you have mentioned it though I suppose that it’s kind of an indicator of some of the music that I’ve been gravitating to recently and the kind of thing that I’ve always bought but increasingly have the opportunity to play. While James has been away most of this year I’ve played quite a few smaller clubs where they let you play longer and the crowd are open minded. Without really thinking about it it’s pushed me to play in a slightly more confrontational way, actually that sounds mean which isn’t my intention. I guess I’ve just had more opportunities to make a crowd dance for a bit and then later get a bit more atonal. You know, really take them on a voyage deep into the ocean of… I’ll get my coat.”

Up Next…

“James is back in the UK, he’s spent most of is year producing records for bands so rather than take a well earned rest we have done what we always end up doing, we have set the live rig up in my studio and are mucking about.”

 

FMB MIXTAPE 29 | JAS SHAW 

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FMB MIXTAPE 28 | GRATTS

Posted on October 29, 2015 by Feel My Bicep

gratts

Next up we got one of our  favourite Belgians in the mix Gratts. Like us he also curates a playlist for 22tracks for the Belgium edition. Now Berlin based together with Dj Kong he’s the founder of ‘ensemble’. He also runs various club nights there, including this party on Friday. We caught up with him to ask what he has on the horizon and what he has been up to.

“I’m moving house, which made me realize that I should probably let go off some records. Also my girlfriend Eluize and I started this new show in which we share some of our favourite records new and old. It’s called ‘Together’ which refers to ‘ensemble’, the name the Brussels based nights / label that Kong and I have been running for a good few years. Other than that I’ve been collecting some more studio bits and try to spend more time recording. October also saw the last edition of my club night ‘Beyond The Clouds’ in Berlin with some of my favourite London selectors, Toby Tobias and Jane Fitz. There haven’t been a lot of long walks on the beach, unfortunately.

The mix was recorded live at Spreewaldplatz on the very hottest day of Berlin summer.

Every day I’m pulling out records which always results in big piles everywhere in the room. One of those contained some dusty vinyls that I hadn’t played in a while and I felt like they could make sense together. So I spontaneously started recording and pressed stop a good hour later. Afterwards I threw in a spoken word favourite that I’ve been using in my dj-sets lately for good measure.”

Up next..

“Kong and I are releasing ensemble003 soon: remixes of two tracks taken from Belgian cult LP ‘Onze Danses Pour Combattre La Migraine’ (1977) recorded by Marc Moulin, Vincent Kenis and Marc Hollander. Actually the whole album was well ahead of its time, with elements of jazz, minimalism, ethnic music, classical and proto-techno. Parisian dj/producer Krikor spontaneously reworked two of the tracks to fit them into his dj-sets and we’re extremely happy to release them with the kind permission of Crammed (Marc Hollander’s own label). 
The last two months of 2015 will be spent at various spots in cold Europe until I jet off to Australasia in January to escape the Berlin winter. There are some cool shows lined up in Hong Kong, Ho Chi Minh City and Melbourne among other places. I especially can’t wait to take a long walk on the beach.”

FMB MIXTAPE 28 | GRATTS

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FMB MIXTAPE 27 | HEIDI LAWDEN

Posted on October 22, 2015 by Feel My Bicep

heidi

Really excited to have the mighty Heidi Lawden turn in a killer mix for us. We had her kill our LA FMB party alongside ESP’s Lovefingers and Omar S! Some of you might also recognise Heidi’s name as not only a dj but also Dj Harvey’s manager and A&R as well as being involved in the brilliant ESP Institute label which is soon dropping a new ep from another friend and podcast contributor Ian Blevins. We caught up with her to see what she’s been up to recently:

“I’m wrapping up the end of my year which sounds silly considering it’s only October – there’s so much future planning involved in my day job that I’m already looking towards about this time 2016. It’s been a busy year I’ve crammed a lot in since I played at The Bicep party for you guys in LA early this year – I just returned from A Day In The Desert the micro festival in Joshua Tree everyone needs to get out to CA for. I played again on Mayan Warrior at Burning Man which is the ultimate DJ toy, It’s my hope they tour that thing so everyone can experience it.  I’ve been opening for some my heroes at Sound in L.A, and playing at and going to great underground warehouse parties – next up is Halloween for A Club Called Rhonda which I think we also both DJ’d at a few years ago too. I’m constantly inspired, if I have a weekend off I’m out seeing whoever is in town with the same enthusiasm I had at 19.

I don’t practice which is completely stupid I know but I have a weekly radio show on dublab (every Weds) which is my testing ground for all the new music I pick up or am sent,  I have music playing all day as I work and I would just pull things as the deadline drew closer. This mix I recorded in the studio/office we’re putting together in Laurel Canyon in one take, I figured there are years of Canyon musical vibes here I could tap into.

I decided not to get too noodly on it but rather just play some tracks I love, selecting from stuff I’ve been hammering this year or that’s been making me feel especially warm and fuzzy – I recorded three and had to tell myself to stop – it’s hard to fit everything you like into an hour to I tried to make it like a slice of me if that makes sense, without going too banging. I had a couple of hairs standing up on the back of my neck moments while I was doing it – hope I’m not the only one.”

Up next..

“I’m increasingly being invited to play Europe and beyond – I think 2016 might be the year for that, Berghain got in touch earlier this year and honestly although I’d probably be in tears of joy and fear the entire time I played, I think it’s time to get on a plane, I haven’t DJ’d in London for years either. I have this thing of wanting to actually go party for a night at the clubs I’m asked to play before I play them – which doesn’t help really either. I’ve also been producing/writing and remixing friends tracks for the experience of it and some of those will be coming out in the near future too – a few people know I sang on Locussolus under a pseudonym but I’m not a singer, I much prefer to write and play music for other peoples voices and do lot’s of pointing and bad synth noise impressions to my studio partner – I guess I’m never gonna stop being the gal that asks what a track is or nerding out on how certain effects are achieved, and dancing, I plan to do lot’s more of that.”

FMB MIXTAPE 27 | HEIDI LAWDEN

FMB MIXTAPE 27 | HEIDI LAWDEN (iTUNES)

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