A Note From The Studio / Hiding Places update / Rinse FM show
I've spent all of this year so far either in the studio, ill or both. Here’s a few things that have made the bluest time of year pass a little easier…
Hiding Places
Firstly an overdue update to my catch-call playlist ‘Hiding Places’. It’s basically an extended note of whatever I’ve been listening to at home, in my studio or playing out in clubs and on the radio. Put it on shuffle whilst you run, work or lie on the sofa.
A note from the studio (to hell with patchbays)…
When I started writing a new record, I took apart my old studio of more than five years and moved to a new place. It was a chance to start afresh. I’d spent years trying to mimic the setups you find in professional studio installations - clinical, treated rooms with perfectly organised cables and well kept gear. Over time I realised that this was just getting in the way of the fun of producing. The studio had become a Noah’s Ark of pedals, modules and racks - often broken - and it felt like I spent half my time working as a repair tech rather than a musician.
My first few releases (like the one below) were made on a very slow laptop in my bedroom in Bethnal Green with a set of Sennheiser headphones. I owned one hardware synth (a Vermona Mono Lancet), and used this on absolutely everything because it was my only option. The ideas weren’t worse for that limitation, if anything they came more easily.
Studio patch bays in particular were the hill my creative energy always seemed to die on. You sit in the studio waiting for ideas like surfers do for waves. Having to reach for cables every time you want to record is a drag, so what I’ve done recently is to pair everything back to the instruments I can’t live without. The rest of it is in storage or lives in the gear purgatory that is my studio cupboard. I run it all through two Franklin Audio SS-6 DI switchers and keep two corresponding stereo input channels live in Ableton. I *think* I’m writing better music…
Rinse FM
My monthly residency on London radio institution Rinse FM continues every first Saturday of the month. The station has always been about cutting edge club music, so the main focus in these shows is always new releases with some old favourites sprinkled in for context. The latest show is up on Soundcloud.
Tracklist:
Oscar Farrell - Running Free
Unknown/Untitled - a2
Villager - Need Right
Malin Génie - 909TX
WOST - Palo
Otik - X-Dream
Leod - ??
MMM - Dex
Huna - U Too
Unknown/Untitled - a1
Scuba - Ruptured (Surgeon Remix)
Young Marco - How Does It Make You Feel
Tom VR - Function
Instra:mental - Tramma
John FM - Solace
6Music + the state of UK nightlife
Lastly, BBC 6Music recently asked me to join Gilles Peterson, Jamz Supernova and Huw Stephens on a show to talk about the state of nightclubs in the UK. Long story short, the numbers are bad, but club culture in this country is dynamic and resilient, so there’s a lot to be positive about still.
Listen back here from around 1.40:00 onwards.
