Each week, FACT’s Mixtape Round-Up trawls through the untamed world of free mixes, radio specials and live blends so you don’t have to.
Change is afoot here at FACT HQ – the weekly mixes column will now be coming to you every Friday, with the mixtapes column being compiled into a biweekly list dropping every other Thursday.
This week’s round-up is heavy on house, whether analogue, club-ready, garage-tinged or Actually Deep. If none of those are your speed, Pharmakon trawls the industrial underground and Maxo reminisces about… Limp Bizkit.
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Mix of the week:
FLOYD CAMPBELL
VISIONS III
Body High’s Floyd Campbell returns with the third installment of his Visions series: sprawling, 100%-solo-production mixes that showcase his finely-detailed approach to house and techno. Visions III is described in press materials as the soundtrack for a “90 minute skate at a post apocalyptic Los Angeles roller rink,” and they’re not wrong. Campbell bounds between Carpenteresque synthscapes, elastic electro-funk, body-jacking nostalgia, EBM-tinged warehouse material and more across the hour-and-a-half mix, while never losing the heart-pounding beat. It’s certainly been a great year for dance full-lengths; Visions III is a gorgeous addition to the list.
THE CYCLIST
BONAFIDE BEATS #60
The new album from Derry’s “tape throb” maestro The Cyclist has been a staple of the FACT office stereo for the past month, so naturally we’re bang up for hearing Andrew Morrison’s wobbly, analogue-leaning taste in house applied to a mix. That means smushed-up selections from Moodymann, Fort Romeau and Robag Wruhme plus a Cyclist remix of Einstürzende Neubauten and his own ‘Daisy Spirals’. The mix also informs us that Morrison is currently studying pharmacology in Liverpool, which may explain the deep healing properties we’re getting off this one.
PHARMAKON
FADER MIX
Noise wunderkind and Bestial Burden carrier Margaret Chardiet has thrown her angry spanner in the works with a confounding mix for The Fader “consisting entirely of current, active Industrial/noise projects whose work I appreciate and admire — the sound of the present Industrial underground”. If you’re interested in those dark corners but not sure where to start, this is a brilliantly sickly primer to the likes of Damien Dubrovnik, Negation, Shane English and L.O.T.I.O.N..
MAXO
TRIBUTE 01: LIMP BIZKIT — MAXO’S BISQUICK MIX
Brooklyn-based PC Music affiliate Maxo steps up for Logo’s new Tribute series with a not-so-unlikely act in mind: nü-metal knuckleheads Limp Bizkit. In true PC Music fashion, Fred Durst and company’s aggro anthems are refracted through an ADHD-addled filter, resulting in maximalist synth-pop, jazzy Muzak, JRPG soundtrack fare, Timbalandesque hip-hop and more. The Significant Other-inspired illustration is by PC Music’s own Hannah Diamond and brings back teenaged memories of copying liner note art in a sketchbook.
THE JUAN MACLEAN
NE167 MIX
The Juan Maclean’s latest album In A Dream got slapped with a big red rosette from FACT, and saw the DFA duo slip into more vocal-led and melodic, Chicago-leaning styles. Well, this mix has nothing to do with that. Instead, John Maclean dips into the “front quarter of my record bag” where he keeps all his records “that are dark, brooding, and don’t really go anywhere.” As a compressed version of one of his recent sets, it’s Real Deep House, not that YouTube Deep House that Steve Aoki likes, and one for patient dancers and blissed-out beanbag-hoggers alike. Frank & Tony, Horizontal Ground and Birdsmakingmachine all feature.
TRC
WINTER MIX 2014
Crazylegs producer TRC delivers a slinky 40-minute mix of UK garage, bassline, 2-step and house that should keep you warm this winter. Along with a few originals, he mixes in Roska’s ‘Higher’ and a bunch of pitch-perfect remixes: Olivia Louise remixed by DJ Q, Sam Smith by Armand Van Helden, Teeda Moses by Kaytranada and so on. Simple but effective and perfect for dancing, working out or other high-tempo activities.
