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THE MORODERS

01. Kalabrese - Not The Same Shoes feat. Kate Wax (Stattmusik)
02. Shit Robot – Chasm (DFA)
03. Deadbeat - Mecca (Drum Jack) (Wagon Repair)
04. Syclops – Monkeypuss (DFA)
05. Schleck+Stecker – Untitled (live at Cosmic Listener)
06. Walter Jones - All God's Children (Juan Nunez & Little Chris Remix) (Westbound Music)
07. Loose Joints – Tell you (today) (West End)
08. Melba Moore – Need love (Epic)

The essence of djing is playing live in front of a crowd. Act and react. However, a lot of inspiration is drawn from the endless hours of literally playing with your records at home...without an audience, without too many drinks, without people yelling in your ear but with all your records, with your own equipment and only with yourself between the records and your hands playing it. It’s the setting in which this mix was created and recorded. Influenced again by the daily struggle, your visit to the record shop, last Saturday night...the list could be endless.

What I did was just coming home, playing my records to relax from a day full of brain work. Now I’m thinking about the result, trying to figure out what I could tell you. Some notes:

On my way home I was thinking about the first track and these lyric fell into my mind: “I don’t know what you feel ‘cause you’re not here.” Along with the rest of it and the fact that it’s by one of my favourite producers at the moment, Kalabrese, it sets the tone nicely. Next up is Shit Robot and his rave record which is always too slow to play at peak time and too massive not to be played at peak time which is actually, well, fascinating. The day I recorded this I went to one of my local record dealers, Backstock in Dresden, Germany where the owner recommended some records, like usual. He told me about Sascha Funke playing around with the “Jack” part of ‘Mecca’, looping it and letting it run over the actual track. I bought it and had to find out if there’s anything else you could do with it. The ever jacking Syclops helped me.

In January 2008 we played a show with Schleck+Stecker and the day after they played at our radio show. They make their Techno live and I tried not to lose the beat. The fantastic thing about vinyl records is the fact that they have two sides. I bought ‘Walter Jones – All God’s Children’ for the Maurice Fulton remix but when I checked out the other side...I realized I love this record so much because it’s working so well when we play it out at the club. An then there’s Disco: the best dance music that has ever been created.

The result hopefully conveys my idea of “playing” as an act to get closer to the core of the music which I then often draw inspiration from.

09. Konk – Elephant (Soul Jazz)
10. Idjut Boys – Smokin’ Balls (Bass Bonus) (Headinghome)
11. Dottores Kranky Disco Band – You Are Woebob (Space Disco Craftworx Inc.)
12. The House Master Boyz And The Rude Boy of House – House Nation (Acca House) (Trax)
13. Osunlade – Queen’s Battle (Strictly Rhythm)
14. 3rd Face – Canto Della Liberta (Classic)
15. Paul Woolford Presents Bobby Peru – Erotic Discourse (20:20 Vision)
16. Jesse Rose – Evening Standard (Dubsided)
17. The Jimmy Castor Bunch – Troglodyte (Jimi Bazzouka Edit)
18. Kelpe – Suitcasing (D.C.)
19. Burial – Archangel (Hyperdub)

From my point of view, you can divide mixes into three different categories. There are those DJs whose mixes focus on a certain flow and that try to minimize the sound variations between the tracks. At best, listening to such a mix is like to immerse yourself into it, to dive through the similar soundscapes and 80 minutes later you re-emerge in a different mood than before. It’s self-explanatory that those mixes cannot feature too many different genres.

That’s left to those mixes which are working like a mixtape. The great thing about them is that the songs are still in full bloom. To keep this effect, DJs who prefer these kind of mixes shouldn’t overstate the beatmatching. There are a lot of ways to connect tracks...

Personally speaking, the mixes which make it to the major league are those belonging to the third category and combine the advantages of the first two. Creating a certain vibe, or better, telling a story, without using only similar sounding tracks. I love surprises on the dancefloor just as I love them under my headphones. But dancing for hours is only possible if the DJ doesn’t lose this golden threat no matter how much it looks like a sinus curve. Concerning doing a mix this way, there are only a few DJs out there who are up to this challenge. Optimo, The Glimmers or Allez-Allez, who did the process part 056, come to my mind in place of some other talented DJs.

Not placing myself on the same level with those mentioned above, nevertheless, I try to pursue a similar approach. To be honest I didn’t have something like a storyboard in mind for the mix. When finally it came together it was seeming pretty vibrant the development felt natural. To me one way to create an ongoing vibe is browsing my record collection for tracks which can be different but have at least one similar part or sound. Starting my part of the mix with Konk, that’s the case for the first blending to the Idjut Boys. Listen to the percussion parts which seem to sound completely equal! After, there’s an edit of Plastics’ ‘Robots’. It’s crazy but I love its circus vibe. After some fun with the ‘House Nation’-Accapella the House part starts. Osunlade, 3rd Face, Paul Woolford and Jesse Rose are sort of a peak in my part of the mix. The lyrics of the The Jimi Bazzouka-Edit are a bit too much, of course. But to me there’s an ironic break if you’re listening to what he’s doing with the vocals. Ace! The Kelpe track is a long time favourite of mine and perfect to prepare a gloomy finish. And what more gloomy tune can you imagine than one by Burial?

Conrad & Philipp (The Moroders)

the moroders - process part 066 by modyfier