Week 01 - Bikini Waxx Berlin
Happy New Year !
I know, I know, we though all the shit we've been through would be over already, but it seems like we have to hold on some more to our love and passion for Music, to keep it alive and up and running and to make sure we find it back better then how we left it, at the beginning of Autumn as for myself.
While recording the Radio show of which you heard part 1 last week, and are about to hear part 2 this week as I had to record 4 hours straight, I came accross how much the stress of losing gigs, the pressure to find some more in difficult times, and the fear of seeing how we have enjoyed our passion not come back to how it was, took me away from what really got me hooked to this very thing which is listening to records from beginning to end, without any other purpose than to just let particles of air move my mind to another place and lift my heart to a higher ground.
Coming back to this very essential point of focus, leaving behind fear and expectation, the music itself even though I was recording alone at home turned a christmas evening into one of the best gigs I created for myself in the entire year. This without the need for a special place or a fancy dinner before further helped me enjoy the music barely for what it is and what it does to me, therefore what I would want it to transfer to the people who listen to me playing it.
In a virtual world designed or to be designed, I believe more then any other time that what keeps us alive is our link to the matter itself as a way and not an aim to experience the life on earth. What matters is how we use it, how we bring to life the existence that is ours using the past as an anchor, the future as an aim but most importantly the present moment to ground ourselves to what really matter.
And what matters this week again, is that we express our love and passion to the music how we still can, and to me it definitely means supporting the art we love by spending money at the places that keep it alive : Physical record stores.
Places like Bikini Waxx fuel the dream we live everyday in a city like Berlin even when it changes, even when it becomes harder for freedom to express itself as it did in the past. Think about that next time you'll get your records from an online warehouse. They'll never make your day when you unexpectedly stop by to pick up a record, with a great chat, even though being also an important actor of the spread of Electronic Music.
So here, another selection of music, and another youtube playlist of the stuff we found. Hope you'll enjoy.
Redeye - Sunflower EP
Red eye will then get the year going with the magnificent sound of A Source which is part of this Sunflower EP and happens to feel like the perfect soundtrack to wake up everyone's positivity, or at least load our tanks awaiting for the upcoming spring / summer.
One of these classic records you want to have in your bag in case the occasion to create a special moment shows up to the place where you happen to be playing music, could it be at home or in front of hundreds of restless heads in search for a musical escape to the everyday routine.
This one is pretty much beginning and End regarding my personal taste, but definitely displays uncompromised music perfectly fitting a strong identity which deserves to be considered, far away from a generic and easily effective 909 ish house piece we share many times here. It is all in all a piece for people wanting to Listen to music from beginning to end, as well as for people in need for a piece that makes them wanna go nuts.
If that doesn't make sense, keep in mind this is one you'd want in your cart.
Joe McBride & Jack Lever – 21.12 / 30.03
Perched high on the mountain overseeing the Ambient Electro section of the Discogs seller page (I know, that sounded poetic at the beginning and then feels like the words fell from the stage drunk as a skunk throwing up on groupies), this stands firmly in between the most intense releases that we have seen coming through the heavy clouds of 2020.
A story, a journey, fitting very precisely what we came to look for in stores today which is Music to be played to yourself from beginning to end, and you will experience a tremendous amount of satisfaction flipping from A to B, and from C to D during the time you will decide to embark to the ship.
A moment which invites a deep focus on melody all along the record, while allowing yourself to be moved or sometimes slightly disturbed by intense rhythmic section especially when Jack Lever is named on the record. The intensity driven by Jack's beats become a magnificent point that contrasts with the softness of the sharper beats used by Joe McBride which tends to create a nice progression. Joe then comes back at the end of the album with a bit more of a push in order to complete this idea of growing intensity, focusing again a little more on his vision of melody with Tx 333, until you find yourself standing up from your chair to put this record gently back into its cover, and store it in a safe and accessible place for a future treat.