I’ve been steeped in the culture of mixes since I was buying compilation CD’s when I was at school. This continued through the minidisc / internet dial up era and began to be replaced by ipods and access to a seemingly endless stream of live club recordings. These were mostly hosted on forums and fuelled a new demand for track id’s at a rapid pace. I loved this particular period and it encouraged me to seek out and discover tons of new music and artists that I still view as important to me today. While the wheels have started to turn even faster in the ensuing years, I’m aware of certain fandoms which operate still from a thirst for knowledge and excitement. Apps like Shazaam are presumably still thriving because of this same need to know ‘WTF is this???’ There’s no better feeling. I’ve booked people solely on that basis and I’ve released the music of many artists who are capable of conjuring that emotion. This is all to say, I still love listening to mixes and I love making them too. It seems like listener figures for all the main mix series are pretty low. I guess this shouldn’t be a surprise as our collective attention has became more fragmented. Over the years I’ve enjoyed making mixes for various platforms, you can check them out here. This either comes from an invitation and I find music to suit the outlet. Or I collect enough music over a course of time that I think works well together and I then go through the process of finding a suitable home for the mix itself. I’ve had good results in both cases. While I like the challenge of putting something together with a certain audience in mind, the best results are usually when I’ve put together something that I think works well together and would ideally bring different styles together to create something different. Finding a home is becoming a harder process as I’ve either done one for the platform already, or the remaining ones have a packed schedule. So finding a different way to present music is always appealing. I’ve tried my hand at committing mixes to tape. This was a fun experience and I hoped to create a mixtape series with others too, but it slipped through the cracks. I guess CBR has became a bigger version of the same incentive. Anyway, I’ve had this particular mix in some stage of completion for a while. I was aiming for something timeless and something that represents the sound of music I like to play in a club setting most of all. Why not feature it here? Watch out for more by myself and others. Tracklist to follow. Get full access to Connections with Andrew Thomson at c0nnections.substack.com/subscribe
Join Andrew Thomson as he moves through his corner of the world. Enjoy engaging conversations with people of interest, alongside guest mixes and archive recordings. c0nnections.substack.com
UK