Connections with Andrew Thomson

I don’t have many heroes, but the few that I do, have remained constants over the years. I’m sure there is something in whatever attracted me to them in the first place is also part of their enduring appeal.
I’ve been fortunate to meet most of them by now and Ivan Smagghe is one who continues to loom large. His Suck My Deck and Death Disco mix CD’s were pretty seminal among my group of pals who became regulars at Le Pulp one summer in Paris. We first met at various nights he was playing, either at The Arches or during my Megabus trips to fabric era around 2004/5. Over that time we had fun interactions which led to a friendship that involved sending each other CD’s to share troves of music we were finding. He opened my mind to so much music away from 4/4 stuff. It would have taken me many more years for Scott Walker to reach my ears were it not for Ivan’s introduction, one that has likely impacted my enduring SW love to this day. This also applies to all the Wierd wave stuff and loads more.
I’ve always admired Ivan’s singularity and have related to his restlessness. I’ve learned lots and he’s shown me much encouragement, support and graciousness over the years. He has played at various H+P parties here and there over the years and it remains a huge honour to have released a Smagghe & Cross record together.
There have always been questions I’ve wanted to ask and had reached out a while ago with the idea of discussion his various long running partnerships. Little did I know, but he was cooking up a book - Nul si découvert - which features more than a glimpse some of these important figures in his life and much more. For someone who is quite mysterious and private, the book has bits that are shockingly intimate and deeply personal. After working my way through the book and Ivan reading the Twitch chat, we resolved to have an in person conversation, so I booked some cheapo flights up and down to London on a sunny Tuesday in February and we got to it.
It’s worth mentioning that the book has sold out, so this conversation might at times be more of a companion piece to whoever bought one, but hopefully there are enough jumping off points to make it illuminating for everyone else. I happened to catch Ivan at the Sub Club a few weeks before - as he played b2b with Domenic - and the room was electric and a real buzz to experience a new generation becoming initiated into the intruiging world of Ivan.


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This feels like a fitting chat to round out the past year and see in a new one - with the bold Sean Monahan from 8ball. Wishing you all the best for the year ahead..
I’ve been drawn to Sean’s insightful writing for a while now and he was gracious enough to have a chat with me about the notion of the world moving through trends and cycles. I find it comforting and helpful to view an increasingly chaotic world in these terms. Nothing lasts forever.
As a prolific writer, I was worried about feeling under prepared, but we jumped around quite easily and got to some interesting places.
I can’t recommend Sean’s work enough. You can follow it here ~


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Thanks to everyone who made it out to the Car Culture show at The Doublet in Glasgow the other week! Daniel popped in to play some music and also chat about the new project.
We happened to first meet each other at Berlin Community Radio and have since followed various releases from each other over the years. This particular booking came about very last minute and was one of those impulsive things that worked out all round. Putting on a gig that had some hype around it is always a gratifying experience and one I could have done with after overseeing a few lower attended events this year. You never quite know what will hit, but sometimes you do.
I forgot to ask about the press shots which are superb. Best I’ve seen in ages.. I’m sure he’ll back :)



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When I lived in London, I rarely managed to get along to the hype exhibitions and I’d usually be disappointed with them if I did. That wasn’t the case when I went along to see this Richard Mosse thing that people kept talking about. I managed to catch it at The Barbican in the last week or two of its run and was completely blown away.
Incoming is a project in which photographer, Richard uses military grade cameras to track migrant communities. The night vision lens added an eery but also very human quality and I still think about the characters in the largest piece. It crossed my mind to reach out to Richard for a chat and he was more than accommodating and shared some incredible stories behind the project.
Although the exhibition was open during 2017, the conversation about migration is pertinent now - and will continue to be important in the years ahead. With bleak stats and depressing headlines, anything that injects humanity into the conversation can only be a good thing. This is proven in the conversation itself as we spoke mid 2024 and much of what was discussed has grown louder since then.
The visuals themselves do most of the talking though and I’d urge you to seek them out in whatever form you can find.
https://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2019/richard-mosse-incoming.html
https://mackbooks.co.uk/products/incoming-br-richard-mosse


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Dan and I go fairly far back after hosting some memorable gigs with him over the years including an insane all nighter for his Daphni album launch. I was already a fan of his earlier Caribou music and happened to be doing things around London and particularly at Plastic People, just as he was getting into DJ’ing. So it’s been exciting to see how the two projects have evolved and overlapped over time.
Another fairly infamous gig was his first time playing at Plastic People. I remember being on the dancefloor at PP when Four Tet played this wild record with a William Onyeabor sample that I recognised, but was blown away by. It turned out to be ’Ye Ye’ which was getting roadtested for the first time and Dan, who I didn’t know at that point was also there with a huge cheeser!
Shortly after we put together a party with Dan playing Plastic alongside Floating Points, I’m pretty sure it was the first time they met, but that might be getting a bit too Forrest Gumpy.. It was def very early on and marked the beginning of them doing more and more fun stuff and great music together.
We had a fun catch up on and off mic, as we played a record each for the duration.
I haven’t listen to this in a while but it will undoubtedly hold up ~



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