BC109 - Five Mixes: New Year’s Day 2025
Let’s get this party started quickly, right?
Sometimes it pays to try to get a hold on things early. It was January 2, I decided to see if anything from the day before had popped up, and voila—there was a lot right that moment, many from SWU.FM, hence its outsized representation here. Mixes are often a chance operation. That’s part of their allure.
You can hear all five sets on this SoundCloud playlist.
Halina World, Oramcis 237 (January 1)
I’m previously unfamiliar with this DJ, who’s from Warsaw and, per the SC notes, “is remorselessly in love with the 90’s/2000’s aesthetic,” which I’ll take to mean filtered disco samples. That’s not all, of course—Halina World mixes and matches plenty of stuff that would have been siloed off back in that period, up to and including, yep, UK hard house or its modern-day soundalikes. They dot the mix rather than concentrating its essence, thus operating less as an arrival than a means to an end. It’s also part and parcel with the opener and mission statement, “Come into My House,” as good a record as “I’ll House You” and even more welcoming. (Full track list here.)
Jah Bass and My Head Is Dubby, Bassdrive (Black Rhino Radio; January 1)
This one, a weekly hour on a UK web station, isn’t remotely hip. It’s dubstep in the broadest sense, not arty or experimental, just full throttle and convincing and scene-setting. It doesn’t blaze hard—the first half, from host Jah Bass, feels midtempo even if the BPM read otherwise, the clanks and wubs comfortably lived in, with occasional string coloration freshening the air. The second half, from guest My Head Is Dubby, has enough additional FX and echo to be noticeable but not enough to be silly. Being good at what you do trumps being cool every time.
A Sagittariun, SWU FM (January 1)
I didn’t avail myself of the full day of NYD programming SWU had on offer, but I got to a few, and these three jumped out. A Sagittariun is from Bristol and keeps his head and profile low—even in the photo accompanying the set, his hat brim is low, the better to keep out interruptions and focus on the music, or something. But I attend to any set of his that comes my way, and this one is no exception. It’s techno—windswept pads, insistent hats, shifting green-screen analog voicings—and the selection’s running constant is a sense of urgency, even beyond that of most techno. It ends with “Jaguar,” which seems inevitable on paper but remains a revelation even the third time though.
Skillis, SWU FM (January 1)
Yoshi, SWU FM (January 1)
Skillis and Yoshi’s sets are more in keeping with SWU’s bass-music-friendly remit. The former is a carnivalesque jungle set—well, the hashtag is #breakbeat, and the whole feel is in the UK-hardcore era (googly-eyed vocals, tingling pianos, shattering snares), before the drum & bass schism of ’94, even if and when the tracks are more recent. I am, naturally, a total mark for this set, and if you’re lucky, so are you. Speaking of which, Yoshi plays growly, glowing UK garage for an hour, and the tracks’ feel is distinctly late-nineties: I think I hear less modern-production patina here than I do on the Skillis set. It even ends with some snapping snares of its own—breakbeats making their way back into the mix after UKG had switched away from D&B. At least that’s the effect.