M&A #06: OT:OT

Oli Taylor is a music fanatic. He’s an expert on obscure record labels, unusual releases and experimental genres. This expertise shows through in his selections: Arabian disco, hard breaks and 'My Neck, My Back' are mixed in perfect harmony. He's a regular at Turf and Duende, an eclectic and musically ambitious night he is involved with in Nottingham and Leeds. His knowledge of colourful sounds shines through here, as he couldn’t cut his ideas down to any less than 2 hours and 51 minutes. It may be long, but this mix is as good a showcase of worldwide feel-good music as any.

How did you record the mix?

In my bedroom, using 2 CDJ-350s and 2 Stanton turntables. It’s quite a nice set-up actually. I seem to have been lucky and got a bargain for everything. My mixer was the biggest bargain. It’s an Ecler Nuo 5 analogue mixer – I found it in a charity shop hahaha.

I love my gear – all the gear no idea (the opposite of George I guess).

What were you trying to do with it?

I didn’t want to make a mix that sounded like the listener was just in another club on another night. I think a mix should do something else. It was supposed to be less of a dance mix, but not like boring ‘lounge music’. It’s quite a hard balancing act. Maybe it is fucking boring and I should have just done an hour of 4/4 house hahaha.

I guess I wanted to show some of the slower stuff I’m into and then some of the quicker stuff. As I’ve played more and more, the less I like 120ish bpm house music. It doesn’t excite me much. But then again, there’s some class stuff out there at that kind of tempo – there’s some nice stuff on Night Slugs and Principe [record labels] which is a bit bassier, and I love Mule Musiq. Josh played a Kuniyuki tune off Mule, which bangs.

While this mix covers a huge range of genres and speeds, I wanted to maintain some sort of connection or theme. Hopefully it doesn’t sound like a random selection of bangers.

This mix is slightly longer than the others, how did it take shape? Did most of it happen on the spot or did you know what you wanted to include?

I always wanted it to be in 3 parts and so therefore it was always going to be long. The first part is a mix of organic and electronic sounds (and a few spoken word samples). I like the idea of long mixes where they all become one, you know? Oh, and one of the tracks is by your own George Manley!

The second part is more chuggy disco, with plenty of influences from middle-eastern music and Arabic disco. I’m obsessed with that stuff and is pretty similar to most of the stuff I play out at Turf and Duende.

The last part was some mad quick and fun shit. Like it has UK Garage, electro, and some straight-up bass stuff. Like the Toni Moralez take on Khia’s ‘My Neck, My Back’. I had fun with that last section.

All of the sections are broken up by some ambient compositions from artists like Saba Alizadeh and then some dub by Jay Glass Dubs.

Lots of people organise their music by ‘energy’ or speed or whatever. I just organise it based on influence and the patterns of the drums/bass. I guess you can hear that coming through. Inevitably, with every mix or set I do, you can defo hear ‘world’ (ew what a horrible word) music influences coming through.

While avoiding classing all non-western music as ‘world’, a lot of DJs like to use those sounds. For example, Hunee has been known to drop ‘In Zaire’ by Johnny Wakelin into his sets, and it seems to be featured here too. Do you ever look to play something a bit unconventional when you’re performing? Do you think it’s something people should do more?

I didn’t know Hunee was playing that! I don’t really keep up with what people are playing out (mainly because groups like IOM [Identification of Music fb group] make me feel a bit weird (though I’m still in them)).

That exact track is actually an edit of the Johnny Wakelin one by Beard in Dust. It’s called ‘At The Dawn’ and is on the most recent Disco Haman (run by Johnny Rock) release. That label has unlimited tunes on – think at least half the sets I play feature a tune off that label or Disco Halal.

In terms of dropping something unconventional… yes and no. I think some people do it just for the sake of it, like ‘look at me, here’s something weird’. Occasionally that works, but most of the time it doesn’t. I am a big fan of eclectic sets though. I love DJs who play a variety of stuff – so I guess I like it when it isn’t a surprise, if you know what I mean?

How do you dig for records/find new music? Do you have a specific process?

I literally just waste my life doing it! Most of the time it is online – I am subscribed to about 25 mailing lists. I do it mostly on Sundays, it’s nice to treat yourself. But the best digs are always in record shops.

You are involved with Open Decks at The Portland Arms. For people who don’t know, could you tell us a bit about what the idea behind it was and what the vibe is like?

If I’m honest, I contribute virtually nothing to it, other than bringing records and being there early. The person to ask is Kalvin – he is the new mastermind.

I don’t think it’s changed much in the last 4 years which is the nice thing about it. It’s inclusive and interesting and a pretty unique space in Cambridge. I’ve never seen someone being a dickhead at an OD night, and I guess it just shows how important the space is for nights out. I think clubs should probably take a similar approach (not the open deck but the emphasis on inclusivity and being crowd-friendly).

You are involved in another project though, outside of The Bubble™️. What are you trying to do with that and how would you say it’s worked out?

YES! Speaking of crowd friendly, we have a night Duende in Nottingham and Leeds. It is my friend Douglas’s baby. It is honestly great – about 5 of us are involved and do all the art and promotion stuff. All the profits go to charity. All the venues are cosy and we aim to make the space as much like a house party as possible, with everything from lighting to making sure we have safe door staff etc. All the DJs booked are encouraged to dig deep and experiment and play eclectically. It’s basically everything we wanted to see and hear in a night, and Douglas made it happen, the absolute genius.

If anyone’s in Leeds or Notts (or hopefully Cambridge in the future) a Duende night is a must-see.

What is your musical guilty pleasure?

Like mid 2000s RnB. Gimme some Kelis.

What is the last song you listened to?

MGMT – When You Die (lol).

Who is your favourite producer/performer at the moment?

So many. Producer, I would have to say Dunkeltier – they make some cool industrial meets Arabic disco stuff yum.

Performers: George Manley or Douglas. Big up. Or Kiara Scuro. Or Dr Rubinstein. Or Johnny Rock.

What is your go to tune to bring a party up/banger?

Ooooh always Sun My Sweet Sun by Red Axes, or, Arabia by DJ Normal 4.

What was the best party you’ve played?

The last Duende night. Or the all-nighter with George. Both were mad.

What have you got planned for the future?

Theres a few Duende and Turf nights coming up.

But apart from that, exams exams exams.

Oli’s Track list:

[min] Title - Artist

00:00 MY PUSSY – RENU (w/ Nick Cave Sample)                                          

06:00 Eastrumental - Autarkic & Hectik        

09:00 Bangalore Whispers (Peter Power Remix) - Andi Otto

15:00 Odalisque (Rafael Aragon Remix) – Jugurtha

18:00 Lost Tribes - Lokal Affair

23:00 A Walk Down Chapel (Dub Mix) - Jam City     

26:00 Neredesin - FOC Edits

32:00 Sampadan 6 - Todh Teri

38:00 Hemshin Breath - Muudra

41:00 Unreleased – George Manley

45:00 Battle Weapon III - DJ DEE KAY

46:00 Ryu's Dream - Good Block       

52:00 Oceans of the Moon (Wolf Müller Donkey Kong Beach Dub) - José Padilla

56:00 Robots Dance - Alexis Le-Tan

1:02:00 CC102 - DJC

1:04:00 Double Edge Sword Dub - Jay Glass Dubs

1:09:00 Elegy for Water - Saba Alizadeh       

1:12:00 Ladan Dead End (Kamancheh Version) - Saba Alizadeh

1:14:00 Treescry (AIWAA Edit) - Öona Dahl  

1:19:00 Depth Gauge - MR TC

1:25:00 Shaman Disco - Acid Hamam

1:31:00 At The Dawn - Beard In Dust

1:36:00 Mabsotah - Simon    

1:40:00 Medicine Man (Original Mix) - Mytron & Ofofo

1:42:00 Le Train Enflamme – Breakplus

1:47:00 Arcade – Dunkeltier

1:51:00 Semsemeh (Blue Moon Edit) - Shadi Khries

1:55:00 yo son (prince language edit) - Ahmed Fakroun

1:57:30 More Cowbell - Thee J Johanz

2:02:00 Dansakoni (Khidja Remix) - Peter Power

2:06:00 Indian Reggae - Unknown Artist

2:09:00 Big Fat Head - Kincaid feat. Blancmange     

2:14:00 Bint el Khandaq - Lost Souls of Saturn Vs Mashrou Leila

2:24:30 Blue Moon - Semseh

2:27:00 The Cheikh Arrives - Étienne Jaumet

2:29:00 La Arabia - DJ Normal 4

2:32:00 Desert's Anthem - Arabian Panther 

2:35:00 Endorphins – Sky Kap

2:37:00 The Bounce (Original Mix) - Soundbwoy Killah

2:39:00 Funkiest (Be Yourself) - Bok Bok

2:41:00 HER NECK, HER BACK (ONLY TOUCH HER IF SHE WANTS 2) - Toni Moralez

2:44:00 Ascetic (In Breaks) - Anastasia Kristensen

2:47:00 Fundamentals - Peverelist

2:49:00 Dengue Drums - Superfície