M&A #27: Milly Corcoran

Milly Corcoran likes to bridge the gap between garage and techno in her sets for Playtime and Lift Up. As an instrumental part of setting up the bass/grime/dub night with friends Finn (Amis, M&A #18) and Charlie (Muzzy, with an upcoming mix!) amongst others, Milly is now pushing the envelope in booths around the 'city'. Her signature is spinning those garage grooves directly back to back with straighter belters, something which proves challenging no matter the setting but in a loud, live environment is even trickier. She has held this skill down with ease in her recent sets, as well as in this ball of a 28 minute mix.

How did you record the mix?

I used a pioneer controller and Rekordbox to record it. I spent a while thinking about the order I wanted to have tracks in and listening to them, jotting down at what point would be good to drop the next one, which I just kept track of this in notes on my phone. 

What were you trying to do with it?

I wanted to replicate what I try and do in a club set- so start out with techhousey stuff and move towards a more two steppy garagey vibe

How do you find new music? Do you categorise any of it by mood/genre/energy? When you’re listening to stuff do you think about putting it into a mix/set or does it just happen on its own for you?

I generally find music on youtube because you can come across loads of really nice, more underground tunes of all genres that you maybe wouldn't hear otherwise. Categorising music by genre makes it easier to think about preparing a mix, but it’s always fun to try and throw in curveball song that someone has showed you in a completely different context, so it can be good to not stick too stringently to genres. 

You use a lot of loops when you’re mixing, which I think works really well to create space and suspense for the new track being mixed in. Is this something you’ve practiced using? Are there other skills/tricks you’ve learned that you’ve found helpful/interesting?

I think loops are really good for building suspense and getting people to invest slightly more in the mix because they are anticipating the next tune more. I think it creates more of an awareness of separate songs, but it definitely also puts more pressure on you to drop the next tune well and in time!

You’re often mixing the straight beats of techno and house with swung garaginess. That’s something I’ve noticed you do in your club sets as well, but a lot of DJs stick to one or the other. What do you think makes the two work so well side-by-side?

I really like thinking about the overlap between genres and the transition between quite regular linear sounds like house and tech and the more syncopated garage sound. It’s quite fun to experiment with especially since lots of garage tunes are really well known and it can sound quite cool and unique having these really famous and recognisable garage songs with a more techy beat in the background. 

Over the last year or two bass music has had a huge upturn in interest in Cambridge with the emergence of Urban Bass, Lift Up etc. Do you think this is a quirk of the current student scene here or is it something you’d say you’ve noticed more widely in dance music as a whole?

I think it’s more just about filling a gap in the market in Cambridge. With Lift Up we wanted to see genres like garage jungle n dub represented and people seemed to rate it- I think Urban Bass tapped into a similar market. I think its about broadening the Cambridge scene and making it more representative of dance music culture as a whole.

What’s your musical guilty pleasure?

:(

What’s the last song you listened to?

Rock N Roll is Dead- JPEGMAFIA

Who is your favourite producer/performer at the moment?

Kano- the recent hoodies all summer album is rly good 

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

Zed bias- Vibesin

What was the best party you’ve played?

Probably playing at VT house party with Lift Up on Varsity this year. Loads of our mates were there and it felt like such a nice celebration of what we had managed to achieve in the past 8 months since starting Lift Up! 

I also loved doing Playtime X Period Party in October. The period party nights have always been some of the funnest in Cambridge and playing one as my first ever club gig was so fun but also a bit terrifying- going b2b with Hattie for the set definitely made it less daunting!

What’s coming up for you in the future?

Playing at Girton Spring ball in a few weeks, big things happening with Lift Up soon too! 

Milly’s Tracklist:

Sun is shining (De Luxe Edit)- Funkstar De Luxe

Dealer on Speed Dial- Mark Blair

Avus (KX Noizsystem Remix)- The Moon & The Sun

Rowdy Badd- Levelz

Trigonometry- Sasha 

Fu Gee La- Legitimate Scandal 

Only Human- KH Four Tet

Weapon ‘97- DJ Backspin

Give You (Real Love)- Champagne Bubbler

Romantic- DJ Deller