M&A #45: Joe Wills

Part time hack, part time DJ, Joe Wills has been around both the columns of Varsity and the slick, arty pages of BAIT, amongst others. The visual arts are not all he's into putting together for people, and he's been known to grace the ones and twos at Queue The Music and put together a sweet selection of mixes for his own Mixcloud. Lending a hand to this exam term musical onslaught, he dishes out a widely varied mix (and I mean widely, like Blue Monday into Manni Dee levels of wide), which starts blending old school electro and new school pop, before taking in some of the all-time greats of electronic music and ending with a cheesy classic to sing us away into the night.

How did you record the mix?

On a DDJ-400 I share with my friend & fellow DJ, Eliane. 

What were you trying to do with it?

It’s 1986 and you’re in a warehouse in Hull. There’s lots of bright lights and weird noises, you’re prodigiously sweaty and you’ve lost your shirt but you’re having a great time. At some point you start thinking about how Thatcher will be in power for four more years by which point the rave scene will be in a long decline, which makes you feel a bit ill, so you go to the chill-out room to get your head together. You’re in there all alone for ages and all your worries melt away; you’re in there so long you start to wonder if you were actually born in there, but then you snap out of it because you notice the beat from downstairs shaking the floor. They’re playing something mental. You go down there and see your mates; it’s literally been years since you lost them. You hit the dancefloor and go absolutely wild till the sun comes up, at some point you think you’ve figured out the solution to all human strife & oppression but when you wake up in a field you’ve forgotten it, and you start to wonder if maybe you were just really off your face. Oh well. Is somebody playing ABBA?

What’s your musical guilty pleasure?

Stupid adolescent lo-fi indie pop music that pretends it’s made in the eighties and makes you feel really great about how sad you’re being. Love a bit of that. 

What’s the last song you listened to?

Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler. What a banger! I hate that it’s one of those songs you’re only supposed to like in an ironic kitschy way. The production on that track is so good, I put the 7inch single on the other day and turned it up real loud and it sounded like the world was fucking ending. 

Who is your favourite producer/performer at the moment?

I’ll always have infinite admiration for Mica Levi. Her range is incredible, like she’s produced all of Tirzah’s stuff but also does contemporary classical and film scores. There’s something about how she makes sound that’s so distinctive and almost shocking.

(p.s. Her Boiler Room set with Tirzah is brill, partly because it’s just so odd that everyone in the background looks a bit lost like they can’t tell whether they should be dancing or not, but Mica is just doing her own thing & gives no shits. Chef’s kiss.) 

What is your go-to banger?

Probably Battle by Wookie. Gets you moving & saves your soul at the same time. 

What’s coming up for you during/after Quarantine?

Nuffin much. I’d love to get a night of my own going with some pals at some point, so maybe I’ll do that, pandemic allowing. It’s a bit of a dark time for DJ’ing, isn’t it? Covid has made me realise how much our love of music is connected to space and intimacy. Anyway, I eagerly look forward to doing a set on Zoom Cindies. 

Joe’s Tracklist:

Kraftwerk — Hall of Mirrors
World’s End Girlfriend — Boy
The Knife — Full of Fire
Charli XCX — Vroom Vroom
SOPHIE — Ponyboy
Eden Transmission — I’m So High
New Order — Blue Monday
Manni Dee — Take & Never Give
LFO — Freak
Swans — I Was a Prisoner in Your Skull
GAS — Narkopop 2
Aphex Twin — Xtal
Burial — Stolen Dog
Andy Stott — New Romantic 

Fennesz — Rivers of Sand [Touch]
Mica Levi — Love [Djenga Remix]
ABSL — A Double Tranchant
Polyconaire- n-Hexane
ABSL — Teenagers
SWHR — Letters From The Night (Choke)
ABBA — The Winner Takes It All