One label quietly proving itself highly watchable of late is Dan Ghenacia’s Freak n’ Chic. Last year the label was the platform for releases from some rising stars - like Miss Fitz, whose Villalobos-esque Vivacious Voices EP presaged more widely appreciated work (and an RA podcast) as one half of Mara Trax. And there were a couple of EPs from Marc Antona who subsequently appeared on the much larger Mobilee and Sender records. More recent outings from Ghenacia himself (the Garden EP) and Dyed Soundroom (the Question EP) have been showing up in charts and and mixes from DJs across the spectrum of styles. The label’s aesthetic seems to focus on the deep, swinging and above all groovy - always with an exotic twist of something that gives them a chameleon-like ability to fit in with almost any sort of mix.
It’s great news, then, that Ghenacia himself is releasing an official mix that slots some Freak n’ Chic favourites in amongst other oddball wonders from dOP, Seth Troxler (the suddenly ubiquitous ‘Doctor Of Romance’), Andomat 3000 and the like. The CD is called Eyelights and it’s out at the end of the month. Add that to the upcoming Berghain 02 mix from Marcel Dettmann on Ostgut and my evenings in June look like they’ve already got their soundtracks sorted. I’m lucky enough to be seeing Dettmann DJ in Manchester on Friday 6th. If you’re in the area, then don’t miss out.
You can catch Ghenacia spinning alongside Geddes at the Mulletover party this weekend in East Village near Old St. I’m sad to be missing it so I’d love it if anyone who goes can let me know what it’s like. The venue and sound were pretty good when I saw Anja Schneider there so it should be a good party. Ghenacia’s also playing Gatecrasher the weekend after, if you’re going to that and aren’t into the Chemicals/Fatboy thing… This weekend there’s also an Octave One/Ewan Pearson/Matthias Tanzmann party hosted by Brand New Fiction going down at Corsica Studios (listing here). Sometimes we’re just spoiled for choice eh.
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Another artist on that Eyelights mix that has been getting a lot of press lately is Johnny D. I’m not quite as evangelical about his Orbitalife release on Oslo records as some, but there’s no way I can argue with this ridiculously funky set posted on Get The Curse recently. Someone in the comments has remarked on the section from 15-30 minutes being ‘totalement folle’. That’s the best description for it: crazy. I’d love a tracklist. Apart from a weird bit around 49-50 minutes the whole thing is one long percussive carnival of madness. (Apparently it’s over a year old, but it sounds no worse for it).
Johnny D - Get The Curse podcast (Recorded live 11/01/07)
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