Skip to main content

Mixes

“Long Shot” DJ mix by The Nuclear Family

A mix of electronic, house and techno records I recorded at home in November 2019.

2019 has been a fairly quiet year for my and Tom’s record label The Nuclear Family. However with a couple of winter events coming up I wanted to share a little teaser mix to whet the collective appetite.

Inspiration

Earlier in the year I joined a fine bunch of pals on a night out at 69 at The Club, Paisley to hear resident DJs Martin and Euan plus a live performance from guest John Heckle. It was a fantastic night and particularly memorable for a couple of stellar tracks played by Euan. I tried to describe them to him afterwards but wasn’t sure if I was making much sense. Cut to a few months later and a mysterious parcel containing records I’ve never heard of arrives at my door. I was convinced that someone must have sent them to me in error until dropping the needle on the grooves and realising they were the tracks from that night at 69! Channeling Sherlock Holmes, I deduced that Euan – being the all-round good guy that he is – had bought and posted them to me as a souvenir of the night. What a guy!

And they are brilliant.

The first is Ricochet by Bambooman (a new name on me) on Matthew Herbert’s label, Accidental Jnr. It features a stuttering, percussive riff complimented by searing synth stabs – proper machine funk but with a heart. The second is a double-pack by the more familiar name of i:cube, with my favourite track Fractal P a dark, winding, bass-heavy trip reminiscent of ’91 classic Pressure Dub by Ability 11 but with its own distinct flavour.

I knew I definitely wanted those tracks in the mix.

Around those touchstones I added recent favourites from Joy O (under his Sin Falta alias), Phillip McGarva (the artist formerly known as Microworld) and Dego, plus a few oldies including Isolée’s Hermelin and Modern Tribe by Jellybean (AKA Glenn Underground).

In terms of kit, I recorded the mix on a pair of Technics 1210s and an Isonoe 420 mixer.

Guest reggae and dub mix on Vic’s Sunday Soundclash

A couple of weeks ago I was kindly asked to provide a guest DJ mix for the Vic’s Sunday Soundclash show on Radio Magnetic.

You can listen to the show on demand.

Here’s the tracklist for my mix:

  • Black Uhuru - Chill Out
  • Jackie Mittoo - Oboe
  • Joe Higgs - There’s A Reward For Me
  • UBrown - Me Chat You Rock
  • Riddim Tuffa ft OBF - Food Dub Ninja
  • Mosca - Prento
  • The Royals - My Sweat Turns To Blood
  • Tatham/Ranks/Lord/Mensah - Private Life
  • Freddie McGregor w/ Sound Dimension - Africa Here I Come
  • Carlton Patterson w/King Tubby - King At The Controls
  • King Tubby - Herbal Dub
  • Carlton Coffie - Chant Away
  • Fabian - Prophecy
  • Prophecy Dub

I really enjoyed the chance to pull together reggae, dub and dancefloor favourites (old and new) for the mix. Cheers for the invite, Vicky!

You can catch Vic’s Sunday Soundclash on the first Sunday of each month at 2pm on Radio Magnetic.