Private Agenda is Sean Phillips and Martin Aggrowe. "In their teens," says the bio, "[they] dipped in and out
of musical projects with their peers, swapping instruments, records and
literature along the way. What united these early efforts was a growing
fascination and exploration of a multi-genre, interdisciplinary approach
to musical projects. If Private Agenda didn’t exist in name, it existed
in spirit from an early stage." Private Agenda released the excellent Submersion EP on Lo Recordings in 2021, closing with a remix by label boss - and one half of Seahawks - Jon Tye under his Ocean Moon moniker.
From Ocean Moon to Moon Ocean, one of a series of top notch EPs released by Justin Robertson this year. Confluence Of Torrents is one of five tracks on this EP, featuring music dusted off from the vaults, which speaks to the quality and volume of Justin's work that sometimes there's just too much good music to release all at once.
I was certain that I'd previously featured at least one version of Iron Warrior by Revival Season here, but apparently not. I've gone for the Dubstrumental, one of three Raf Rundell remixes of this standalone 2021 single. Revival Season is Brandon Evans (B-Eazy) and Jonah Swilley (Mattiel) and their debut album is landing in early 2024.
in 2021, Steady State produced the rather excellent Ofra Haza-sampling Shake Up Your Mind. In turn, those wonderful people at Paisley Dark Records commissioned around two dozen remixes. Most of these were compiled for Shelter Me: Beats For Beds: The Remix Album, proceeds going to the housing and homelessness charity Shelter. No longer available to buy, this extract from the album is by Clandestino and amazingly, the quality of the remixes is that good throughout.
The Machine Soul aka Robert Folkesson released the Engineered State EP in the summer, another solid release on Paisley Dark Records. The bio on Resident Advisor reads, "Robert was part of the early rave and house scene in Stockholm, DJ-ing at various underground warehouse parties and legendary clubs like Deep in Bleep, Monday Bar and Le Garage under the DJ Robo moniker. The Machine Soul is Roberts’s brain child for producing deep and groovy tech and deep house" and Engineered State delivers and then some. I've included the original mix here but the remixes by Högt I Tak, Ian Vale, UFO and Jay-Son are also highly recommended.
JP Buckle is Jason Peter Buckle, perhaps better known as a member of The All Seeing I and collaborating with Jarvis Cocker as Relaxed Muscle in the early 2000s before becoming a core member of JARV IS... at the turn of this decade. Redefining prolific, Self Respecting Unobsessed is a track from the album Radio Silence, the seventh of ten (so far) albums and EPs this year alone.
bdrmm is Hull-based four piece comprising Ryan Smith, Jordan Smith, Joe Vickers and Conor Murray. bdrmm was born as a solo bedroom project by Ryan and after a demo got interest from Radio 1, Ryan roped in his brother and mates to flesh out the band and the sound. bdrmm's music is typically described as shoegaze though you wouldn't know this from listening to Daniel Avery's superlative remix. How much of bdrmm's original music is left in the mix is debatable, but it's a cracking tune all the same.
After the previous song's brain burning beats, some cool water to quell the flames with A Place To Bury Strangers remixed by Annie Hart of Au Revoir Simone. Sonically, the songs is very reminiscent of the latter; vocally it's all the former, Oliver Ackermann's lyrics left intact. Another gem from this year's See Through You Rerealized remix album.
With the exception of the Steady State song, all of today's selections and their parent releases can be found and purchased on Bandcamp.
1) P.S.R (Ocean Moon Mix By Jon Tye): Private Agenda (2021)
2) Confluence Of Torrents: Justin Robertson's Deadstock 33s (2023)
3) Iron Warrior (Raf Rundell Dubstrumental): Revival Season (2021)
4) Shake Up Your Mind (Clandestino Melt Up Your Mind Mix By Joe Morris & Nick Smith): Steady State (2021)
5) Engineered State (Original Mix By Robert Folkesson): The Machine Soul (2023)
6) Self Respecting Unobsessed: JP Buckle (2023)
7) Port (Daniel Avery Remix): bdrmm (2022)
8) Nice Of You To Be There For Me (Annie Hart Remix): A Place To Bury Strangers (2023)
2021: Iron Warrior EP: 3
2021: Shelter Me: Beats For Beds: The Remix Album: 4
2021: Submersion EP: 1
2022: Port EP: 7
2023: Engineered State EP: 5
2023: Moon Ocean EP: 2
2023: Radio Silence: 6
2023: See Through You Rerealized: 8
Aside from A Place to Bury Strangers, everything on this is fresh and new to my ears. That's what I like about your mixes, no matter how much I think I know about music, you always have something to share that piques my interest and sends me down a rabbit hole to find more about. Thank you for that
ReplyDeleteThanks, Mooz, and likewise. I feel very much that I'm constantly trying to pay it forward and it's the number of fantastic music blogs out there - yours included - that continually introduce me to new music or artists and songs that I missed/ignored first time around and can appreciate years later. I'm very happy if my posts and mixes do the same for you, thank you.
DeleteThe Private Agenda/ Seahawks remix is a favourite of mine. Lovely stuff.
ReplyDeleteIt's a great EP all round, the other Seahawks remix (Malanai Ascending) is superb but really they're all of a very high standard.
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