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Digging through September with Michal

It’s been one year since we have started with the Digging through series and we have been saving the 13th edition to our most enthusiastic supporter from Slovakia, Michal Adam. He had already contributed to our blog before with his analysis of Dystopian label, but here he had even better chance to translate his enthusiasm when it comes to dance music. It’s the appetite to explore with ears wide open, careful selection and the ability to add some zing with own words, which makes Michal’s digging truly worth the read.

06–09–2019 #yuggadus meets Smoke Machine: Dorisburg, Diskonnected, Alfred Czital, Yan

Associations are essential part of consuming music. And what Dorisburg is putting out runs strong with them. Try this for example:

10 minutes in and I felt like sitting somewhere in Amazonas over a nice cup of matcha; my companions Moritz von Oswald, Gunnar Haslam and Call Super; each one of them pulling some nice basslines, melodies or other textures from their picnic baskets. Not to speak about the all sorts of weird animals with their funny noises. Amused by this lovely gathering enough, you suddenly realize all of that is gone and it is just you and Dorisburg, sucked deeper into jungle, exploring its darker corners.

Well, I might get carried away a bit. But I can promise you that you will get a lot – if you come to Ankali on September 6th.

07–09–2019 Hedone: Psyk, Mazhar, Riki Boro, Silhouette

There is this special kind of energy with which Spanish DJs play. It is like they constantly look to find the perfect balance between hard and deep. If the likes of Oscar Mulero, Christian Wunsch or Kwartz are usually gliding on the harder curve of that balance, Psyk is the one who digs deeper. Just see for yourself:

I love almost all the transitions here, exactly because of Psyk’s ability to bend this notion of deepness with every track. Suppressing the kick and bass for some dark frequencies or lighter melodies to stand out, only to unleash them minutes later to work their magic on their own.Add seamless mixing skills and good portion of versatility (a bit of Madrid here, a bit of Berlin and Detroit there and there) and you’ll get an even better idea about how Psyk works.

13–09–2019 Ankali x Wrong: Perc, nrmn, Wrong Corps

Speaking of balancing hard and deep, well, Perc is an outlier here. He and his Perc Trax label gained institution-like status over the years – for playing fucking hard. Or to put it more delicately – if you like your party to be squeaky-creaky industrial mayhem and your DJ a relentless machine gun operator, you should come to Ankali on September 13th. Here is a bit of what you might expect:

I guess even nrmn, who is otherwise known for his intense and uncompromising sets and who will be opening the night, will be something of a lighter experience. Or maybe he will step up his game (he usually does). Either way, there is a decent chance you will wear your shoes and soul off while dancing through that night.

20–09–2019 #no_borders: Paquita Gordon, Beta Librae, Møreti

I saw Paquita Gordon on her home turf at Terraforma festival couple of years ago. I didn’t know her back then, but she kept me dancing through her whole set full of slow, housey and dreamy stuff, perfect for the hot afternoon slot she played. Then I saw her again this year at Nachtdigital festival, pouring some 130BPM techno at 8AM (she played right after DVS1, so I guess hence the difference). Sadly, this time I stayed only 10 minutes (it was a rather demanding night), but I figured out she must be a versatile DJ. And I got quite intrigued, so I played her set from last year’s Nachti. It was a good choice and a good set. Very good. Like very very VERY good.

First of all, it was – again – quite different from the previous experience. Then, she did what I always wanted to do when I experimented with DJing (not to a great success to be honest) – by composing the set where each track contains some sort of spoken word. This way she made it funny, sensual and sometimes surprisingly profound (some thoughtful insights on the future around 1:25:00). But more importantly, the whole set was super amusing, blending a lot of obscure stuff with emotions like moderately euphoric nostalgia into the perfect groove. It is quite rare to hear somebody playing like that.

27–09–2019 Whities: Bambounou, Minor Science, upsammy

„Come on, it’s a rave. I could just try any style, any genre.“ And she does. upsammy’s style is the perfect example that you can change tempos, rhythms and melodies as you like as long you keep the groove. And the groove is strong with her. See for yourself:

“But when I go out dancing I just want to be surprised all the time.” Agreed. I was like: oh, what a nice bassline at 3rdminute; oh, what an exotic horn at 9th; oh, that is an instant melancholy at… Well, I stopped making notes after while, because the twists and breaks were just too many and to enjoy them properly I had to let them flow.

So, after Objekt & Call Super and Ben UFO & Joy Orbison, I think this is going to be another special night full of refreshing, breaky, futuristic and mutant stuff, all impeccably stitched together.

28–09–2019 Deviant: Cosmo Vitelli, Errortica, Kaya

For some time, people around me have been talking about the “deviant sound”. But usually, they haven’t specified, it has always been more like „you know, THAT sound“. Well I didn’t know; until I dug for this piece.

Now, I get it, I guess. And I fucking love it. Actually, the music Cosmo Vitelli produces and plays is the best thing I heard in a while.

I think there are two ways to enjoy it: at home and in the club. For the first option, I would go with this:

…for this is a proper journey to foreign lands of our world and of one’s mind, with all its weirdness, exoticism and slowly induced psychedelia. An ideal thing for energized contemplating.

And here is the dancier option:

This is what you call the ability to set up the mood perfectly. You don’t need punchy kicks, fast pace and sophisticated melodies to get people fully involved and dancing like the world is about to collapse. You can easily go with strange vocals, blips and blobs, funky guitar riffs and electro obscurities. It works perfectly.

My heart is already broken to miss this gig; hence the greater urge with which I would recommend to everybody else to go.

Artwork collaboration with Vojtěch Kovařík.

And to make things easier for you, here is a Soundcloud playlist of all the sets included in this month’s digging: