2015 was a curious year for me. As someone who has always deeply appreciated esoteric, experimental and off-kilter electronic music, especially electronic music with a theoretical or conceptual framework which it works within, 2015 would have seemed to be an ideal year for me. However, something was off. That something, if we’re being frank, was…
My Records of 2015
Another year, another list of amazing music that no other media source will talk about. If you want to keep getting spoon fed a bunch of bullshit music, from a bunch of bullshit “artists”, you know where to find that. I can never get tired of putting these year end pieces out simply because I…
A reason to be cheerful (?)
This post has been inspired by the RA Dj poll. Not something I expected to be doing when I woke up today but there you go. I apologise now if you are hoping that this will be a rant about how rubbish it is or about how contrived it is, you’ll have to go elsewhere…
Renato P on Must Have Records
The man Jay Simon has long been a favorite of ISM. He is one of those cats who likes to dig deep and find music that speaks to him, regardless of genre, whether it is old or new. As readers will know, he has been successful at this both as a DJ and as a…
Mix: Who Taught You?
My latest mix is for the relatively new Fallow Media site, an operation based out of Dublin that contains plenty of excellent long form writing and other media that has a focus on the arts in all its various shapes and forms. I’ve delivered for them their first podcast, which comprises solely of music that has been…
Who do you think you are kidding?
Disruption, abstraction, subversiveness, outsider, challenging preconceptions, fucking things up and just plain old weird. Terms, ideas and narratives that never stop being appealing. And why shouldn’t they be? Music needs to evolve, needs to break boundaries and challenge its listener. Experimentation is the cornerstone of many great musical movements. Techno music as a form is quite…
The Wall / The Stallion – Mick Wills Edits
Mick Wills is the definitive Djs Dj, forever unearthing lost gems and playing them seamlessly alongside classics and fresh releases (often re-edited by himself) he’s one of the rare breed these days who has managed to build up a regular touring schedule based nearly solely off his djing – most definitely helped by having such…
Vinalog – Perspectives
Before it became de rigueur for everyone to make their house jams “gritty” and “raw” or whatever those reason pre-sets are that so many use as in their badly mastered, leaden productions the Live Jams / Relative crew were quietly releasing some rough-edged but – importantly – funky 12s beginning around 2009 or so. EMG…
TWINS – Tassel
CGI Records out of Atlanta has been responsible for some of the biggest dancefloor killers in my deejay sets over the last year or so. Jams by C Powers (“Phoenix Down”) and Jerome (“5”) have been especially lethal. The newest one that is smashing for me has just come out on vinyl and it is…
Guest Mix: Barry Redsetta (Major Problems)
For our readers living in Ireland Barry Redsetta is an instantly recognisable name. Possibly most well known as the long standing resident at the recently closed Twisted Pepper, he has been a mainstay in Irish clubbing for many, many years and is oft and quite rightly regarded as one of the finest djs ever to…