Posted at 18:01h
in
Guest Mixes
by Matt Bladin
The weekend is fast approaching, and right on cue another Ripe Guest Mix has come along to get you in the mood to put on those dancing shoes. This week we are delighted to present another exclusive 30 minute mix from a personal favourite of ours. You may recognise his voice from the radio, or more specifically the tunes he plays; this months guest mix is brought to you by triple j Mix Up presenter/DJ Deacon Rose.
First gracing our ear drums with his broad range of musical tastes on PBS’ show ‘Shake ‘n’ Bake’, Deacon’s talent and ear for good music didn’t go unnoticed, resulting in triple j placing him as the host of their forefront dance music show; ‘Mix Up’.
Every week Deacon presents to a national audience the latest in dance music, locally and from around the world. With no genre or sound safe, his mixes for the late night show have quickly gained a reputation as the go to place for great new music, both largely celebrated and relatively unknown.
When he’s not trawling through a bandwidth crunching amount of demos, mixes and music at triple j, he’s out on the decks, keeping club dance floors sweaty around Australia. We got the chance to witness this first hand at the recent Melbourne stint of the triple J House Party tour. A massive line up featuring Flume, What So Not, Nina Las Vegas and of course Deacon tore through 5 huge dates around the country in what has been described by the man himself as “epic”.
While always ready to play what ever the party may call for, Deacon’s exclusive mix for The Ripe showcase the types of sounds and music that he’s been loving and playing lately in his djs sets. Smooth, grooving techno and deep house fill the impressive track list throughout its 28 minutes of music. Tracks from Light Year, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs and Justin Martin as well as an exclusive unreleased track from Mr Rose himself effortlessly slide together in this very cool mix that has got us up and about and very excited for summer.
TRACKLIST
- Duke Dumont – No Money Blues [Turbo Recordings]
- Dusky – Flo Jam [Dogmatik Records]
- Deacon Rose – Know You [Unreleased]
- Justin Martin – Ruff Stuff [dirtybird]
- Disclosure – Latch ft Sam Smith [PMR Records]
- Eats Everything – Jagged Edge [Pets Recordings]
- Light Year – Moderation (Jori Hulkonnen Remix) [Motorik]
- Bobby Womack – Love Is Gonna Lift You Up (Julio Bashmore Remix) [XL Recordings]
- Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs – Your Love [Nice Age]
Q & A WITH DEACON ROSE
Matt Bladin: Deacon, you’ve long been involved with covering dance music, we first became familiar with your work on “Shake ‘n’ Bake” on PBS, now obviously your hosting the great Mix Up show on triple j. How was this step up and what is the most rewarding part of working with such an amazing music network that triple j is a part of?
Deacon Rose: Working for triple j’s been amazing. It’s a real honour and a privilege. So many doors have opened for me that may not have otherwise. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting some of the most talented producers in the world. Some of them I’d even call friends. I’ve been to countless shows and festivals. I’ve done cool stuff like broadcasted from backstage at Parklife and toured with a bunch of legends for the House Party Tour. I’m not sure I’ll ever have another job as cool as this one. I’m forever grateful to triple j.
M.B: We managed to catch your set just before our interview with flume recently at Triple J House Party show in Melbourne. Hanging around afterwards its fair to say the show was defiantly a very loose sweaty affair, how did the rest of the tour go down?
D.R: Well… this was my first proper tour, so I don’t have anything to compare it to. Saying that I’m pretty sure this tour was freaking epic compared to most. It was 5 cities, some clubs big, some clubs small and the lineup was bonkers. Like… when do you ever see 4 genuine club headliners all playing in the same club? I don’t include myself in that 4 because well, I’m not on the same level as those dudes (and ladydudes, sup Nina). Say 4.5. I haven’t partied that hard in a while. It was epic. And the best part was everybody on that tour played properly good music. And we all play different stuff. It was just the best. I hope I’m involved in something like that again.
M.B: Mix Up on triple j is highly regarded as a hotbed for exciting new dance and electronic music, As its host how do you go about finding and deciding what goes in each weeks show?
D.R: Thanks! I really pride myself on bringing the newest/bestest records I possibly can each week. Someone else asked me this a while ago and I had to really think about it. There’s a tonne of different ways I come across new music. Obviously I get sent ALOT of promos. But I also spend ALOT of time each week hitting up blogs, charts, social media, triple j Unearthed and other online sites. Also, lots of DJs share music which is great. At triple j everyone’s putting everyone on to new music when they come across it. It’s just music geeks geeking out over music, you know.
M.B: Where do you think Australian dance music is headed in the next 12 months? And in a broader sense, how do you feel the rise of “EDM” in the mainstream is affecting producers looking to create more forward thinking music?
D.R: As for the Australian scene, what people tend to forget is that we’re a relatively small country. Also we’re not steeped in club culture. If you look at somewhere like the UK, or most of Europe for that matter, they’ve been really into dance music for a long time. They have amazing clubs, big clubs and the people get out and support the scene. That in turn feeds kids desire to start producing and thus the next generation is born. We’re a little behind our friends in Europe in that regard but we’re catching up quick. For a country of our size we go alright. If you look at the top end of EDM right now, Australia’s being represented nicely. Knife Party, Tommy Trash, Dirty South etc. Lightyear’s kicking ass right now. As is Anna Lunoe, Beni, Flume, Finger Prince, Shockone, Phetsta, Kito, Yolanda Be Cool etc etc.
It’s an exciting time for dance music in this country. The festival market is huge, club nights, particularly here in Melbourne, are killing it right now. Night’s like Survivor and Can’t Say are really pushing the envelope and booking DJs who play really great music. Not just hip hop and party styles but good electronic/dance music. They’re trying to really build something and it’s working.
As for the rise of “EDM”, I see it as a good thing. Underground culture can’t exist without the mainstream. The bigger the mainstream, the bigger the underground. The underground is where producers are pushing boundaries and creating forward thinking music. It’s win win for everybody. Kids who are 18/19 and into mainstream EDM, chances are in 2 or 3 years they’ll be banging on about how amazing Dirtybird Records are or loving minimal techno. It’s the way it goes.
M.B: When you go from hosting a show, where you showcase so much going on in dance music, to playing a more personal dj set for maybe 1-2 hours how to you determine what kind of sounds and music your going to play with?
D.R: It really depends on the party I’m playing. I like to try and keep people happy and match up with the vibe of the party/other DJs on the bill. If I play at Survivor I play deep house and techno, If I play at Capital in Perth I play electro, dubstep and drum and bass. However what I most prefer to play and is really “my sound” is what I’ve put in this mix.
M.B: What Acts, Producers or Australian music scenes are getting you excited at the moment?
D.R: As far as acts/producers go… on the home-front Flume/What So Not are uber-exciting, Lightyear is finally getting the credit he deserves and The Motorik crew in Sydney are doing good things on the techno front. Guys like The Mane Thing, Spenda C and Hermitude are killing it on the moombah/trap front. Perth’s got a wealth of bass music talent lead by Phetsta. Melbourne’s killing it on the deep/acid house front. Guys like Kris Baha, Harris Robotis, Mic Newman and co. Country Club (Cassian & Shazam) are doing great things. Beni’s got new stuff coming.
Internationally… the house music sound coming from the UK is my thing at the moment. It draws influence from 90s house, garage and bass music and it’s just great club music. Dudes like Julio Bashmore, Duke Dumont, Disclosure, Dusky and co. Killing it! Guys like Justin Martin and Claude Vonstroke are smashing it. TNGHT, Baauer and co are breaking down walls between club music and hip hop. A dude I’m really vibing is Bobby Tank. Then festival faves like TEED. It’s a good time to be into electronic music.
REVIEW AND Q&A BY MATT BLADIN