Basic Moves: The ‘Monday Is Okay’ Mix
Basic Moves is a Brussels-based "outsider club music" label run by Islas and Walrus. Next month they will give birth to their fifth release, a techno 12" which comes from a mysterious NYC producer. They also run the experimental Gems Under The Horizon night, the next edition of which takes place in September.
The duo have kindly put together this pulsating, otherworldly mix for us – featuring music from the likes of Peter Zummo, Kid 606 and Cristian Vogel, dig in below…
Please introduce yourself – who/where/what are you?
Hello. We are Islas from Reading and Walrus from Brussels. Together we run Basic Moves, which is a platform for outsider club music but we also share a common love for experimental and ambient music, that’s how Gems Under The Horizon was born.
Tell us about the Monday Mix you've put together for us. Where was it recorded?
It was recorded on a carpet in Ailsa's apartment using two record players, a Rodec mixer and B&O BeoVox S55 loudspeakers and a NAD amplifier (with a parasite inside).
What would be the ideal setting to listen to the mix?
With the windows open and the sound of spring creeping in.
What should we be wearing?
Gemstones and nothing else.
What would be your dream setting to record a mix?
This situation wasn’t so bad… maybe we will do it again!
Which track in the mix is your current favourite?
Islas: Cristian Vogel – 'Partials'
Walrus: Sheffield/Rippie – 'Variations for Harp'
What’s your favourite recorded mix of all time?
I: E/Tape – Perm podcast
W: Ricardo Villalobos – Taka Taka
If you could go back to back with any DJ from throughout history, who would it be?
W: Chris Duckenfield
I: Terre Thaemlitz
What was your first DJ set up at home and what is it now?
W: 1cd player+1k7dek and a crap mixer. Now it’s 2 x sl1210+xone42.
I: 1 broken technics sl1210, 1 gemini pt-1000 II, Rodec MX 18 – first and same setup
What’s more important, the track you start on or the track you end on?
The track in the middle.
Who got you hooked on electronic music?
W: My first drum teacher called Guy, who used a Roland MC-303 as a metronome.
I: My dad and his Orb tapes in the car.
What were the first and last records you bought?
W: Kraftwerk/'Radioactivity' and Donarra/'Cienne D’Humanité'
I: Health/'Get Color' and Susumu Yokota/'Sakura'
If this mix was an edible thing, what would it taste like?
It is edible, it’s air, breathe it in.
If it was an animal what would it be?
A sankofa bird (see lead image)
One record in your collection that is impossible to mix into anything?
Create context and all good music is mixable.
What are you obsessed with at the moment?
W: Realising that the quest for music, art, cinema… is endless…
I: Derek Jarman soundtracks.
What's your answer to everything?
Move, basically.
Anything else we need to discuss?
Check out the next Basic Moves release from a mysterious producer from NYC. Out on May 14th. You can listen to the snippets here.
And in September we will be hosting Gems Under The Horizon II: an afternoon of undogmatic ambient and chillout music emanating from a hidden inner city ballroom in Brussels. Keep your eyes and ears peeled!
Have a lovely Monday.
I&W
Mix tracklist:
ex-terrestrial * dreams of jupiter
palta * pa gensyn
kid 606 * around (siliconia rmx)
heavenly music corporation * nautilus
soundchambers * b2
peter zummo * song IV
pluramon * teental
sheffield/rippie * variations for harp
davy * the long now
mick clark * spectro
cristian vogel * partials
