Bird Of Paradise - The Ransom Note Mix

Music

After we premiered this lovely bit of aural work from Bird Of Paradise a little while back we kept in constant contact with the almighty feathered genius in the hope that he might once more grace our pages before too long. As luck would have it, he was pretty keen on the idea as well as dug himself away in his studio nest to emerge not too much later with a two hour mix filled with some of the finest sounds this side of the sun. Settle yourself in for a two hour aural journey courtesy of Bird Of Paradise and read on as we have a lovely bit of back and forth with him;

So before we get down to it, they say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day; are you a breakfast kind of guy and what did you have this morning?

I love breakfast but I'm usually too gluttonous to settle for anything other than a mammoth portion of meat and eggs. I've been persuaded on to the smoothies and porridge (not together) recently to avoid having a triple heart bypass by the age of 30.

Where are you from & how did you get into your local scene?

I'm originally from Sunderland in the north east of England. The latter part is difficult to answer though.. I grew up on a large spectrum of music so it couldn't be pinned to one scene. The music I play and make today stems from a party me and my close friend Pav started in Sunderland years ago called 'Cubik'. We still DJ together today both against our will. Through that we met the DaDa lads who also DJ together against there will as Last Waltz. Now it’s like one big happy/angry family.

Describe your music in 3 words.

Miserable, Miserable, Miserable.

What kind of sounds have inspired you to create the music that you do?

It's not actually sounds or music that inspire me the most, although it helps. It's usually a concept I get in my head, like I'm making a soundtrack or even a track to portray the title of the music. I'm always, always inspired by atmospherics and impulse responses though.

What was the first electronic record you heard and how did it make you feel?

Robert Miles – Dreamland and The Prodigy – One Love single. Both records made me feel like a child on too much sugar. (I probably was)

How did the Bird of Paradise project come about?

I moved to Leeds a couple of years ago and started the project as an ode to a name a few friends called me. I'm not willing to disclose the reasons why though. You'll have to take me to dinner first.

If you could travel in time…where in time would you go? Why?

Forward, always forward. Momentum is a good thing. Plus, I'd be hoping on a dystopian steam punk civilisation to test my anthropological waters.

How does your brain work when making music? How does it work when you aren’t?

My brain doesn't work full stop.

What are you obsessed with at the moment?

Watching Marco Pierre White and Limmy Videos on YouTube. In that order.

Do you condition your beard?

It's felt the axe recently so I'm down to a modest amount of stubble. Even I'm not strange enough to just condition my face.

Do you use live strings in this mix or is it all electronic?

A bit of everything really. I'd hate to be pigeonholed into playing one type of music.

What genres of music do you listen to?

Post Punk, Electronica, House, Big Beat, New Beat, Industrial, Breakbeat, Hip Hop and on and on….

What's your favourite song at the moment?

My favourite song of all time is a three way split between Touch Me by The Doors, Teenage FBI by Guided by Voices and If I Could by the band Mineral.

Do you have a musical guilty pleasure?

Will Smith – Wild Wild West. The only song I know all of the lyrics too.

Onto the mix…

Where was the mix recorded?

My home in Leeds

What would be the ideal setting to listen to the mix?

Crying, in the bath.

What should we be wearing?

Tunics and Jerkins, perhaps a doublet.

What would be your dream setting to record a mix: Location/system/format?

On a boat in the middle of an utterly motionless lake in Patagonia. System and format are pretty meaningless after that and would also be a logistical nightmare.

Which track in the mix is your current favourite?

Tempelhof and Gigi Masin – Buena Onda (Balearic Gabba Sound System)

What’s your favourite recorded mix of all time?

I couldn’t honestly say, I’m not very sentimental. My favourite mix of the last couple of years is a Matthew Burgess mix for Balearic Social, and i know i’m not alone in saying that.

What’s more important, the track you start on or the track you end on?

They all have to be important and mean something. Nothings going in for filler.

What were the first and last records you bought?

The Clash – S/T and Ptaki – Przelot which I bought yesterday from 586 records in Newcastle. A must visit.

If this mix was an edible thing, what would it taste like?

Wallpaper paste.

If it was an animal what would it be?

The first cloned Mammoth to grace itself back on earth.

One record in your collection that is impossible to mix into anything?

This solely depends on how drunk or sober I am.

What's round the corner for Bird of Paradise?

A few releases before the end of the year on Correspondant, HAKT, Multi Culti, Blindetonation and Join our Club. Following that into next year with releases on LBL and Clouded Vision. A few remixes forthcoming as well.

Shows around Europe end of this year and to the America’s beginning of next year.