Chunky space grooves from Melbourne's Bex!
With memories of the dancefloor becoming blurrier by the month, we’re handing it over to Melbourne’s Bex, a lovely human, super slick DJ and one of the finest diggers of vintage tech-house, minimal and techno around for an extended rewind through space and time, digging out dusty atmospheric rollers and nods to the tech-house gods of the 90s and 00s golden years. One for the deep tech nostalgics and early morning groovers.. Lock in!
Hi Bec! What’s been happening? How have you been spending your time during this strange old year?
Hey Myles! Just riding the waves of this lockdown in Melbourne at the moment! My work got shut down in March so I’ve had endless time to focus on my creative endeavours and passions, like painting and music. I also decided to finally do my Masters in Arts Management and it’s been great to focus on study as well. I’ve been piecing together mixes (like this one) but also spending time exploring and listening to a more diverse range of music that’s less dance floor orientated.
For those that aren’t familiar with your sound, I know you’ve got a great ear for the techier atmospheric sounds from the golden years of the 90s and beyond. Tell us a bit about how you connected with that sound, and what are some of your all-time tech house classics?
I feel like I started my experience with dance music listening to lots of deep house and a little bit of tech house, but mostly stuff that was made after like 2005, not on purpose, but it just kinda happened. Then a good friend of mine showed me a Mark Ambrose tune, and I’ll never forget it, it was like my brain was being rewired and I was like ‘woaaaah this is THE sound! This is sick!’ and I’ve been hooked ever since.
I love that atmospheric, baseline driven sound, even better when it’s tinged with a bit of acid! But what I also love about these classics is the process of digging and discovering, you can get so deep in it, and it’s so interesting reading about the history of it all, how all these producers are connected, and reading about all their aliases and collaborations – it was a really special time! There are some great releases from the last decade from new producers that are really honouring that sound.
All time favourite classics – really hard question because there are so many! Mark Ambrose’s Smokey Clinic EP is one of my favourite releases of his. It’s Thinking – Afterglow (Bushwacka Remix), I’ll never get sick of listening to that track. Anything from the legendary Da Kine (or any of his aliases), like Terry Lee Brown Jr – City Lights and East 2 West. Another one that I really love is Aubrey – Cast Your Rod, a really pacey classic from 95.
What can you tell us about this mix you’ve recorded for us? Any special tracks in there you would like to mention?
I’ve mixed some of my all time favourite records and tracks that I’ve kept coming back to over the years, along with some of my favourite more recent releases. I’ve definitely got an affinity for that techier sound like you mentioned, but I also wanted to ease into the mix with some more minimal stuff, which I also have a real soft spot for. I’ve filled it with heaps of driving dance floor movers (because I’m really missing the dance floor!). There are definitely a few special tracks in there, like the new Norachi release from Melbourne label Vessel. Another special track I’ve included is a remix by Appleheadz, of Primitive – Translations, which I was very excited to see re-released digitally recently – I look forward to seeing more from the vaults of Asad Rizvi, he’s a genius!
I know you’ve also been busy working on a project combining art and music to support local DJs and musicians who have been out of work this year, what can you tell us about all that?
Yes! It’s a mix series called Space Cast which will be an exchange of music and art. The concept is to explore more experimental, minimal and ambient music, that makes us feel more grounded, and lets us tune out and create space in the mind and the body. It’s also a way to showcase the other side of the collections of djs and music heads in Melbourne, and to combine my two passions, art and music. I’ll be making a piece of artwork in response to the music and a limited run of prints of the artwork will be released each month alongside the mix. At the very least it will be a great exchange project, and a way to connect people in this weird time, but I’m hoping it will also become a platform to help support some local creatives who have really suffered financially since COVID hit. I hope to launch it in the next couple of months and I’ve already got some amazing mixes lined up that I can’t wait to share! Stay tuned!
Tracklist:
Chris Ferreira – Cosmic Tear [C12]
Christopher Ledger – Afterglow [Amphia]
Armless Kid – Untitled [Nuances de Nuit]
Subb-an & Thoma Bulwer- Cosmic Break [Constant Black]
Norachi – Nurture [Vessel]
Mandar – Ascend [Oscillat Music]
Harry Wills – Iffy [Haws]
Huerta – Tatra Motokov [SlapFunk Records]
Pakzad – Clutch [Constant Sound]
Ilyes & Gauvin – Hyeroglitch [Kaizenrecordsberlin]
Upsammy – 09-06 [Nous’klaer Audio]
Lisene – Re-Entry [Seven Hills Records]
Cristian Sarde – Different Path Today [Squeeze the Lemon Music]
Sichuan – Mugen [Normandy Records]
Koga – ORKL [Die Orakel]
Etienne – Orbofpower [Reductive Records]
Giammarco Orsini – Achimal [Partisan]
Metro – Here For The Love (Metropolitan Acid Mix) [Bassex Records]
Silverlining – Quick Scrub (Dub) [Silverlining Dubs]
Primitive – Translations 1 (Appleheadz Remix) [Neotrpiq]
Z@p – Different Ways [Opia]
Unknown Artist – Epicerie.008 [Rakya]
Adam Pits – Pixelate [Haws]
Binh – Mandarine [Cabaret]
Pilgrims of the Mind – Subtropique – [Echovolt Records]
Priori – Tulip A/B (Beat)