Published
Tue, Mar 3, 2015, 15:00
- Darren Cunningham's hour-long mix draws on artists like Autechre, STL, John Beltran and Chez N Trent.
Actress has mixed the 49th instalment in !K7's DJ-Kicks series.
This is Darren Cunningham's first commercial mix. The Werkdiscs man has drawn on a selection of vintage sounds from Chicago and Detroit (Reel By Real, John Beltran, Chez N Trent, Gherkin Jerks) alongside newer talent (Greg Beato, AKA Breaker 1 2, Hank Jackson) and experimental fare (Lorenzo Senni, Autechre, Mark Fell).
"When I'm selecting music I'm not always thinking about the music alone," Cunningham says. "I'm thinking about the names of the artists, tracks, and labels, and what they mean to me. I often base my tracklisting purely on how well the track titles work together in a poetic sense. I've tried to keep space between tracks, allowing them to speak. I tried not to force BPM shifts and to let the programming remain choppy and quick."
In keeping with DJ-Kicks tradition, Cunningham has included an exclusive track on the mix ("Bird Matrix"). "My studio was going through a transition, so I was testing all the equipment, and that was one of the first tunes that came out of those experiments," he says. In addition to the mix, which will be available digitally and on CD, a selection of nine tracks will be pressed onto vinyl. It's due out on May 1st in Germany, May 5th in the US and May 4th in the rest of the world.
Tracklist
CD mix:
01. Breaker 1 2 – 2
02. Lorenzo Senni – Elegant, And Never Tiring
03. Reel By Real – Look At Me
04. Autechre – Pen Expers
05. Chameleon – Thought 2
06. Beneath – Stress 1
07. Simbiosi – Impari
08. Zennor – Tin
09. John Beltran – Anticipation
10. Moon B – Those Moments
11. STL – Psychelicious
12. Snakepiss – Toil
13. Shit And Shine – Pearl Drop
14. Chez N Trent – Windy City Club
15. Mark Fell – Section 1-7
16. GNESIS – Pear
17. Shxcxchcxsh – LDWGWTT
18. Hank Jackson – Track 3
19. Actress – Bird Matrix (DJ-Kicks)
20. Gherkin Jerks – Red Planet
Vinyl ("Side Splits"):
A1 Lorenzo Senni – Elegant, And Never Tiring
A2 Reel By Real – Look At Me
A3 Simbiosi – Impari
B1 John Beltran – Anticipation
B2 Shit And Shine – Pearl Drop
C1 Chez n Trent – Windy City Club
C2 Mark Fell – Section 1-7
D1 Actress – Bird Matrix (DJ-Kicks)
D2 Gherkin Jerks – Red Planet
!K7 Records will release DJ-Kicks: Actress on May 1st, 2015.