On the Third day of Choonsmas, we have a gift worthy of a crown....Ambient Babestation Meltdown!
Over the last couple of years, Rachael has been an incredible friend to the crew; offering party support and advice when times got tough, introducing us to Dina Gad - Crack The Whip for the first time when we played together at Dare2, and throwing down tonnes of love for us and our antics, which means a lot coming from someone who is so well regarded as one of the top dogs at Peckham's brilliant record store, club, & social space: Rye Wax. Since knowing Rachael, she has taken on the Ambient Babestation Meltdown moniker and entranced crowds across the nation; performing an intimate set featuring tongue in cheek vocal snippets and interactive mic-work, including a much talked about, off kilter performance at none other than the prestigious Field Manuevers Festival.
With Rachael, as Ambient Babestation Meltdown, set to perform at the same postponed Semi Peppered x Boiling Point party as Tilly & Balou were earlier this year, we thought it just as right to hear from her about A.B.M's top tracks & highlights from 2020...
On the Third day of Choonsmas, we have a gift worthy of a crown....Ambient Babestation Meltdown!
Over the last couple of years, Rachael has been an incredible friend to the crew; offering party support and advice when times got tough, introducing us to Dina Gad - Crack The Whip for the first time when we played together at Dare2, and throwing down tonnes of love for us and our antics, which means a lot coming from someone who is so well regarded as one of the top dogs at Peckham's brilliant record store, club, & social space: Rye Wax. Since knowing Rachael, she has taken on the Ambient Babestation Meltdown moniker and entranced crowds across the nation; performing an intimate set featuring tongue in cheek vocal snippets and interactive mic-work, including a much talked about, off kilter performance at none other than the prestigious Field Manuevers Festival.
With Rachael, as Ambient Babestation Meltdown, set to perform at the same postponed Semi Peppered x Boiling Point party as Tilly & Balou were earlier this year, we thought it just as right to hear from her about A.B.M's top tracks & highlights from 2020...
Here’s a lil selection of a few of my fave tracks that have gone into Ambient Babestation Meltdown mixes this year, and a few tracks that I plan to feature in upcoming mixes. Finding new music was never a problem working at Rye Wax, but as we’ve been shut since March I’ve been having to dig A LOT DEEPER and I think it’s helped make my mixes a lot weirder haha. Please enjoy my selection and dream of the day we can all float about the club in silly outfits and silly states once again.
The first time I heard this it moved me to tears.
Two close mates collab-ing and also they stole my thunder (samples).
It’s just super lush.
I honestly can’t cope with how sick this tune is.
I have so much admiration for Gayphextwin’s work and I was gutted her live set at Rye Wax was cancelled in March in the first shutdown.
I love the intricacies of this tune and I also love that the EP is named after a road near my house lol.
Maybe this doesn’t count, but Twitter recently reminded me of Alison Brie’s pastiche of the sexy santa/santa baby on Community so that’s probably a good shout cos she’s hot.
Rye Wax being awarded the Culture Recovery Fund, winning that meant a lot to me.
Snogging people.
Thank you to everyone that has been a part of Choonsmas this year, it's been a lovely way to end a turbulent year <3
Tracy: The selections picked by us are tunes that we’ve rinsed a lot this year and played quite often on our radio shows. I think they represent our sound as individual DJs but also as a collective.
In no particular order these are our top releases from 2020. Coincidentally featuring plenty of previous Cue guests (we’re not biased, honest) alongside some other favourites.
Here's some choons, new and old that kept us going in this weird as hell year. Hope you enjoy.
Apologies! I’ve not bought a new release since the Music from Memory Almost Grown record, which was still a reissue haha! These ones are some of my fave digs from the year - a mixture of cheap and hard to find stuff, records that I have wanted for a while but managed to cop this year. Lots of digging and hermiting time, hope you like them/find them interesting! Merry xmas 💖💖 xx
d. clemente: Same as last year, I am here with a whole selection of dance music (sorry I actually don’t listen to anything else lol) that made me go like “wow, yeehaw, yes, alright alright, mmmmm”. DJ SWEAT: *siren plays* D-D-D-D-DJ SWEAT on tha haus! *toilet sound* merry all! *jingle jingle*
Compiling this list for the SP crew made me realise how many amazing releases came out this year, a cause for celebration in a year of woe. This list scrapes the tip of the iceberg in terms of what I’ve enjoyed, but I have somehow narrowed it down to 8 LPs of 2020 that I have been rinsing and repeating.
Some of the stuff we have been digging this year and personal finds!
The Trouserlings + Papi Ruari bring you another collection of varied morsels to warm the cockles. Here is to another year of following the Semi Peppered boys blindly into the sun.
This has been a weird af year but here are some highlights from us which we hope you enjoy. Special shout out to Goutham for having the self control to not list Cockroach - Pearl (Bright Edit) [COMPOSE] {1996} multiple times.
I mostly mix techno / breaks / house / fusion music. So I’ve tried to include six tunes that showcase these genres as much as possible! One thing I’ve learned from mixing is that there is endless music to explore and to never make your mind up on whether or not you like an entire genre! Fusing elements of one genre into another is a real game changer for me :)
Tracy: The selections picked by us are tunes that we’ve rinsed a lot this year and played quite often on our radio shows. I think they represent our sound as individual DJs but also as a collective.
Not much new music in here (we’re crap at keeping up to date), but lots of goodies that we’ve played and enjoyed both inside and outside the space this year
Thank you to everyone that has been a part of Choonsmas this year, it's been a lovely way to end a turbulent year <3
I really had to stop myself from putting Babyfather’s ‘Meditation’ as my sole entry to this list because I’ve been playing that every day for the last three years. I thought it would be best to solely focus on tracks that have been released this year so here’s a list of my faves. Most of them have been included in mixes and radio shows and danced to in my parents’ living room.
ETN: "We've spent most of the year agonisingly far apart from each other so our choices and highlights feel very unconnected. Doing our Noods shows as socially-distanced fb-chat b2bs has been an interesting diversion, but we're longing for the affectionate chaos of the studio sessions. We all miss each other and hopefully next year will be full of the shared experiences and connection that are the best things about being a Shrubbery!" Chukwudi: "Having blown my last ETN royalty cheque investing in phonecards, I've asked the band to get together for one last reunion gig so that I can keep the lights on this Christmas. Unfortunately all the clubs are closed so I've had to make do with an (apparently unpaid) spot on the semi peppered xmas countdown instead."
Robbie: "Some highlights from a rollercoaster year, remembering the soundtrack of initial lockdown turmoil to reminiscing about the last tunes heard in the club." David: "As someone whose main hobby is clubbing and nightlife, this year I haven't stopped listening to dance music. Here's some new tunes I really look forward to listening to on a big soundsystem."
What ho!? The sun has shone, the birds have tweep tweeped and the second edition of our Peppered Digs is launched for public enjoyment. Celebrate the springtime harbingers with some bangers in bloom :)
2020 has been tough, and we’ve been fortunate enough to get through it with the help of those close to us. Now we hope you can join us in looking to 2021 as another year to be inspired by one another, and to keep on keeping on together.
Here are some of my top listens this year - ones that I've been playing and replaying. Most have been released in 2020, with a sprinkle of oldies too. I inevitably remembered loads that should be in here after making this, but I hope in sifting through this list there will be some enjoyable/meaningful listens in store for Semi Peppered friends and followers 🐇
Taïga: There’s going to be no jungle / 160 I’m afraid, if anyone wants to hear our fave selections from that genre they can just listen to any of our sets! Mia: 2021 has been a great year for music, much like last year, the year before that, and all the other years. I don’t really think it’s possible for there to be an entire year where the whole planet collectively just puts out shit music, even if artists like Burial are giving it their best shot.
A varying degree of musical tastes seem to exist within the Left, Right & Centre camp between ourselves so there may be a bit of disparity between each of our selections. However I think we can both agree that it’s been a topsy turvy year, but there has been lots of highs for us as a label and party, as well as individually. Huge shout out to all the crews doing the do and pushing things along in Manchester and further afield, and of course a big thank you to the Semi Peppered dons for getting us involved.
We hope you enjoy sifting through our proper mixed bag of tunes that have soundtracked an incredibly west period in history. We feel these releases have been on the ride with us and deserve acknowledgement. What better way than a big old peppered round up eh?
Our top 8 tracks of 2020 (we’ve listened to tonnes of old ones from the 80s through out the digging process but we’ve tried to keep this strictly 2020 - with some of our fave oldies thrown in) but also less club focussed as clubbing seems so redundant right now (although we have thrown a few heaters in for you). A mixed bag for a funny old time!
SP: It's actually entirely to do with the pubs reopening. Enjoy with caution
Tried to keep it as weird as possible. And shed some light on some smaller acts from Bristol to Chicargooooooo.
We’re Emma and Jonah, old friends and lifelong music obsessives. We both share a love for tunes that make us nostalgic for a neon lit past that didn’t happen. If it clears the floor, we want more.
MLE: Hi, you may remember me from radio stations such as Balamii, Noods, Worldwide FM and the occasional guest appearances on NTS. Find my 2020 highlights alongside my fav bunch of dawgs…May 2021 be infinitely less painful. Solway Canine Collective: Ruff noises straight from the kennel. Another year of gutter tunes from the junkyard dawgs.
Ed: My selections reflect exactly what I’ve been listening to over the last year or two - lots of slow music to soundtrack many days spent at home. I’ve thrown one freaky dance tune in there for good measure, to keep the aliens over at Semi Peppered happy. Ben: Mad dog by name mad dog by nature, woof woof MLE: I am so strong haha
We’re long time friends and musical collaborators born and raised in Sheffield and now living West of the Pennines in Manchester. We spent some years in Sheffield running ‘Don’t Look Now’, a series of ludicrous parties, expressing our shared love of club culture and the musical heritage of the Steel City. Having temporarily taken a step back from promotion we now also host a monthly radio show called Roadside Picnic in which we can explore our more otherworldly thoughts and dreams.
SP: Huge shouts to everyone who was there for us and supported us in music and beyond last year, we look forwards to sharing good times together again soon!
