He’s a designer…He’s a producer… Together they are the esteemed cowboy crimefighters from the Yorkshire desert, protecting the trans-Pennine wagon-route from banditos and looking damn good whilst doing it. Known once by the name of Don’t Look Now, after their regular Sheffield-based hoedown which hosted some of our favourite acts in the realm of dark UK club music, and now feared & respected as Roadside Picnic, a monthly show on Melodic Distraction serving up rootin’ tootin’ roadkill subs of jungle, techno, electro, dnb and the rest; we welcome Boris Cobblestone & Deburgh to the Digs Series.
Whilst we have only known the pair for a short time, they quickly won over the Peppered hearts with their warm Sheffield charm, insane talent over many fronts and exceptional taste in tunes...
He’s a designer…He’s a producer… Together they are the esteemed cowboy crimefighters from the Yorkshire desert, protecting the trans-Pennine wagon-route from banditos and looking damn good whilst doing it. Known once by the name of Don’t Look Now, after their regular Sheffield-based hoedown which hosted some of our favourite acts in the realm of dark UK club music, and now feared & respected as Roadside Picnic, a monthly show on Melodic Distraction serving up rootin’ tootin’ roadkill subs of jungle, techno, electro, dnb and the rest; we welcome Boris Cobblestone & Deburgh to the Digs Series.
Whilst we have only known the pair for a short time, they quickly won over the Peppered hearts with their warm Sheffield charm, insane talent over many fronts and exceptional taste in tunes...
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.
Boris Cobblestone: The LP artwork for ‘Time Tourist’ seems to depict the cover of a futuristic computer game from the year 2195 in which the player can experience the ancient, primitive world of late 20th century London. Sweeping synth pads and laser beam laden drum patterns make up this visionary piece. However seeing as I have to pick one track it would have to be Epilion. An absolute sci-fi slammer.
Deburgh: Long player of rhythmic oddities courtesy of Glasgow via Lisbon producer Luar Domatrix. Moving through various different tempos and moods there’s plenty to unpack here and excite both home listeners and dancers a like. Personal highlights include the summer time shuffle of Angeltio and contorted madness of FTM.
Boris Cobblestone: Maybe this track came to mind because ‘Pub’ and ‘Summer’ are two words that have been swimming around my brain for some time now. Or maybe it’s the fact that this delicate, warm and hypnotic beauty is 16 and a bit minutes of pure sun-saturated bliss.
Deburgh: Tear jerking beauty from Tribe of Colin’s 2017 epic: Longing Sorrow of a Blissful Mist. Jump head first into the fountain and let its blissful melodies wash over you as you feel your spirits revived with a youthful vigour.
Boris Cobblestone: The ancient school of Japanese swordsmanship ‘Niten Ichiryu’ is famous for its techniques involving two swords at once, therefore being able to dominate even the most formidable opponents. Perhaps a similarly powerful and merciless procedure is Photek’s percussion work on this 90’s DnB belter.
Deburgh: Raw B-side magic from Steely and Clevie. Stripping things back to basics with a sparse but heavy beat, they keep things moving with an ear worming synth line and snatches of dubbed out vocals. With each element falling perfectly into place, it’s hard to resist moving your feet to this deceptively simple track.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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."
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 🐇
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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."
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*
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
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!
Here's some choons, new and old that kept us going in this weird as hell year. Hope you enjoy.
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?
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 :)
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!
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
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.
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
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’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.
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 :)
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.
SP: It's actually entirely to do with the pubs reopening. Enjoy with caution
