On the Fourth day of Choonsmas, we've got some sweet Mantecados.... d. clemente & DJ SWEAT the speed aficionados
If you're struggling to get excited about Christmas, David & Andrés are the turbo-mega-turbine-jet-engine powered speed merchants to send the chrimbo-lust into overdrive. David is the Canary Islands -> Manny via Bristol export who has been winning hearts and turning heads across the rainy city with his unparalleled loveability and infectious personality (gorgeous smile too), so when he introduced us to Andrés it was no surprise that he was just as much of a heart-stopper too. Andrés' (fka as Speed Gonzales) had been running a monthly party every Thursday called Happy Endings at Dalston Superstore, the venue where these 2 Speed kings met. Despite living back in the homeland in Madrid now, there is no amount of miles that can deter a friendship made on a dancefloor over speed (music obvs), and these 2 couldn't have a stronger bond when it comes down to the way they play and what they play.
Both are rave buddies you'd be proud to bring back to your parents for Christmas, and we're delighted to have an insight into their lit gear in a shit year.
On the Fourth day of Choonsmas, we've got some sweet Mantecados.... d. clemente & DJ SWEAT the speed aficionados
If you're struggling to get excited about Christmas, David & Andrés are the turbo-mega-turbine-jet-engine powered speed merchants to send the chrimbo-lust into overdrive. David is the Canary Islands -> Manny via Bristol export who has been winning hearts and turning heads across the rainy city with his unparalleled loveability and infectious personality (gorgeous smile too), so when he introduced us to Andrés it was no surprise that he was just as much of a heart-stopper too. Andrés' (fka as Speed Gonzales) had been running a monthly party every Thursday called Happy Endings at Dalston Superstore, the venue where these 2 Speed kings met. Despite living back in the homeland in Madrid now, there is no amount of miles that can deter a friendship made on a dancefloor over speed (music obvs), and these 2 couldn't have a stronger bond when it comes down to the way they play and what they play.
Both are rave buddies you'd be proud to bring back to your parents for Christmas, and we're delighted to have an insight into their lit gear in a shit year.
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*
David: Alright so this whole album (Headbanging In The Club) by W00DY just broke me into pieces and made me headbang all the way back from work on my bike one day. Only for those ready for hectic club tunes.
Andrés: Not only Trax Haven has become one of my fav labels recently -the ones you know for sure are gonna provide the goods-, this track also has all the elements i can ask for: breaks, bass and a nice funny vocal.
Andrés: This one hits special. Even tho it is at a bpm range I don't normally play, you can push it up to 145 and doing so it has helped me start a lot of mixes this year confidently. It also blends incredibly with whatever you wanna play next if you like it chopped and screwed (as i do).
David: The production behind this tune is unreal, the reaction from people in the club when they hear it is magical. This whole album was on the works for 5 years; you can tell. One for the 160+ fans.
David: If you’ve ever met INGI in person you probably thought “oh my god what a sweetie!”. Now have you ever listened to his tunes? Up and coming and banging all the way through it. Here’s to Wrestle, a masterpiece from his release with Fly By Night Recordings. Get to know!
Andrés: Released on the 1st of January (ufff), this was one of the first tracks I fell in love this year. Club Cab has become a must in my USB, he combines perfectly the best of Detroit and Chicago in his heavy bouncers. On this one he also keeps a bond with the UK with those rave stabs on top <3
Andrés: The way ERAM and all the ZONAEXP. collective has shaken the scene recently is amazing. Straight (QUEER ACTUALLY!) from Brazil, her and her clicka have been delivering absolute stompers in the recent years and this whole VA is the best example of that.
Andrés: I cant remember really, it’s been all blurry and I keep meshing this year with the one before. I’d say getting back to play in clubs and feel the sweat and smell of people dancing around. Also getting out my first EP I guess at the beginning of the year it was also a highlight. Getting some ps from it it was also a nice feeling (literally ps). Releasing the first album of Ugly Drugless and hitting the three figures on donations to the London Trans Fund We Exist felt also really good. And last, but not least, getting to Manchester with David and meeting all this amazing people up there was refreshing; I came back to London sad coz of the comedown but with my chest full of love <3
David: A couple of weekends ago I co-ran my first ever club night, TOUGH ACT, at The White Hotel, a place I’m happy to call home. Meeting and dancing with so many new queer faces was the most therapeutic thing that’s happened to me all year. It’s amazing to see how many of us out there needed a new sound for the queer nightlife of Manchester. Watch out for more events in 2022!
David: For some time now I’ve been thinking of running charity events for different causes I deem important. I have made a decision that this cannot get past 2022, so I am really looking forward to doing this alongside some of my best friends in Manchester!
Andrés: I just wanna make a lot of music, dance a lot, have infinite laughs and also maybe play a bit more if possible. I just moved to Madrid for now, so It’d be also nice to start a queer night here and bring all my queerdos from London and have a blast. I can’t ask for more, I kinda have it all :)
Andrés: I hate xmas songs in general, so when I was looking for one for this I found XXXTentacion had made a ‘xmas carol’ and I thought it was funny. I dont even really like it, I’m basically taking a bit the piss (with love)
David: Okay, so I think Christmas music is well cringy. This tune was the soundtrack for Spain’s Christmas Lottery ad in 2013, featuring a lot of cringeworthy Spanish artists. Everyone spoke about this for months. Watch this, cringe out and have nightmares with Monserrat Caballé looking like Yubaba from Spirited Away.
You can keep up with d. clemente & DJ SWEAT on their Instagrams - make sure to catch them playing at some point in the new year!
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.
Here's some choons, new and old that kept us going in this weird as hell year. Hope you enjoy.
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
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.
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."
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.
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!
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
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."
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.
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.
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.
Some of the stuff we have been digging this year and personal finds!
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.
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.
SP: It's actually entirely to do with the pubs reopening. Enjoy with caution
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 🐇
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 :)
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.
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
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 :)
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!
