How exactly we got from sharing Idris Muhammad records with Emma as a wean, to finding a mutual love for Pet Shop Boys on a Croatian bus with Jonah is a bit of a blurred timeline, but there have been several cherished moments along the way.
None is held in such a high regard as the fabled white tent moment, where I-F delivered a 7am serving of Man After Midnight to act as the crescendo to a beautiful Summer’s romance; chewing one another’s ears off gloriously until the sun came up over the Tisno Garden.
And whilst a trip to Berlin to party with two of the wildest cats we know is long overdue, we are happy to make do with a selection of their most sexiest, cosmic Italo for this months Guest Digs!
How exactly we got from sharing Idris Muhammad records with Emma as a wean, to finding a mutual love for Pet Shop Boys on a Croatian bus with Jonah is a bit of a blurred timeline, but there have been several cherished moments along the way.
None is held in such a high regard as the fabled white tent moment, where I-F delivered a 7am serving of Man After Midnight to act as the crescendo to a beautiful Summer’s romance; chewing one another’s ears off gloriously until the sun came up over the Tisno Garden.
And whilst a trip to Berlin to party with two of the wildest cats we know is long overdue, we are happy to make do with a selection of their most sexiest, cosmic Italo for this months Guest Digs!
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.
Downtempo number perfect for those on the rebound from Daniela Poggi aka Mrs. November in the Hot Girls of Italo Disco 2021 calendar. This reminds us of meeting each other for the first time years ago. Caution: Tears may ensue on the dancefloor when played.
Twisted, seedy and off the wall from 1983. Production levels outside and ahead of its time. Heard within the depths of an empty Cosmic Hole at the late, great Griessmuhle. RIP!!
Our current obsession on daily rotation. Synth pop plunged in a perfect layer of cheese from these snappily dressed Swiss youngsters.
Haunting with an amateurish charm and rare as hen’s teeth to boot. Burrowed it’s way into my psyche years ago and there it will remain for many more years. I love this song.
Greek Italo Disco. Greco Disco?
Pure sleaze from the Soundtrack to the 1986 French film Cents Francs L’Amour. I’ve never seen it so God knows if the film is any good, but the music is killer.
From the duo who’s 'Girls on Me' release -supposedly- first coined the term Italo-disco. This one is for the end of the night as the lights go up solo groovers, melancholic joy.
A foot tapper for even the shyest of dancers. Lasers, guitars, a melody that will play in your head long after it’s turned off, what more could you want?
It wouldn’t be a list of Italo-disco without including an imitated (never replicated!) track and over sampled vocals, and this track ticks both boxes in one go.
Benji DF banging the box with Castro Boy (for those who know) at the Sound Metaphors open air last summer has tided us over the winter months in lockdown. Also shouts to the Astral VIP boys for the greatest morning glory set deep in Erkner.
A post covid world in which the dancefloor is no longer taboo and a return to a Rickylicious lifestyle.
Emma: Smooth and spicy, a ringstinger always.
Jonah: Thick like the Poblano, as life comes at you fast and you need to be resilient in this cold world.
Wise words from both, particularly with Jonah's quote straight out of an alternative Ferris Bueller Dystopia. Make sure to keep up with Emma's RA affairs on the IG & Jonah's DJing exploits on the SC & IG for more cosmic wonderment!
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.
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: It's actually entirely to do with the pubs reopening. Enjoy with caution
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
Tried to keep it as weird as possible. And shed some light on some smaller acts from Bristol to Chicargooooooo.
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 some choons, new and old that kept us going in this weird as hell year. Hope you enjoy.
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."
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.
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!
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."
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
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.
Some of the stuff we have been digging this year and personal finds!
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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?
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 :)
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!
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
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 :)
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*
