On the seventh day of Choonsmas, what gifts do we bestow….why it's the ETN crew with Chukwudi wearin' a bow!
From the very start of Semi Peppered, these guys have been like huge pleasant thorns in our sides - we just can’t/won’t get rid of them! From DJing at the first SP nights to giving us some technic tutorials, and then eventually shedding the veneer of being incredibly cool in the sweaty midst of the famous Dirtytalk nights; Chudi, Gav, Tim, & Will have in a lot of ways been hugely influential friends for us as a crew over the years. The Bruits De La Passion night at Latch opened Marko's mind to a whole new way of interpretating music, it was that good. Whilst doing what they do best - DJing - has been sidelined, this year has seen Tim follow suit of Gav’s exploits as Ongo Gablogian on Youtube with his own channel, aptly named after himself: ‘Tim Lawson’. In London, Chudi has enjoyed the fruits of finally getting some breathing space between him and Gav by continuing with his amazing ‘ASMR Sound Catalogue’ show on Noods’, with the lovely Sideman DeeJay, whilst also starting ’The Lens’ show on Threads Radio. Frustratingly though, we will have to wait until the new year before we can experience the first edition of Will & Chudi’s ‘From Rain’ listening-based events series.
Although a year without Chudstock has been really tough, we’re happy to be able to soften the blow with a peek into the marvellous minds of Chukwudi & Escalator To Nowhere….
On the seventh day of Choonsmas, what gifts do we bestow….why it's the ETN crew with Chukwudi wearin' a bow!
From the very start of Semi Peppered, these guys have been like huge pleasant thorns in our sides - we just can’t/won’t get rid of them! From DJing at the first SP nights to giving us some technic tutorials, and then eventually shedding the veneer of being incredibly cool in the sweaty midst of the famous Dirtytalk nights; Chudi, Gav, Tim, & Will have in a lot of ways been hugely influential friends for us as a crew over the years. The Bruits De La Passion night at Latch opened Marko's mind to a whole new way of interpretating music, it was that good. Whilst doing what they do best - DJing - has been sidelined, this year has seen Tim follow suit of Gav’s exploits as Ongo Gablogian on Youtube with his own channel, aptly named after himself: ‘Tim Lawson’. In London, Chudi has enjoyed the fruits of finally getting some breathing space between him and Gav by continuing with his amazing ‘ASMR Sound Catalogue’ show on Noods’, with the lovely Sideman DeeJay, whilst also starting ’The Lens’ show on Threads Radio. Frustratingly though, we will have to wait until the new year before we can experience the first edition of Will & Chudi’s ‘From Rain’ listening-based events series.
Although a year without Chudstock has been really tough, we’re happy to be able to soften the blow with a peek into the marvellous minds of Chukwudi & Escalator To Nowhere….
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.
Chudi: The highlight of the year for me was stumbling across the EMET records releases, four single side 12 inches that are all great in their own way. The most recent one by Fuxing Tapes is sick, grimy and dark dubstep with a dystopian Chinese vocal, but my favourite is this by Front De Cadeaux; 9 minutes of hazy downtempo dub with trippy French lyrics about recreational sedative use over the top!
Tim: Grouper’s music evokes the wish to disappear and (often explicitly) quietly sink beneath the ocean. At such times, this track has been a stalwart companion.
Chudi: OKO DJ started putting out tunes this year and "Through Scalar Waves" has become a big favourite of mine. Big club music for a time when all the clubs are closed, hopefully we'll all get to hear it on a dancefloor somewhere soon.
Will: This one’s proper sick
Will: So’s this one.
Gav: This has undoubtedly been the track of my year, despite the fact that I only found out what it was last week. First heard in 2019, it was Vlad’s last tune at the last Dirtytalk in the biker basement and it really really shook my bones and scrambled my mind as I stood 3ft from that huge speaker stack. I asked him what it was on my way out and he said “it’s Coil”, setting off what ended up being a year-long excavation through the entire discography of Coil and their other aliases. It’s been an extremely enjoyable and fruitful voyage, but of course, the track was hiding as a bonus on a reissue and I never found it.
As a virtual celebration of their 10th Birthday Dirtytalk asked people to post some memories of parties, and Tim tagged Vlad with a tentative link to what he thought was the Coil tune he’d played. Vlad corrected him and at long last we’ve caught the bastard!
Gav: The best thing about this year has been the opening of Strange Brew along with their in-house record shop Planet Caravan. I sold Charlie a bunch of my records for store credit and then spent a great couple of months going through the entire Planet Caravan discogs collection. I found so much brilliant stuff but this is the one that sits top of the tree for me. Still addicted to it. Such amazing things to come in 2021 in that place. Please contribute to their crowdfunder if you haven’t already!
Tim: Cocteau Twins rapidly became my favourite artist this year. This feels appropriate as a pairing for Grouper and the sad news of Harold Budd’s passing.
Chudi: I’ve gone for Player's Ball by Outkast, from their 94 xmas album Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik
Tim: The obvious choice.
Gav: Can I skip the Christmas Choon, and do a third?
Gav: In a year devoid of memorable dancefloor moments we had to take them where we could get them, and for me it was on the M4 near Reading, as my Megabus hurtled towards a weekend of post-lockdown fun in London. I was staring out at the pink summer sky above the whizzing trees, in a particularly good mood, dreaming of a festival dance, when the track I was listening to triggered a memory of these vocals in my head. I actually didn’t know what it was called or who it was by, so I just stuck “open up your heart what do you feel” into the youtube search bar and about 2 minutes later as those whistles came in my heart was absolutely exploding with joy and I was grinning ear to ear. I think I played it through 3 times in a row before I calmed down. Was a big moment.
Strange Brew.
Strange Brew.
Tim: This year I have felt especially grateful for the company of family and friends and hope to appreciate more of it soon. With regards to music, I think that time away from in-person events has allowed me to reassess my priorities and processes and I look forward to what that may bring.
Gav: Mostly pints and hugs. God I miss pints and hugs. But also my mum and stepdad have finally sold their house and have bought a boat and are gonna go sailing round the world, so I'm dreaming of Christmas in the Caribbean 2021.
Chudi: This year has been a case of small measures of progress despite an overarching sense of stasis. The first versions of my night From Rain took shape earlier this year, before grinding to halt as venues closed. I was fortunate enough to play at The Cause, but only sandwiched between two periods of lockdown.. Plans for future projects are starting to take shape however, and I'm looking forward with excitement to some of the things Ive got planned for 2021... (and dancing with mates again of course!)
Will: Live by the shrub, die by the shrub
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’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.
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.
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.
Tried to keep it as weird as possible. And shed some light on some smaller acts from Bristol to Chicargooooooo.
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
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."
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?
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
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!
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: 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!
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.
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 some choons, new and old that kept us going in this weird as hell year. Hope you enjoy.
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.
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.
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
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 :)
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.
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 :)
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 🐇
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.
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
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.
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*
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.
SP: It's actually entirely to do with the pubs reopening. Enjoy with caution
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.
