On the seventh day of Choonsmas, our cheeks are red like a saveloy ... cos we've had BANGERS sent from Hardcore Soy...
The coolest (and by far best named) cats in the grotto's garden, DJ Soyboi and FKA Hardcore, are also two of the most fun selectors and loveliest people we've had the pleasure to meet. Our first collab - hopefully of many - came at Bertie's big DBA do a couple of weeks back, and they weren't messing about. As the name implies, the duo have a penchant for omi-chronic breaks, ghetto levellers and junglist cabinet reshufflers. Curtailing a proper mint year that has seen Taïga set up an online database for Non-Binary & Trans creatives across a multitude of disciplinaries, both were involved in the birth of Tough Act. The party focuses on the music you don't always hear at the queer night, and the inaugural night featured icon India Jordan amongst a local line up ft. Qwirk, Myna, d. clemente, Salt Pillar, and both DJ Soyboi & FKA Hardcore, and it absolutely went off.
Christmas cuddles for these too - chuff the rules!
On the seventh day of Choonsmas, our cheeks are red like a saveloy ... cos we've had BANGERS sent from Hardcore Soy...
The coolest (and by far best named) cats in the grotto's garden, DJ Soyboi and FKA Hardcore, are also two of the most fun selectors and loveliest people we've had the pleasure to meet. Our first collab - hopefully of many - came at Bertie's big DBA do a couple of weeks back, and they weren't messing about. As the name implies, the duo have a penchant for omi-chronic breaks, ghetto levellers and junglist cabinet reshufflers. Curtailing a proper mint year that has seen Taïga set up an online database for Non-Binary & Trans creatives across a multitude of disciplinaries, both were involved in the birth of Tough Act. The party focuses on the music you don't always hear at the queer night, and the inaugural night featured icon India Jordan amongst a local line up ft. Qwirk, Myna, d. clemente, Salt Pillar, and both DJ Soyboi & FKA Hardcore, and it absolutely went off.
Christmas cuddles for these too - chuff the rules!
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.
Taïga: It’s the name of the album not a track, but I genuinely can’t choose. I found out about Pink Siifu at work and it’s genuinely one of the best shows I’ve seen this year. The energy and creativity of this lot aren’t matched by anyone, they’re something else.
Mia: It’s in my professional opinion that Miss Ridd is single-handedly bringing electro house back and I couldn’t be happier. I first heard this tune on my dad’s Addicted to Bass 2009 CD (mixed by the Wideboys) and managed to completely forget about it until last month. Unmissable shit.
Taïga: Ever since the “bleeds colors and puddles” ep I’ve been lowkey obsessed with this producer. He’s always made such emotional music even without his voice. Rainy Miller reminded me of him the other day and I’ve basically had this song on repeat. He’s found his voice and it’s beautiful.
Mia: Summer this year was pretty nice - I spent quite a bit of it doing acid and rolling around listening to country music. This tune is one of my faves. Delightful!
Taïga: Over lockdown I started listening to a lot of music that I hadn’t listened to since my teens. This is probably one of my favourite Mitski songs, I first listened to it when I was at a real transformative point in my life. Moved city, just gotten out of my first serious relationship, and started coming really into my own as a young trans person. This has been a proper comfort tune this year.
Mia: I’m kinda embarrassed that I’ve only discovered Ivorian Doll’s music this year. I can’t quite say I have a meaningful connection to it as a young trans person or anything like that, but the tune slaps so I’m not really bothered.
Taïga: I just really fucking love The Beach Boys.
Mia: I loudly sing along to this in car rides with Taïga perhaps more than I should. I’m also declaring this tune a trans anthem even though it’s categorically not. Just try and stop me!
Taïga: Honestly this entire year has been a whirlwind. From accidentally going on tour to learning Trapeze. But I think seeing the reaction to the trans & non-binary artist database has been overwhelming and I can’t be thankful enough for all the support and love and amazing people I’ve met through it.
Mia: Getting a pair of baby pink high heels that make me 7 feet tall when I wear them. They’re a size too small so if I wear them for too long I start losing sensation in my toes but beauty is pain and my lord are these shoes beautiful.
Taïga: [redacted] gig. Supporting [redacted] at [redacted].
Mia: Growing a big pair of tits.
No spoilers, just listen.
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.
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 :)
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 🐇
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
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.
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
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."
Some of the stuff we have been digging this year and personal finds!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
SP: It's actually entirely to do with the pubs reopening. Enjoy with caution
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*
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
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.
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: 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."
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.
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.
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 :)
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.
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.
Tried to keep it as weird as possible. And shed some light on some smaller acts from Bristol to Chicargooooooo.
