On the ninth day of Choonsmas, the frost is on the pane... wandering down our chimney is the Hermit, known as Kayne! ❄️
Kayne has been a long-term beacon of brilliance to us at SP, with his charming character and penchant for sharing all of his wonderful digs with us over social media catch-up sessions, it’s fair to say Kayne sometimes feels like he’s one of the pack. Going back almost 4 years since first reaching out to one another, after enjoying each other’s mixes on Soundcloud, we’ve now got a rich history to look back on and a bright future to look forwards too. Before the pandemic, we were always amazed to see where the Hermit’s trails had lead him. Whether its playing on the now agonisingly deceased Red Light Radio in Amsterdam, the dazzling lights of Le Mellotron in Paris, or the extremely cool Kiosk Radio in Brussels; we are still proud to say we had him first! 🤩
We’re hugely looking forwards to bringing him back sometime in the near future for another round of Pepper/Hermit sauced-up mayhem, but, for the now, we can hear about his top digs of the year! We weren’t surprised to hear he hasn’t bought a new release since 2016…
On the ninth day of Choonsmas, the frost is on the pane... wandering down our chimney is the Hermit, known as Kayne! ❄️
Kayne has been a long-term beacon of brilliance to us at SP, with his charming character and penchant for sharing all of his wonderful digs with us over social media catch-up sessions, it’s fair to say Kayne sometimes feels like he’s one of the pack. Going back almost 4 years since first reaching out to one another, after enjoying each other’s mixes on Soundcloud, we’ve now got a rich history to look back on and a bright future to look forwards too. Before the pandemic, we were always amazed to see where the Hermit’s trails had lead him. Whether its playing on the now agonisingly deceased Red Light Radio in Amsterdam, the dazzling lights of Le Mellotron in Paris, or the extremely cool Kiosk Radio in Brussels; we are still proud to say we had him first! 🤩
We’re hugely looking forwards to bringing him back sometime in the near future for another round of Pepper/Hermit sauced-up mayhem, but, for the now, we can hear about his top digs of the year! We weren’t surprised to hear he hasn’t bought a new release since 2016…
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
This one is from 1973!!!! Don’t know much about it but I grabbed it from discogs early this year, way ahead of its time!
7th Floor is the track here, I found this in Redlight Records on my only trip away and it is hard to find feel good punk that is not evil and shouty! These guys do it well!
Not my personal dig, learnt about this one from Albion in 2019. I had his mix on repeat and hunted through a youtube channel that had similar stuff to what he was playing… fortunately this was on the channel, the chances of that! A copy finally appeared two weeks ago and I grabbed it!
આનંદ કુમાર સી* અને રાણી વર્મા* – ડિસ્કો રાસ ગરબા = Disco Raas Garba
Again no clips! But a typical squelchy mid tempo dance record from India. Vocals are nice (even though I don’t understand them lol) I found this via discogs and asked the seller for clips, luckily he sent and I took it straight away
No clips but a super feel good solo synth/bass piece from a dude called Martin Koller, a lot of people asked for this one when I posted it, I tried to find stock copies but he did not reply unfortunately! Slightly wild just how I like it.
No youtube clips, you’ll just have to take my word. “Somebody’s Watchin You” Feel good end of night pop song with cosmic features in it. Put this one at the end of my mix for Average Records! [1hr21mins in!]
This one is not my usual dig, but it’s one of my fave finds this year. I went back on a 90s house hunt for De Kat, heard this and instantly bought, prices are a bit mad now though. Played it on my Redlight Show, that actually happens to be the last show on there as they have now closed their doors. The choir vocal at end makes me feel like I am at a proper 80/90s UK party!
Last track on this clip, feel good wave/punk thing! Eugenie Diserio with some crazy good vocals, her voice right from the start sets it up to be the perfect punk funk jam.
Nothing obscure here!! My Dads fave xmas tune and he’s as grinch as it comes these days, so it must be good?! Haha.
Tough! Think everyone can agree this year has been up and down… However, this was the year I came back fully healthy after a rough 2019. So, a highlight for sure was getting back playing again, in Amsterdam with Tala Drum Corps at Doka, one of the coolest dudes I have met!! My close friends also came which was nice, crazy to think I have been abroad this year with all these restrictions! I came back from the trip feeling super refreshed, but I also owe quite a bit of that to Basso, yourself, Corey, De Kat, Left Alone who asked me to make mixes at a time when I was falling out of love with music. Plus Tom Bolas who I now speak to everyday about records, which certainly keeps me on my toes as he is a digging machine, who I cannot actually keep up with haha. Lastly, obviously the opening of Strange Brew, such a sick venue to play at and everyone was so nice, they even clapped at the end of the set with Corey at a sit down party… you just know that atmosphere will be unmatched anywhere else in the country once they have their dance floor back! But yes, all these small things have helped become a highlight in what has been a weird year!
A new radio show residency, managed to secure four of my favourite diggers/ selectors that have inspired me over the last two years to join me on them. That’s going to be a lot of work to keep up with them ha! Erm.. Hopefully some normality for the music scene, not so much playing myself… more so the venues just having a proper license and a chance to get up and going. Lastly, probably a move to my fave place Bristol and working on selling record via web or an actual shop, who knows!
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.
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’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.
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."
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.
Tried to keep it as weird as possible. And shed some light on some smaller acts from Bristol to Chicargooooooo.
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.
Here's some choons, new and old that kept us going in this weird as hell year. Hope you enjoy.
SP: It's actually entirely to do with the pubs reopening. Enjoy with caution
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!
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.
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
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.
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.
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*
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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?
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.
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 :)
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.
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 🐇
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!
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.
