On the eleventh day of Choonsmas, Father Pepmas has helpers with his sleigh....it's MLE & The Dawgs of Solway!
The roots go deep with this lot, and it’s been nothing but love since day dot. Joel (DJ Swordfish) and our own L Ben met in high school and spent many wet and windy evenings smoking sprayed bud together, before Joel jetted off to study music in Oxford and eventually co-found the notorious Disco Ma Non Troppo parties. Born in Italy, raised in north Wales, relocating to Manchester as L Ben’s step bro, young Ed (Eddy Saz) ran the Soul Control and Mick’s parties in Leeds alongside his Welsh male-model counterpart Ben Cannon (Numbers Deejay/DJ Ken), before going b2b in the Wiggodrome at our Dare To party with DJ Down The Rabbit Hole last November. And need we introduce the one and only MLE?! She’s been one of our bezzies ever since 2013, even occasionally being mistaken as EJ's younger sister, and is one of the finest maestros of chuggin’ sick party tracks in the game. She's made her name as one of Rhythm Section’s key operators whilst running shows on Worldwide FM, Noods Radio and Balamii, and laying down show-stopping sets across the UK & Europe.
All four are absolutely phenomenal selectors, relentless diggers and touchdown champions. You know the drill by now, over to MLE & The Solway Canine Collective...
On the eleventh day of Choonsmas, Father Pepmas has helpers with his sleigh....it's MLE & The Dawgs of Solway!
The roots go deep with this lot, and it’s been nothing but love since day dot. Joel (DJ Swordfish) and our own L Ben met in high school and spent many wet and windy evenings smoking sprayed bud together, before Joel jetted off to study music in Oxford and eventually co-found the notorious Disco Ma Non Troppo parties. Born in Italy, raised in north Wales, relocating to Manchester as L Ben’s step bro, young Ed (Eddy Saz) ran the Soul Control and Mick’s parties in Leeds alongside his Welsh male-model counterpart Ben Cannon (Numbers Deejay/DJ Ken), before going b2b in the Wiggodrome at our Dare To party with DJ Down The Rabbit Hole last November. And need we introduce the one and only MLE?! She’s been one of our bezzies ever since 2013, even occasionally being mistaken as EJ's younger sister, and is one of the finest maestros of chuggin’ sick party tracks in the game. She's made her name as one of Rhythm Section’s key operators whilst running shows on Worldwide FM, Noods Radio and Balamii, and laying down show-stopping sets across the UK & Europe.
All four are absolutely phenomenal selectors, relentless diggers and touchdown champions. You know the drill by now, over to MLE & The Solway Canine Collective...
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.
MLE: Pretty self indulgent to add The Colours That Rise to the list, but it was honestly the best project I’ve ever worked on. The music really had a strong emotional narrative, the vision and genius of Nathanael and Simeon was truly inspiring. I really connected to their sound and I’m excited to share some of their future projects with the world..
MLE: 2020 has been the year of comps. Vastechoses have been producing some of the best leftfield content over the last couple of years. Mystic Smokes from 2020 is one of my favourite editions after their dub cassette from 2019. Scorching industrial oddities from label comp regulars. Absolute smokin hot scorchers coming thru from Nghtly, catriel and LAZ.
Ben: Dam addictive cool and playful take on dancehall - sure im not the only whos got this on their list this year! Fave is Bunout, but its all so good
Ben: Goofy hard off kilter hip hop that ticks all the right boxes. ‘Wanna Be’ is the one for me!
Joel: These days I often find that the best tunes are really hard to define genre-wise. this one's a pretty explosive blend of dubstep, electro, breaks and who knows what else...
Joel: TTT continued to put out some of the best experimental electronic music in 2020. particularly love this moody number by DJ Trystero
Ed: Yet another one to add to the growing list of dreamy Danish house releases. The track “Dub” is an absolute gem.
Ed: Really cool EP bringing a mixture of halftime and downtempo with a moody feeling. The title track is super punchy and really deserves to be played out on a system.
MLE: Christmas isn’t really my favourite period of year, this year I’m on my own in Berlin when I’d normally be surrounded by friends in Manchester.. Byzantium’s ‘I Am A Stranger To My Life’ reminds me of the long journeys I’d be taking in the festive periods between Dorset and Manny.. including 13 hour coaches.
Solway C.C.: In an age dominated by consumer capitalism, it’s great to see Our Robbie bringing back the true meaning of Christmas with this holiday delight.
MLE: 2020 has been pretty mentally and emotionally draining starting with a huge loss. But I got to work on some great projects including a compilation to celebrate 5 years of RS. I also got really into cooking!
Solway C.C.: 2020 was a year that saw near unlimited time for us to really focus on hanging out with the dawgz. we cooked together, we vibed together and most of all we grew together. We wanna thank every dam dogg out there who took it upon themselves to fill n bless our canine hearts in this most troubling year- ya’ll know who u are and we love u
MLE: Hopefully having my friends and my old housemates aka the solway guys come visit us in Berlin... also working on some coool music bits with ANUS records and Rhythm Section so watch this space.
Solway C.C.: In 2021 we want to push the boundaries of goofin off with the homies to whole new levels. The skills we honed in 2020 will guide us in this and, with a little bit of help from our friends, we think we might just be able to do it!
SP: It's actually entirely to do with the pubs reopening. Enjoy with caution
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
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*
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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."
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."
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.
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 :)
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!
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 :)
Tried to keep it as weird as possible. And shed some light on some smaller acts from Bristol to Chicargooooooo.
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’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.
Here's some choons, new and old that kept us going in this weird as hell year. Hope you enjoy.
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
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.
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
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 🐇
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 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?
SP: It's actually entirely to do with the pubs reopening. Enjoy with caution
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!
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!
