On the sixth day of choonsmas Santa's siren went nurr nurr... to introduce the crew known as Murmurs...
Abena, Hanz and Henzo are dependable staunches of the Northern Chug Circuit. All three have been regulars spinsters behind the decks of Manny's finest boogies with tastes spanning derelict dubby dancehall to spicy speed garage, and from production to podcast to party the polymathic trio have excelled at it all. Each of the collective have always got their hands full, whether it's managing the soundwaves of the hottest club spots in Manchester, ensuring Soup is ticking smoothly with booking after booking, or supporting up the community at Partisan & beyond (or taking a good friend to go and see a choir at TWH), these 3 are unspoken stalwarts of the scene and deserve total love, care, attention and the upmost decency in all smoking areas.
This year Murmurs began with their Worldwide FM show and got every single head turned, waiting for that debut performance; which looks like it'll be this New Years! (fingers crossed) Get a peak into whats been driving them through the unprecedented times that we find ourselves in...
On the sixth day of choonsmas Santa's siren went nurr nurr... to introduce the crew known as Murmurs...
Abena, Hanz and Henzo are dependable staunches of the Northern Chug Circuit. All three have been regulars spinsters behind the decks of Manny's finest boogies with tastes spanning derelict dubby dancehall to spicy speed garage, and from production to podcast to party the polymathic trio have excelled at it all. Each of the collective have always got their hands full, whether it's managing the soundwaves of the hottest club spots in Manchester, ensuring Soup is ticking smoothly with booking after booking, or supporting up the community at Partisan & beyond (or taking a good friend to go and see a choir at TWH), these 3 are unspoken stalwarts of the scene and deserve total love, care, attention and the upmost decency in all smoking areas.
This year Murmurs began with their Worldwide FM show and got every single head turned, waiting for that debut performance; which looks like it'll be this New Years! (fingers crossed) Get a peak into whats been driving them through the unprecedented times that we find ourselves in...
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.
Tracy: I discovered this song when I was heading to Hulme to hang out with my mates Issy and Adam and it was just a lovely song to accompany me on the walk. I’d only listened to Call Super’s DJ sets beforehand but this song opened me up to his productions, which I’m now a big fan of. Instantly bought the EP when I heard it and I’ve been playing it non-stop ever since.
James: Something about this one that makes it super versatile for almost any situation in the dance! It’s moody without being scary, funky without being too cheesy, dubby but still driving; A real box ticker for me.
Josh: This one isn't new or anything but it came into my life earlier this year and is still getting played now. Speed it up and it's got that UK Funky groove with a smooth bassline!
Tracy: This is a really good song to sing along to in the shower when you’re slightly hungover.
James: This is just outright cruddy in the best way possible. I’ve had a bit of an enthralment with the noisy dubstep stuff I got into as a teenager and this track really embodies that sound - It practically borders on taking the piss, seriously unhinged wobbles. Also the only vinyl I bought this year lol.
Josh: Planet Mu have been putting out forward thinking music for years now from people like Rian Treanor, Gabar Lazar & Jlin but this Jana Rush album Painful Enlightenment really pushes the boat for sonic experimentation. Got to play this one at Club Martyr at The White Hotel last month.
James: Mancunian Sludge-masters Barbarian Hermit remastered their album “One” this year and Tigerhorse is outright riff madness. The whole album slaps but this track in particular stands out.
Tracy: This song came out the same day I played at Corsica for Rhythm Section. When I was DJing, I didn’t realise that I maxed out on the trim and my set ended up giving my mate Jack tinnitus. Sorry Jack. Absolutely banger of a tune though!
Josh: Ka is one of the coldest out there when it comes to hip hop at the moment. The whole buffalo movement with griselda records and the alchemist have been putting out some of the most inventive stuff recently. This album is a master class in lyricism all the time the guys still a firefighter. Shout out to treece as well pushing this stuff!
Tracy: Going to We Out Here Festival, listening to amazing music and spending time with friends who I hadn’t seen for a really long time.
James: Even though I missed the opening weekend of clubs, that first month or so of everything opening up again slapped! Cliché as you can get but I stand by it. Also my Bristol debut b2b with 96 Back was top 5 moments, swiftly followed by a bottom 5 moment of the year having to move house the next day with a grueling hangover.
Josh: A few but I think like James it's the opening weekends for me. The On Kilter festival as the introduction to the clubs opening into the The White Hotel's 54hr party had to top it.
Tracy: I’ve signed up to do a 12-week pottery course at Islington Mill so I’m excited about that. I’m also quite keen to reconnect with my allotment again because I neglected it a bit when things started opening up this summer.
Josh: All things murmurs...
James: If we make it past January and can keep the hallowed halls of Manchester’s clubs open, then I’m looking forward to shelling it down for the Murmurs debut at SOUP for NYE 2020/2021! Anything past then I’m just taking as a bonus.
James: This is that seasonal jazzy Christmas song type beat, even though it’s a song about cheating lol
Tracy: DMX’s rendition of Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. I’m a scrooge but this is one of the few tunes that really puts me in a festive mood.
Here's some choons, new and old that kept us going in this weird as hell year. Hope you enjoy.
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.
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.
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!
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: 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!
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?
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."
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
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.
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.
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*
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.
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
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.
Some of the stuff we have been digging this year and personal finds!
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 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 🐇
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
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."
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.
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.
Tried to keep it as weird as possible. And shed some light on some smaller acts from Bristol to Chicargooooooo.
