For our second day of Choonsmas, we present to you, all..... the wonderful Rosa Méthol!
We are excited to have Rosa deliver us a peek into her listening history for this year, after having exchanged many conversations over Instagram before finally meeting in one of Stockport's favourite digging grounds; All Night Flight Records. Rosa is a member of Manchester based open-deck DJ collective All Hands on Deck, is involved with community based DIY Art cooperative Partisan, and, with some friends, has this year brought to life her very own DIY Literature focused Radio Station called No Bounds!
Apologies to Dino for their Mike Wazowski moment behind the template, but heres Rosa's thoughts on 2020...
For our second day of Choonsmas, we present to you, all..... the wonderful Rosa Méthol!
We are excited to have Rosa deliver us a peek into her listening history for this year, after having exchanged many conversations over Instagram before finally meeting in one of Stockport's favourite digging grounds; All Night Flight Records. Rosa is a member of Manchester based open-deck DJ collective All Hands on Deck, is involved with community based DIY Art cooperative Partisan, and, with some friends, has this year brought to life her very own DIY Literature focused Radio Station called No Bounds!
Apologies to Dino for their Mike Wazowski moment behind the template, but heres Rosa's thoughts on 2020...
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 🐇
There were a few releases that came out in February that almost seemed to predict lockdown in how perfect they became as an accompaniment to what was otherwise an unwaveringly murky time. Two of these were Vivienne by Laila Sakini and...
... Snoopy by CS & Kreme. If you’ve heard them, you’ll just know what I mean, if you haven’t – you should listen!
This tape in that new and exciting stage for me still, I’ve been replaying it a lot. Tapes can divide opinion with some disregarding them as needlessly nostalgic, but I think that misses a big part of the appeal - you end up with only the music you love the most on tape. When you put a cassette in, it’s encased in the tape player and you don’t pause it to listen to something else and you don’t interrupt it because that would leave you with a half wound tape: cassettes command something more.
While we’re on tapes, Heather Leigh – Glory Days is a top contender for fave documenting sound tape. I love that it launches straight in with All I Do is Lust – a warbling ballad of desire. Out of the Documenting Sound tapes, I wouldn’t be able to rank between this and...
... DJ Plead’s Relentless Trills which is brilliant in different ways, with its stripped down / spellbinding production.
What they call an oldie, but a goldie. I enjoy this for its communicative simplicity.
Carl Stone – Electronic Music from the Seventies and Eighties. In March I booked Tara Clerkin Trio to play at QUARRY in Liverpool (with Rupert Clervaux and Joe Beedles). We postponed the gig but kept exchanging emails at the beginning of lockdown. I asked Tara what she’d been listening to and she said ‘Shing Kee’ amongst other things. I’d heard it before but it took on a new meaning during lockdown. I played it in a mix for a TOPH livestream in May and there was a chat so I could see people powerfully reacting to it.
Putting this in a little sentimentally, because it reminds me of some happy 2020 exchanges with Orhan, who is a brilliant friend and just so good to enjoy music with, this year and every year.
Not a record, just one little track that I wanted to include. I heard this as part of a White Hotel lockdown stream and was hypnotised. I love the original too, which is by Margarita Mahfood, an artist who was clearly brilliant but only ever recorded this track due to her life being cut short by domestic violence. There’s more about her in the first episode of ‘Strangeness of Dub’ on Morley Radio.
https://www.morleyradio.co.uk/programmes/the-strangeness-of-dub-ep1/
I am not always the biggest fan of the Christmas songs, but I do find myself singing this in the shower. I wish I could sing all the harmonies at the same time. Though sadly it doesn’t have the word ‘Hark!’ in it which is obviously the best lyric in Christmas hymns.
Also, Dubstep Snowman, forever and always.
Turning the wheels for No Bounds Radio intensively during the first lockdown and getting to know people through that who are now good friends.
READING BOOKS
Cycling every evening through the spring and summer, picking flowers (noticing how much the River Irwell smells like washing detergent?) and rides to Boggart Hole Clough <3
Adopting Poppy [rabbit] to be friend to Puce [rabbit]
The rush of a negative Covid test
Being able to see people more, of course!
Finally putting on the postponed Tara Clerkin Trio / Rupert Clervaux / Joe Beedles show at QUARRY
Maybe being able to do some more of 2020’s new years resolutions
Trying not to get too excited about anything next year, but I suppose I hope for pleasant surprises
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?
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's some choons, new and old that kept us going in this weird as hell year. Hope you enjoy.
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?
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.
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.
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 :)
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!
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
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*
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!
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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."
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 :)
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.
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.
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’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
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.
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.
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
