On the eleventh day of Choonsmas the elves took to drillin’… with Mish, Ruari, Cregg, Mark & Dylan...
This lot, referred to somewhat lovingly by us as The Trouserlings (ft Ruari), are decent blokes from their stockings to their beanies. Them and us have been a tightly knit ensemble ever since we hit up Selectors way back in 2019, shaking legs, pumping fists, chuffing cigs and proving all the haters wrong every chance we get. As well as dancefloor comrades, we’ve even buddied up for a few do’s, letting ‘em loose on the DBA decks earlier this month and getting them on Noods when we can. Outside the umbrella of Trouser, Dylan (Woodall, no relation), is the megamind artiste fantastique behind our lovely artwork, Cregg is the Dushane Hill of Depop, Mark is chief grunt for both Boomkat and 7hill and Mish, at only 14 years old (!), is one of the most exciting producers in the South-West. Ruari is our in-house solicitor, and by god we keep him busy.
As all are actually by far more talented than any of us put together, it is with our great pleasure that we can make them look our understudies at any chance we get. Unfortunately for us they've written up a humdinger of a list for this year... Bah Humbug!
On the eleventh day of Choonsmas the elves took to drillin’… with Mish, Ruari, Cregg, Mark & Dylan...
This lot, referred to somewhat lovingly by us as The Trouserlings (ft Ruari), are decent blokes from their stockings to their beanies. Them and us have been a tightly knit ensemble ever since we hit up Selectors way back in 2019, shaking legs, pumping fists, chuffing cigs and proving all the haters wrong every chance we get. As well as dancefloor comrades, we’ve even buddied up for a few do’s, letting ‘em loose on the DBA decks earlier this month and getting them on Noods when we can. Outside the umbrella of Trouser, Dylan (Woodall, no relation), is the megamind artiste fantastique behind our lovely artwork, Cregg is the Dushane Hill of Depop, Mark is chief grunt for both Boomkat and 7hill and Mish, at only 14 years old (!), is one of the most exciting producers in the South-West. Ruari is our in-house solicitor, and by god we keep him busy.
As all are actually by far more talented than any of us put together, it is with our great pleasure that we can make them look our understudies at any chance we get. Unfortunately for us they've written up a humdinger of a list for this year... Bah Humbug!
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.
Cregg: Mike's seventh tape 'Disco' is arguably his most accomplished yet, his powerful raps are always incredibly world weary and combine perfectly with his exceptional self produced beats. The production is what sets this tape apart, Evil Eye is built around a gorgeous sample of a John Lee & Gerry Brown track with Mike's flow layering with this perfectly. Getting the chance to see him live this month was a real gig highlight of the year.
Cregg: Gorgeous soft 80s synth pop duo who re-released all their output in 2014. This song is my favourite from the collection, delicate guitar work with some lovely bright vocal melodies. The overlapping vocals really tie this together and feel like this tune always gives me a big ol' hug.
Dylan: I remember Ev playing ‘Crappy Dreams Count’ on the radio and me instantly being gripped by Moin’s sound. ‘I Can’t Help But Melt’ was the one that stood out for me on the album because of the bubbly tension it seems to carry.
Dylan: Fond memories of Joe & I singing the melody to this outside Burton Road tram stop before going to see Erika De Casier. Stunning tune that I haven’t stopped rinsing yet.
Mark: Rhinestones is actually the 5th studio album of HTRK, but admittedly, my first introduction to them. That being said, this record was one of those for me where as soon as I heard the opener in work I was immediately asking wtf it was. There’s something so alluring about vocalist Jonnine’s wispy lyricism layered over this very stripped back and dubbed out fingerstyle guitar and 808s. The guitar style in this also reminds me a lot about the sort of music I’ve grown up listening to and trying to emulate in my own playing, so there’s also a strange nostalgic feel to this record for me. Rly is smin special imo <3.
Mark: This one on Stroom was released way back in January, but has carried me through many a morning commute since. It compiles the works of Kevin Eden made throughout the 80s (in our lovely hometown Stockport, no less). The record also includes a really cool writeup about his musical background, creative process and how his music originally never rly saw the light of day - it’s proper nice to see Stroom consistently shining a light on lost treasures like this. Post-punk era experimental pop and ambient. Enchanting~.
Mish: Easily one of the catchiest tunes I’ve heard in a long time, big pop hit vibes with the vocal and melody lines. Huge fan of the original too but the way blastah re-works this one elevates it so nicely. Gives it the ‘bangs in a club’ edge but also still accommodates for chilled home listening. Has 100% been an instant classic for me this year.
Mish: Since its release in the summer ‘21 me and my housemates rinsed it (and continue to now). We coined it as the ‘green album’, hence the artwork. It became a big ‘go to’ record for us due to its versatility and overall denkness, blending dubbed out styles such as trip-hop, dub, acid and other corners of the club not club music world underpinned by smooth textures and hefty bass tones :)
Ruari: Drill continues to permeate UK culture in every possible way. ASDA even did a fucking ‘Back to School’ ad with a Drill tune.
Keeping Drill interesting, Central Cee combines the normal tropes, ‘sensitive’ lyrics and a sample from another one of the year’s cult hits – the melodic-garage focused ‘Just for me’. The lyrics do profess a pretty creepy fixation to be honest. Cee, you’re coming on a bit strong man. Song slaps though.
Ruari: Inna Circle could be equally at home in a SEGA MegaDrive game as it is up in the shubs. Which is well fucking sick. The song is ideally placed through a perfectly curated EP, the whole of which takes you from start of night, chilled and fun; all the way through to end of night pumper that makes you wanna volley a ferret. Because of that, it was probably my favourite release of the year.
Cregg: Tom Boogizm producing the most masterful set I have ever witnessed at the reopening of the Whotel, the perfect return to clubbing. Him dropping 'Return of the Crooklyn Dodgers' circa 9am Sunday morning will stay with me for a long time, very special moment.
Mark: I’m with Creggxit ere… I actually almost missed the Saturday of the White Hotel reopening weekend due to personal absence of bottle following a heavy Friday and a regrettable kip in-between. Thankfully a very sleep deprived EJ Glenweiler helped me find said bottle by rocking up to my gaff for pres on 0% kip but 100% beans - My very fickle willpower gave me no choice but to reactivate, n what a night it was. Cheers Evs x
Dylan: Moving into a gaff with me 3 best palz xo
Ruarí: Got a bare cute Labrador puppy init. Shout out pup-like Phoebe!
ALL: DARTH MISH
Mark: Changing my facebook name
Cregg: Doing my final nasal lateral flow test, or is that one for 2023...
Hamish: Hopefully getting some more releases & gigs locked in
ALL: WHAT MISH IS GOING TO DRESS UP AS FOR HALLOWEEN
Cregg: Unreal Christmas album from 1968, bags of psychedelic and soul Christmas covers with some originals as well, incredibly friendly.
Dylan: A song fit for listening to all year round. Love you Tracey <3
Ruarí: In the year we sadly lost DMX, I think it’s only fitting to include his version of Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer. He was controversial. His lyrics were problematic. But, he made growling like a dog and shouting “C’MON, C’MON” seem kinda cool.
Mark: This track isn't actually a Christmas song, but the choral vocals and the xylophone chimes absolutely give it a Christmassy feel imo. The sort of music that wouldn't be out of place dubbed over the irn bru snowman advert (no disrespect Sally Harmon x), so i suppose it falls into that bracket of christmassy non-christmas songs.
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
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
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 :)
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.
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.
Tried to keep it as weird as possible. And shed some light on some smaller acts from Bristol to Chicargooooooo.
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
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.
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 🐇
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
SP: It's actually entirely to do with the pubs reopening. Enjoy with caution
Some of the stuff we have been digging this year and personal finds!
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*
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.
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.
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?
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.
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."
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.
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!
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.
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.
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
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 :)
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."
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 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.
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.
