On the tenth day of Choonsmas, we’re as excited as a kid…running down the stairs to unwrap r' lovely Vid!
Vid was introduced to us through two avenues; firstly through his fellow scouse ruffian & Pep party royalty Nina, and secondly by befriending long-time comrade MLE whilst in London. One thing’s for sure is that some sort of cosmic force knew that our allegiance would be a strong one and, after journeying to Selectors '18 with him a few years ago, we can safely say that this cosmic force has been vindicated; as Vid is one of our Best and Brightest and an asset to any party or beanbag-based listening session. His fantastic Radio Vid shows, formerly a regular feature on Netil Radio and now touring the likes of Worldwide FM, are as encapsulating and idiosyncratically warm as the man himself; traversing emotional oddities from across the globe and exploring some of his favoured Indian musicians, whilst complimented by his soothing scouse tones.
Beyond mixing, Vid has taken to producing his own tunes like a duck to water, and has blown us away with a few blissful ambient demos. We’re sure you’ll all be hearing them one day, but until then let’s take a peek into what’s made Vid tick during 2020...
On the tenth day of Choonsmas, we’re as excited as a kid…running down the stairs to unwrap r' lovely Vid!
Vid was introduced to us through two avenues; firstly through his fellow scouse ruffian & Pep party royalty Nina, and secondly by befriending long-time comrade MLE whilst in London. One thing’s for sure is that some sort of cosmic force knew that our allegiance would be a strong one and, after journeying to Selectors '18 with him a few years ago, we can safely say that this cosmic force has been vindicated; as Vid is one of our Best and Brightest and an asset to any party or beanbag-based listening session. His fantastic Radio Vid shows, formerly a regular feature on Netil Radio and now touring the likes of Worldwide FM, are as encapsulating and idiosyncratically warm as the man himself; traversing emotional oddities from across the globe and exploring some of his favoured Indian musicians, whilst complimented by his soothing scouse tones.
Beyond mixing, Vid has taken to producing his own tunes like a duck to water, and has blown us away with a few blissful ambient demos. We’re sure you’ll all be hearing them one day, but until then let’s take a peek into what’s made Vid tick during 2020...
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.
Tracks alternate between heartfelt vocals from main members, accompanied by poetry from the magnificent Daniela Dyson. A melancholic, sensual release that has been on repeat for me since the end of summer - perfect for solitary late night listening. Also, the artwork from Patrick Savile is stunning.
An caravan isolation station on the West Coast of Scotland is where this album was recorded (which, to me sounds like a blissful situation!). The end offering from Sockethead is hazy and ritualistic - twists and turns between tracks keep me on my toes and evoke a sense of ‘harj-o-marj’. Definitely one for the ‘pissed and lonely’.
Duval brings every chord he plays to life through his insane talent to dictate melody through space and repetition. I’m left stunned, not quite sure what to do with myself other than start the album again from the beginning, and hum every tune for a long, long time afterwards. Nice one for soundtracking my lockdown Duval.
A microtonal sonic bath to cleanse the senses. Re-released this year, this minimalist masterpiece by Ellen Fullman from 1987 features her long-string instrument, straddling the line between sound and architecture. Get on youtube and check out the size of the instrument, absolute unit!
Can Tenderlonious do it on a hot spring night in Lahore? Of course he can. He adapts his style so well to the mesmerising sounds of Kashif Ali Dhani and Zohaib Hassan Khan’s tabla, vocals and sarangi. I didn’t get to visit India this year because of the pandemic, but listening to this was an antidote.
I read Nazar’s words on Guerilla’s Bandcamp feature that ‘In Angolan culture, it’s common to dance to sad topics’. Here, Nazar implements his disjointed, foggy ‘Rough Kuduro’ style to tell a powerful story of the Angolan civil war and its aftermath. A challenging but essential listen.
Beautiful vocal harmonies and soulful production (including cameos from DJ Blackpower AKA MIKE) make up this genuine work of art from queen KeiyaA. She knows how to deliver lyrics that are simultaneously deep but have a slightly amusing side to them. Steezy as fuck too (see video for ‘I! Gits! Weary!’).
Glitchy etherial loops with miniature rhythms that you can just melt into. Ulla Strauss has crafted an LP full of softness to cushion the soul. A stunning, accomplished follow up to 2019’s ‘Big Room’, and I hope there’s more to follow.
For me, dub induces the required warm feeling for the festive period - it goes hand in hand with spending time with your loved ones.
My Semi Peppered mix, Worldwide FM with Emily, listening to Pure Spice with DJ Manara, making video game music for Felix, climbing Snowdon with Alex, meeting Big Chungus, Club Le Barbhan, buying a bike, buying an ocarina.
More incredible releases, more time with friends and hopefully a trip to India to visit my grandparents
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
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’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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
Some of the stuff we have been digging this year and personal finds!
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.
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: It's actually entirely to do with the pubs reopening. Enjoy with caution
Here's some choons, new and old that kept us going in this weird as hell year. Hope you enjoy.
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*
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!
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.
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.
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."
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!
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.
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."
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?
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.
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 :)
