Right now we all need some good escapism. So I went digging through my collection for all the 90’s epic optimism that was promptly killed by the age of ironic distance that followed it. The 2020s will be all about a return to earnestness, and the most earnest sounds of all lies in the monumentally indulgent arpeggiated chords of early trance.
I found minidiscs ripped from TV programs, shady whitelabels, bootlegs, and worse. But all amazing. And we are playing on the internet, so I don’t have to be as particular about sound engieneering as I would at a club. To keep it authentic to a club setting though, we kept all the mistakes and bad mixed in there, I want to keep taking risks so that one third of the time I mess it up. This makes the other two thirds so much better.
I wanted to focus in on a special collection of ambient acid and trance, the stuff you listen to while coming down from a marathon dancing session, lying in a field as the sun rises. This means I included a long chillout section on the end, pushing the peak energy to the middle of the mix. I’m into it!
So get on your living room dancefloor, get a spray bottle of water to simulate other peoples sweat, and join in!
Holy smokes! Come on Jacob, is it the 80’s? You might be surprised to hear that cassettes are pretty big these days (even sales-wise), as we all yearn for that unmistakeable physical attachment to music.
Sound quality is actually astounding as well, contrary to popular belief. When the cassette technology had gotten really, really good in the late 90’s, the CD had already taken over! But now we can reap the fruits of all that Taiwanese labor.
More than anything, I appreciate the lesser availability of the medium, as it allows me to produce something that would not be functional on streaming services, but works wonders on C-60 tape. So the tapes that come out of God Mother (our label) will include strange, previously unreleased materials that will surprise and astound those that brave their parent’s attics to find a working tape deck. Sounds that are simply too hot for streaming. And wholly ignoring the copyright rules.
I have a lot of tracks that I’m really happy about, but can’t get an official digital release because clearing the samples would cost a fortune and a leg, unless I somehow meet Nina Simone at an afterparty and get her to sign some papers.
We have some rather lofty plans to release a lot of experimental things, but the first two are really rather ordinary in comparison: The first tapes we made are my Assemble EP from a couple years ago, as well as the mix Am-Talis did for DOT. Go take a look in the shop to find it!
Just finished these posters for a certain someone sharing my last name. It’s gonna be a blast! And it was a lot of fun to take some old illustration techniques into a new direction for this, making some meshes that looks like… knees? And it’s always interesting to take the static design into animation (for social media), even if it’s very basic stuff. It tends to squeeze an extra portion of something out of you every time. Sorry, that might sound a little gross. It’s fun, is what I’m saying.
If you want to dig into my technique; these are mostly made using gradient meshes in Illustrator, first and foremost. I’ve always been a sucker for colorful gradients, but these tricks can take those vibes into a wholly new dimension. Hope you like them too!
I just did a really fun interview with the swedish mag The Absorbe, complete with a big mixtape! The mix was recorded (in one take) in my apartment in Bergen, featuring Catty the cat amongst other stars. I put in lots of fun tracks from the local Bergen scene as well as some weird stuff, like the “water theme” from Super Mario on Nintendo 64. If you want more, there’s a bunch more music at the music section.
Popol Vuh – Aguirre II
HNNY – Hotline Riddim
Bodyjack – Hydra Effect
Antenna – Odessa
French touch – Spend the night (fredo revisited)
River ocean – Love and happiness (Yemaya Y Ochun) (Maw reprise)
Viers – ichi
Skatebård – Agfachrome RSX II
Machine Birds – The Way Its Meant To Be (Iben Elster remix)
India – Who rocks you (acapella)(Lysgaard fixmix)
D-Ha – Get on board (chronic happy mix)
Terr – Burn the past
Sunshine band – Sunshower (Lysgaard Fixmix)
UNIIQU3 – Tic Tac
Bwana – Muscle powers final hour
Coeo – +++
Sister City – Blood mind
MR. G – Transient
CJ Bolland – Camargue
Chambray – Livin
Super mario on nintendo 64 – Water theme
My largest resolution going forward is helping to make clubbing more into the safer space it’s supposed to be.
In my life, dance music clubs have been my no.1 “Safe Space”, where I go to be with other people in joy and artistic inspiration, where everyone’s friends, if only for the evening. Where any dance move is cool, where your only authority is the thunderous bass, and you check any grievance at the door.
