mark slee – process part 355

MARK SLEE

This mix is something I’ve wanted to make for quite some time. I have an affinity for a particular type of house music – the music I play out, the music I put in mixes, the focus of my DJing endeavors. But that’s a small slice of a big pie. There’s so much else out there I respond to emotionally, which doesn’t exactly fit into the niche of “what I do” with music. Time to explore that.

My invitation to this project posed the question of intuition vs. gut instinct. The two ideas carry similar connotations – one rooted in the mind, the other in the body. And mulling that over I realized in some ways just how considered my normal methods of studio mix-making have become. Sure, my taste is intuitive, and I feel what makes me move. But I have spent so many years acutely focusing my curiosity on particular strands of house music, analyzing them, striving to learn and understand – why this, why that, what do I respond to, what makes things tick. On top of that, the music is intertwined with cultural context, questions of identity. There are the parties, the “scene,” the stories of producers and labels, branding – not just what the music means, but what it means to like the music. Those little puzzles fascinate me, but at times I get lost in the minefield of my own struggle to understand the universe – I would rather just feel and listen.

So, a different direction entirely. Here is an eclectic assortment of sounds that speak to me from left field. Vibes that I savor for special occasions. Sunset, sunrise, moonlit nights amongst close friends. I can’t put a genre on this. Bits of post-something, a little slow 4/4, even a touch of pop. I have no real context for this music other than my own. I don’t know how one is “supposed to” mix this sort of set – it’s not even remotely all the same tempo. So I just fiddle with it until the fiddling feels right. And then trust.



(00:00) Synkro – Recognition [Apollo, 2013]
(02:29) Jessie Ware – Devotion [PMR, 2012]
(05:27) Submerse – Give It Up [Apollo, 2012]
(09:35) Sekuoia – Rather Not [Project Mooncircle, 2012]
(13:57) Commix – Japanese Electronics (Instra:Mental Moog Remix) [Metalheadz, 2010]
(19:25) Robag Wruhme – Pelagia [Musik Krause, 2004]
(21:37) Forss – Diligam [Forss Music, 2012]
(26:35) Vincenzo – 106 Downtown (Genius Of Time Remix) [Dessous, 2011]
(33:44) Maya Jane Coles – Dub Child [Hypercolour, 2011]
(37:44) Sorrow – Elixir [Monotreme, 2013]
(41:46) Robot Koch – Nitesky feat. John Lamonica [Project Mooncircle, 2011]
(46:25) Kyson – Dragon Years [Moongadget, 2012]
(51:03) Shigeto – Look At All The Smiling Faces [Ghostly, 2010]
(55:51) Bomb The Bass – No Bones feat. Paul Conboy [K7, 2008]

One comment on “mark slee – process part 355”


Leave a comment