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Have yourself a very mellow Christmas and a wonky new year with Allez Allez, who provide the final exclusive Clash DJ mix of 2009 – staying up right over the festive period and NYE. And as it has to entertain you all for longer than usual, we made sure it’s a blinder.
No strangers to making mixes, Allez Allez – DJs Sam Willis and Steve Nolan – have made a name for themselves blending Krautrock and ambi-disco with techno and electro, creating a deliciously warm and intoxicating addition to the electronica scene. Their excellent Clash mix features tracks from the legendary Brian Eno and TBD (a little-known project including a former member of !!!, playing some fantastically sideways tech-house), and kicks off with the brilliance of Animal Collective, whose ‘Merriweather Post Pavilion’ record has just been voted ‘Best Album of 2009’ in this month’s Clash.
We caught up with Allez Allez for a chat about their mix and some general festive banter:
Clash: Can you tell me a little about the mix and your favourite tracks from it?
Steve: Well we wanted to put together a selection that gave a good representation of what to expect at one of our nights. We start playing early in the evening at our residency at Cargo which is a great opportunity to play the non-dance songs we love, so the first 20 minutes mix is very laid-back. Then things get a little more oomph-y.
Also this has been amazing year for us away from DJ-ing – we’ve released our debut 12” on Kickboxer , put out remixes for Fever Ray, It’s a Fine Line, and Simian Mobile Disco, to name a few, and we started our own label – Amazing Sounds. We wanted to represent that side of ourselves as well.
In terms of favourite tracks – I love ‘The Big Ship’ by Eno and the Rodelius & Nikos Arvantis tune is a corker which hits big on the dancefloor whenever I play it. I love pretty much everything The Micronauts have done and The The track that finishes the mix off is one of my all-time faves.
Clash: How do you decide on the tone of an individual mix and what goes into it?
Steve: Mood is a very important factor, especially as we don’t tend to limit ourselves to one style of music in the mixes. Usually I’ll put together a selection of tracks that sum up the style of mix I want to make and then put them together and see which ones fit and which don’t.
Clash: Some favourite tracks to play live?
Steve: So many but some that never really disappear from our sets include Ada – ‘I Love Asphalt’, the Creedence version of ‘Heard it Through The Grapevine’, James Holden’s remix of ‘Safari’ by Andre Kraml, The MFA – ‘The Difference it Makes’ and ‘Time of the Season’ by The Zombies.
Clash: Really enjoyed your Worst Case Scenario remix – what makes a good remix in your opinion?
Sam: Thanks! A good remix takes elements of the original and takes it somewhere different – I just try and get into a creative zone and see where the mood takes me… It’s fun to mangle the original elements through some guitar pedals and plugins to create a weird audio mulch. I much prefer to work with tracks that have vocals and instrumentation, as this really broadens your options as to where to take it, rather than just a minimal percussion pack and some VST synth sounds…
James Holden and DJ Koze are absolute masters at completely reinventing the original song, but in a way that really compliments the original. Check out Holden’s remixes of Radiohead’s ‘Reckoner’ and Mercury Rev’s ‘Senses on Fire’ and DJ Koze’s remixes of Matthew Dear’s ‘Elementary Lover’ and Matias Aguayo’s ‘Minimal’
Clash: Any new material coming up?
Sam: We just had our debut single released by Kickboxer recordings out of Cologne, and the new year will bring a four-track EP on NYC’s awesome RVNG Intl. label, plus a remix of Dan Deacon on Amazing Sounds, alongside mixes from Hudson Mohawke and Luke Abbott.
Clash: Yours will be our Christmas mix, as it were, staying up over the festive period – so excuse the clichés, but here are a few generic Christmas questions. Firstly – your opinions on the festive season:
Steve: I love everything about Christmas – the carols, the shopping, the tree, seeing family, the ‘Holidays are Coming’ ad – I’m the anti-Grinch. The best thing, though, is the music – it’s very special that there’s this section of music that never gets overplayed due to you only being able to listen to it for one month of the year (unless you’re crazy). Every December I dig out the classics like ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’, the Ze Christmas Album, and obviously the Phil Spector album, and it’s like visiting an old friend.
Clash: Best and worst Christmas presents you’ve received:
Sam: Worst Christmas presents were probably the endless Parker fountain pens I’d get from my aunts and uncles in my early teens – ideal if you’re a charted accountant, but not much fun for a kid! The best present was probably the Kaos Pad that my wife bought me – still getting great usage out of it now!
Clash: If Brian Eno came over to your house for Christmas dinner – what would you buy him for a present?
Sam: Well, I’d give him a copy of our debut release, which is a 12” of remixes by Shackleton & Appleblim of some of his music he made with Harmonia, and also, a special audio processor called ‘The Gristlizer’ based on an original design of Chris Carter from Throbbing Gristle – perfect for creating mental noises with.
Clash: Plans for New Year’s Eve?
Steve: Sam will be playing down in Dalston at the Question Mark bar for our good friends Chopshop. Whilst for a change I’ll be staying in with a good bottle of wine and a heavily pregnant girlfriend. Does Clive James still do the ‘Review of the Year’ Show?
Clash: What will you be getting up to in 2010?
Sam: As we mentioned, further releases on our label Amazing Sounds, an EP on RVNG Intl. and also the launch of my new project with Alessio of Banjo Or Freakout, entitled WALLS – we’re currently working on an album for Kompakt Records which is very exciting and a huge honour!
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Allez-Allez Dj Mix Tracklisting
1. Animal Collective - What Would I Want? (Sky)
2. Aaron Martin & Part Timer - Orchard (Scrumped Mix)
3. No Age - Aim At The Airport
4. Palms - Boundary Waters (Josh Dibb Remix)
5. Brian Eno - The Big Ship
6. Thomas Brinkmann - Isch
7. Worst Case Scenario - Hot Beef (Allez-Allez Remix)
8. Dan M & James Brun - Lessons Part 2
9. The Meters - Ride Your Pony
10. TBD - I Don't Know
11.Micronauts - Sweet (Remix)
12. Rodelius & Nikos Arvantis - Digital Love
13. Harmonia & Eno '76 - Sometimes In Autumn (Shackleton Remix)
14. Nisennenmondai - Destination Tokyo
15. The The - This Is The Day
Check out the previous episodes of our Dj Mix Series on iTunes HERE or individually below
1. Booka Shade
2. Heartbreak
3. Luke Solomon
4. Chris De Luca Vs Phon.o
5. Various Production
6. Richard Sen (Padded Cell)
7. DSL
8. 2020 Soundsystem
9. Digitonal
10. The Toxic Avenger
11. Headhunter
12. Dj Pierre
13. Nathan Fake
<a href="http://www.clashmusic.com/feature/dj-mix-podcast-series-part-14">14. Tiga
<a href="http://www.clashmusic.com/feature/dj-mix-podcast-series-part-15">15. 80kidz
16. Greg Wilson
17. Bronnt Industries Kapital
18. Exercise One
19. Dj T.
20. Caper
21. Laroca
22. Shir Khan
23. Oliver Huntemann
24. Flore
25. GusGus
26. Echaskech
27. Jack Sparrow
28. Kippi Kaninus
29. The Keyboard Choir
30. Claude VonStroke
31. Drop The Lime
32. Groove Armada's Tom Findlay
33. Marcel Knopf
34. Luke Slater
35. Bass Clef
36. Nina Walsh
37. Guy Gerber
Podcast home: http://www.clashmusic.com
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