Balearic Breakfast | Episode 257 | Andrea Trout in The Mix & Meething Dom Servini (WahWah 45s)
- Feb 10
- 14 min read
Updated: Feb 15
Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy broadcast the 257th episode of Balearic Breakfast on her Mixcloud on February 10th, 2026.
ABOUT THIS EPISODE
It rarely happens, but it does! This episode was unannounced on Collen's socials, but the show started on time and drew around 500 listeners, slightly more if I recall correctly! We all deeply enjoyed Andrea's mix, which opened with a slow, deep musical mood, like an awakening... We all really enjoyed it all the more that it evolved beautifully over time, a splendid journey indeed (I must admit, Falle Nioke's Falle Le Le Le was a true revelation for me, please read this article as it nicely presents the song! )! Then we had an interview and a sunnier, more joyful mix by the great Dom Servini!
In the chat, the family was enjoying the selections, discussing the upcoming Loft party in London, which will be held very soon, and Colleen's forthcoming DJ events; she will be playing Back to Back with François Kevorkian soon! We also spoke about music and series, with Kay telling us not to lose too much time watching "Emily in Paris", which turns out to be a slightly disappointing watching moment!
This morning’s Balearic Breakfast is now up on my Mixcloud and features two special mixes while I’m here in freezing Massachusetts. First up is @andreaac , a musical storytelling selector from Manchester who has graced our Love Dancin’ tent at We Out Here both solo and as part of the dynamic Eve’s Drop Collective. I know you’ll love her soulful mix.
Up next is @domservini , label head of @wahwah45s and radio host at Soho Radio and Jazz FM. I love Dom’s work and he’s also a great guy and I’m sure you’ll love his musical story which includes one of my favourite music mags Straight No Chaser and London’s Jazz Cafe. Thanks to both Andrea and Dom for filling in for me while I’m away.
I’m in North America and this weekend I’m playing two back to back parties with Francois - first up is Le Bain in Manhattan and tickets are free but must be preserved and the following night we head to Toronto for another B2B session at Standard Time. Ticket links are in my linktree.
Next week is the annual Loft Anniversary special and this one is a 3.5 hour special! I hope you can join me to celebrate my dear friend David Mancuso’s legacy through special mixes and I also share some of David’s letters to me. It’s very personal.
Listen back to the 257th episode of Balearic Breakfast:
THE PLAYLIST
Andrea Trout Mix:
(2018) GoGo Penguin – Hopopono
(2015) St Germain – Hanky-Panky
(2021) JAB – 5,6,7,8 (Dance is Life)
(2025) Falle Nioke – Falle Le Le Le
(2010) T. Williams ft Terri Walker – Heartbeat (Mosca Remix)
(2017) Bosq ft. Megan Doherty & Nicole Willis – Can't Seem to Hide
(2020) Joanna Law – First Time Ever (Radio Edit 2020)
(2002) Em-Cee – Better Days
(2021) Alice Russell – For A While
(1985) Sade – The Sweetest Taboo
(1980) The Jones Girls – At Peace With Woman
Dom Servini Mix:
(2025) IKE ft SHOLTO, Rachel Kitchlew & David Bardon – SIDDA (London Version)
(NOL) Him & Earl – Preside
(2025) IKE – Risorgini (Live In Heliopolis University, Cairo)
(NOL) Soothsayers – Love Is Still The Answer (Prince Fatty Rockers Remix)
(2026) Klash & Brown – You Dun Know
(2019) Kutiman ft Rioghnach Connolly – So Long (Gene Dudley Remix)
(2026) Marxist Disco Ensemble – Dust (DJ Nature Edit)
(2025) Lawne – The Huge Balloon (Medlar Remix)
(2025) Raz & Afla – Voodoo Zeze (Esa Remix)
(NOL) Land Of Echo feat. Ayana Homma – Lean Into Your Own Breath (IG Culture's Post FunkFlip)
(2026) Gledd Edits – Gaboon
(NOL) King Crowney feat. Afronaut Zu – My People
(2023) Eparapo – From London To Lagos (WheelUp Remix)
(2026) China Chameleon – Injula (Tribute To Staffa)
(2024) Chicago Funk Band – No Communication
(2025) Banana Hill – Le Serpent (Cervo Edit)
(2025) Kotoa – I Am (Laroye Afrobeat Edit)
(NOL) Him & Earl – Away
(1977) America – Are You There
DOM SERVINI'S INTERVIEW WITH COLLEEN
[Colleen]
Thanks so much, Andrea Trout, for that gorgeous Balearic breakfast mix. And next up, our featured interview.
Well, Balearicans, today I have Dom Servini from Wahwah45s here on the show with us. He's also given us an exclusive mix, and he's just a really great guy. So I'm really happy to have him up here. Hi, Dom, how are you?
[Dom]
Hi, Colleen, I'm good. Thank you very much. Thanks for having me.
[Colleen]
Well, I just wanted to first talk a little bit about yourself and how you got into music. I mean, how did you start your whole foray into DJing?
[Dom]
My foray into DJing? Well, I think, you know, when I left uni, I was down in Sussex in Brighton, which I deliberately headed for because of the music scene. And we're talking early 90s. The music scene in Brighton was pretty decent now, but it was pretty incredible in the early 90s. And it was one of my main reasons for going down there, was the music scene. And I hadn't actually sort of been a DJ formally at that point. But when I was at uni, I kind of got into it. And the scene really inspired me. People like Russ Dewberry and people like that, who were putting on events in Brighton. And I used to see people like Fatboy Slim DJ down there at the jazz rooms playing disco and jazz and funk and stuff, you know, when he was just Norman Cook.
And that really kind of inspired me into it. And then I came back to London, and started working in Soho as a runner, and started putting on my own events in London. Actually started DJing in Brighton, but then started putting my own events on in London, and started a night called Mouse Organ that I ran with Jake Holloway for a few years. And probably one of the most important things that happened was I was at Mr. Bongo's one day. If you wouldn't really imagine this ever happening now, there was a sign in the window from the jazz cafe saying DJs wanted.
[Colleen]
Oh, my gosh.
[Dom]
It should have been 93. And I've been DJing there ever since, you know, mostly as a resident. So, yeah, so that's like, you know, over 30 years ago.
[Colleen]
Wow. I had no idea! That's really, I'm glad I asked you that question!
[Dom]
Yeah!
[Colleen]
That's really amazing.
[Dom]
You can't imagine that happening now!
[Colleen]
I know. Exactly. You can't imagine that. I mean, I actually worked at Mr. Bongo when I first moved here just for a few months in the Latin section, believe it or not.
[Dom]
Yes, I have a vague memory of you doing that. Yeah.
[Colleen]
You have also worked as a journalist writing for Straight Note Chaser. Can you tell us a little bit about that? I love Paul Bradshaw's work, and I love that magazine so much.
[Dom]
And that man who doesn't love Paul Bradshaw. Paul was always really great with me, as he is really, really generous. And I mean that, you know, in terms of his time and his willingness to give someone a chance.
That's that's really how I would one of the main attributes that Paul has. He's really up for giving people a go, you know? And at the time when I was working in Soho as a runner and as a sound engineer as well, actually after that many years, I was I mean, it was like early days of the Internet. I was putting out a chart every Friday called the Hello Love Chart. And I would just send it to me. God knows how many I probably sent it to like a hundred people or something in my on my, you know, crunky old email and send it out. And one of those was Paul. And he just used to love getting my chart every week. And then he was like, do you want to, you know, I think it was either. No, it had been Ben Wilcox, I think, was finishing as singles editor.
I think before him, it was James Lavelle and then it was Ben. No, then it was Ben. Then it was Sean McAuliffe. And then it was me, as a singles editor for Straight No Chaser, which I did for a few years and wrote articles for them and stuff like that. And it was literally because of that. He'd been getting my chart and was like, come on, then. Which is typical Paul, you know? And that magazine, obviously, for me was, you know, a complete Bible, you know.
[Colleen]
Absolutely. Absolutely. I just you'll laugh at this, but in the 1990s, I used to fax my chart to all the British magazines. And that was my radio chart!
[Dom]
I mean, I remember faxing charts and faxing feedback, you know, for for releases. I remember using the fax in my office in the office I worked for in Soho to fax to, you know, people like Duncan at Zonk and people like that. You know, my my reactions to some some some dodgy record that come out that week.
[Colleen]
Exactly. You're getting those vinyl promos, sending out hundreds when we had Bitches Brew, it's crazy to think about. Another aspect of your career is as a radio host. And I listen to your show. I think you are a fantastic radio host. You're on Jazz FM.
[Dom]
You know, I'm going to say the same thing back to you because it's true.
[Colleen]
Oh, thank you. But you have a great presentation style. And of course, I love your music anyways, but you're very warm on the radio and you can really hear it. You're personable, you're charismatic. Could you tell our listeners where they can catch you on the radio?
[Dom]
So funnily enough, actually, tomorrow, the 11th of February is my last Wednesday night on Jazz FM. I've been doing Wednesday nights for, I guess, the best part of a couple of years now, a year and a half or something like that. So I will be on Jazz FM at nine o'clock tomorrow night, with special guest at Jazz. I have a special guest each week. One a few months ago, I had a special guest called Colleen Cosmo Murphy, I believe,
[Colleen]
Oh, who's she? And I've heard some terrible stuff about her!
[Dom]
So, yes, I'll be there with Blackjazz tomorrow evening. And then from next week, you can find me slightly later time, eleven o'clock on Fridays, which I think is a much it's probably a much better kind of natural time and night of the week for me, really, considering the kind of music I play on Jazz FM. So I'm starting off on Fridays next week. From eleven, first special guest, Momoko Gill, which would be lovely.
So, yes, you can catch me there. You can also catch me on Soho Radio on a Thursday evening, and that's live from eight p.m., where I have many different guests coming in for that live in the studio. And it's the WahWah45's radio show.
We play a lot of stuff on the label. And yeah, as I say, we have some guests in for a chat and some live music as well sometimes. And you can also catch me on OneJazz, which I do once a month for Chris Phillips and Jess Nelson, which allows me to... because my Jazz FM show is a little bit more electronic biased, but it allows me to play sort of more organic jazz music that I'm loving sort of past and present.
[Colleen]
Wow. So you're keeping busy. That's great.
[Dom]
You know, well, you know, radio radio is such a wonderful outlet. I think especially as you get older, it's like it's it becomes more important. And, it's such an important outlet. It always has been, really. And I just love doing it. It's so intimate.
[Colleen]
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And people can follow you on Mixcloud, too, because that's where I listen back to your shows.
[Dom]
Yeah, they're all on there.
[Colleen]
Yeah. Now we were speaking about WahWah45, which is celebrating its 27th anniversary this year, which is incredible. And I mean, you have so many releases.
I mean, how do you keep up with all of this? But my first question is, why do you start the label? And, if you can just tell us a little bit about your mission, and maybe about some of the releases that are coming up?
[Dom]
Sure, of course. I didn't actually start the label. So the label was started by Chris Goss and his brother, Simon Goss, his late brother, Simon. The Chris now owns Hospital Records. But him and Simon were doing a night called WahWah at the jazz cafe that I used to go to regularly. And they were sort of inspired by Adrian Gibson, who was the booker at the jazz cafe at that time. And he was, he just started, or was about to start Freestyle Records. And he was like, why don't you? I think this is before Freestyle Records, actually. But anyway, he basically says, why don't you, you know, start a label to kind of represent what you're playing at WahWah at the club night? So about six months before I joined them as a DJ, before Chris asked me to join as a DJ with WahWah, they put out their first single. And then shortly after joining them, I joined the label. And me and Simon really ran the label for quite a long time, because Chris was busy with Hospital before Simon sadly passed away. And then Adam Scrimshaw ran the label together for about 10 years. And then we parted ways. And in a very amicable way.
And now I'm kind of running it by myself with, you know, a bunch of younger people who come in and out and help me with it from time to time, which kind of suits me because I'm a bit of a control freak.
[Colleen]
And what kind of stuff are you signing?
[Dom]
Oh, you know, I was talking to my publisher about this the other day. And I think what's great is, for all of us, it's always been about songs. The songs, the song is at the heart of what we do. You know, I love improvisational jazz music. I love free jazz. I love all that kind of stuff.
But what I love, what I love in whatever genre is, is at the heart of it. There has to be some sort of song, something timeless. And that could be in a kind of environment of, you know, contemporary electronic music, or that could be in the environment of dub reggae music, or Afrobeat, or, you know, jazz and soul. And those are all the kind of genres that we that we move around.
Also, I am just about to release the first single with an artist called Him and Earl, which is vocalist Olly Him and producer Wyndham Earl. And their music is very much kind of, it's an area we've dabbled in many times on the label, on the kind of folkier side of things, acoustic-y, folkier, but also with a lot of soul and a kind of a little bit of a, probably a little bit of an African reference in there, a little bit of mulatto reference in there, as much as there is a kind of Paul Simon reference, and Sebastian Tellier. That's all kind of in there.
[Colleen]
Wow, that's a lot.
[Dom]
I'm including a track in the mix as well. So their first single is about to drop. We've got an album, beautiful, incredible album coming with them. So that's happening very soon. I have an artist from Italy. I know you're also familiar with called Ike, who again makes, you know, I think often the tricky thing with a label like ours and in general, in the kind of music world that we live in, a lot of the music is quite hard to classify. And we all know people like to pigeonhole, you know, and I just mentioned a multitude of genres with Him and Earl. And I can do the same thing with Ike, you know, there is, you know, classic Italian soundtrack music in there. There's jazz in there. There's soul in there. There's African music in there and a lot of electronic music in there.
So it's all those things. You know, if I wanted to be a hugely successful crossover record label, I'd be doing something a lot more simple. Exactly. But, you know, these are the kind of things that attract me. And as I said, at the heart of all these things is the song. So, yeah, there's the Clay EP is out in a week or so from Ike, a track that came out on his album that came out last year, but new versions of it with vocal, and vocal versions with Faye Houston from Resonators, who's amazing. Sue Sayer's album's just come out. We've been working with them for a very, very long time. They've been going, you know, pretty much, they've been going exactly the same amount of time that the label has. So they've been around for a very long time.
[Colleen]
Oh that long! I had no idea.
[Dom]
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we've got in a couple of, yeah, in a few weeks time, we've got a track from their most recent album with remixes from Prince Fatty, which is always an exciting one.
[Colleen]
I love his productions. He is phenomenal. He really is a phenomenal producer.
[Dom]
So that that might be in the mix. Listen out. And I've been working with this incredible young band who are talking to Sue Sayer's. Sue Sayer's have been working with young people in southeast London, South London, for about the last, almost a decade now. And they call the project Youth Sayers. And it's basically it's a registered charity, and kids from the local area who can't afford to be taught music privately go there and they learn instruments, and they form bands.
And so they have younger youth sayers and they have youth sayers. So they stay there from like the age. The idea is that they work with them once a week from the age of six, seven, eight years old, right through to 18. And a couple of years, a couple of years ago, we released the first ever Youth Sayers album with all the profits going back into the Youth Sayers project. And apart from all those great things, which by themselves are enough.
[Colleen]
That's amazing, Dom, by the way. That is just such a cool, cool project to do. And I really admire you for that!
[Dom]
It's like it's it's not just me being completely altruistic, as I was about to say. It's also a nice bit of A&R as well, because, you know, there's young musicians who've come out of there who've then gone on to form their own bands. And the one I've been working with the last year or so is Katoa. And that has really kind of blown up. And we released an EP with them last year, and we're about to release a second EP with them late this spring.
We're going to release both EPs on vinyl this summer. But they've been getting lots of plays from all the big people and lots of love and support. And they're an incredible young band, very much in the Youth Sayers tradition of Afrobeat and Jazz and Dub and Reggae and all of that, all that good stuff in their own kind of unique style.
And I'm really proud of them. I'm really excited to be releasing more music with them. And I can tell you now, as a little kind of one for the future, is that maybe a little bit of an exclusive announcement on this, that we are going to be releasing another album with Dele Sissimi. And that is we've actually, having worked with Dele for over 10 years now, 11 years this year, and we've released music with him every year. But actually, you know, 11 years ago, he released his first, his debut album, like solo album, Dele Sissimi album with us on the label. And he hasn't released another solo album since.
He's just done lots of collaborations with Meddler, S321, all these different things, you know, Get Cake, Wake a Cake, Fly. But actually, next year is going to be his second album, which I'm really excited about. I can't say anything more than that at the moment, but it's going to be really super special, because he's an amazingly special man that has been such a privilege to know and get to know. He's kind of part of the family. He teaches my son piano, so, you know.
[Colleen]
Oh, really? That's so cool. I mean, just for our listeners who aren't familiar with him, he worked with Fela Kuti. And we also had him over at Classic Album...
[Dom]
Fela's a musical director.
[Colleen]
That's right.
[Dom]
Yeah.
[Colleen]
So he's, you know, what a great person to have, a great musician to have on your label. That's fantastic. Well, Dom, thank you so much for joining us on Balearic Breakfast. And thank you so much for this mix. And I want to wish you all the best with your radio shows, with WahWah45s, and also with your DJing. And, you know, just thanks for being such a great person in music.
[Dom]
Well, all those things back to you as well. And keep doing what you're doing because we love you.
[Colleen]
Aww, thank you!
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