Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy broadcast the 174th episode of Balearic Breakfast on her Mixcloud and Twitch TV socials on April 30th 2024. About this episode. – With each episode, a new sensation, new visuals, new stories to tell, new music and thus new post here on the blog! Today's show was gorgeous, and I had a hard time finding the right title – the general sensation was too precise... I even exchanged about that with my dear Ana Maria on the chat while Colleen was streaming! But hey, after all, it's all in the intention, and as always, we're going to discover why this show is all about these "Balearic Flutterings"! But for now, let's give the mic to our dear Captain: "Today's show features some great tunes for you – latin jazz, deep soul, funk, indie-pop, garage classics, breezy balearica, and more so get ready for another fantastic voyage. And along with the classics and the yesteryear obscurities there are some new tunes. And don't forget you can pre-order the next Balearic Breakfast Volume 3 compilation from the Heavenly Bandcamp at https://heavenlyrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/colleen-cosmo-murphy-presents-balearic-breakfast-vol-3 Enjoy the show and thanks for listening!" Listen back to the 174th episode of Balearic Breakfast: PLAYLIST (1970) John Cale – Big White Cloud (2024) Scott Grooves – Sudden Burst of Rays (1971) Gabor Szabo – Breezin (1985) Georgie Red – Help the Man (Save ya' Mix) (1987) Quintus Project – Night Flight (1979) Vangelis – Chung Kuo/The Long March (2024) Psychederek – Pacific State (2024) Brainstory – Hanging On (1991) Snowboy – Astralisation (1977) Lalomie Washburn – Give Me Love with the Music (1977) Eli’s Second Coming – Love Chant (2014) House of Spirits – Holding On (1972) Alice Clark – Charms of the Arms of My Love (1981) Central Line – Walking Into Sunshine (Larry Levan Mix) (2024) Shunt Voltage – To What Degree (A Space Age Freak Out) (1989) Womack & Womack – Celebrate the World (The People Unite Mix) (2024) Two Man Sound – Que Tal America (Dave Lee Mix) (NOL) Army of Lovers – Lit de Parade (Foundation of Dub Remix) (2023) Zaimie – Wildfire THE LISTENING EXPERIENCE The general feeling of the mix. – Today's mix has very clear imagery for me. Thanks to the songs, the rhythms, and the instrumentation – but also the mix itself (Colleen's delicate touch and the way she lets silence take its place help a lot to the free-flying effect) – we can easily picture a beautiful naturalistic open-to-all-winds field where butterflies and insects pollinate flowers and where birds and bees freely fly! Interestingly enough, this "light Flying" feeling, this fluttering and very natural-like presence, represented musically and lyrically, will stay present throughout the show, infusing its first part and transcending itself into its second hour... More about the songs. – With its big soundstage, John Cale's "Big White Cloud" (taken from the enigmatic 1970 studio album "Vintage Violence" and, who knows, a song about LSD, maybe?) perfectly sets up the imagery of today's episode. You feel the wavy touch in this song and the first "Balearic Flutterings"! We keep this living picture in our minds for the next two hours, even when reaching out to more "rhythmically driven" songs. Laughs! But for now, Scott Grooves' "Sudden Burst of Rays" keeps enchanting us with this circular synth sound and its ever-revolving sonic nature! Both Gabor Szabo's "Breezin" (written by Bobby Womack and famously covered by George Benson in 1976, the Hungarian guitarist being an essential figure for Carlos Santana) and Georgie Red's "Help the Man (Save ya' Mix)" have the wandering feeling of a bee flying in the open fields. The first minutes of today's show make you shake your head up and down, left to right, preparing you to leave Earth with Quintus Project's "Night Flight" (the brilliant song was first issued on a very limited edition of the 1987 studio album "Moments" – produced by Walter Quintus who engineered lots of great modern jazz albums for his label CMP in Germany and who also worked with Kraftwerk, Gary Moore or Quincy Jones to name a few... – later discovered by Derwin label-head Alex Barck and given the remix treatment by Psychemagik). While we were all digging the Piano Solo on that unbelievable track, Roberto shared this message with us on the chat: "If anyone is digging the piano on the Quintus Project track - check out Dany Tenagilia's Future Garage remix of D*Note "Lost and Found" - wicked piano solo towards the end by Peter Daou". Keeping the flying element absolutely vibrant, Colleen then plays Vangelis' "Chung Kuo/The Long March" (from his 1979 studio album "China"), which starts with the sound of a Synth also used by the great Czeslaw Niemen in his "Klaustrofobia" track, as played during his 1984 live concert. Do you hear what happens at the end of Vangelis' track? Isn't that mix just stunning, diving into Psychederek's "Pacific State"? Pure musical bliss right here... As we slowly reach today's show's first hour, Colleen keeps the fluttering effect on by playing the woozy, down-bad tune with a bittersweet ambience that is Brainstory's "Hanging On", mixing Snowboy's "Astralisation" into it with a perfectly respected groove "s'il vous plait..." (in French dans le texte, laughs)! Listening to Lalomie Washburn's "Give Me Love with the Music"(from the acclaimed 1977 debut studio album "My Music is Hot"), pay attention to the way the song is rhythmically constructed, with its swift attacks, the melody swinging over that blissful rhythm section. Absolutely mesmerising; picture the bees right there as the flute plays its small arpeggios and try not to lose your head as Colleen, once again hot on her musical wheels, plays Eli’s Second Coming "Love Chant" (Disco project led by songwriter, producer and Hall of Fame inductee Bobby Eli), followed by the whooping headbanger and mind-losing number that is Tom Noble's House of Spirits "Holding On", ending the mix with Alice Clark's "Charms of the Arms of My Love" (a beautiful cover of Bobby Hebb's song from his 1970 "Love Games" studio album. By the way, do you remember Sunny? He wrote the song!). So, tell me, are you fluttering too?! We're in the Wow moment of the show right there! For the last part of this 173rd episode, Colleen takes us on a sunny trip on our Friendly Bee's back... Laughs! The free-breezing sun-oriented fluttering mix (are you still following us?!) starts with Larry Levan's version of Central Line's "Walking Into Sunshine" (David Mancuso played the original version at The Loft. It was also played live at the Paradise Garage where Levan was a resident DJ), perfectly mixed with the following bumping number that is Shunt Voltage's "To What Degree (A Space Age Freak Out)"! Oh boy, we're racing now, I can tell you! As Womack & Womack's "Celebrate the World (The People Unite Mix)" starts, do you feel the rhythmical unity here despite Colleen's presentation? We're not ready to stop our Balearic Fluttering today, as Colleen then mixes Two Man Sound's"Que Tal America (Dave Lee Mix)" into the groove, ending this second astounding mini mix with her secret weapon, Army of Lovers' "Lit de Parade (Foundation of Dub Remix)" (listen to "Crucified", you'll see how many sonic similarities these two songs share, a favourite of mine by the way because of its imploring nature and of the crazy whistle notes...). I think it's the very first time that a mental representation keeps its vibrant picture in my mind up to the end of the second hour of the show, one of the finest shows of the series, Colleen, that's for sure... The last track, Zaimie's "Wildfire", which I discovered one night a few weeks ago as I could not sleep (I'm not at all intoxicated, and no one in the Family is! 🤣), clotures this Fluttering Balearic mix in eternal joy, can we start all over, please?!! Notes from the show : 1. – Welsh composer, producer, and Velvet Underground co-founder, John Cale with Big White Cloud from his debut album, Vintage Violence. It was released in 1970 after he left VU, and during a time when he was producing a lot of different kinds of records for the Stooges and former collaborator Nico. And just after this release, he played viola and harpsichord for Nick Drake's second album, Bryter Layter. So he was and is still involved with so many different sounds, including avant-garde, classical, and drone music. But that one in particular is a lot more traditional sounding. 2. – Over the last few years, Detroit producer Scott Grooves has been sonically branching out from his deep house roots into live music. On his Bandcamp, he has this little note: "I don't like making the same mistake twice. I like to make new ones each time I create". Recently, we've heard him expanding into a more spacey, ambient soundscape like this one. 3. – Breezin was written by Bobby Womack. He actually did write some lyrics to the song, but they weren't used until Womack released a version in 2010. The song, of course, was made famous by George Benson, but it was first recorded by the artist we heard, Hungarian jazz guitarist legend Gabor Szabo, and featured on his fourteenth album, High Contrast, which has a great lineup, including Phil Upchurch and Bobby Womack himself playing rhythm guitar on that album. 4. – Georgie Redd with Help the Man (Save ya' Mix), released as a single in 1985. And on the act's debut album, We'll Work It Out, Georgie Redd was German composer and keyboardist Jürgen, or George Kochbeck, and singer Phil Edwards. They released three albums before going their separate ways. Edwards released quite a few singles in the late 80s, early 90s. Kochbeck released a few albums, including one in 2020 called "Nine Inch Brushes" - The Beck and York Experience. 5. – Originally released in 1987, 'Night Flight' by Quintus Project, a moniker for the late German violinist, composer and producer Walter Quintus, was re-released on Derwin Recordings through Compost Records just over a decade ago, with reworks by Psych Magic and Lex. 6. – A classic from the late Vangelis, Chung Kuo and the Long March from his 1979 album, China, a concept album that uses Chinese instruments, even though the Greek electronic composer had never even been to China. In an interview at the time, he said: "For years, I've been passionate about the Chinese. I'm not talking about politics. I'm talking about the old China, the new China as well, about this enormous nation and the people who live there..." 7. – A new version of an old tune, that's Manchester producer Psychederek with a cover of his fellow Mancunians, 808 State's classic tune, "Pacific State", and that's coming out in June on Chris Massey's label Sprechen. 8. – BrainStory is a Californian trio of brothers, Kevin and Tony Martin and a brother from another mother, Eric Hagstrom. They started releasing records in 2017 and, during COVID, had to learn how to record themselves in their Long Beach studio. The result of that evolution and also the evolution after a lot of live gigs, after everything opened up, "Hanging On" is a tune from their new and third album, Sounds Good, released this month on Big Crown Records and produced by label head Leon Michaels. 9. – "Astralization", the B-side and third single and an Acid Jazz classic from 1991 of DJ, producer, percussionist and Latin Seeds bandleader Snowboy. He was originally in the Teddy Boy rock scene, believe it or not, before being drawn to Afro-Cuban jazz. And he found a natural home on the Acid Jazz label in the late 1980s. As a DJ, he also ran the Hi-Hat Jazz Dance Club at the Jazz Cafe in Camden. And he's one of the finest congueros in the U.K. He also wrote the book 'From Jazz Funk and Fusion to Acid Jazz, The History of the U.K. Jazz Dance Scene". 10. – Memphis-born, Nebraska-raised funk soul singer, Lolomi Washburn performed backing vocals for Ray Charles, Ike and Tina Turner and Shaka Khan. She also wrote for Shaka and Rufus, Buddy Miles, the Brothers Johnson, Aretha Franklin and embarked upon her own solo career in the late 70s. 11. – Disco Project, led by Bobby Eli, Eli's second coming with the song "Love Chant". And that's their only album. And Eli was a mainstay at Philadelphia International as a founding member of MFSB. And like so many on that label's roster, he was a multi-instrumentalist, producer, arranger, songwriter, and he worked with so many different people like Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, the Main Ingredient, Phyllis Hyman, Jackie Moore, the Jacksons, Curtis Mayfield and loads and loads of other incredible artists. His resume is absolutely gobsmacking. Sadly, he passed away last year, but he left us so many indelible contributions to soul music. 12. – House of Spirits, which was New York duo Tom Noble of the label Superior Elevation and Lipton Whitaker. And we heard "Holding On", which came out a decade ago on Beats in Space, the label from Tim Sweeney, who got his start on the radio show Club 89 on WNYU, taking over the Tuesday night slot after I left the show in 1999 when I moved over here (ed. London, England). 13. – "Charms in the Arms of My Love" by Alice Clark, the elusive American soul singer who grew up in the Bed-Stuy neighbourhood of Brooklyn and who wrote and produced her first record. And according to a friend who said: "I got the impression her life wasn't that great. She had kids and belonged to a religious order that forbade either bathing or washing hair. I don't recall exactly which". She released only a couple of singles and then in 1972 recorded her own, her only eponymously titled LP, which is a great record, and it's been listed on so many DJ's favourite album lists like Mr Scruff. He actually chose it as his favourite record by a woman for my classic Albums by Women book a few years ago. But the album didn't sell well when it was released, and Clark returned to family life in Brooklyn, which is really heartbreaking. She passed away in 2017, but we still celebrate her music. 14. – 1978 Two Man Sound's Que Tal America, the Dave Lee mix. Although they sound Brazilian, they were a Belgian pop trio who loved bossa nova and samba. The original track came out on their 1978 LP, "Disco Samba." 15. – British duo Zadie Zagundo, or Ziggy Funk, and Jamie McShane, going by the name Zamy. Ziggy is a DJ, a resident at Deep Into Soul and also plays at Soul Heaven, and recorded for DJ Spence label. Jamie got into the groove when his sister married Incognito's Bluey, and he remembers them writing their first album in the living room.

Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy broadcast the 173rd episode of Balearic Breakfast on her Mixcloud and Twitch TV socials on April 23rd 2024. About this episode. - After taking two weeks off-air, Colleen is back in the Driver's seat! The Balearic Breakfast Family got together in the last few days and requested great tracks that transmitted Joy but also something of that "Unexpected truth"! Do not worry; as always, we will discuss that in the post, laughs! But for now, let's leave today's show presentation to Colleen herself: "Today's show features new music from musclecars Yuksek Caoilfhionn Rose FRANCK ROGER DJ Spinna Mad Professor Alex Kassian and of course, a lot of great records that you have requested. It also includes a song featured on my forthcoming Balearic Breakfast 3 compilation coming out on HEAVENLY RECORDINGS on the 7th June. At the moment there is no CD version, but next year there should be a CD that combines Volumes 3&4 like we did with the first two volumes. You will see a very high price tag for a digital download version – that’s because there isn’t one! This is a physical format release only. Thanks to all who have already pre-ordered and who have supported the compilation series over the past couple of years. And there will be some record release parties in the UK and Ibiza which I’ll tell you about in the near future. If you’re in London, hold this date: 15th June." Listen back to the 173rd episode of Balearic Breakfast: PLAYLIST (2024) Ballaké Sissoko & Derek Gripper – Daraka (1971) Barbara and Ernie – For You (2024) Caoilfhionn Rose – Josephine (2011) Jonathan Wilson – Desert Raven (1971) Pastor TL Barrett and the Youth for Christ Community Choir – Nobody Knows (2006) Omar – Ghana Emotion (2023) Yuksek (ft Julia Jean-Baptiste) – Pura Onda (C’est Pas l’oiseau Jam Mix) (1985) Pino Daniele – Ferryboat (Club Mix 1985) (1981) Syreeta Wright – Move It Do It (NOL) Renée – Change Your Style (Pete Blaker Rework) (1980) El Turronero – Las Penas (La Caña) (2004) The Shapeshifters – Lola’s Theme (Lola’s Loungin’ Mix) (2024) Florecer – Hidden Thoughts (Hitchhiker Remix) (1981) Billy Ocean – Nights (Feel Like Getting Down) (1980) Wilton Felder & Bobby Womack – Inherit the Wind (1978) Lucio Battisti – Nessun Dolore (2024) Franck Roger – Enchanted (DJ Spinna’s Galactic Soul Remix) (2024) Musclecars – Running Out of Time (2024) Alex Kassian – E2 E4 (Mad Professor Crazy Mix 2) THE LISTENING EXPERIENCE The general feeling of the mix. – As always, when Colleen mixes, images or ideas appear in my brain. Laughs! In this episode, I quickly felt that the Unexpected element was king. Listen closely to both the songs and the mix; you'll hear how many unexpected elements appear, even on a rhythmical side! This eclectic and unexpectedly grooving mix made me think about how important keeping a smooth approach to life is. The more you take things as they are, even when they Hurt, the more you'll be able to shift, to adapt, you'll learn to respond, to cope and digest anything that will come to you along the way, knowing that great things may happen too. Of course, if you're sensitive, you'll feel that anything that can go wrong will go wrong. That's also true. And that’s how I always feel, laughs! But remember that anything great can also happen. I'm not saying here that we should always be happy or that we should always expect good things to happen, but by staying on the edge, you'll be able to see things for what they are and not only for what you would like them to be, or what you think they are. And that's something that may help you along the way... The Unexpected Truth is out there, so be ready to experience it. More about the songs. – From the show's start, unexpected sounds, colours, textures, and tonalities greet you. The whole rhythm, the entire vibe, and the soundstage of "Daraka" are something we never experienced during Balearic Breakfast (and for a good cause as the album, recorded in London with the vinyl being pressed at Pallas, allows Kora player Ballaké Sissoko – a stringed instrument used extensively in West Africa – and guitarist Derek Gripper to have a musical conversation). With Barbara and Ernie's "For You", the unexpected keeps presenting itself to you, thanks to the track's dynamics and the instruments' realism (this well-written review shows how much the album stands out in its original sonic structure). Did you notice that the beautiful ballad did not age sonically at all, sounding fresh as ever? Colleen keeps the flow steady by playing Caoilfhionn Rose's "Josephine", taken from her forthcoming album on Gondwana Records (and, think of it, perfectly falling into the "Unexpected truth" theme as, according to Caoilfhionn "Josephine is a song about what I’d tell my younger self / a younger person to give reassurance and comfort"). I had the absolute pleasure of talking with Caoilfhionn here on the blog, a wonderful interview during which I noted that her new album, while keeping her aerial sonic signature, felt more "solid" sonically. Stop. Listen to Colleen's mix right there. Did you catch the surprise as Jonathan Wilson's "Desert Raven" started? I did, Wow, right?! If you want to preorder your copy of Balearic Breakfast Vol. 3, do so here. The next song, "Nobody Knows", comes from an album that has already been featured on the show (Pastor T.L. Barrett's legacy is celebrated in a beautiful box set, btw.). I love the lyrics of that song, reflecting so much the main theme of this very post; besides, I love the unorthodox structure of the song too! Now, I'm sure you understand this post's title! And, as I just said, the unexpected is our friend today as Colleen then plays the very "bossa-like" tune that is Omar's "Ghana Emotion". Often referred to as ‘the father of neo-soul’, Omar Lye-Fook recently said in an interview, "My story has been going quite steadily for the last 35, 36 years. I just want to keep adding to the catalogue. This is something that I'm known for, that I produce a lot of quality music, and I just want to be able to keep that flow going" Well, so do we! With Yuksek's "Pura Onda" (the album's title "Dance 'o' Drome" is inspired by Yuksek's radio show he hosted on Radio Nova between 2020 and 2023) and its funky/cosmic sound (confirming Yuksek's love for Balearic Soundscapes, as he told handsupelectro.fr), Colleen keeps the surprise element as vibrant as ever; that soundstage is incredible. For now, Colleen is not focused on the mix; she lets the music breathe, and every song keeps its own universe, allowing the visual dynamics to hit the listener even more. Yuksek was also previously featured during Balearic Brunch, you might remember that! Colleen then takes us on the dancefloor, nicely blending Pino Daniele's "Ferryboat" with Syreeta's "Move It Do It". The second hour of today's episode will be nothing short of surprising, and Colleen starts it with Pete Blaker's edit of Renée's "Change Your Style". Pete was with us on the chat today; he came by to say a quick hello! What a track! Another one perfectly showcasing today's show Powerhorse strength. It is followed by another incredible tune, El Turronero's "Las Penas (La Caña)", mixing the "classic disco sound" with Spanish lyrics in an almost Arab-like flair, Colleen taking us here on a musical Roller-Coaster with The Shapeshifters' "Lola’s Theme (Lola’s Loungin’ Mix)" (more about how the song was born here) which just got us on our knees, finally ending this incredible musical moment with Florecer's dreamy "Hidden Thoughts (Hitchhiker Remix)". There goes your WOW effect!! For the following songs, Colleen is going to keep her mixing on the top, as always, blending Billy Ocean's 1981 breakout R&B hit"Nights (Feel Like Getting Down)", Wilton Felder and Bobby Womack's "Inherit the Wind" ending with Luccio Battisti's great "Nessun Dolore" (found on his 13th studio album on which he collaborated with the lyricist Giulio Rapetti). Colleen then ends the show by playing three last open-minded tracks: Franck Roger's "Enchanted (DJ Spinna’s Galactic Soul Remix)", Musclecars' "Running Out of Time", and the audacious and trippy Alex Kassian's "E2 E4 (Mad Professor Crazy Mix 2)".

I did a nice little interview with Rick. I wanted to change things a little bit and propose something fun. Rick is from the Netherlands! Let's meet him! 1- Hi Rick! Let's do a "Balearic Proust Questionnaire"! Your first record and the memory associated with it? Okay Artur! Let's go! My first record! Do you really wanna know? 🌞 I was only four or five years old, and my musical taste has changed over the years 🙂 It was a 7-inch single by Willem Duijn. It's a Dutch cover of the song "Darlin", first performed by Poacher and best known for the Frankie Miller version. As I was very young, I don't remember much, but I do remember buying it with one of my parents at one of the local record stores. I like to think it was the record store I worked at later in life, but I truly don't remember. I still have the 7-inch. 2- The musical artist you can’t live without? Hmm, I'm not an artist person, I guess, not even an album person. I just like songs, or I don't. My all-time favourite song is Unfinished Sympathy by Massive Attack. I loved it from the first time I heard it back in 91 till today. So I have to say Massive Attack then 😝 3- A song that makes you want to party hard each time you hear it? Recently, an edit of Sanctuary's "I'm Going to Love Him" was released. I'm not sure if it's a Pete Blaker edit, but I love his work, by the way! 4- The most important thing in Music? The most important thing is for the listener and the performer to like it. Enjoy it, and let him/her feel good! 5- The way you Listen to Music? I just listen and enjoy. Most of the time, I listen to music when I am doing something else. I would love to listen to it deeper or closer, but at the moment, my life is very busy. Still, I think experiencing music is the best way. I love it when a new song grabs you, lifts you up, makes you feel good, gives you goosebumps, and you want to hear it again even when It's not even finished or when an old song brings back memories and puts you in the same good vibe as it did then. 6- 3 DJs you love? Besides Colleen, that's DJ E.a.s.e (aka Nightmares on Wax). I was really hooked on his boiler room mix! There's also DJ Dimitri. He's not from Paris but from Amsterdam 🤠 He brings a great selection of house music and really takes you on a journey. He has a very good mixing technique. Furthermore, he has influenced a lot of people and recently celebrated 40 years of DJing. He also did some great compilations for Outland Records back in the day. 7- Balearic Breakfast in one word? The answer is already in the question... One... 8- If Colleen was an animal, which one would she be and why? A pigeon. Why... That is a long story 😅 9- A memory linked to Balearic Breakfast you keep close to you? The emotional and also positive vibes in the last show on, and the first one without Worldwide FM! Colleen did a great job and got the show to the next level! 10- Your mix in one image? Thank you so much Rick!

Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy broadcast the 171st episode of Balearic Breakfast on her Mixcloud on April 09th 2024. About this show. – For this 171st edition (already!!) of Balearic Breakfast, Colleen again lent her virtual desks to members of the Family. And what a trip that show was! Both mixes let us discover tunes we didn't know, and both proposed a resolutely balearic ambience we'll dive into in the Listening experience part of this post (if you listen to this edition as you should, you'll notice that Colleen chose to play Rob's mix first and then Greca's one, thus respecting the show's general vibe, growing from a slow/cooled out vibe to a more energetic musical reality)... Listen back to the 171st episode of Balearic Breakfast: "Today’s Balearic Breakfast is now up on my Mixcloud if you would like to have a listen (and please follow me while you’re over there). For this edition we are joined by more members of the global Balearic Breakfast family. First up are @johncbawcombe1970 and @rob_soulfood with a @balearic_burger mix. John started Balearic Burger as a Facebook group and YouTube channel during the pandemix and is now hosting parties up in Nottingham. Check em out! Their mix is wonderfully deep with tunes by @djrontrent @deyadova @third_attempt @yaimamusic and more. Then our friend @grecamac picks up the pace with a slinky sexy dance mix with music from @francoisknyc @jim_uk15 @ilyasantana @masalo.music @undergroundsystem @clivefromaccounts @henrikschwarzlive and more…. Thanks to all who joined us on the live stream on Mixcloud Live and for all of your support for the mixes by our Balearic Breakfast community members. We have one more week of special guest mixes – this time from @rick_van_veen and @melissalyde – and then I’ll be back in the driver’s seat hosting it live from the record room. Thanks for listening!" PLAYLIST John Bawcombe & Rob Soulfood Mix: (2021) Lone – Visited by Astronauts (2014) Yaima – Gajumaru (1999) Ron Trent – Woman (1979) Peter Green – Just for You (1974) Thin Lizzy – Showdown (1978) Maze – I Need You (1981) Jaco Pastorius – John and Mary (1982) Dave Valentin – Clove & Cinnamon (2006) Deya Dova – Bloom (1973) Madeline Bell – That’s What It’s All About (1988) Sade – Give It Up (2023) Third Attempt – Soul Body and Mind Greca McAlpin Mix: (2023) Jim – Phoenix (Crooked Fire) (2023) Underground System – Looking In (Clive from Accounts mix) (2010) Ilya Santana – Time to Come (2019) Nicky Night Time, Dangerous Dan & Rhonda INTL – A History (2006) Cold Cut – Walk a Mile in My Shoes (Henrik Schwarz Remix) (1988) Raze – Break 4 Love (2019) Masalo – Cycles (2022) Parkway Rhythm – Be Yourself (NOL) Direct Drive – Pass the Paper (White Label Edit) (2019) Sun Palace – Rude Movements (Francois K Mix) (1979) The Osmonds – I, I, I THE LISTENING EXPERIENCE General Feeling of the Mix. – Rob's mix is as eclectic as a mix can be. Look at the playlist; you'll understand that he's reaching high and low in many musical corners. Still, the mix he crafted has a strong "musical spine," one that allows you to let yourself go and, more importantly, one that has a very nicely rendered "surprise" effect. From the short but brilliant "intro" that is Lone's "Visited by Astronauts" to Third Attempt's "Soul Body and Mind", Rob includes artists like Thin Lizzy, Sade, Peter Green (which has already been featured previously in the show) reaching high up to Jaco Pastorius' "John and Marry"! If that's not a "Balearic Burger mix", nothing will ever be! Add to this the smooth transitions Rob does throughout the mix, and you'll be given a beautiful musical trip (very fine mixing indeed, very delicate... Listen, for instance, to the groove when Thin Lizzy's song starts...)! I just came to think about it, but Rob's mix perfectly embraces the "Balearic" musical philosophy, which is one of musical freedom. You can play whatever you want until it's done with the right musical intention (read Joe Mugg's "The Balearic Aesthetic"; the article greatly explains this point). Rob's mix perfectly embodies this philosophical approach to freedom through music. More about the songs. – Rob's mix reaches high and low in many musical corners. Let's find out more about the tracks he chose to play in his mix: Rob starts his mix with a somewhat intriguing atmosphere. Visited by astronauts by Matt Cutler is indeed a somewhat worried balearic track from his 2021 « Always inside your head » album, which beautifully blends into Yaima’s 2014 « Gajumaru », also a worried piece of music, leading you to think about how you deal with hard times and sad thoughts (Gajumaru is a Japanese male Name – 我 meaning "ego, self, i." Myself – Refers to one's own thoughts and opinions, and the determination to stick to them). Rob ends this trippy overture by selecting Ron Trent's "Woman", a track perfectly showcasing how he feels about music "We’re dealing with something that you can’t really touch but you know it’s there. Sound. You’re dealing with something of a medium shift. If you’re a musician who knows how to house the sonics or if you’re a DJ that knows how to take in the energy of a room and give it to the people, it’s a different level of understanding". Keeping the rhythm quite cool at the start of the mix, Rob then plays 3 songs that reinforce the listener's first feeling of uneasiness. Firstly, both Peter Green's "Just for You" and Thin Lizzy's "Showdown" (sharing a close sonic structure) have that cooled-out but also worried musical vibe. Interestingly enough, while Shodown deals with "something that's about to happen", that's exactly what the band experienced when they were working on the record [Note1]! Lastly, this worried moment of the mix takes an end with the 10-minute-long "I Need You" from the 1978 studio album "Golden Time of the Day", a funky, almost spacy piece of music perfectly fitting Rob's mix whose musical unity shines here! You may think that Jaco Pastorius's John and Mary (you can read a beautiful review of the track here) would announce a happier part of the mix, but not totally, as we shall see. The bassist's song from his 1981 studio album "Word of Mouth" is dedicated to his children from his first marriage, and thus beautifully blends into Dave Valentin's (Grammy-Award Latin-jazz flautist) "Clove & Cinnamon" from his 1982 studio album. A beautiful Balearic moment here! But that happier interlude soon leaves more room for windy skies with the four last tracks Rob chose to play. First is Deya Dova's "Bloom", followed by Madeline Bell's intense "That’s What It’s All About" (she composed all of the songs for the 1973 studio album with Led Zeppelin's bassist player, John Paul Jones and will reunite with Mink's original members in 2024!). Although Sade's "Give It Up" is more danceable, you still feel a kind of uneasiness to this Track (CAS covered the album "Stronger than pride"), which really is an urgent plea... Rob then ends his mix by playing the also quite worried Third Attempt's "Soul Body and Mind". General Feeling of the mix. – Greca's mix is astounding (let's use the right words...), both musically and rhythmically. It's a darky/happy/trippy/worried but also absolutely danceable mix, one of the finest ones we have ever experienced here on the show from members of the Family. As Colleen put it in her latest interview with Dave Howell "(...) there's so many people who are music lovers who don't do it for a profession. And they have great ears. It's very pure". While we were all enjoying Greca's mix on the chat – the Lioncub totally losing his brain while searching for some harshness (there wasn't any of that Greca, I can tell you!) in it (stop searching, buddy, laughs!) – our dear Ana Maria had these words, which perfectly described Greca's mix "I have the vision of sweaty bodies dancing in the dark with smoke around in an underground club as it used to be..." (PS. Thank you for the dedication Greca, we love you!). More about the songs. – Since Greca's mix presents a beautiful rhythmical unity (there's some very fine and well-done beat-matching here, Greca 😘), I will just share pieces of information I found about some of the tracks: Jim Baron was featured in the 135th Balearic Breakfast show; Luke Unabomber hailed The Crooked Goth version of Phoenix as his track of the year; led by Domenica Fossati and Peter Matson, Underground System's musical journey experienced a beautiful epiphany when they played in France (2018) and then toured Europe in 2019, a few months before Covid stopped them. "Looking in" is taken from their brand new EP, a band to follow for sure; from the 2010 EP "Burning Jupiter" (also available on the "Deep Space Vol. 1" compilation, Space Disco Music producer & DJ Ilya Santana proposes here a track that immediately made me think of some of the Italo-Disco tracks from the 80's...; the WOW effect of today's show is right here as "A History" (a fairly basic stripped-back house track) presents a short but well-thought-of and executed history of disco/house music with various samples included (if you know, you know...), then being mixed into the well-known British duo Coldcut's (Matt Black & Jonathan More) incredible cover (and oh so worried version) of the 1969 song "Walk a mile in my shoes" by Joe South (also famously covered by Elvis Presley)! Just WOW!!; the 1988 classic that is "Break 4 Love" has been famously used by many other artists, including Sydney Youngblood for his If Only I Could hit and has been praised by many DJs around the world; Masalo's "Cycles" has that something coming from the 1990s (that New-Beat feel I talked about in that article on the blog); Parkway Rhythm's "Be Yourself" made me think of another classic track which is Black Boxe's "Strike it up"; British Disco, Soul and Electrofunk act in the 1980s, Direct Drive's "Pass the Paper" is a funky number released at the band's heydays (and I found an incredible article [Note 2] about how the band's first studio album came to be!); following the reissue of the classic Raw Movements album in 2016 (the song Rude Movements was one of David Mancuso's favourites and was played at the loft in 1984), a new double LP has been issued, including beautiful remixes (btw. François K knew David and he crafted a beautiful tribute mix, you can listen to this one here); you might know The Osmonds thanks to their great albums, including the ferocious 1972 album "Crazy Horses", but the American family music group also lent their musical talents to the virtues of Disco in1979, here looking into a somewhat "Kraftwerkian" musical trip (if you hear what I mean...), interestingly enough the track was produced by Maurice Gibb! Footnotes: [1] See https://www.loudersound.com/. – "The rehearsals for that album were exactly the same way as when I went down and jammed with them," Gorham told us. "Everything was loud, it was big. But when we got into the studio, Ron Nevison, the producer, kept saying: 'Just turn the guitars down a little.' Robbo and I would look at each other and go: 'This is our first album, and this guy’s just worked with Led Zeppelin. So we’ll just take it down a notch.' "And Nevison was like: 'Could you turn it down a little bit more?' And the volume kept going down and down, to where the songs just didn’t have that drive any longer. We all walked out scratching our heads, going: 'What the fuck just happened there?' That’s when Phil [Lynott] goes: 'Fuck these producers, I’ll produce the next one.' I went: 'Oh shit. What have we let ourselves in for now?'" [2] Charlie Gillett, Oval Records and Music, ­June 2001. – "The most important sound in the history of Oval Records might have been the clunk of the cassette that dropped through the letterbox of our basement office in Clapham, South London, in the Autumn of 1981. I went to see who had dropped it off, but he had already gone back up the front steps and into the street. There was a note in the packet telling us the band was called Direct Drive, and this was their demo in search of a record deal. In those days, cassette demos came in by post on a daily basis, most of them by rock groups inspired by one or more of the current heroes ­Talking Heads, the B-52s and Elvis Costello. Gordon [Nelki, Oval's co-director] and I stopped whatever we were doing to play the cassette, and one thing was clear straight away: this band had not been listening to any of the above. The music sounded like it was following Earth Wind and Fire or Kool and the Gang, in the new style of British dance music that was being called Jazz Funk by those in the know. The vocalist had a high, near-falsetto voice, and the arrangements were very adventurous, full of spaces for instrumental solos and rhythmic punches. In particular, we liked the drive and melody of 'Don't Depend on Me'. To us, the demo sounded good enough to release exactly as it was, but we needed to check it out with the people who would have to sell the record if we put it out. These days, there are around 30 shops in Soho alone selling nothing but dance music, and many more across the rest of London; back then, there was just a handful in the whole city, and one of them was Record Corner, about a mile away in Balham. I called the shop's manager Dave Hastings and he said we'd better come to play it to dance specialist Carl, who said it sounded fine and if we decided to release it he'd place an order for 25. Next stop was City Sounds in Holborn, where the guy behind the counter said he'd buy 50. Later, I found out this was Mick Clark, who soon afterwards joined the A&R department at Virgin. With 75 sales in the bag, we phoned the group's contact number and found the drummer, Pete Quinton. We asked him how come he had chosen to bring the tape to Oval. He said he'd looked in the Yellow Pages and we were the closest company to where he lived. He confirmed that the band was up for a discussion with us about releasing the record, so we fixed a meeting with all six members where we explained the deal ­ we'd release all three tracks on a 12" single and publish the songs. And then there was a bit of a delay. I don't remember how long, maybe a couple of weeks. We seemed in danger of losing the momentum ­ there's a sense of adrenalin that can build when things follow naturally, but which can get totally lost if people start wondering if there might be a better this or that around a corner. We began to get phone calls from the keyboard player, Paul Hardcastle, who was getting frustrated by the slow decision-taking processes in a democratic six-piece band. Before coming to Oval, they had shopped the demo around the rest of the business, and nobody else had been interested. As far as Paul was concerned, we were the only choice left. Paul told us that he had given an ultimatum to the other five, 'if you don't want to do this deal with Oval, I'm leaving the band.' There was something about Paul, you knew he wasn't bluffing. They came, we signed, and we put the record out. As we got to know Paul better, he told us how he had joined the band. He had come into some insurance money after a bad crash on his motorbike, and had bought a keyboard at the music equipment and hi-fi shop where he worked on King's Road in Chelsea. He taught himself to play it by trial and error and reading the manual, and three months later answered an ad in the Melody Maker for a band looking for a keyboard player. Although he had never played with other musicians before, somehow he bluffed his way in. Vocalist Derek Green was recruited around the same time, and the six-piece rehearsed a few times before recording the three songs that were sent to us. It's still hard to believe that those confident and complicated keyboard arrangements were by somebody who had only been playing for three months. Listening now, twenty years later, the quality of musicianship in the whole band is outstanding ­ guitarist Robert Williams plays lovely fluid lines and bass player Mick Ward was among the best British musicians to perfect the slapping style that the Family Stone's Larry Graham had introduced a few years earlier. Pete Quinton provided the rhythmic fulcrum on drums, and percussionist Bones Hammond added flowing syncopations. Convinced that 'Don't Depend on Me' was the favourite for radio play, we made it the A-side and stuck the other two songs on the B-side. The band - particularly Paul - liked 'Time Machine'’ but it started with at least a minute of instrumental intro before the vocal started, which was against every radio principle we knew. Pete Quinton designed the band's logo for the front cover. We did the radio promotion ourselves, posting copies to any producer or DJ who might play it and quite a few who almost certainly never would. We were ignored by every daytime radio producer at Radio One, but John Peel played the A-side several times, surprising given his preference for much edgier music than this. Even more surprising, Robbie Vincent at BBC Radio London chose 'Time Machine' as the side to play, long intro and all. Over and over. This was the heyday of pirate radio, when most of the people who ran the stations were into exactly this kind of music, and they all played 'Time Machine.' Record Business, a rival to the long running trade paper Music Week, published a Disco Music Top 50; the single entered at #21 in the week ending 18th Jan 1982 and hovered in and out of the top 20 for the next two months. At this time Oval split its distribution between Spartan and Rough Trade. Spartan had been formed by a couple of ex-major label salesmen to help small labels have pop hits, and they did well with the first few singles by UB40 on Graduate Records, a small label based in the Midlands. Rough Trade specialised in groups which weren't looking for pop chart success. Oval's releases tended to fall between the cracks, being neither commercial enough for Spartan nor quirky enough for Rough Trade. We found a third distributor, Greyhound Records, which specialised in importing dance records from the USA, for whom we were a natural addition to their range. One of the trickiest things to get right was pressing up the correct number of records, keeping up with demand without getting left with too much overstock. Three different factories made labels, sleeves and vinyl, and the pressing plant would not start a run until we had delivered enough labels and sleeves to match the order. One undelivered telephone message in any one of the three factories could take a couple of weeks to untangle. Having started with a conservative first pressing of 1,000 copies, it took us about six weeks to catch up with the demand for 'Time Machine.' Most people found it easier to buy the song on compilation cassettes of jazz funk being sold in London markets every Saturday, but we still sold over 5,000 12" copies. Listening to the music now, it feels like the band would have built up a following if they had been out playing live. But Oval did not have the resources to provide them with tour support to let them all give up their day jobs and go out on the road. We needed to make another record. Capital Radio offered a live session for the band, who played two songs from the first single and a new one, 'Time's Running Out.' We took the 16-track tape to Eel Pie Studios in Soho where engineer Mike Pela remixed the new song for release as a single, combined with a ballad, 'I'm The One.' This time we thought we had a real chance of radio play. We pressed a radio-friendly 7" and to make sure we were better prepared to meet demand this time around, we ordered 2,000 12" singles. But radio was not nearly so enthusiastic, and we did not even sell all of the first pressing. Listen to 'I'm The One,' and let me know if you understand why that was not some kind of a hit? Derek's singing is impeccable, the words are spot on, and the band plays like a dream. The two Direct Drive singles were consecutive releases on Oval, followed immediately by two more from the spin-off group formed by Paul and Derek, First Light. They took the name from the studio in Penge where the first single had been recorded. I don't remember exactly what happened to force the split, or maybe we were never told. For a while, we remained on good terms with both parties and Pete Quinton designed the First Light logo. But after we turned down the results of a new formation of Direct Drive featuring vocalist Alvin Brown, the group decided to go out on its own, and with vocalist Helen Rogers released a couple of singles on Polydor, making the lower reaches of the national chart with 'Anything'. We had every expectation that First Light would be commercially successful -­ a singer with a great voice with good songs, combined with a wizard musician who had a gleam in his eye and a feel for the future. Paul's decision to revive 'Horse with No Name' confounded the purists and achieved our first play on daytime Radio One when a producer commissioned a 'live session.' This was a euphemism for a tape copy of the record, which was supplied to meet Musician's Union requirements for a specified number of 'sessions' per day on Radio One. When Gordon heard the First Light single one morning played back-to-back with 'Just an Illusion' by Imagination, the UK's best-selling black act at the time, his heart sank. Where every sound on the Imagination record rammed home its intention, the sound of First Light was lighter, more innocent. In a flash, he knew our record didn't stand a chance. Among the follow-up songs we recorded was 'She's a Mystery,' full of melodic hooks which floated over an easy-going groove. Derek had his doubts that our promotion could do it justice, and thought they might benefit from having a more experienced producer. We didn't argue. If the group wanted a company with more clout, we would go and try to find one. We shopped around. Our former adviser Mick Clark had his hands full at Virgin with Loose Ends and I-Level. Ashley Newton at Island had as many black music acts as he could hope to get onto British radio, which was still not making these artists welcome. Roger Ames, the MD at London Records, did not usually initiate A&R signings anymore, but somehow we managed to get his attention long enough to sign the duo, although he would be the first to admit that he never had enough time afterwards to concentrate on figuring out what to do with it. While all these discussions were going on, Paul had been playing around with an idea for an instrumental, which he sent to us on tape. It sounded OK, but so what? Who played instrumentals on the radio? If Paul was pissed off with us, he didn't show it. But he persevered, asking if we minded if he sent the tape to Solar, one of the leading pirate stations. We didn't mind, but it needed a title in case they played it: 'A.M.,' sticking to the concept of the project's name. A week or two later, Paul called to report that the track was getting played on Solar. Two weeks later, it was in the top ten tracks most-requested by listeners to the station. All the other nine were released records already in the national top 50. Week by week the instrumental climbed into the top 3. Finally First Light's record label woke up to the realisation that it might be a good idea to release this track. By now we were on the brink of signing the group to London, but Roger Ames confirmed that it would not interfere with London's plans if this instrumental came out in the meantime. On the B-side were two vocal tracks featuring Derek, the new 'I Don't Care' and a revisit of 'Time Machine.' Mainstream radio paid no attention, but the pirates played 'A.M.' like it was their signature tune. Even though this time we knew there would be plenty of interest, we still had trouble keeping up with demand. The 12" single sold over 13,000 copies, more than the sales of the other three singles combined. For reasons I've now forgotten, when we finally signed to London and started discussing what to do first, 'She's a Mystery' was set aside and a new song, 'Explain the Reasons,' was chosen for the single. It was our idea to suggest Steve Levene as producer, after hearing his work on the first Culture Club single; but before we could get in the studio with him, 'Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?' came out and suddenly Steve was the producer everybody wanted. Not until three months later did Steve finally have time for First Light. To my amazement and embarrassment, Steve did most of the programming himself, with Paul sat beside him in the control room. By the time the A-side was finally finished, we had gone way past the budget, and Paul volunteered to knock off an instrumental B-side at a cheaper studio. Sticking to the theme, we called it 'Daybreak.' Despite the more professional sound of 'Explain the Reasons' and London's experienced promotion team, Radio One wasn't interested, but every pirate radio station across the country jumped onto 'Daybreak.' The single sold over 20,000 copies and the group made the pop chart for the first time. A different producer, Bob Carter, was assigned to do the next single, 'Wish You Were Here', and again Paul volunteered to provide the B-side. Observing that it was costing £500 a day to record, he pointed out that if he had his own home studio, he could record half of any album for a fraction of what it would cost in a commercial studio. We put the idea to Roger, who turned it down flat. "They need a producer." Gordon came out of the meeting seething with anger and suggested we help pay for Paul's studio as his publisher. Paul was fine with that, so we came up with a few thousand pounds, Paul put up the rest himself, and he finally had his own music-making factory at home. When we started discussing the release of the second single at London's office, the A&R man asked us not to put an instrumental on the B-side this time. "Why not?" we asked, 'A.M.' and 'Daybreak' proved that radio DJs liked instrumentals" "Exactly. First Light is a vocal group, and we don't want to give DJs a chance to play the wrong side again." It was a logic that baffled me then, and it still does. A compromise was agreed whereby Paul recorded another instrumental 'Stop the Clock' in a completely different style, almost reggae, so he could not be accused of appealing to the jazz funk DJs. But they played it anyway, and although Radio One ignored the A-side again, the record slipped into the bottom of the national chart for a token couple of weeks. Oval Records had released four singles by Direct Drive and First Light in a little over 12 months. At London, First Light managed to release only two more in 18 months, most of that time spent waiting around for producers to become available. Beside himself with frustration, Paul broke away and formed his own Fast Forward label to put out singles he recorded at home. He immediately made #41 on the national chart with a revival of D-Train's 'You're The One For Me' and was back there again a few months later, in a one-off deal with Bluebird Records, with an instrumental, 'Rain Forest,' which went on to become a Top 5 R&B hit in the States. In April 1985, having signed to Chrysalis, Paul was sitting on top of the world, with '19' at #1 in 13 countries. In many ways, '19' was the record that made the public aware of the concept of sampling; everybody who heard the record realised that the commentator's voice was somehow being manipulated into that famous stutter ­ 'N-N-Nineteen.' Not only did Paul provide Oval Music with our biggest hit, but he taught us a lot: among other things, that it's not simply a matter of having talent, it's what you do with it. It's been a privilege to be part of his story. As far as the UK is concerned, Paul may have apparently disappeared, but he has been one of Britain's most consistent sellers in Japan and the US, with a series of Contemporary Jazz albums (as the Jazzmasters and under his own name), each of which stayed on the Billboard Chart for two years. Derek Green had a brief shot at a solo career but then settled into the role of being one of the top session singers in the country, preferring to stand just outside the spotlight. We lost contact with the other members of Direct Drive apart from Pete Quinton, who turned out to be an excellent songwriter in his own right. We spent a couple of years trying to get covers of his songs, and he has gone on to make a living writing music for television. Pete, if we never properly thanked you for dropping that cassette through our letter box, this seems like a good time and place to do it."

Dave Howell interviews Colleen Cosmo Murphy about her life in music, from her high school radio show to headlining some of the biggest and best parties around the world. LISTEN BACK Listen back to the 190th episode of Music for beaches: INTERVIEW [Dave] Hello, and welcome along to another edition of Music for Beaches with me, Dave Howell. On tonight's show, it's with great pleasure that I welcome an extremely special guest to Music for Beaches. For the next hour, I'll be chatting with one of the most widely loved and respected DJs. She's also an accomplished radio show host, a producer, a remixer and a purveyor of beautiful music in all its forms. If you're listening to this show, there's a good chance that you've heard of the Balearic Breakfasts and Classic Album Sundays, and if you have, you'll know that I'm talking about none other than Colleen Cosmo Murphy. I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation and I hope that you do too, so let's get into it. Here's Colleen Cosmo Murphy on Music for Beaches. So Colleen Cosmo Murphy, welcome to Music for Beaches; it's a pleasure to have you on the show. I'd like to start by asking you how your trip to Australia and New Zealand was because you were here recently; we managed to meet up. We never got the chance to do this in person, but we're doing it again now. I'm really interested to find out, you know, how you found the place because it was your first trip here, wasn't it? [Colleen] Yeah, first trip. Now that we're something of empty nesters, we had the time to finally make it down under, and it was just wonderful. We're already planning to go back. I learned so much in terms of, you know, the history and the culture, but also met a lot of great people, including yourself, you know, hooked up with some old friends, and New Zealand was wonderful too. I think New Zealand may be the most beautiful place I've ever been. [Dave] Even more so than Australia? [Colleen] I think so, more so than America as well, you know, and I have to say it just blew me away and we didn't even go to the South Island. But it just whet our appetite to go back and we're working on that now because we just absolutely loved it. [Dave] Excellent. [Colleen] And the wine was fantastic! The wine was fantastic. I just have to say I didn't really, I wasn't much of a Chardonnay drinker before because in America it's very oaky so I just kind of stopped drinking it, and I fell in love with it especially in Melbourne and also in Adelaide as well. It was just wonderful vineyards. [Dave] So you're coming back just for the wine by the sound of it. [Colleen] Yeah, I know. It doesn't make me sound too good, does it?! (laughs!) [Dave] Did anything surprise you about the place down here? [Colleen] Yes. So the first thing when I learned that the Aboriginal people have lived there for 60,000 years, I honestly still can't get my head around that. It blows me away. And then, when you look at Australia, and it's so much of it is desert in the middle and people survived there for 60,000 years. [Dave] And they didn't mess it up. [Colleen] And they didn't mess it up and they worked with nature and how they, it's really interesting. They have a lot, I think, to teach us. And I also had a great time going to the... it was the art gallery, the museum in Sydney, the Art Gallery of New South Wales. [Dave] Yeah, yeah. My favourite place. Yeah. [Colleen] Oh, it was fantastic. And went to, excuse me, we went to check out some of the Aboriginal art and it was absolutely incredible. And it was just really interesting. And I really want to dig into that more when we do go back. Not just the vineyards, but actually the culture! (laughs) So that was really, you know, really interesting to me. And I'd just like to find out more. [Dave] Excellent. You're originally from the US and you started your career in radio at high school, I understand. And you eventually became programme director and DJ at WNYU, the college radio station at New York University. I was just wondering, you know, what inspired your initial love of music and then your decision to really go on that path? What's, you know, how did all that fall into place? [Colleen] I was pretty obsessed with the radio growing up. I grew up in a really small town in New England, and everybody basically listened to classic rock and Top 40. And luckily, because we were on the outskirts of Boston, we're one of the suburbs, we had great radio. We had incredible college radio stations because Boston has the most colleges and universities out of any other city in the United States, and we had pretty progressive commercial radio stations as well that covered a lot of different kinds of music. And I just always had a very, very open ear. So it was really the radio that first kind of intrigued me and drew me in. And the second thing was the record collections of my aunts and uncles. You know, growing up in an Irish Catholic family, you know, a lot of aunts and uncles, they were all teenagers when I was growing up. My dad was the eldest of six. And, you know, we all lived in the same town. And I would go raid their record collections and it was just, you know, I'd find out about Kate Bush or even if it's just, you know, more run-of-the-mill stuff like Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac and Beatles and Doors, Rolling Stones. But that was really what really kindled my interest. And luckily for me, our high school had a radio station. It was a 10-watt radio station. And in fact, one of my uncles was one of the students that helped found that station, maybe about 10 years before I started in the same high school. And another cousin of mine was doing a radio show and she asked me to come up and be a guest. And I did. I went that day. I was 14 years old. And I remember they turned the microphone on and I screamed and ran out of the studio and across the library (laughs)! But that kind of, I started playing, that time I was playing kind of 1960s music. And I just got the bug. Yeah, I just got the bug. I had been making mixtapes and things like that at home. And I just, I just fell in love with it. And then I started working in a record shop in 1984. So even throughout high school, I had a radio show for four years. I was working in a record shop. And, you know, I was also buying records too. I was going into Boston and going to the second-hand shops. And, you know, back then, it was pretty hard to get my hands on, you know, the NME or Melody Maker. But every now and then I'd flip through one at Newberry Comics because they had import magazines. And I would also listen to what other people were playing. There was a really great radio show called "Nocturnal Emissions" on Sunday nights, hosted by Oedipus, who I later worked with. You know, my adult life, I ended up working with him on syndicated radio shows. But he's the one that turned me on to a lot of different sounds like, you know, Brian Eno, and once I heard one song by an artist, if I was intrigued, then I would just go to second-hand record shops and you could listen to records. And I just started building up my collection that way. And it was the only way to really find out about music, where I was from. We didn't have the internet. And none of my friends were into this. Yeah. So it was a huge, huge kind of journey of discovering music. And then once you work in a record shop, you're working with music obsessives because nobody works there for the money! (laughs) [Dave] That's true. [Colleen] You know, no one works there for the money. It's because you're an obsessive. And everybody had their own kind of area that they had a lot of knowledge and expertise. And so that's another way that I learned before I even left and went to university. [Dave] You're listening to Music for Beaches. And on this show, I'm in conversation with Colleen Cosmo Murphy. "Music for Beaches" is produced at the studios of 2SER in Sydney and heard across Australia on the Community Radio Network. So you went to university in New York, and then, it sounds like this thing kind of grew arms and legs when you did that. You were telling me some interesting stories about the various people that you got to meet at that time and the interviews that you did. And it sounded like pretty much a hit list of, like, who's who, you know, all these sort of names that we know now. So, you know, I was kind of just wondering, you know, what are highlights from that period for you? [Colleen] Oh, there's so many. You know, I was basically, I was the program director at WNYU, which was one of the biggest college radio stations. And I started interviewing there. But right after that, I landed a job producing syndicated radio shows that went out to a couple hundred college radio stations in the country, and then later 50 commercial radio stations. Basically, Nirvana, NeverMind, changed everything. And Nirvana, you know, we played Bleach on college radio. And we all got these advanced cassettes of Nevermind before it came out. They had just signed to Geffen, Sonic Youth had. And of course, you know, the indie kids were like, oh, they're selling out, they're going to the majors. But hey, I can understand it as well. But then you listen to this album and it was just unreal how good it was. And you just kind of knew, we all knew this was going to change everything. And I saw them at the marquee, I want to say it was September, right the week that the album came out. And I had them over to the studio on the weekend to interview them. And, you know, that was quite an incredible interview in the sense that it just was a turning point. You know, the band were going to be completely different. You'll never see them in a small venue again. They'd be playing stadiums. And it will change the landscape of American radio. And that's really what it did. Because, all of a sudden, Nirvana and Sonic Youth and R.E.M. had already done it in the 80s and U2 had already done it in the 80s. They had left, you know, they were broken on college radio and then they went to commercial radio. But we still had album-oriented rock stations and top 40 stations, and this kind of music didn't really fall in. Something that was kind of a bit more like, you know, screechy guitars, like Soundgarden or Nirvana or even the more poppy stuff of Sonic Youth. So it was really Nirvana that changed that. And all of a sudden overnight, you know, some AOR stations became alternative music stations. And then I had another job, because then I was producing 50, you know, sending syndicated radio shows out to 50 commercial stations as well. So Nirvana was a really big one just because it was so culturally significant. It was just massive. And I had been a fan and seen their progress, we all played the sub-pop stuff on college radio. Personal favorites also included Brian Eno. I was a massive fan and I listened back to that interview a few years ago and it was really interesting. Urichi Sakamoto, Butthole Surfers. I was a big Butthole Surfers fan. And I just had a great like hour long conversation with Paul Leary. He just mainly had a monologue. I remember the meat puppets being really funny as well. But I also loved people like Guru from Gang Star. I thought he was such a great guy and such a gentleman as well. There were so many great artists. I remember hanging out with Noel Gallagher for Oasis. And he was so cool. I really enjoyed my conversation with him. So there's a lot of interesting people, but there's so many. Robert Fripp. And then there was the interviews that were really rare interviews, like Kevin Shields from My Bloody Valentine or Richard James from Apex Twin. So they were really interesting as well. But yeah, there's so many great bands. Oh, Mark E. Smith. That was a classic. He was actually really funny. He was so funny. And we just got on really well because he had just started DJing. He took over somebody's office. He's at this big desk up at 75 Rockefeller Plaza in New York. And he's sitting behind the desk. He was just really amusing and really charming, actually. I got a great interview out of him. [Dave] Is he as scary as he looked? [Colleen] Yeah. I think because we connected on the DJ world. He was into dance music. And I was already a DJ, even though I was doing this stuff as my main job. I was already DJing at that point, dance music. And plus I knew the Fall stuff. So I knew all the I Am Curious Orange and all these great records they had put out. And I always thought there was some kind of dance ability to some of the Fall stuff anyways. [Dave] You're listening to Music for Beaches and Dave Howe, and I'm chatting to Colleen Cosmo Murphy. So what's that transition then? If you did a lot of radio work, how did you transition into being a DJ? Was that just a natural progression? [Colleen] Well, yeah, it sort of was, because I had started going out to different clubs and also to David Mancuso's parties and started collecting that kind of music while I was still working more in indie and hip-hop. And my day job, I was going out on the weekends and hearing this kind of music and buying it and collecting it. So I started a different radio show in the 90s. I was asked back to WNYU because they actually needed DJs at the time. And I started a show called "Soul School". And then I became a resident on one of the anchor shows, "Club 89", which is more like a live house mix show. And then, through that, people started asking me to play. And it could be community-led things like parties in the park in Brooklyn. I remember doing an African street party and it could be little bars on the Lower East Side. And also being asked to either play with other people. David had asked me to play one-on-one with him, even though that was a private party, not a club. And I wouldn't say it was DJing. It was certainly part of my experience. And then I started working at Dance Tracks as well. So I was working there weekends during the syndicated radio shows during the week. And DJing at night, I was working seven days a week. And then I finally, once the radio shows finished, the syndicated shows, because eventually the sponsor pulled out. It was a record club that sponsored it and things were just changing. The musical landscape for physical formats was already starting to transition in the 1990s, especially from vinyl to CD and then to digital to Napster. But in any case, so I started working full-time at Dance Tracks and then also Spiritual Life Music. And I just started DJing a lot more around the East Coast. And then I was getting asked to play in Philly and then Boston and Atlanta and then Chicago and then different places around the US. And then I started playing internationally in the late 90s. And yeah, I think it was from the radio that that really happened. [Dave] Fascinating journey, because I was thinking about, I mean, you live in London now and you've had all of that stuff going on in the States, particularly in New York. And, you know, a lot of the things that you do are so well known, and have got fantastic reputations. And I was just, you know, the Balearic Breakfast stuff, Classic Album Sundays, all the Loft Parties, the remixes, the whole thing, right? I was going through this list and then I read somewhere that you didn't plan any of this? [Colleen] I didn't! What would happen if you actually had a plan?! (laughs!) I know. And sometimes I feel like, would it have been so much better if I had a plan? And, you know, I admire people. I mean, there have been short-term goals. I remember going into the radio station at WNYU and saying, I want to be program director here one day. I just knew I did in my head. So it was a short-term goal. And then I was the first woman to have that position in the history of the station. So there were some things, but they were kind of short-term, short-term goals. I never really had the long-term goal, except that, you know, I ended up just staying in music and radio and doing all the things that I do. But I think you have to be open to change as well in anything you do, but music is constantly changing and how music is kind of exposed and played and presented changes, the nature of radio has changed, the nature of consuming music, I hate that word, or selling physical products. It changes constantly, so much more than so many other kind of professions, I think. And especially in my lifetime, it's actually a relatively new profession, if you think about it, recorded music didn't, you know, it's just over a hundred years old. So, hum, yeah, it's something, I think you would have a hard time planning out. I never wanted to go the corporate way. I had been asked to work for major record labels. I said, no, that was never an interest of mine. I'm not great at working at, you know, for the most, since I've been 30, pretty much onwards, I've worked for myself, but you're always working for somebody. I work for the people, the people who follow me, that's who I work for, you know, that's, I mean, that's, that's, that's who that's, if they like what I do, then I, and I have an audience and I'm, I'm blessed because they're the ones that support me. So I do kind of work for them, but I don't have a boss. So, yeah. And I just also knew that I'd rather make my own way and remain as, you know, as independent as I can, to some degree, while still making a living, obviously. So, yeah, I feel quite lucky. I feel very lucky that I do, I am in this position, but I've also worked very hard to be in this position, and worked very long and worked, you know, a lot for free. And also, you know, it has to be said, I've worked in a male-dominated industry, you know, until the last few years, there hasn't been any affirmative action. And there's, you know, and it was, it was a very different landscape and very challenging, but also very, I had great support as well from the majority of men in my life, whether they have been my mentors, my colleagues or my supporters. So I've been quite blessed in that way. But yeah, I've had some challenges too along the way, but I feel I'm just really happy to be where I am. And I think, you know, if you just put your head down and work really hard at what you do, you have a better chance of getting more opportunities. [Dave] You make your own... luck. [Colleen] You make your own luck, yeah. To some degree. I mean, that might sound like, of course, here I am sitting in the UK. I'm not, you know, in a war-torn country right now. You know, so there's a lot of things that are just luck, this luck that I was born where I was born. It's luck, you know, and I take that, that's privilege. And that's, there is that, there's that as well. So as long as you can recognize it. [Dave] You're listening to Music for Beaches and I'm talking to Colleen Cosmo-Murphy. You touched on it a little bit, just, which was, I was wondering, you know, you're an extremely successful woman in this business and it's a very male-dominated industry like most places, right? I'm just wondering if you, you know, for the women that are listening, have you got any advice that, you know, for somebody trying to make their way in this game? [Colleen] Well, my advice would be kind of the same to everybody in terms of you have to put your head down, do something unique, try to do something. You have to find something that you've created that resonates with people. That's for anybody. There's no path to follow because everybody's is different. But I think with integrity and practice, whatever you're doing is like just be the best you can be. And for women, we've had to be, you know, from my generation and before, you did, actually, because you couldn't afford to mess up because you would have messed up because you were a woman. So you really couldn't. And, you know, don't let – I mean, there are still boys clubs, sadly. I'm still experiencing some of it now. And it's really hard to know that you'll, you know, never be part of that and that you're being excluded for certain reasons. But you just have to put your head down and turn off the noise, and just take a higher ground. Like, a friend of mine said to me, the higher ground always wins. And it can be really difficult to like bite your tongue. But sometimes that's what you have to do. As long as that's nothing horrific happening. I mean, I haven't had anything horrific like in terms of sexual assault. But that's a different story. That's a very different story. And so many women have, both DJs and punters. So I'm in a privileged position there that I haven't had that. And so there's been terrible emotional stuff. But, you know, suffering makes you stronger. It does. [Dave] It does. [Colleen] And it makes you learn. [Dave] Yeah. I've got to ask you about David Mancuso and The Loft. And couldn't not talk to you and not mention that. So I'm just wondering, because there's probably quite a few people listening that don't know who David is or was. And maybe haven't heard of The Loft. I'm just wondering what you could tell the good people of Australia and around the world, you know, who David was, like how you met and how that all came to be. And also a little bit about your friendship and how that shaped what you do now. [Colleen] Sure. I mean, David, I could speak about this for hours. So I'm going to really condense this. You know, otherwise we'll be here all day (laughs)! [Dave] There's the challenge for you (laughs)! [Colleen] Books have been written about this! So basically, David started doing parties in his own home, actually in the late 1960s in New York City. And they were just parties he'd put on for his friends. He collected records, had a great sound system. He was really into audio. And then on February 14, 1970, he started to formalize these private parties. He called them Love Saves the Day, and they were rent parties. That's how he paid his rent. So people would make a contribution. It was mailing list only, only invited people. That's how he got around the ways of, you know, that's how he challenged the legal authorities who tried to close him down. He said, it's a private party. I'm not selling alcohol. People are paying a contribution for a reservation at my house, you know, to put the party on. And he won a landmark case with the Department of Consumer Affairs in New York City and the New York Times and everything. And he set a precedent that became the – it's still in force! So that's why you can't have social clubs and members clubs in New York. In any case, his party became more and more popular. And the thing that was so great about it is that he welcomed people from all different backgrounds. And this was very different at this time. So he was really into civil rights, women's liberation, and gay liberation, as a gay man himself. And he invited people from all different backgrounds, economic backgrounds, races, sexual orientation, gender, to his home. And people started making friendships that kind of crossed a lot of these boundaries that were still very much in place at that time. And he helped dispel those boundaries and break down those boundaries, and people built these kind of lifelong friendships that they made on the dance floor. He also kind of forged a canon of music that became very popular with other New York club DJs as well because a lot of the DJs would come to David's party, whether it was Larry Levan, Frankie Knuckles, later David Morales. You know, that's where they would hear – get turned on to new tunes, because records – David had a great ear for music. He also had a great ear for sound. He could tell how well the record was mixed and mastered and pressed, and he taught me all about that. [Dave] It's quite an apprenticeship, isn't it? [Colleen] It's quite an apprenticeship, yes, yeah. In any case, he started like kind of the template of nightlife clubs as we know it, even though he had a private party and he was known as a musical selector, not a DJ. He did not call himself a DJ. He called himself a musical selector, musical host, party host. So he wasn't – he did try mixing at one point. He wasn't that into it. It wasn't his thing. It was all about the sonic purity of the system. So I can't – I'm not going to go on and on, but, you know, horn speakers, Koetsu moving coil cartridges (ed. which are no longer produced), Class A amplifiers rather than Class AB, great preamp, a Mark Levinson ML-1, which is known as still like a cult preamplifier, like an audiophile world. So, yeah, that was kind of the recipe, the formula, and then other people were inspired and followed suit. So Nicky Siano started The Gallery. Another thing was called The Tenth Floor. Larry Levan started The Paradise Garage. Frankie Knuckles, you know, It's the Warehouse, and all of these sprung from David's party, really. This is where people got the idea to really get a great sound system because it wasn't like that before. The systems were second – you know, not really thought of and the same kind of – the same attention to detail and putting that much money into it. David would make money and just put it back into the sound system, almost to a fault. At one point, he had too much stuff, and he ended up selling some of it off. You know, too many amplifiers, too many – he started paring down and making it more and more pure, took out the bass, the sub bass, and all different things. In any case, I'm digressing. It even inspired Studio 54, which you would say Studio 54 and The Loft are actually the polar opposites in terms of vibe. One's uptown, one's downtown, one's exclusive and elitist, one is not and is open. But Carmen D'Alessio was a regular Loftie, and she was the first big promoter, I believe. I think the first or the major one at Studio 54. And one thing she did take from David is even though they were choosing people to tour, which isn't very nice, what she did do is try to get an eclectic mix, and that was based on David's parties as well. So it influenced so much of nightlife culture and club culture. So that's where David fits in. When I met him in the early 90s, he was losing his building. Not many people were coming to the party. It was on East 3rd Street. And I started going 91, 92, right when he reopened because he had taken a little sabbatical. And he had lost a lot of his following, had gotten married and moved to the suburbs. And they didn't want to go to the space where he was then living, which was a big heroin neighborhood. I looked like a ragamuffin. No one bothered me. So no one cared. It was just like, body bag, body bag. That's what they would say to you. That wasn't the name of one of the heroines. Awful. Body bag. Can you believe that? Terrible. In any case, for the other people that are 20 years older than me, of course they probably looked a lot different than I did, and they didn't want to go to those neighborhoods. So he was really struggling. And I just kind of knew stories about the history. There was no Internet. I found a few articles of Vin Celletti trying to find old articles of his because he documented the scene in real-time. And I found a few things, but it was mainly word of mouth. But I was just into helping David, so I brought him up on the radio show and he selected the music, was too shy to talk. We started building up a friendship. [Dave] He didn't want to talk. [Colleen] And I would tell people, no, he was too shy. [Dave] Wow. [Colleen] Too shy. [Dave] You're listening to Music for Beaches, I'm Dave Howell, and I'm talking to Colleen Cosmo Murphy. Music for Beaches is produced at the studios of 2SER in Sydney and heard around Australia on the Community Radio Network. [Colleen] Yeah, this is also early 90s. So this is before we did the compilations and where he started to really do interviews and things like that. Things changed. But he wasn't a really, I mean, a lawyer. He had given a lawyer a power of attorney and this lawyer stole his entire building out from underneath him. And this is like right when gentrification is happening. And he had this beautiful theater space. And then he was popping around the East Village trying to rent places where he could throw a party. It was just becoming more and more difficult. We were doing fundraising parties. If it was my birthday, it would be a fundraising party. We were doing all sorts of things. I was trying to get the word out there to the community. David's still doing parties, so I would announce it on the radio. Hey, for all the lofties out there, David's still doing stuff. And there was a bunch of other people that helped as well. And we all did it for free because he really was struggling. And, so that was how our friendship was going. It was more like me helping him out. But it was really the big kind of eureka moment. I had been asked by Nervous Records to do a compilation. I did my first mixed CD in 1998, and it was called New York After Hours, A Later Shade of Deep. And whilst I didn't get paid very much for me to do it, it was quite an opportunity. I was happy to do it anyway, so it helped break me as a DJ. It was a good thing for my career. I thought someone like David should do a compilation because he's broken so many tunes. There's loft classics and staples, and plus there had been this whole bootleg series. And David was really anti-bootlegs. I mean, to his dying day. Hated them. He really didn't respect people that did them because he thought you were taking money away from the artist. And he had a lot of integrity on that side. So there's a bunch of bootlegs coming out of the UK. He wasn't into that. There's a bunch of bootlegs coming out in New York that were of old tunes. And there was a series called Loft Classics that he had nothing to do with. I even bought them in the early times. I didn't really understand that. And I've gotten rid of all of them now. But I didn't understand what bootlegs were. I didn't know. And it was really upsetting. So I said, you should do a compilation. You should go, a label I'm sure would sign to a compilation with you in an instant. He said, I only want to do it with you. [Dave] Right. [Colleen] And I didn't have the money to start my own label or the ambition to start my own label or even probably the confidence to start my own label. [Dave] It's quite an undertaking. [Colleen] It's quite. And also, just to give people an idea, this is 1998 that we talked about this. Really to get a compilation like that out there, it's about 20 grand right there. [Dave] Yeah, easy. [Colleen] Just for the manufacturing, licensing, everything you need to do. I did not have that. And plus, I was moving countries. I was moving from the US to the UK. So I thought, well, if you want to do it with me, we'll have to get another label. But we'll do it together. We'll co-produce it together. And I'll be the intermediary between the label as well. And I had a better commercial idea of what would be good for the dance music scene because I worked in record shops as well. So I had a lot of different angles that I could bring to it. I wasn't just a DJ. I've been on the sales point. I've been on that side of the record labels. Yeah, I'd worked in three record shops by then. I'd worked at a record label. I had done my own mixed CD. And I just had an idea of what the scenes were like in the US versus the UK and Europe and Japan. So I had traveled and DJed internationally by that time. So it was a good... I can now understand why he wanted me to be involved. It did surprise me at the time though. And that's how I got Newphonic involved because I had a relationship with them through "Spiritual Life Music" because we used to send a box of Spiritual Life promos to Nuphonic to send to the great DJs or like-minded DJs in the UK. And they would do the same, sending a box of stuff from Newphonic to the US. And we'd distribute it on that side. So we already had a relationship. And that's how the compilation started. And that was really when David's story first got out there. And then it changed his life. So he started playing in different places. He was going to Japan. He and I started playing different places in Europe. We did a party here at 93 Feet East for the compilations. And then that inspired starting a party here with David in 2003. So it was a lot. And then once we were here, we bought our own sound system. That's even when my mentorship became even more intense because then he taught me how to set up the whole sound system by myself. And we were listening to records at my house four times a year. Sometimes he'd stay with us, but he was always here for a full day. We would listen to all these new records and old records on the system because I had Klipshorns here. And yeah, so that's when it really intensified. And that's kind of also when he started talking about the board that he has wanted to put together. And that's in about 2009 is when he asked me to chair a board to first be his vice chair and then chair it in his absence. [Dave] You're listening to Music for Beaches and Dave Howell and I'm talking to Colleen Cosmo Murphy. What a journey! [Colleen] Yeah, so that was quite a journey! You know! But in the meantime, I had my own thing going on. That's the interesting thing. Even some of my colleagues in London had no idea I was involved with the compilations... [Dave] Wow... [Colleen] Because I just still was doing my DJ career. I started Bitches Brew. I was making my own productions. I was doing radio. So I always had my own thing going. And then it was like, you know, the stuff people didn't really know about my involvement with The Loft. Unless you lived in New York and went to The Loft, you wouldn't know. Or you heard me on the radio just trying to help David. But it was all the other things I had that were more public-facing. So I had all that going on as well. So The Loft has always been kind of... [Dave] You've been really busy! [Colleen] Yeah, well, you know, I love what I do. So I am driven, but I also love what I do. I feel like the Loft part of what I do is... I don't want to use the word charity, but it kind of is. Because I don't really make money from any musical hosting parties. It's kind of the thing that I feel needs to... Well, David wanted to continue, wanted me to help continue that. And he wanted these parties to go on after his passing. So it's important for me to uphold that. But also for many other reasons. Also spiritually, it's a big part of me. But yeah, it's kind of the thing that I feel is important to do and to keep and to uphold. But I also have all these other things going on too (laughs)! Which are just... I've built my own communities as well. Because Classic Album Sundays is its own community. And it's worldwide. And same as Balearic Breakfast. I think I would have built those communities whether or not I had ever heard of the Loft or when. Because it's just the nature of what I do. But I certainly could see the likeness with David creating a Loft community and the Balearic Breakfast community where people have a say. They're involved. It sparks them off to do their own thing as well, which is really great. Same with Classic Album Sundays. It has inspired a lot of people to start listening to bars or whatever, all sorts of stuff. So it's something that is really important to me. And then, David, even the way I listen to music, David has helped influence that. Especially what I choose for my DJ sets in my regular party settings. I think we all go through... I've listened to so much music, working in music my entire life. And my ear is probably better trained than it ever has been. And things that I find overly derivative. But it's an energy that I look for. And I can't give you the exact... [Dave] There's no formula. [Colleen] There's no formula. It's a feeling. And I do feel when I'm playing at a party situation, it's different. On the radio, it's a different setting. I always think of where the listener is, or where the dancer is. So what's the setting of the place that you're playing? If it's a club or a party or a festival, what's the setting of the radio station? What day is it on? What time? How long? Who else is around? Context is everything. Number one. And what I would normally... What I might play on the radio may not be what I'd play at peak time on a dance floor. So it's knowing the context is number one. But the actual music itself... You know, I want the music to uplift people. I'm not saying you can't play sad songs because some sad songs can uplift people because was that all it was, Gene Karn? We all sing it. It's tearing on our heartstrings. But we know that other people are feeling the same pain that we felt and that makes us feel good. So it's not just about, hey, everybody, I'm so happy. It's not like that's what I mean by uplifting songs. It doesn't mean the emotion. It has to always be about, I'm so happy. But there's a healing kind of force to music, like even an instrumental song. So it's... Yeah, so that's really the ear. And I think for a while, like many DJs, you get drawn into what's cool. Who are the cool DJs right now? Who are the cool producers? Oh, everybody's playing this record, so you should play it. And you feel like you have to play it because all the cool DJs are playing it. But I don't feel that way anymore. Sometimes, you know, there are those... I just spent like two hours this morning going through different DJ charts, seeing, trying to find music that I would like. And even though I like the DJs, does it mean I necessarily might like everything they're playing? And that's fine. And not that everyone likes everything I'm playing either. And that's totally fine. Everybody has their own personal taste. I'm happy that I have enough people that enjoy what I do, that I can do this, you know, as my vocation. And I understand not everybody does like the way I play, and that's fine too. You know, there's enough for everybody, you know. So, yeah. [Dave] You just touched on some of the things that you do, and I just kind of circle back to that stuff, really. And I'm thinking about, you know, there's the Balearic Breakfast, Classic Album Sundays, and some, you know, for want of a better term, some really big brands, right? I mean, these things are massively well-known and well-liked and loved by people. And you've got a particularly impressive list of all of these things, which is absolutely astounding! But I'm just wondering, out of them, you know, is there one that you're particularly proud of? [Colleen] Oh, gosh. I guess the two, there's two. I would say it's Balearic Breakfast and Classic Album Sundays. Because they were both kind of ideas that just started with no intention. [Dave] You're listening to Music for Beaches, I'm Dave Howell, and I'm talking to Colleen Cosmer Murphy. [Colleen] To even become a brand, or necessarily a community, or it almost had no object, except that I thought it should happen (laughs)! You know, it's like, everyone's like, how is this? I mean, Belliric Breakfast developed out of another radio show called Summer's Vacation on Worldwide FM, and then Giles came back in September. He said, keep the Tuesday morning. It was September. I couldn't call it Summer's Stacation anymore. And then I put the word out to the community for the name. But it was because I involved other people, because it became greater than myself. And it's the same with The Loft with David. So it becomes greater than yourself. Like there's a guy that took it upon himself to make a Balearic Breakfast blog, and he interviews people and members of the community and writes the whole write-up every week. Like, Wow. There's other friends who are part of the community who decided to start DJing or throwing a party because they didn't know they could before. You know, when I'm away, I'm getting members of the community to submit mixes, so they get heard as well, even if they're not a DJ. [Dave] It's often quite refreshing to do that as well, right? [Colleen] It is! Because there's so many people who are music lovers who don't do it for a profession. And they have great ears. It's very pure. [Dave] That's the thing, there's no tinge to it that's kind of, I don't know, infected by something else. [Colleen] Yeah, exactly! So I'm really proud of that, and I'm really proud of Classic Album Sundays, because when I started that, again, it was one of these things that I thought, this just needs to happen. It wasn't like I lost money. I had to hire a babysitter. My husband was sitting in a car with valve amplifiers, warm, sitting on our laps, because you can't pack them because they're too hot. We've got huge Klipshorn three-way horn speakers loading him in and bringing him upstairs to my friend's party (ed. Klipsch launched the AK6 in 2019). [Dave] It's a glamorous life. [Colleen] Exactly, people don't see all this stuff. And all these people, mainly guys in the audiophile world, you're never going to make... Why are you doing this? How are you going to make money? I'm like, I don't know. I just have to do it. [Dave] Yeah, right. [Colleen] And then all of a sudden, all the people... There were some people that were inspired by the idea, which is great. Then there were people that just copied. Right. And that was a little bit like, you know, same language. They might call it Classic Album Wednesdays, like really going and pitching what I was doing as if it was their idea to commercial brands to make money. And that was a bit disgusting. But hey, it's the way of the world as well. I mean, you know, whatever. At the end of the day, I'm still going. And, you know, it's like, you just have to go, OK. I mean, as long as it's not a copyright infringement, because I do have stuff trademarked, you know, it's just going to let it go. One thing is, it's like, you know, it did open up the world to more listening bars and things. And that's a great thing, because that means there's more people listening to music on a great sound system. And that is good for the world. So, you know, any little part that I may have helped play in that kind of revival. I mean, it started in Japan, but a lot of people didn't even know about the Japanese Kissa stuff (ed.: Kissa meaning Cafe in Japanese) until they heard about Classic Album Sundays or listening bars that had been inspired by it. So, you know, I'm happy. I'm proud of that as well. So I guess those two things are probably, because I can take more responsibility for that. You know, David was the one who built the loft. And I learned from him and I'm happy to help engineer and shepherd that. I say shepherd's a better word, be a caretaker. But these two things are things that I developed. I also would say is, the other thing maybe I am, you know, I've learned a lot as a recording artist and as a producer. And I feel like that's something that I just love doing because it's so creative and it uses a different part of my brain and different skills that I have that I don't always get to use. And yeah, that I'm having a lot of fun with too. I've been doing a lot more remixes in the last three or four years. [Dave] I noticed that you've, going back to Classic Album Sundays, that you've got something going on at the British Library coming up with Eddie Grant. Is that right? [Colleen] Yes! [Dave] I mean, that's to, you know, for those people who haven't been or know what the British Library is, that's kind of like a massive institution. That's quite something, isn't it? [Colleen] It is! I love working with them. I started working with them maybe 10 years ago. It was around 10 years ago. And I started, I've done so many sessions there with the Damned and the Buzzcocks to Jazzy. [Dave] The Damned were just in, by the way. [Colleen] Oh, Captain Sensibles. He's really into prog as well. He's so great! Dave Anion. [Dave] Went to see them the other night. [Colleen] Oh, really? That's great. And then also, you know, then like Jazzy B. I've had Dennis Baptiste, who's big on the jazz scene here. I've had Ken Scott doing, talking about David Bowie. I've had John Grant, Paloma Faith, a bunch of great artists. Roisin Murphy as well. Louis Vega, François K. And Eddie Grant has been on my list for a while. I met him 20 years ago. I was invited out to dinner with him and a bunch of people. It was an Indian restaurant in Soho called Red Fort. Great place. [Dave] I know the place. It has another name as well! [Colleen] Yeah, it's such a good place. And I went to, I was talking to him. His manager was there. And I was talking to him, I said, you know, I love all the Coach House Rhythm Section stuff. I've been playing it. And he turned to his manager and said, she knows more about my music than you do (laughs)! So it's a real joy to be able, like, you know, 20 years later. Actually, it's even longer, I think, since I met him. I was around, yeah, definitely over 20 years. He has so much history, starting with the Equals. About 60 years of history. Yeah. That's been genre-crossing. It's been; he's invented things. He's created new ideas. He's been a platform for other artists. And, he also seems like he's very astute. He owns his music. He's had his own recording studios. He understands the business side. And so many musicians at that time, in the 60s and 70s, just never got their heads around it. And he got his head around it real quick. So I respect him as an entrepreneur, as well as a musician, and an artist, and, you know, everything else. So I'm really looking forward to it. I don't know how we're going to do it in two hours. That's going to be difficult! [Dave] So we're just about sort of running out of time. But I do want to ask you, like, one more thing. What's kind of next for you? And what's happening? Is there anything that we should be aware of that's coming up? [Colleen] Yeah, well, I'm just working on more remixes. I'm working on a remix for Joe Goddard at the moment. And he and I are working in the studio together. [Dave] Nice. [Colleen] Something interesting. [Dave] Excellent. [Colleen] Which I'm getting excited about. You know, Balearic Breakfast, you have Balearic Breakfast 3 compilation is coming out on Heavenly. And I'm still doing my monthly streams every Tuesday on my MixCloud Live from 10 to 12 in the morning. [Dave] That's a nice time for us down here on the other side of the world. [Colleen] It is! You know, it's interesting because during the pandemic, I had a lot of people tuning in from Australia. And I said to my husband, what's this thing is? We've got to get to Australia. So I manifested it. I visualized it, manifested it. [Dave] And here we are! [Colleen] And here we are. And Classic Album Sundays, you know, I'm thinking of kind of expanding it again. It kind of, you know, we had a lot of different satellites before the pandemic and then pandemic happens. So it's just kind of getting that out there again. And yeah, there's just a lot of different things, you know, a lot of different things I'm involved in. But yeah, nothing that's too crazy changing everything, but things are just continuing. Yeah. Things are continuing and rolling along quite nicely at the moment. [Dave] So again, there's no plan... [Colleen] There's no plan... What I decide is like, you know, I hope I'm still working in 20 years, you know... We'll see. [Dave] It never ends. [Colleen] You know, I think as long as you, as I said, When you put your heart and soul and expertise into things for the right reasons with the right intentions, you know, that can go a long way. [Dave] Absolutely. [Colleen] Yeah. [Dave] Colleen Cosmo Murphy. Thank you for coming on the show. It's been a pleasure chatting. I could go on and on and on, but we've run out of time. So just thank you very much indeed. [Colleen] Thank you. Thanks for having me. [Dave] So that was my conversation with Colleen Cosmo Murphy earlier this week. Hope you enjoyed that as much as I did. What a fascinating journey through a musical life. Wonderful, wonderful stuff. So we've just got a few minutes left. I wanted to play out with this track. This is Jakub Gurevich. Elevation in minor. It's the Cosmodelica remix. Colleen Cosmo Murphy herself on the knobs on this one. One of my favorite records. And again, once again, a massive thanks to Colleen for coming on the show. And hopefully she comes back to these shores very, very soon. You're listening to Music for Beaches. I'm Dave Howell. As always, if you want to catch any of the shows again, you can find them at mixcloud.com slash Music for Beaches and at musicforbeaches.com as well. Thank you.

I met Steve Conry from "Ten Lovers Music" records for an interview. The great DJ and record producer tells us more about his vinyl-only record label! 1) Hello Steve! Thank you very much for joining me here on the Balearic Breakfast Blog! You launched the record Label "Ten Lovers Music" back in 1996. Can you tell us how that journey began? What triggered you to launch such a "Balearic" Label, full of funky, light, realistic and beautifully recorded music? Thanks for having me, Artur. Back in 1995, I was still DJing and started to produce music. My friend Barry May ran a record shop in Warrington called Hott Waxx. I took a couple of tracks into him, and he wanted them for the label he was setting up. I then went to the Miami Winter Music Conference in 1996 and met a guy called Cziz Hall, and we discussed setting up a label upon our return. Around 2002 we decided to close the label as sales were down because of the move to digital. Fast forward to 2019, and I was struggling to find music that I liked to buy on vinyl, so I thought it would be a good idea to resurrect Ten Lovers Music and release music that friends had made. That more recent journey introduced me to Mother Tongue in Italy and Patrick Gibin, who runs it. They have taken care of all our pressing since restarting the label. We were also introduced to Jose Rico (who masters all our releases) through Patrick too. It's a real kind of family feel to Mother Tongue as they are actually into the music they are pressing and distributing. 2) How do you choose the artists? What is "Ten Lovers Music's" editorial slant? Most of the music is from friends, but, occasionally, I'll get sent a demo or hear a snippet of something on Instagram and contact the artist. The artists are always sensible and down to earth and appreciate the struggles of putting out music on vinyl these days. I always like putting together the Best Of Various EPs and having a broad spectrum of music that fits within what Ten Lovers Music represents (link to back catalogue since 2019 available here: https://www.mothertonguerecords.com/record-label/record-label-ten-lovers-music/). 3) The song Memories by Caruso (with Paul David Gillman) was featured on "Balearic Breakfast". I found out that Paul David Gilman is affiliated with Joe Claussell's Sacred Rhythm Label! How did that peculiar collaboration happen? Paul contacted me in 2017 after playing his Red Earth track from the Colours Of The Earth EP (Sacred Rhythm) on my weekly radio show on MotionFM in New York. That led to him mixing the first release on Ten Lovers Music (TLM021) in 2019 and collaborating and remixing Memories later in 2019. We then discussed an album project (Secret Garden), which was released in 2020 (repressed in 2021), and he mixed Caruso - Souvenirs that came out in 2021. In 2022, we put out Secret Garden (Reprise), which was a version of the title track from the aforementioned album as part of yet another Best Of Various. 4) We exchanged a little bit when preparing for this interview, and you told me that you weren't a "Bandcamp" supporter. According to you, knowing that you don't sell digital files of the recordings you produce, what is the biggest challenge for a "vinyl-only" record label today? I think the biggest challenges these days are things like Bandcamp or pledge schemes. I think it is fine for digital, but for vinyl, it's not a good idea, and it is also putting record shops out of business. The main problem with it is that you can only buy an individual 12", so you are paying shipping on every individual purchase, whereas if you buy 5 records from a shop, you only pay one shipping price, which affects sales 100%, in my humble opinion. 5) Can you tell us more about your forthcoming vinyl release? What's next for "Ten Lovers Music"? The next release is a Best Of Various EP (TLM034-Link to preorder/Listen). It features Cumulative Collective (UK/Italy/Japan), Takahiro Fuchigami (Japan), Melchior Sultana (Malta), Fabio Santanna (Brazil), and The Robinson (Italy). As the name Best Of Various suggests, this is another mixed bag of music, which falls within our remit of music. Beyond that, we have a further Best Of Various release (TLM035) featuring Stefano De Santis (Italy), Batavia Collective (Indonesia) Cormac Fulton (UK) featuring Floor Polder (Brazil), Mike Perras (Canada), Future Jazz Ensemble (Italy) and Takahiro Fuchigami (Japan). Following that, a 7" from one of our favourite collaborators, TLM artist Takashi Nakazato (Japan), with his The Takashi Nakazato Set group. More is planned for later in the year/next year, too. Last but not least, for the readers who would be interested, please find our social links and also a link to the entire discography on Discogs. Most of the pre-2002 releases are still selling on there, which I find amazing! https://www.instagram.com/tenloversmusic/ https://www.facebook.com/TenLoversMusic/ https://soundcloud.com/user-426539363 https://www.discogs.com/label/8515-Ten-Lovers-Music

Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy broadcast the 170th episode of Balearic Breakfast on her Mixcloud on April, 2nd 2024. About this episode. – As Colleen is on vacation, she had a special show lined up for us! This 169th episode includes, in its first hour, a mix by Tomohiro Yamada, a regular Balearic Breakfast contributor. Residing in Osaka, Japan, Tomohiro, who runs Imperfection Records, crafted a beautiful chilled-out mix that Wowed the Balearic Breakfast Family (he gave an interview for the blog; read it all here)! Part two of this 169th episode of Balearic Breakfast features an exclusive mix from and an interview with DJ Paulette. The 30+ year dance music veteran tells us about her new book ‘Welcome to the Club: The Life and Lessons of a Black Woman DJ’ which is the first memoir of its kind and entirely written by the DJ, broadcaster and journalist, herself (you’ll find a review in this post). She reminds us that there are a lot of stories that comprise DJ and dance music history that are still yet to be written and heard. Brava Paulette for leading the way. She has also put together a sublime and eclectic mix that ranges from Nina Simone to Ryuichi Sakamoto to Sylvester and much more! Welcome to our Balearic Club! Listen back to the 170th episode of Balearic Breakfast: PLAYLIST Tomohiro Yamada's Mix (2020) Raul Buelna – Angel del Mar (1985) Musica Esporadica – S.T. (1993) Terre Thaemlitz – Raw Through a Straw (2021) Mental Remedy – Noi (First Demo) (2012) Calm presents K.F. – Peace of Mind (2019) Caruso (ft Paul David Gillman) – Memories DJ Paulette's Mix (1975) Leroy Hutson – Cool out (1970) Lorraine Ellison – Stay With Me Baby (1967) Nina Simone – Do I Move You (1980) A Taste of Honey – Sukiyaki (2011) Tony Bennett & Amy Winehouse – Body & Soul (1993) 2 pac – I Get Around (1992) Galliano – Prince Of Peace (1979) The Clash – Armageddon Time (1984) Ini Kamoze – World-A-Music (1985) Prince – Pop Life (1986) Kraftwerk – Musique Non Stop (1984) Art of Noise – Close to the edit (1981) Imagination – Flashback (1979) Gina X – No G.D.M. (1982) Fun Boy Three – The lunatics have taken over the asylum (2009) Ryuichi Sakamoto – Riot in Lagos (1973) Sylvester – God Bless the Child THE LISTENING EXPERIENCE We had a lot of musical images in 3 years of Balearic Breakfast. But never before did I see what I saw while listening to Tomohiro’s mix, which resembled an oceanic bubble with glowing lights floating around, meeting me, sometimes calmly, sometimes more violently, me, a floating undiscovered entity, without conscience, without fear, without a now and without a tomorrow... Tomohiro’s mix, even through the strange buzzing sounds that penetrate the listener's ears is as Balearic as can be, it is a suspended moment in time that will allow you to meet your "Aura"… Starting with Raul Buelna's "Angel del Mar", Tomohiro sets the tone of his mix, a contemplative and meditative trip, allowing the listener to dive deep within his own psychic unknown reality. The feeling of well-being conveyed by this opening track seems to be only logical when you know that Raul Buelna is a musical Therapist! Tomohiro keeps the feeling alive and well by selecting another track holding the same psychic values, Musica Esporadica's S.T. This track is taken from the 1985 studio album, reissued in 2019 with a different cover. Speaking about the recording of the album, Suso Saiz said: "The recording was made with an incredible fluency and about 12 hours after, we had recorded Música Esporádica. Fluency, spontaneity, close friendship was the fuel that fed us." (more about the reissue here). Throughout his mix, Tomohiro demonstrates that a good mix is one that sets you free, not one that jumps at you, and, by doing so, he easily joins Colleen's way of mixing the track, taking into account their "inner flow" and never perturbating them unnecessarily... The following musical piece arrives very slowly, after a perfect silence... We're reaching High Here (although the buzzing noises disturb us, it's interesting how they blend into the music, making this strange-sounding experience almost a part of the whole mix; I loved that!) If you have ever listened to some of David Mancuso's mixes or parties, you'll recognise, on a sonic level, some similarities with the songs he played at the loft. Appearing on the 12": Comatonse.000, (US: Comatonse Recordings, 1993) and also on the album Tranquilizer studio album (US: Instinct, 1994), Terre Thaemlitz, reflecting upon the evolution Men have with sex over the HIV crisis, says that "Raw Through a Straw" is intended as an "audio blow-job". Well, now that I listen to the track under that intellectual light, I can understand some of its musical speedy contractions, laughs! Liberation could be the title of Tomohiro's mix, indeed! Tomohiro's mix does not follow a rhythmicall evolution "Noi (First Demo)" (to read an interview click here) & "Peace of Mind" (click here to read an interview where Kiyotaka Fukagawa aka Calm shares his thoughts about Music) are indeed very different both rhythmically and sonically. On the contrary, his mix is all about a "free freedom" where only surprises meet the listener. And that's nice as we never know what to expect, still there is that mental unity to Tomohiro's mix which is truly beautiful... Reaching out towards a positive opening, Tomohiro selects Caruso's (ft Paul David Gillman) "Memories", quite close to the Mental Remedy's track, "Noi". I interviewed Steve Conry about his record Label "Ten Lovers Music", on which this last beautiful Balearic tune was issued (click here to find out more). What a trip your mix is, Tomohiro! On the other side of today's 169th episode, DJ Paulette’s mix is as straight as her writing, as clear as her speaking, and as musically rich as her thoughts and intellectual openness... A joy to witness and a pleasure to listen to! WELCOME TO THE CLUB: A REVIEW (Artur MICHALSKI) If, like me, you follow at least a few DJs on Instagram, even just a few of the actual greats, you might get lost one day, just as I did, wondering about what it takes to be a DJ. I know this term is, at least lately and from my humble perspective, often misused as it allows people without proper knowledge and understanding of the intellectual, philosophical and cultural fields attached to jump into the revered craft's train without engaging in every level they should when working, thus, even oh so slightly, blemishing this beautiful yet demanding craft’s legacy. And, precisely, this is where Paulette’s book enters the scene: it should be a mandatory read for every young music lover who feels they have something to share using two decks, whatever form they take. In 7 chapters, approximately 300 pages, and with a direct, non-compromising yet humble and gently flowing writing style, Paulette’s book will take you through her life’s ups and downs. Just like a real Friend would, Paulette will invite you to her table in a one-to-one conversation, asking you: “Are you sure about what you want? Here is my story; let me share it with you. Allow it to enter your soul. Let me tell you how it happened, and then you’ll decide your next step”. Sharing her story in a cleverly laid out structure and putting her experiences (some surprisingly tough) into historical and political context all along the pages, also letting other renowned female DJs share their own, Paulette never plays around. “Welcome to the Club” is not a pamphlet about the scene and indeed not about the job itself. It is neither a ranting nor your typical self-centred biography. It is an empowering statement, a call for Women to take a proud and deserved seat at life’s table. It is an assumed presentation of challenges you may face, sadly even today, when you’re a Woman spinning records and crafting mixes in some of the biggest events worldwide (and oh so, even more, should you be black, bisexual with grey hair…). It is also a beautiful presentation of “Life”, of what you need to spend time on before, or while, going out there (and it is surely not just about being “famous” or making people jump in whatever event life will allow you to be a part of). “Welcome to the Club” is an anchor, a small guiding light, a philosophical, deep, sincere but not soppy read that encourages you to wind on your dreams, proven that your soul is ready to face both the challenges and the rewards…

Ariane V is joined by Colleen Cosmo Murphy for The Balamii Club Show. The two DJs discuss Colleen's career and play recent finds and timeless favourites! PLAYLIST (2023) Discotecas – Smooth & Groove (2018) Gemini – Take a Chance (2022) Dobao – Goce (1988) Turntable Orchestra – You're gonna miss me (2019) Lou Rawls – You'll never find another love like mine (kenny summit, frankie knuckles & eric kupper's all unreleased anthem) (2009) Horace Andy & Ashley Beedle – When the rain falls (Cosmodelica mix) (2020) Troy Kingi – Chronophobic disco (2014) Fat Freddy's Drop – Mother Mother (Cosmodelica remix) (2024) Ada Morghe – We are one (Cosmodelica reprise mix) (1992) Danny Tenaglia – Equinox (heavenly club mix) (2015) HF Frequency – I can't go for that (no can do) (2023) Jacob Gurevitsch – Elevation in Minor (Cosmodelica remix) (1984) Gigi Flag – Nymphomaniac (Instrumental) THE INTERVIEW [Ariane V] Hello, hello. You're listening to the Bellamy Club show. I'm your host Ariane V and I'm going to be live for the next two hours. I have another very, very, very special show for you today because I'm joined by one of my very favourite DJs. She is an incredible DJ, selector, producer under her moniker Cosmodelica. She's a radio host on NTS, she used to be on Worldwide FM, now she does weekly shows on Twitch, which is very interesting, which I definitely want to ask her about as well. She runs the London Loft Parties. She's the curator of the love dancing tent that we out here, which is undoubtedly the best stage at any festival ever. Again, also something I will definitely ask her about. I may have missed things, but if I did, we'll have plenty of time to chat about them. So yeah, if you hadn't guessed it yet, I'm joined by Colleen Cosmore Murphy. We'll be live for the next two hours and I hope you enjoy. (...) Colleen and I are just saying how amazing this track is. It's Goce, spelled G-O-C-E, by Dabao on their Dobaismo album. Honestly, their entire album, the entire Dabaizma album is incredible. Every single track is a banger. Amazing kind of 80s tinged balleric, extremely dancey records, extremely dancey tunes. Yeah, do recommend, do check it out. (...) This track that has just finished playing is actually one of Colleen's. Well, it's one of her remixes. It's Andy Horace and Ashley Beedle, "When the Rain Falls", the Cosmodelica remix. It's one of my absolute favourite. Although she just told me that she almost forgot that she's had it. It was one of her very first remixes and apparently someone reminded her recently of the track when they requested it on a radio show. That's an absolutely beautiful tune. I will actually use this as an opportunity to finally get Colleen on the mic and officially introduce her to the show and welcome her here. Because I am so, so, so grateful that you made your way down here. [Colleen] Thank you. Thanks for having me. [Ariane V] I hope it wasn't too far away. For some people, Peckham, at least when I moved to London, Peckham was, I would never go south of the river. And now this is home and I love it here. But for some reason, for some people, it's like a faraway land! [Colleen] It is a faraway land. But I have DJ'd over at that, what's it called? The Bussey building? [Ariane V] Oh yeah, the Bussey building. Yeah, the Bussey building, it's right next door. [Colleen] And it's, you know, it's fun because one thing I love about cities is that, I still, I love this about New York and I love it about London. You know, I've been in London for 25 years and I still discover new places. That's one of the things I really love about big cities. It's like, it's just, I never get sick of it, you know? [Ariane V] It is kind of more like a collection of villages, isn't it? Absolutely. As opposed to one big homogenous thing. It's loads of small pockets of different cultures and different scenes. [Colleen] It's really cool. I absolutely, I mean, I've been here 25 years last month and it's, you know, people say... [Ariane V] 25 years? [Colleen] 25 years now, yeah. Some people say, don't you want to move back to New York? No, I love it here actually. I really do. I mean, actually London has the most green space out of any major city in the world. And that's really important to me. When I was in my 20s, when I moved, I moved to New York when I was 18. I didn't really care about green space. I just come from a small town, you know? I would go to Central Park and I loved it, you know? But, you know, I was fine with that for like over a decade. But then now, as I get older, I need more and more green space. I need to go hiking and upping forests and things like that. [Ariane V] Definitely. I do think that when I moved to London, I've always been right next to a park as well without realizing. And it's, especially during lockdown, it's such a treat! [Colleen] Absolutely. I can't imagine during lockdown in New York. [Ariane V] How long have you lived in New York? [Colleen] I lived in New York. I moved there the week I turned 18, and I left when I was 30. So I was there just about 13 years. Yeah. [Ariane V] So you're more of a Londoner than New Yorker at this point? [Colleen] I'm more of a Londoner. Yeah, exactly. [Ariane V] Exactly. [Colleen] London's the place I've lived the longest. [Ariane V] We were just saying that I'm going to New York at the end of May. [Colleen] And I'll be there as well, DJing. Yeah, I'll be over at The Good Room in Brooklyn, which is a great club. On the 24th of May, I'm doing a party with my friends from Love Injection. We do like a Cosmodelica Love Injection party like once a year there. And it's a fun club, a really fun club. You'll love it. [Ariane V] I've heard amazing. I mean, I'll definitely be there. I'm sure I'll love it if you're playing! [Colleen] Thank you! [Ariane V] If you, I'm just putting you on the spot, but if you just for someone who's never been to New York properly, if you were to name your three favorite record shops. [Colleen] Oh, I can't do that. I haven't lived there in 25 years. But A1, Academy Records, and trying to think of names of the other ones. I can't think of another one that's still open. I worked in record shops when I was there. So I worked in Dance Tracks when I lived there. And it's just places have closed since the pandemic and other places have opened. But I would always go to A1 and Academy, and they've been around for a while. [Ariane V] I'm going to add that to my Google Maps. [Colleen] Absolutely, absolutely! [Ariane V] Is that the first place where you worked in a record shop? [Colleen] No, I worked in a record shop in 1984, hum, in just like in the suburbs of Boston. In fact, I started just in late 1984. I was hired for Christmas help. And then they kept me saying, you know a lot about music. And yeah, "Do they know it's Christmas" was the big single. And they were selling bucket loads of those. But I worked there. And I became an assistant manager, even though I was only 17. And right before I moved to New York, my manager lied and said, oh, she's 18. And I wasn't. And then I also worked at Newberry Comics, which was another shop in the suburbs of Boston. But I had a big one in Boston as well that obviously had comics. But they had a lot of import records at Newberry Comics. It was kind of the hipper record store. And then I started at Dance Tracks in the 90s. I worked there for a few years. And I did work a little bit at Mr. Bongo Records here in the UK. [Ariane V] That's a great label and a great shop as well. [Colleen] Great label. Dave Buttle is a fantastic guy. And I learned a lot about Latin and Brazilian music when I worked there. But I was just kind of doing my own thing, like helping reorganize the shop and everything. So it was a lot of fun. But it was like the only sort of job I've had since I moved here. Other than that, I've just been working for myself. [Ariane V] So you said that you worked in New York in a record shop when you were 18. But that's after you already worked in a record shop. [Colleen] No, I worked at a record shop in my 20s there. So I moved to New York when I was 18 in 1986. And I went to school. And I was also around the college radio station. It was the biggest college radio station, one of the biggest in the country, because we were in New York City. I became the first women program director there. I did many different radio shows. [Ariane V] At what age again? [Colleen] I started when I was 18. And then I left school. Yeah, and then I lived in Japan in 1989 as a radio DJ when I was like 20, 21. And then I produced syndicated radio shows after that. And that's when I started getting into house music and club music and dance music pretty heavily. [Ariane V] We were also just talking about your trip to New Zealand. You said that you've been invited to Australia and New Zealand several times in the past 20 years, and you could never go. [Colleen] I could never go. And that was the first time you went? Yeah, because we had our daughter Ariana back in 2004. And going to the other side of the world for a weekend to play just doesn't make any sense. And it's just too far away to go for less than three weeks. And we didn't have the school holiday time to do that. I didn't really want to go in our summer and their winter. That's like the wrong time to go. Why do that? Why have two winters when you can have two summers (laughs)?! And we have loads of friends from New Zealand and friends from Australia as well. So it's just wonderful to go down there. We spent just over six weeks in Australia, New Zealand, and then we swung up to Hong Kong for Chinese New Year. And I played every weekend. It was just so much fun, discovered a lot of great music, met a lot of great people, and just absolutely loved it. Drank a lot of wine because the wine down there is fantastic. I ate a lot of food. And especially, you know, they have such great... And Sydney has some of the best, I mean, some great Chinese food. And then Melbourne as well. And we had Sri Lankan food. So Polynesian. It was just wonderful. Really wonderful. [Ariane V] It sounds like an incredible place. I've always wanted to go. [Colleen] Yeah. And then New Zealand is just absolutely beautiful. And, you know, the whole South Pacific culture, I didn't really think of New Zealand in that way. But Auckland is the largest Polynesian city in the world. And I didn't think of it in that way. I always kind of thought of it, sorry, New Zealand, and this is how Canadians feel with Americans, too! It's like, you know, that country, the other country, the quieter one, the one that's not as brash (laughs)! [Ariane V] It feels like a little extension of Australia, although they're completely different countries, look completely different, have completely different cultures. [Colleen] Exactly. Exactly. So that became very apparent. And I just absolutely loved it. But I discovered a lot of great music when I was there. And should we play one of those songs? [Ariane V] Absolutely. I'd love to hear it. [Colleen] Yeah, this is an artist named Troy Kingi, and he apparently is making one album a year for 10 years in a row. And he's a really interesting artist because he doesn't seem like he really cares that much about fame, which I love. He makes an album. Maybe he plays some gigs in New Zealand. And from what I understand, he just then goes fishing. So he's really soulful. OK, so this one is called Chronophobic Disco by Troy Kingi. (...) [Ariane V] Would you like to do us the honor in telling us what it was? [Colleen] Another New Zealand band, Fat Freddy's Drop, who are the most popular and successful independent band in New Zealand. And they're friends of ours as well. So the horn players, Scott Towers and Joe are mates of ours. We were hanging out with them in New Zealand. And they asked me about 10 years ago, pick a song from this album and just tell us which song you want to remix. I didn't even know them that well at the time, to be honest. And we have mutual friends, Kay and Rob. And I listened to the album. And as soon as I heard that song, Mother, Mother, I knew that was the one. I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I think the remix took me two days. I knew exactly what I was playing. I was playing the stuff. I was like, I know exactly what I want to do with this. And it was my favorite remix. And it was one that I really started playing out of my favorite remix of mine. Up to that point, I was really, yeah, I don't know. I was just not very self-conscious playing my own work. And I never thought it was good enough. You know, I always could hear something I would change or whatever, you know. And that was the first one I was completely happy with. And then I didn't do a remix for six years because classic album Sundays was taking off and a bunch of other things were taking precedence. And I was doing stuff for six music. And I was just doing a lot of different things. And I wasn't really that inspired by the studio. And it was just the beginning of lockdown, actually. Actually, it was like right before lockdown. It was March 2020. And I was thinking, I really do want to start to remix again. But just when the song's right and I want to do a vocal. And I heard Roisin's song, Murphy's Law. And I was like, that's the one. That's the one I want to remix! And we asked her and she said, yes. So that was kind of started it again for me. Because I took about six years off doing that. [Ariane V] Have you ever asked someone if you could do the remix and they said no? [Colleen] No, actually, that hasn't happened. Generally, I think I've only asked a few. I think Roisin was the only one I think that I've asked. Now that I think about it, I've never asked. That's the first one. [Ariane V] Everyone's always just reached out to you. Please remix anything or like. [Colleen] Or the song. Yeah, they'll give me the song. And sometimes I'll say, can I do that song instead? Like, that's what I do with Lady Blackbird. And that's probably one of my favorite remixes of mine. That one did very well. But again, they asked Ross Allen, who does the A&R. And he was her manager. And he's an old friend of mine. He's a legendary A&R guy here. And radio personality, radio broadcaster. And he asked me to remix a different song from that album. And I listened to the album. I said, that's the one, Lost and Looking. That's the one I want to remix. It's a Sam Cook song. And I love Sam Cook. And yeah, so sometimes I have artistic license. And sometimes it's just, this is the one. Do you want to do it or do you not? [Ariane V] I will be completely honest. Because I've been listening to you for ages and ages and ages. But I only knew you as a DJ. And it was genuinely maybe just a year or two ago that I found out that you actually produce as well. I had no idea. Right, yeah. And yeah, I feel like nowadays, loads of DJs feel like they have to produce in order to get out there. And with you, at least from my perspective, it doesn't feel like that's ever been that way. It didn't need to be that way. Because you don't need production to get ahead. You're so ingrained in the entire music industry. You do so many different things. And you're such an eclectic, incredible DJ. There's absolutely no reason for you to do that in order to get ahead. Yeah, it just feels like a natural extension of what you do. [Colleen] It is actually. And thank you for saying that. That's really nice of you. I mean, the first record I ever did, there was this soulful house label called Suburban Records. And it was owned by Tommy Musto, who put out loads of the productions himself. He was really great. And very soulful. And he still is a great guy. And very soulful, well-produced, great vocals, like Sable Jeffries, and all these great singers they would get. And he came with the dance tracks in the late 90s. And he said, I want to put out your first record. And he had a great recording studio. And I went down there. I had already written a song. I had written a song. [Ariane V] So you haven't sent out any demos or anything? [Colleen] No, no, no, no, no, no, no. [Ariane V] Were you actively producing at that time? [Colleen] No, not at all. Tommy, just because he was a customer of mine at dance tracks. I sold a lot of records of his. And I was on the radio. And he just probably thought, well, she works at a record shop. She probably has a good ear. But I had just started writing lyrics at that time. I just, I wasn't singing them. But I just started writing lyrics and songs. And I had a notebook. And I was writing songs and, you know, full lyrics, everything. And the first one I did was with, I had written myself. It was called She, featuring Alison Crockett. And she was on the Silk 130 album. My friend King Britt had an album called Silk 130. And she was one of the singers. Her, Ursula Rucker, was also on it. And I loved her voice. She had a proper jazz voice. She still does. She's a great singer, Alison Crockett. And I got her to sing. And I learned a lot. And Tommy sat next to me and just taught me all these different things. And yeah, I was really lucky. You know, I worked with a lot of great producers and engineers who've taught me a lot. And musicians who have taught me a lot, you know. So I was really fortunate. But yeah, I don't feel it. I never use it as a way of getting ahead. It was just what kind of came naturally. And plus, it really wouldn't work for me as a way to get ahead. Because I don't have a signature sound. I always feel like I serve the song. So every song is just so different, you know. And I do different styles. [Ariane V] Your sound in terms of your production. [Colleen] Yeah, I don't have a trademark sound, I don't think. And some DJs do. And that works for them, especially for their DJ career. [Ariane V] But I feel like then you kind of get stuck in this, yeah, you get stuck in this pigeonhole where suddenly what you produce has to also be what you DJ, which... [Colleen] For some people that works. It can really work. And I have certain friends that it really does work. And they do great productions. And their sets are filled with them. And it's great. [Ariane V] I feel like if you're an eclectic DJ or like if you, you know, if there are so many... I keep saying eclectic DJ. But if there's so many different genres, so many different things, atmospheres, energies, vibes, clubs that you would want to play in, then just pigeonhole. Suddenly, if you start producing and that is what new people get to know you as. And then they see your DJ and it's something completely different, it might be a bit counterproductive. And it just doesn't feel like... [Colleen] That's true. Yeah, you're right. You're right about that. I mean, with production, I didn't do it for a while, as I mentioned, because I didn't feel inspired to do it. And then I did a book called The Artist's Way. And it's a lot of creative people use this book. [Ariane V] I think I've heard of it. [Colleen] Yeah, a lot of people. I've even seen like Georgia Smith talk about it. You know, I mean, from old, younger artists to older artists and filmmakers and all sorts of people. And what came out is that I wanted to get back in the studio. That's what came out of it for me. And because, you know, my DJ career was going fine and da-da-da-da, but I wanted to be creative making music. But I didn't want to sit down and do an album. I didn't want to sit down and just do a whole tracks from like, you know, nothing, you know, originals. I thought remixes are the great way to go because I can, you know, do them in a few days. It's the... There's a kernel of an idea already there. I get that creative energy and that creative kind of input with songwriting, you know, writing different parts and the sounds and all that. So yeah, so I've enjoyed it. I'm only doing like four remixes a year, maybe, which is just enough for me. It's perfect. [Ariane V] Do you have any exciting remixes coming out? [Colleen] I have a new one I'm really in love with. I can't play it for you because it's not mastered and it's still not coming out. I don't know when it's coming out, but it's been accepted. It's by Bryony Jarman Pinto and she is on True Thoughts and she's a fabulous artist and she's a great singer, songwriter and has a beautiful album coming out. It might be out already, actually. And I remixed a song and it's quite down tempo. Again, it's not house tempo, which is really fun. It's very jazzy. It reminds me kind of like the jazzy boogie records of the 1980s. And that was kind of what was in my head. And I'm really happy with it. And there was a lot of great parts in there and the song. So there was live harps, strings, a horn, a trumpet. [Ariane V] Sounds like a lot to work with! [Colleen] Yeah, I love having some great musical parts in there. So that was really fun to bring those out. And she has great lyrics, really positive and really enjoyed that one. And now I'm working on a remix for Joe Goddard from Hot Chip at the moment. [Ariane V] Incredible. [Colleen] Yeah. And I finished another one the end of last year for a German woman named Ada Moore, who's more like a jazz bluesy singer. And she's also an actress and a writer as well. And it was kind of a gospel tune. And she had heard my Iso Fitzroy remix and asked me to remix this song. And she has this great backing vocal choir. And I can play it for you if you like. [Ariane V] Please do! [Colleen] OK, I'll start to cue it up if you want to keep talking? [Ariane V] I might just put the track underneath us up for a little bit. [Colleen] OK, that sounds great. Yeah, this is quite a fun one. It's quite an uptempo one. Want me to play it? [Ariane V] Yeah, sure. Go for it. [Colleen] OK. [Ariane V] Absolutely go for it. [Colleen] This is Ada Moore. I'm not going to play the full vocal. This is the vocal reprise, which is a lot of fun. But it's kind of like a gospel-y house stomper. And I hope you like it. (...) [Ariane V] Another absolutely beautiful track. [Colleen] Oh, I love this one. This one brings me back to David's Loft on East 3rd Street. And he used to play this. I think it came out in 1991. It's called Code 718 Equinox. And of course, we just had the Vernal Equinox on Wednesday. So it's one of the reasons I'm playing this. It's also a great production from Danny Tenaglia. And he samples E2, E4 here. The Italians, of course, had already done it with Suena Latino. So this is like the Americans sampling E2, E4. And he just does it so well. It's just such a beautiful, beautiful record. And of course, that's Peter Dow on keys. He did a lot of work with him. And he just did some beautiful. The thing with Danny's work is it had a really punchy bottom. It's solid rhythm and drum and bass track. [Ariane V] I love him so much. [Colleen] Yeah. Then you have just this beautiful stuff on the top. Absolutely gorgeous! [Ariane V] Everything he's done is absolutely timeless. And yeah, just really driving and really punchy. And you can play it at any set. I feel like his tracks are so easy to fit into anything. Yeah. [Colleen] And he's a lovely guy, too. So I got to meet him. First, I interviewed him, I was writing for Project X magazine, which was kind of like a club magazine in the early 90s in New York. And I did a big feature on his album. And then I was... I don't know if I was working at Dance tracks at that time. I think I started working at Dance tracks right after that. And he became one of my customers, so it was really cute because he would work all weekend. And I also worked on Mondays. And Mondays was a quiet day in the shop. I mean, Friday is the busy day. Everyone's getting ready, getting their records for the weekend. Monday was a quiet day, which was quite nice. And he would come in when there was nobody else there, like an hour before I would close. And I'd be stashing some records on the side, like some weird stuff from Detroit or like the basic channel stuff, like all that kind of stuff. I'd be storing on the side for him, you know, things that he wouldn't get as a promo, basically. And yeah, he was such a great guy. And he used to say, you're my favorite record shop person. [Ariane V] I thought he wasn't the only one who said that. [Colleen] Oh, I don't know. But you know, he was just... It was great! It was just... I met so many cool people there. You know, that's where I met François, really. And yeah, I met a lot of people there. But he was my special customer. That sounds a bit weird (laughs)!! [Ariane V] I might just... I might record this a little bit and send that to him and say, Colleen says you're a special little customer. You're my special customer (laughs)! You just mentioned the Loft Parties and David Mancuso and also François K, which I saw you mentioned a few times that they were two of your biggest mentors. [Colleen] Yeah, yeah, they were. [Ariane V] That to me is absolutely mind-blowing. You know, I'm incredibly lucky that with this radio show, I just wrote down a list of 10 of my favorite DJs and producers and people I really look up to. And most of them said yes, which is why you're here! [Colleen] Aaaw thank you! [Ariane V] But thinking that, you know... So I'm sort of using these... I'm very selfishly using these shows to just have a chat with these people and get to hear everything from them. [Colleen] That's what I did too! I had a radio show in the 90s called Club 89 and I had all these people up there. So usually, I would be mixing myself and DJs like the two-and-a-half-hour show or three-and-a-half-hour show. I think it was two and a half hours, 10.30 to one on Tuesday nights. But then I had up people like Rome Anthony, Little Louis, Dimitri from Paris, Danny Krivich, Joe Clausell, François Kaye, David Mancuso came up for one. And I had singers like Sable Jeffries, Kenny Bobian, Joy Cardwell. That was like the big Soulful House kind of singers. And it was great! I really, really enjoyed it. I loved interviewing people and also watching them mix and having a chat with them off mic. It's a great thing to be able to do! [Ariane V] And then, sorry, just back to David and François. So it's mind-blowing that they're your close friends and mentors. Because right now they're legends and they're undeniably enormous icons and legends in dance music. What was it like having them as mentors? When you met them, were they that huge or did they sort of become that as you were friends and as you knew them or? [Colleen] I mean, François had a very big career outside of New York City dance music in the 1980s. And he had done records that I had played as a teenager. His mix of Yazoo's Situation. He worked on, he worked with Craftwork. He worked with Erasure. He did a lot of kind of new wavy remixes. He remixed Jimmy Cliff. And then he also worked on Violator, Depeche Mode. So he did all that before 1990. And then it was around... [Ariane V] Before you met him. [Colleen] Yeah, I didn't meet him till like mid-90s. And then in the early 90s, he resurrected his DJ career because he had stopped DJing. He was doing these huge productions at a massive studio. He was doing really well. And he went to, I think the first time back, he went with Lara Levine to Japan. And then he started playing and he was playing to small places. Actually, I'd go see him at Reggae Lounge. I didn't know him. A friend of mine knew him well. And it really wasn't... So he was already a producer icon. And so I knew he was great. And so I knew his work that way. He would come into dance tracks. He was kind of intimidating. I told him that later. He has such a dry sense of humor. I was like, is he making fun of me? Is he serious or is he making a joke? I mean, very dry French and Americans aren't as dry. In any case, the way I met him properly was one day I was gonna go to Body and Soul. It must've been like maybe 1996. And I was in my apartment in Lower East Side and the phone rang because we still had landlines. And the phone rang and luckily I was there and I picked up and it's François. I'm like, how do you know how he got my number? And he said, word has it, you have a really good record collection and a great disco collection. I said, yeah, yeah, I do, I guess. Well, would you mind playing with us at Body and Soul today? Because I believe one of them, either Danny and Joe couldn't make it or one of them was gonna be late. One of them I think had injured themselves and the other one had a late flight coming back from somewhere. So I was just like, oh my gosh, yeah. That's how I met, yeah. So that's how I really met François. Then it came up on my radio show, our friendship started. But he was already a name that I knew. David was very underground and David was really suffering. And there was word on the street, oh yeah, David was a guy that inspired Larry LeVan. But it was all word on the street, stories being told, some stories were correct, some stories were not. It's like Chinese whispers are playing telephone. The truth gets distorted each time it gets told. But I just went to his parties. I didn't know anything about him. I knew nothing about the Loft. I knew nothing about any of this stuff. And I just landed at his party once with my friend Adam. [Ariane V] At one of the Loft parties? [Colleen] Yeah, one of his Loft parties in his house on East 3rd Street. [Ariane V] How did you, sorry, so how did you end up there? How did you find Adam? [Colleen] My friend Adam was a clubber. He ended up being the timeout clubs editor in New York. He went out every single night and he's the one that brought me to all the clubs. So I was like going to live shows. [Ariane V] So you had a guide. [Colleen] Yeah, so I was going to live shows and I was still working in music. But he was the one that where I'd go, I got dancing, you know. Oh, I'm going to bring you to a club tonight. Let's go to this place. You know, it was around the corner. And I had lived in that neighborhood and, you know, I had never seen this place because there's nothing on the outside. It's his house, it's a private party. And it just blew me away when I went in and it just really kind of changed me, you know. And I've wanted to go again and again and again and again, but no one knew who he, I mean, people did, but it was a failing party. David had a huge following in the 1970s and early 80s. And then he moved, he moved from Soho, and he moved to the Lower East Side where no one wanted to go except for ragamuffins like me, you know. They sold heroin all over the streets, heroin and crack, you know, mainly heroin. It was a really dicey neighborhood. That's where I lived. I lived in those neighborhoods because that's all I could afford. And I didn't look like much. So it was like, I didn't really get bothered, you know. But people who had gone to his parties in the 80s, they had grown up, had kids. They're just in a different place in life and they're not going to this neighborhood, you know. So that was hard. And then his building was stolen from right underneath his nose. He had given his power of attorney to a really shady attorney who sold his building. And he was absolutely screwed. I mean, he had no money, hardly anything, there weren't a lot of people coming to the parties. And so there was just, aside from my own career that I was developing, you know, on the radio and doing dance tracks. And I started DJing around New York City. Then I started travelling around the States. And then I started going to Japan and, you know, I was doing my own thing. On the side, I was helping him as a few others were as well. And we all helped for free. And because he needed the help. And so he was then, he was just like bouncing from spot to spot. Hum. And we were doing fundraiser parties and he'd have me play sometimes. Or if he went away, we do one-on-ones. And yeah, it was just a really rough time. And what happened was, is in 1998, I was asked by Nervous Records to do a mix CD. I was like, great, you know, I'll do a mix CD. And this is the time I literally mixed the whole CD from vinyl with the A&R guy sitting there watching me. And I did it in one take. Like literally just had to mix it. Two turntables on records. There was no computer, no sync, nothing. It was all done as a DJ mix on vinyl. Just kind of crazy when I think about that now! [Ariane V] As they were staring at you. [Colleen] As he was staring at me. He was a nice guy though. It was this guy, Stuart Upchurch, who was a lovely guy. He had worked at Vinyl Mania before that. So anyways, I thought, I didn't really get paid that much. But I thought, you know, someone like David, I'm sure if he did a compilation, he'd get paid much better. Plus it would help get his story out there. Because there was no, I mean, the internet had started. But you know, it wasn't like all this information was there. There were no, there were some older books. Vince Aletti, who was one of the major music and club dance music writers at the time, would write about him. He wrote about everything. So he is like the historian. But if you didn't have those, if you didn't go to the New York Public Library and look it up on microfiche. You wouldn't see those. There was no place to see these old articles. These books weren't published. And so yeah, so David's story wasn't known to the world.And the people in Japan knew about him because the Japanese always had their finger on the pulse. But everywhere else, they didn't. Even in New York City at the time. Like when I would talk about the radio, I'd talk about The Loft on my radio show. People would call it, The Loft is still happening. Like that's how it was. So that's when we started the compilations. When we did those for New Phonic. And that's what really got his story out there. And it made me very, very happy. And very proud that it kind of got his story out there. And he started traveling. And he started, he was able to fix his teeth and pay his rent and do all the things he needed to do. So I guess the long-winded answer to your question is, he was a somebody, but nobody knew it (laughs)! [Ariane V] Yeah. [Colleen] You know, and he's also a very humble man. He was just a regular guy. I mean, people give him this God-like status. And yeah, he was an extraordinary person. And he was a spiritual person. We connected him that way as well. But you know, this whole like, I see words like Bible and gospel and Jesus and all these words that, a disciple that come out next to his name. And I go, oh my gosh, he would just hate that. You know, it's like Bible, gospel, disciple. And oh, please, you know, it's like, no, that wasn't David, you know. [Ariane V] Do you, with them two as your mentors, what do you think is, for each of them, what do you think is like the main thing that they taught you? [Colleen] Yeah, it's interesting. Okay, well, François and then, they both taught me life lessons as well. And they're both alike and different. And I should say, I had other radio mentors. They weren't my radio mentors. I had two great radio mentors. And I've had other mentors in other areas, like in production and stuff. For David, David, the life energy of music is probably the biggest one. [Ariane V] The what energy? [Colleen] The life energy of music. He was giving this book to a lot of people called The Life Energy of Music by John Diamond (ed: in three volumes). By the time he met me, he had no copies left, but he would Xerox them. Xerox chapters, especially ones about women, because he was very, very, very pro-women. And François, you know, this is at a time and they're of a generation where there really is a true boys club. And, you know, we didn't have this kind of, the kind of affirmative action we have now with women DJs. That definitely was not happening over 30 years ago. And both François and David have had a lot of women around them that they trust, that they work with. And not everybody did that. So that was really incredible. David, the life energy of music, it's hard to describe because it's a feeling. It's a feeling you get when you listen to a tune. And I just listened to so many records with David, you know, for four times a year when I lived in London, you know, when he was coming over for our parties, we were joined together for eight years. You know, he was, we listened to music, you know, in our house and listening to records to possibly play for the party and how he would critique them. And it made me a much harsher critic. And he really didn't care if the tune was cool. And this is what's happening now. It was really about, is this music that can heal you? Is this something that's going to truly uplift your spirit? Or is it negative? Or is it just bringing you down? You don't even realize it. That is one thing I really learned from him. And music is a healing force. And that's how he played music. You know, there's certain records that I would never, I can't tell you what they are. And I wouldn't anyways. But there's certain records I would never play at the loft, just because it just wouldn't work for whatever reasons. You know, I might play, it's not like every song has to be happy clappy. It's just more about, even if it's a sad song, it still gives you an emotive feeling, like a warm hug, I suppose. He didn't like Kraftwerk, for instance. You know, I love Kraftwerk. There's some differences too. And also, I think he and I, we connected on a kind of a spiritual level. I had already been traveling, studied Zen Buddhism in Japan. I had already been in Japan. I had been doing yoga. And one of my majors was comparative religions, but all the mystics and things. I was heavily into that stuff anyways. And so was he. So we would talk about kind of deeper, deeper things. And, you know, François is my pragmatic side, and also the production. So David didn't produce. All he did was his party. He did his party and that was it, you know. That's his life's work. You know, he did play out. I'm just saying that was his life's work. Whereas François is a bit more, you know, we're alike in the sense he does a lot of different things. And François' production style is a massive inspiration. But also as a human being, you know, he's managed to have a career in music. He's 70 years old, and he's still future-forward-facing, you know. And so he really inspires me in that way. And he's just there for me as well. They were both there for me as people. They're good, dear friends. I mean, David used to call me his daughter, you know. [Ariane V] Aaaw... [Colleen] Yeah. And I always say François is like my uncle because he's only 15 years older than me, but my uncles really were teenagers when I was born. So, yeah, I'm lucky to have him in my life. Yeah, I'm lucky to have had David in my life for sure. (silence) [Ariane V] I'm just thinking about what you said and I have nothing to add! [Colleen] Well, should we play a song then? [Ariane V] I have one I'd like to play. [Colleen] Okay, let's play it. [Ariane V] It's one that I stole from you. [Colleen] Ooh, which one is this one?! [Ariane V] It's I can go for that no can do by H.F. Frequency. [Colleen] That's on my second Balearic Breakfast compilation and you didn't even know that there was one! [Ariane V] Well, I heard you play it at We Out Here, not last year, the year before that, when you did one of your Balearic Breakfast sets at the Love Dancing Tent. It was one of my favourite sets because we all started just laying down on the beanbags and it was very relaxing and you played beautiful music and then very, very, very, very, very slowly, I was there with my group of friends, and me and my friend Kian just had our shoes off and we just were like, you know, because you were ever so slowly bringing it up. We were like, I think it's time. I think it's time for us to stand up and get going. I think nobody else was dancing and we stood up and we just started to like bop around with our shoes off and then as the music progressed, more and more people were standing up we were just dancing around with our shoes off and it was absolutely amazing and I think we did go up to you to ask you what this was and I do think you did mention that it was coming up on your compilation but then I somehow completely missed that (laughs)! [Colleen] You were at a festival. I think you had other things on your mind or you didn't. [Ariane V] Well, I remembered the important thing, which was this track. [Colleen] That's all you need to know, exactly! [Ariane V] So this is HF Frequency. I can't go for that (No can do). (...) [Ariane V] So this one is coming out on the next compilation. [Colleen] Yeah, the remix came out digitally. It's Jacob Gurevich Elevation in Minor. It's my Cosmodelica remix and it was such a wonderful one to do because it's so different. It's not house tempo. It is beautiful, gorgeous guitar work. He did another part for me because I wanted to do a key change. Got a live percussionist in so I really enjoyed doing this one and it's just very dreamy and floaty but I want to play it on vinyl. So luckily, because I did my third Balearic Breakfast comp for Heavenly. I was like, oh, let's put that on. So that's going to, it's two remixes of mine coming on that, which will be the other, the Cosmodelica instrumental of the David Holmes remix that you really like, yeah. And then it's a double album. There's a bunch of other great stuff coming out. I probably don't want to advance too much of what's coming. We're going to be announcing it in a few weeks, but it's coming out the first week of May. So I'm looking forward to that. [Ariane V] How do you come about finding, you know, obviously if they're new tracks and they're new tracks, and it's easy to license them and sign them, but how do you come about, how do you go about, you know, old tracks that you really love, kind of signing them again to re-release them on your compilation? How does that work? [Colleen] It's really difficult because the stuff, you know, there's so, there's been so many compilations since the 90s, really, you know, so many things have been dug up and put out and, you know, even with the Loft compilations, we couldn't do that now because everyone knows those songs now, but at the time they didn't and you couldn't get a lot of them and people didn't know them, but, you know, there's been so many. So it's hard to find things that haven't already been out. So the few rare things that are older things, I have a couple incredible "coups" on this record, I'm so happy. And it was down to Jeff Barrett at Heavenly that got these couple classics that are really hard to find, are very expensive, one that never came out actually. So it's really digging a bit, trying to think what do I love in my collection that is very rare and can we license it is the next thing. That's the big part, can we actually license it? So I think there's like three or four songs on the new comp that are older tunes that were just very rare on vinyl or never on vinyl. And the rest of it is a lot of newer artists or newer releases on Bandcamp where people can't afford to press vinyl because it's so freaking expensive. You know, it's expensive, the whole production's expensive and, hum, so it's nice to be able to do that. So it could be all different artists, you know, young, old, whatever, it doesn't make a difference but they are putting stuff out themselves, it's independent. We're not dealing with any majors, this is a third comp, not one single major label license. So it feels really good. And yeah, I have so much respect for Jeff Barrett of Heavenly Records because he's been running an independent record label for over 30 years. He was one of Andrew Weatherall's managers and he's a legend in the music business and he's still so passionate about music. He has a great team around him, people who love music and I just love working with them, they're just great. I just absolutely love it. Plus they take us out for nice lunches (laughs)! [Ariane V] With the tracks that you picked for the compilation, are they just songs that you've just been playing out and so naturally, organically, you found them or do you go, right, I've got maybe half a compilation ready and now I need to find the other half and I just go digging? [Colleen] It's all from the show. So basically the radio show, so it's the radio show without a radio station. I started this show called Blurred Breakfast during the pandemic on Worldwide FM and then a year later Worldwide FM went on pause or was it, no, it was two years later, I'm sorry. So I started the show, I started the show as Summer Staycation in the summer of 2020 then had to change the name because it was autumn, and that was September 2020 and then two years later Worldwide FM went on pause, and I had built up this community because it's a live stream with the chat group and plus a lot of it is a request show. [Ariane V] Was it always a request show? [Colleen] I always made a request show because it started during the pandemic and I have so many thousands of records. I thought, wouldn't it be fun to have a request show and I'll rediscover my record collection this way. [Ariane V] Just assuming that people are going to request things that you are bound to have. [Colleen] Some of it was. In fact, I didn't even have a CD player, a Pioneer CD player for months into the show so everything had to be on vinyl that I would have but then I was like, I got to get at least one of these CDJs. So I did. But the community is great. We have people that request songs week after week that have great ears. Sometimes I'm getting them now to do guest mixes for the show when I go away. It's great. So I'm still streaming live when I'm away but the work's already done. So yeah, some of it's from the community as well. Some are things I get sent. You know, I get sent quite this one thing coming out on the next compilation. Never heard of this guy. He sent me a bunch of tunes. Never heard anyone else playing them. It was only digital. And I was like, I must have that. And I started playing it out a lot. So there's a lot of some discoveries that I get people sending me stuff. Older stuff that I already know that I would love to have on vinyl or I don't have on vinyl or other people don't have on vinyl. And then, yeah, newer stuff that people have requested. So it's, yeah, it's a really, it's fun. And it's all different kinds of music too. So like there'll be this kind of folky stuff to house, to psychedelic, to jazzy. So it kind of ticks a lot of boxes. [Ariane V] Exactly what Balearic means, isn't it? [Colleen] Yeah, it means anything (laughs)! [Ariane V] I think it's so special that, you know, your radio show without a radio station (laughs)! It's, well, but it's, I think it just, it just highlights the best thing about community radio. It doesn't, it doesn't need to be a physical space. It's all about the community. It isn't, it isn't even about the radio show. It isn't about the mix. It isn't about the, like, I mean, obviously the tracks should be good, but it isn't, yeah, it isn't just about the mixes. It's all about the listeners and all about the community and all about the people actually actively, you know, talking to each other during the show as well. It's, yeah, it's all about the community. [Colleen] I started on the radio in 1982 when I was 14 and I'm 55. So I've been on, I've basically almost always had a radio show, whether it's community radio or whatever it is. I've been on lots of different radio stations, online stations, terrestrial stations, but I've almost always had a radio show for over 40 years. So when Worldwide FM said we're pausing, I'm like, I think I'm going to still go (laughs)! Because that's the beauty now. I mean, you can go on Mixcloud and stream live and have it archived there and have your own platform. You can put out your own music through Bandcamp. So there's some great ways that you can remain independent. You know, I mean, maybe one day it will move somewhere else. I don't know. But right now I'm happy. So I'm happy with it now. [Ariane V] We're coming to the end of the show. We only have three minutes left, apparently (laughs)! Is there anything that you would like to, any final words? Is there anything you would like to highlight that we didn't manage to cover? [Colleen] Yeah, well, we still have the London Loft parties here in London. It is a private party, but you can probably find a way to reach out to me. I'm sure you can figure it out if you're really interested. As we're doing those parties three times a year, I'll be the Bitches Brew compilation. Oh, Bitches Brew, that's my old label. The Balearic Breakfast compilation is coming out in May. Next remix will be Bryony Jarman Pinto. I always get the hyphenated last name mixed up. I hope that was the right way. And, yeah, just we have Love Dancing. I hope people will come along to that. We out here, I'll be at Houghton, bunch of festivals, Gala Festival. [Ariane V] Love Dancing is one of the main reasons why I go back to be out here every single year. [Colleen] Really?! [Ariane V] It's the best stage. [Colleen] It's just so much fun. [Ariane V] It makes me out here to me. [Colleen] Yeah, it's a party. It's a party. It's not a performance. It's a party. And that's what I love about it. And everyone's just hanging out, having a good time. Yeah. Well, thank you for having me! [Ariane V] Thank you so much for joining me! [Colleen] Oh, pleasure. It was amazing to meet you. It was really, really lovely to meet you. In stereo (laughs)!! [Ariane] Thank you to everyone who tuned in. That was two hours of The Bellamy Club show with Ariane V and Colleen Cosmo Murphy. I hope you enjoyed that. And I'll see you again next week!

If you're a dedicated listener of the show, you must have heard Tomohiro's name pop up occasionally. In this interview, he answered a few questions I had! 1) Hello Tomohiro! I am thrilled to have you on the blog, as you're another long-time listener of Balearic Breakfast and a great requester, too! How did your musical passion start as a child? Hi Artur, Thank you very much for having me! As a teen, I discovered hip-hop. Then, I started listening to Deep House and Garage, and I went to Yakko's party in Osaka. Yakko is from a precious hall in Sappollo. The beautiful dance floor resembled the loft and Paradise Garage. I have very fond memories of these parties! A few days ago, I went to Joe Claussell`s party in Kyoto. This was also another beautiful dance floor moment to experience! Both Yakko and Joe span great deep house and garage. These two DJs inspired me to play vinyl, spinning Deep-House, Garage, and any music I love, too! 2) How important is "Spirituality" in your life? In your opinion, is there only a philosophical and meditative path to reach superior grounds, or are there also small and easy steps one can take to become a better and wiser person? Listening to music is a kind of meditation, and it does help you to be spiritual, I think. In order to become a better person, I feel we should stay close to nature and behave as naturally as possible. After all, it's also a part of our human condition, and it should stay a way of being. We need to get back to the basics... 3) As a music lover, and a DJ, you reach quite deep in the musical ocean (Garage, Deep House, Balearic Music...). When working on a mix, do you try to convey messages or stories through the music you select, or do you try, on the contrary, to create a musical unity beyond philosophical interpretation? I approach music very "organically", if I can put it that way! I do a lot of freestyling, and my style depends on my feelings and thoughts. Communicating with music is important to me. Whenever I share music, during a party or even during a radio show, I always have pictures of The Loft in my mind... Yeah, I truly feel that a beautiful space is important for a party, and it's all about losing ourselves in the musical moment beyond any intellectual interpretation... 4) What does Balearic Breakfast mean to you? Balearic Breakfast brings me back to the Loft. That party was so important! It's about the Feeling, the Musical Spirit, and the Musical unity through gathering! Same rules but used differently, don't you think?! 5) If you had to mention four/five DJs who had an important influence on you musically, which one would you choose and why? That's a tough question, indeed! I would start with DJ Krush. He is so dope and creates a spiritual vibe! Then, I would say Yakko from Precious Hall, whom I already mentioned. He is the teacher of the great love vibe of dance music and is like a Japanese David Mancuso to me. Of course, I need to mention Joe Claussell. He is connecting the universe. He makes people beautiful and really brings spiritual vibes to the dance floor! Of course, I need to end with two of the greatest to me: David Mancuso, creator of the loft and a true inspiration of the night-clubbing lifestyle whose legacy touched so many people around the world, and, last but not least, Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy, whose playing and mixing style really showcases that playing music can be done with an "intention". To me, Colleen equals "Music with Love"... Thank you so much, Tomohiro!

Simon Peter's "You Don't Send Slow Waves Anymore" was featured in Balearic Breakfast's 161st episode. I met Simon for a chat about his Music! 1) When listening to several of your tracks, we're surprised by how many variations you include: sonic, structural, and pictural variations. These changes make your tracks living pictures in which the listener can lose himself, yet you always pick him up at the right time. How did that specific way of putting music together come to you? This is an interesting and very pleasing analysis of my music; thank you, Artur! Overall, I take an explorative approach to my compositions – I never have a clear vision of a track at the outset. In terms of structure, I don’t worry at all about following any particular rules. It's probably true that my tracks tend to have extended passages in which listeners can immerse themselves (perhaps a feature of much ‘Balearic’ music?), introducing a new element, variation, or section before the track starts to feel too repetitive or drawn out. When producing a track, I largely avoid using loops, and I like to include a lot of variations throughout to help the tracks feel organic and somewhat live-sounding. 2) « You Don’t Send Slow Waves Anymore » was played during the 161st episode of Balearic Breakfast, and it perfectly showcases the plurality of your music, where sound effects reproduce nature’s sounds (when you don’t use real nature sound to enhance your musical visions...). I feel this sonic picturality is nicely translated in the track’s titles, too… How do you choose them, and when does that occur in the creative process? I tend to settle on a title once a track is completed or nearly completed. I prefer abstract over descriptive titles as this leaves more to the imagination, and it's not always easy to come up with a track name that I am satisfied with. I remember that I was struggling for the title for ‘You Don’t Send Slow Waves Anymore’. I ended up using an online song name generator, which, with some prompts, came up with ‘You Don’t Send Slow Waves’. I added ‘...Anymore’ to it to make it feel a bit more emotive and wistful. I really like this title – it fits the track but is slightly odd. 3) According to you, what is the hardest step when working on a song? What are you avoiding to do as a producer at all costs when producing music joining the “Balearic realm”? The hardest part for me is turning a musical idea into a complete track. It is one thing to come up with one nice chord sequence or musical phrase but quite another to develop that into a fully formed composition. When it comes to producing Balearic tracks, I suppose I am just trying to ensure the Simon Peter tracks have character and some level of musical intricacy. I try hard to avoid my tracks sounding generic or cliché. 4) Colleen’s show, Balearic Breakfast, is all about sharing the music we love, and members of the Family proposed their own sets when Collen went on tour. You also love to share your musical influences, be it through playlists on Spotify or through mixes you craft. One of these musical influences can be found in Japanese Music (Shu Suzuki even did a wonderful remix of « You Don’t Send Slow Waves Anymore»). What is it in the “Japanese touch” that makes it so Balearic? Perhaps it’s more the case that in recent years, Balearic DJs have found Japanese music to be a treasure trove for Balearic nuggets. Certainly, a range of Japanese music can be considered Balearic – from City Pop to new age/ambient, minimal electronic stuff, or the (sometimes good, often dodgy) Japanese reggae versions of pop songs. I’ve been listening to certain Japanese artists for a long time (Cornelius and Susumu Yokota spring to mind), and, in fact, this Cornelius track (Point of View Point (Yann Tomita Mix)) was a key inspiration for ‘You Don’t Send Slow Waves Anymore’. I absolutely love it. And yes, I would also like to thank Shu Suzuki again for his wonderfully creative re-interpretation of ‘You Don’t Send Slow Waves Anymore’. It's quite a ride! Thank you, Shu! 5) Looking back at what you crafted and the recognition and support you received over the years, do you ask yourself the question, “What hasn’t yet been done in the Balearic Musical genre?” If so, could you share with us a tiny bit of the “musical dreams” you have for the future? I would not say that I am necessarily trying to break any new ground within the Balearic genre; I only aspire to develop my own voice with the Simon Peter tracks. Increasingly, I do try to push myself musically with each track I work on. My musical ambitions are not lofty – I simply hope to be able to continue to find the time to finish tracks and to work with friendly labels to get them released. In terms of future releases, I do have one track finished (a collaboration with a singer/songwriter), which should be released on a compilation record next year, and I have another couple of tracks in the works – including another collaboration – so there should be new Simon Peter tracks appearing over the horizon in their own laid-back time! Thank you So Much, Simon! Simon put together a Spotify Balearic Playlist, including both his own works and his Musical Influences. It's a musical trip for sure! Be sure to check that one out! 😉

Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy broadcast the 166th episode of Balearic Breakfast on her Mixcloud and Twitch TV socials on March 5th 2024. About this show. – On March 2nd, Colleen posted the request line on her socials with an astounding picture, crafted as always by our dear Lee, asking us for some musical suggestions regarding the celebration of International Women’s Day: "The Balearic Breakfast Request Line is back! This coming Tuesday on the 5th March is our annual International Women’s Day celebration so please suggest songs by women artists/musicians. This show is always so inspiring and I look forward to discovering some new music as well as unearthing past treasures and celebrating women’s creativity. Now it’s over to you…" The show in itself was a Beautiful 3hour and a half musical promenade, allowing us all to discover tunes from Female artists that inspired generations, and that will, without a shadow of a doubt, inspire the generations to come... The Balearic Breakfast Family truly outdid itself on that one, allowing our Captain to draw a seamless female musical path... As Colleen stated, "This is an annual tradition and is always one of my favourite shows as it spotlights women’s creativity and musicianship. Your requests were incredible and spanned the musical spectrum and thank you. A lot of ground is covered - folk, jazz, soul, house, electronic, experimental and a canto pop record I discovered when I was in Hong Kong last month." Listen back to the 166th episode of Balearic Breakfast: PLAYLIST (2007) Aretha Franklin – Tree of Life (2020) Roseanne Reid – Couldn’t Wish More for You (2024) Caoilfhionn Rose – Fall Into Place (1969) Laura Nyro – Captain for Dark Mornings (1968) Bobbie Gentry – Jessye’ Lisabeth (1976) Joni Mitchell – Amelia (1995) Tracy Chapman – New Beginning (1986) Suzanne Vega – Neighborhood Girls (1976) Joan Armatrading – Love and Affection (1996) Neneh Cherry – Woman (1970) Dorothy Ashby – Heaven and Hell (2024) Kinga Glyk – Opinions (2021) Cleo Sol – Promises (2004) Jill Scott – Golden (2015) Lindsey Webster – Fool Me Once (2020) System Olympia – 6am Romance (1985) ‘Til Tuesday – Voices Carry (1984) Laurie Anderson – Sharkey’s Day (2000) Sade – By Your Side (Cottonbelly Remix) (1980) Sally Oldfield – Blue Water (1979) Elkie Brooks – Rising Cost of Love (1977) Marlena Shaw – Sweet Beginnings (1982) 夏妙然 (Serina Ha) – 看看你’ (Look at You) (1984) Sheila E – The Belle of St. Mark (2024) Ada Morghe – We Are One (Cosmodelica Remix) (2023) Spirit of Sundaze Ensemble & Cherise – Earth is the Place (2023) Tigerbalm & Farafi – Nina (Elado Remix) (2011) Ladytron – Destroy Everything You Touch (Sasha Involv2er Remix) (1990) Lisa Stansfield – This is the Right Time (Yvonne Turner Remix) (2007) Masters at Work ft. India – Love & Happiness (2000) Ultra Naté – Desire (Kerri Chandler's Brazilian Mix) (1997) Sounds of Blackness – The Pressure (Jazz n Groove Remix) (1993) Daphne – When You Love Someone (1980) Ann Margret – Everybody Needs Somebody Sometimes (1992) Moodswings ft Chrissie Hynde – State of Independence THE LISTENING EXPERIENCE This 165th episode really felt like a long walk into a forest, discovering music from artists we all deeply love and respect. A lot of the songs featured here were never played before during Balearic Breakfast, and even Colleen's flow felt somewhat different today; maybe it's me being oh-so subjective again, laughs! Anyway, I felt a beautiful musical equilibrium in this episode, and I was able to divide it into three parts, each one of them showcasing why a Woman will always be so much more than what we think... Let's dive in, then... THE EMOTION... To me, the first nine songs really depict how powerful and important a woman's emotions are in our Masculine World. We're drawn into today's trip by the opening track, Tree of Life, by the Unique Aretha Franklin. With its large and somewhat open soundstage (somewhat because you can feel that the instruments on each side of the left and right channel are somehow framing the soundstage while not closing it totally) and its realistic sound, Aretha's voice simply shines while she sings a leftover song from her 1973 studio album Hey Now Hey (The Other Side of the Sky, later published on "Rare and Unreleased Recordings from the Golden Age of the Queen of Soul" in 2007 on Rhino records. She is there, with us, as her imploring, yet combative, voice sings what I feel is a redemption song. From the second song on, Colleen chose to let the music speak, taking us through an emotional walk. And this is exactly what you feel while listening to Couldn’t Wish More for You by Roseanne Reid, someone wishing you well on your journey, Emotions. Colleen's timing here is perfect, the music flows, and really, everything falls into place. On her Facebook, Caoifflan shared, "I wrote ‘Fall Into Place’ to a person close to me, to remind them that there’s always hope and I’m willing them on every day. This song features many of my good friends and amazing musicians Janileigh Cohen and Chloe Foy on backing vocals, Jordan Smart on saxophone, John Ellis on piano, Alan Taylor on drums Rich Williams on guitar and production and Gavin Barras on double bass." With her voice being very similar to Kate Bush's, Laura Nyro almost fooled me. Her song, Captain for Dark Morning (first released on her 1969 New York Tendaberry studio album), is so close to Kate's universe to me! In an interview, the self-taught-pianist and composer shared: "My jazz background put certain inflexions into my songwriting and singing. Throw in all the poetry I'd read since I was a kid and just being a woman, and that's what made my songs complex and emotionally rich". I love these kinds of songs—they are very dynamic, with beautiful outbursts and high-pitched notes effortlessly reached in a smile! Emotions equal Women, and Bobbie Gentry's 1968 song Jessye’ Lisabeth proves it perfectly, too. There is that something in this first part of the show, a calm, reassuring but driving force; of course, you can feel Colleen's work here perfectly. These songs are all about hopes, the future, and friendly support. They deal with our journeys, just as Joni Mitchell's Amelia does! For those of you who did not know, Amelia Earhart was a pioneering aviator who, in 1932, became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, and Joni's song deals with what it takes to go on a journey when life gets tough... "Basically, the false alarm was the end of a relationship. Two Scorpios couldn't let each other go. It was done, but we couldn't let go; we belonged to each other. It was winding down and I am driving solo without a driver's license across the country. I think of Amelia I think solo flight. I can't remember how many hotel rooms later it was complete" I love it when songs are so close intellectually to one another! It's just beautiful, and this is why I could listen to Colleen without end... Emotion... I must say I had teary eyes while listening to that edition of Balearic Breakfast; I think a tear rolled down my face while hearing that Colleen chose Tracy's Chapman "New Beginning" as, for several months now, I have been thinking silently about what it takes to be Balearic and one of the elements I figured out was that maybe changing the way we talk to one another would help improve our relations. When that happened to me, I swear, I didn't know Chapman's song... In fact, I discovered it while making the requests on Colleen's Facebook, finding that "Give Me One Reason" was nice but too bluesy for the show, I stumbled across that song... and it Clicked instantly... true story! To me, this is the most Balearic song we ever played on the show. It's all in there; now, all we have to do is apply Tracy's lyrics... Emotions? My goodness gracious, for sure! With Suzan Vega's "Neighborhood Girls" solid structure following Tracy's relaxed delivery, we here have the dynamics I was talking about in the interview I gave to Douglas Noble about the creation of this very blog. Colleen's musicality shines here. The first part of this 165 edition of Balearic Breakfast ends with the beautiful "Love and Affection" by Joan Armatrading, her voice making me think about FitzRoy's one! THE ADVENTUROUS AFFIRMATION... These eleven songs take us through another phase of this episode, showcasing, on many levels, how much women know to take the con in life and how, musically, they are an undoubtful driving force. You must listen to this show like you would to an album. Not being able to participate in the chat gave me the opportunity to do that on this 165th edition of Balearic Breakfast, thus paying attention to Colleen's "breaks" (finding the hidden structure of the show 😉). The second part starting with Neneh Cherry's song "Woman" is a Hint, Indeed, as this torch song was a take on James Brown's 1966 hit "It's A Man's Man's Man's World.", making Neneh Cherry a positive role model for women! I want to share with you this analysis of the song I found on the net, it's very inspiring indeed! "It sounds as a pamphletary one about the woman's condition in this world. I mean Neneh is talking to every women who have been forced to live under man's oppression without finding a space for expressing their infinity love. More specifically, she's talking about an African woman who has been chased by men who have taken everything from her except for her inner strenght. And she has been chased just because she owns some kind of mystical power ("And for my healing wits / I've been called a witch") which lets her heal people and it seems to me the men from her 'tribe' fear the popularity that she has got with this, since they would never admit to share their power with a woman 'witch'. It's a kind of jealous feeling, I think. So she's condemned to death on fire and every good things she has made must be forgotten by everyone for not making her a martyr."I've died so many times I'm only just coming to life." I assume she's talking she is like Phoenix bird, not meaning she will be born again in flesh&blood, but meaning it'll always exist another women like her who will be prepaired to try to spread love around this godless land..." This part of the show really showcases Women's musicianship and is a beautiful affirmation of their soul. Here, you can hear songs about Women stating who they really are; here, you can hear songs demonstrating their sensitivity and their musical empowerment, Dorothy's "Heaven and Hell" being a perfect example of that: a sad song, adapted from Khayyam’s poetry, acknowledging that no matter your spiritual path, death is at least some sort of end. As this blog article states, "not only could Dorothy Ashby play the harp, but also the piano and the Japanese koto, a stringed instrument plucked or strummed while sitting or kneeling. And she sang. You can hear her soul, her classical training, and her love of the stage in her playing, which could quickly veer from hushed to dramatic." This track makes me think of another great French musician, the singer, composer and violin player Catherine Lara, who, at the end of the 70s and in the following decades, played the violin on her studio albums and on stage, being the first one to use this instrument as a solo and resolutely rock instrument! Talking about violins, we're not very far away from bass; I absolutely love how Kinga Glyk's "Opinions" track blends a relaxed feeling with a very solid sentiment, enhanced by the slapping instrument! The Polish bassist shared her thoughts in a recent interview, saying "My musical heroes are not only bass players - I’m inspired by many, many other artists. Listening to different kinds of music and many musicians gives me freedom and does not close my mind to a single way of thinking. Always be yourself. Never try to be someone else. If you play, play as well as you can, but you don’t have to prove to anyone that you can do more than you can." But this part of the show, showcasing Woman taking the con, is also a rhythmical journey, and the empowerment can be absolutely felt both in Cleo Sol's "Promises" rhythm and Lyrics! It's Solid; it's driven, even if the lyrics are somewhat sad you can feel this Woman is not ready to stop her journey because of what happened... Keeping the rhythm steady and the feeling absolutely vibrant, Colleen then plays Jill Scott's "Golden". Speaking about the song, singer-songwriter Sug Daniels explained: “When I listen to ‘Golden,’ as an adult, it’s just a good song, it feels good in your body, it’s like you’ve got the top down, the sun is out. But she’s really prophesying, she’s really claiming her happiness, she’s saying ‘this belongs to me.’ I feel like as Black women, sometimes we don’t think about happiness, we think about survival. So to hear a Black woman being like ‘I’m taking my freedom.’ it really hit me, it really touches me.” Now, you understand the title of the second part of this show, don't you?! 😊 Even if "Fool Me Once" by Lindsey Webster has a slower tempo, it so beautifully showcases a Woman's soul and Behaviour when she knows something is not right! Listen closely to the next three tracks; you'll find a musical approach you never heard till that point of the show: "6am Romance" by System Olympia is a very modern, resonant-sounding piece of music; you can almost picture the soundwaves in your head, and this effect is very well enhanced by the following song, "Voices Carry", also a very vibrant sonic trip (the song is about an abusive relationship...), this being enhanced by the rhythm of the song (Colleen's selections and the order of the tracks are indeed perfect here, aren't they?)! Our Musical Audacity trip is reaching an end as Sharkey's Day enters our brains (take the time to watch Colleen's interview right here). The last two songs (Sade's "By Your Side (Cottonbelly Remix)" – the original version showcasing a beautiful sonic evolution of Sade's sonics – & Sally Oldfield's "Blue Water"), which to me belong here, also demonstrate perfectly Women's adventurous affirmation, almost acting as a bond to the last part of the show (listen to what happens @1h42min and you'll understand)... THE RISING & THE SHINING... Of course, Balearic Breakfast has its own Soul, and the last part of the show is the one that will bring you dancing on your feet (the two first parts of this episode clock at 1hour47min., and this gives us 1hour42min. to dance, did I talk about Female perfection already?)! Still, this part is musically very interesting as it really Shines, allowing you to see a beautiful Female Disco Ball hanging somewhere over you. Here, I will only share a few facts about some of the songs that I feel really resonate with that image. Let's go then! An upbeat funky track taken from Elkie Brook's 1979 album "Live and Learn", "Rising Cost of Love" has been recorded in a more downbeat tempo in 1979 by Darrow Fletcher. I discovered Elkie thanks to her "Pearls II" vinyl compilation containing the astounding song "Will You Write Me a song", a must listen to! Colleen then takes us to Marlena Shaw's "Sweet Beginning's", co-written by Leon Ware and John Bettis, a song that marked another change in style, funk with disco within the 1977 album of the same name that blended as various styles as Funk, soul and also R&B! The Beautiful Japanese song "Look at you" made me think of these "Waltz pop songs" I like so much, one of them being "Where boys are" by Mariya Takeuchi or the astoundingly and heart-wrenchingly beautiful "Moje jedyne Marzenie" (My Only Dream) by the great and very missed Polish Singer, Anna Jantar... Colleen's mixing is just perfect here as "The Belle of St. Mark" hits our dancefloor, simple yet very effective! What a track, to me the Wow effect of that show! Our dear Captain always keeps her pulse on the music, and remixing Ada Morghe's "We Are One" is such a great move! I hope this one will be included in the next Balearic Breakfast compilation! This show is a never-ending sea of Musical goodness, and "Earth is the Place" is another example of that: "The Nathan Haines/Phil Asher-produced ‘Earth Is The Place’ is a Secretsundaze classic if ever there was one, a constant feature in my sets and at the party since its release in 2001. The vocals around female empowerment have become iconic in my book, penned by Phil himself. In terms of our approach to it, the main desire was just to bring it up to date really, to bring it back into the current musical landscape and to take the opportunity to shed more light on a piece of music that is very dear to me.” There is always that moment in Balearic Breakfast where we reach true depths; here we do so thanks to Tigerbalm nicely followed by a trippy remix of "Destroy Everything You Touch" by Sasha Involv2er! Fun fact, LadyTron band's name is a reference to Roxy Music's 1972 studio album! Brian Eno was a big fan of the quartet: "Ladytron are, for me, the best of English pop music". With a darker theme, the song deals with human relations: "My take is that the person is afraid of getting hurt, so he sabotages relationships as soon as he senses he's getting too close to someone. "Anything that may desert you / So it cannot hurt you". He closes himself off from the other person and his own feelings, and he doesn't realize how much his actions affect the person he's rejecting. He ends up devastating the people who care about him. It seems like the singer might be in love with this person and wants to pursue the relationship despite knowing how he reacts to intimacy, maybe even thinking that there's a chance she could be the one to save him from himself." With One hour left to go, Colleen wisely chose tracks taking us back to her "Club 89" shows. As she states on her Website, "It’s always been about discovery and turning people on – the wheel never stops turning. Club 89 was one of the few weekly house shows in New York City,” she says. “I had Lil Louis, Romanthony, Danny Krivit, David, François, Joe Claussell, Louie Vega and others up as special guests. I always tried to make it bigger than myself. It was about community.” This part of the show really got us Hooked; I mean, hearing Yvonne's take on Lisa Stanfield, Masters at Work, Kerri's take on Ultra Naté, and Jazz n Groove's take on Sounds of Blackness in one single mix just made us lose our heads!!! After slightly easing down the tempo with "When You Love Someone" and "Everybody Needs Somebody Sometimes", Colleen reaches out to Eternity by waving us goodbye on "State of Independence"...

Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy broadcast the 165th episode of Balearic Breakfast on her Mixcloud and Twitch TV socials on February 27th 2024. About this show. – You can't get bored when you listen to Balearic Breakfast. There's no chance at all. This episode is so rich musically that it just blew our minds, and we, of course, enjoyed the interview with Mildlife, a band we deeply love for its "electronic" musical sound. But let's hang the mic over to Colleen! "This week's Balearic Breakfast is an Australian / New Zealand special featuring some of the music I picked up and some of the artists I discovered when I was ‘down under’ earlier this year. There are a couple of special exclusives on today’s show – an exclusive debut of a new Flamingo Pier track which they have just posted on their Bandcamp for the occasion, and an exclusive mix from and an interview with Mildlife who have a new album called Chorus coming out this week on Heavenly Recordings. There’s so much great music to discover, and of course, I can’t get to all of it, but tune in for cosmic jazz, psychedelic funk, neo-soul, and some bumpin’ balearica…" Listen back to the 165th episode of Balearic Breakfast: PLAYLIST (2023) The Circling Sun – Spirits (2021) Glass Beams – Mirage (2023) Christoph el' Truento – Fisherman's Dub (2023) Dallas Tamaira – Levels (2021) Mara TK – Highly Medicated (2024) Mildlife – Yourself (2024) Flamingo Pier – Deeper Soul (Make a Dance Remix) (2022) Summer Vee – Key to All Your Love (2024) Eden Burns – Where Were U in 92 (2020) Troy Kingi – Chronophobic Disco (2024) Gratts ft. Cata Mansikka – Rhythm of Love (2024) Mildlife – Musica Mildlife Interview & Mix: (1986) Rare Silk – Argot (1994) Napoli Centrale – Donna Flora (1985) Gabrielle Roth and the Mirrors – Eliana (1984) Universal Production Music – Rencontres (2005) James Senese – Mysterious to 167 (1988) Herbie Hancock – Chemical Residue (1988) Egberto Gismonti – Feixe de Luz (1992) Sergio Mendes – Fanfarra (Despedida) (2000) James Senese – Subway (1991) Egberto Gismonti – Jogos Da Floresta#2 (1986) Singing Dust – Love Flower (1986) Rare Silk – How Can I Be Sure (2004) Enzo Avitabile – Banesia Deo THE LISTENING EXPERIENCE Starting the show with the dreamy (and somewhat jazzy) Spirits, Colleen takes us through some of the records she brought from her recent journey to the southern hemisphere in a relaxed musical hour. Influenced by artists such as Alice and John Coltrane, Yusef Lateef, Pharoah Sanders, Tom Waits and even Mulato Astatke, the collective Circling Sun was founded back in 2000, including renowned jazz musicians, crate-diggers, producers and DJs (now that's something musically original and rarely seen!), and is led by drummer Julien Dyne. Such a perfect show opener! Faithfull to her delicate way of taking the Family into new musical depths, Colleen then chose the strange and worried Mirage, which, with its Indian accents (almost Japanese if you ask me ^^), let us delve more into our subconscious minds as Fisherman's Dub comes to meet us expanding this 'Down Under' Journey. I remember sharing with Colleen the Trapdoor mix and these first selections make me think about that mix blending cosmic, funky, jazzy sounds with Pop music! When Levels came in, I knew I had already heard that voice from somewhere; of course, I did, thanks to Fat Freddy's Drop and Jazzanova! I discovered the band and (some) of its members with the "Of All The Things" 2008 studio album while I was looking to purchase two Jelco tonearms for my Technics SL-1210 turntables (the dream became true)! I remember stumbling across that video and falling in love with the Music (Dallas Tamaira appears on "What Do You Want?") - and the tonearm, of course (laughs)!... With the next track, a favourite of our dear Ana Maria who requested it some time ago (showing how much all of our commune musical listening dreams do come true and why we truly are a musical Family...), Highly Medicated by Mara TK, Colleen slowly stepped up our Balearic Rhythms, also musically prepping us for today's guests, Mildlife, by playing Yourself from their forthcoming new studio album, Chorus. Keeping a "Distanced Balearic Groove", Colleen then chose to play the quite oceanic and cosmic vibing (I love writing these reviews, laughs!) Flamingo Pier's Deeper Soul (Make a Dance Remix). Key to All Your Love has that "something sounding" from Sade, don't you think? Singer-songwriter/guitarist Summer Vaha'akolo collaborated with producer Sterling, saxophonist JY Lee and drummer Julien Dyne (Half Hexagon & The Cycling Sun) on her latest studio effort, which was very well received. Eden Bruns then takes us higher with the "dubby" and dreamy-sounding Where Were U in 92, followed by Troy Kingi's Chronophobic Disco, this moment of the show making me think that I don't like it when tracks end up abruptly because they break their own spell! Keeping the rhythm steady to end the first part of today's show, bringing up a very "Carnivalian" atmosphere, Colleen plays Rhythm of Love, ending with Musica, which made me think of another well-known track... For the second part of this "Down Under Special", Colleen did an interview with two members of "Mildlife", Adam and Jim! Now, if you're a regular listener of the show, you know that Colleen did a remix of one of their songs and also that the band is regularly featured during the show (see Episodes 12 & 146, for instance)!