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When I heard Mark de Clive-Lowe 's new album "Past Present (tone poems accross time)", it made me think of some of Czeslaw Niemen's compositions, especially those he crafted on his 1989 "Terra Deflorata" lp. I knew I had to meet Mark to talk about such a moving, and questionning, musical journey... 1) Hi Mark! Thanks for joining us here on the Balearic Breakfast blog! Your album makes a beautiful use of synthesizers and the way you were able to organise the layers is truly sublime as there is both depth (the bass parts are splendid) and latitude in the sonic experience you propose. Is it trickier to work solely with synthesizers ? Thank you for such a thoughtful listen and for having me! Synthesizers offer a very different intimacy compared to acoustic instruments. They allow for the shaping of timbre and movement in ways that feel both tactile and ethereal. Working solely with synths can be tricky, yes—especially without the traditional scaffolding of rhythm or form. But that’s also what made it liberating. I was able to follow textures, tones, and emotions without chasing structure. The depth and latitude you mention came from a kind of surrender—letting each piece unfold in its own way, sculpting sonic space as a meditative act. 2) On "Present past", the swirling effect of the synth allows silence to come into play adding a breathing effect into the tension. This constant duality represents the fights time has to overcome in order to exist. This track, to me, perfectly represents how sound and textures can help reveal the composers intellectual ideas, if they are any, conscious or unconscious. How did you approach composition while working on the album? That track was built more like a meditation than a composition. When I started making this music, I didn’t have a narrative or intention—it was just exploration and expression. Later, as I journeyed through Japan retracing my father’s footsteps, the music took on deeper resonance. “Present Past” became a mirror for my emotions—breathing, stillness, tension, release. The dualities you mention—presence and memory, silence and swirl—absolutely reflect how I was feeling, both consciously and unconsciously. It wasn’t about ideas in the intellectual sense but about trusting vibration to carry feeling. 3) There seems to be a constant lingering and questioning uncertainty in your album, even in the quieter tracks. Ironically, "Revelation" reveals that perfectly to the listener and allows him to feel it precisely at this moment of the album. In which mood were you when composing and would you agree with me if I told you I felt your album is a concept album? You're right to sense that tension and questioning—it was a deeply emotional time for me, and that energy flows throughout the entire album. “Revelation" is the midpoint of the story, a moment of stillness and realization within the larger arc. The album itself is very much a concept work: the sonic palette is intentionally unified, built around analog synthesizers, Fender Rhodes, CP-70 electric piano, and field recordings captured across Japan. These elements form a cohesive language to express the emotional terrain I was navigating—posthumous healing and reconciliation with my father. The track titles are deliberately spare, each one a distilled emotion or insight—acceptance, forgiveness, peace—marking stages in that journey. It wasn’t about adhering to form as much as following feeling and allowing the music to be a mirror. 4) The cover is another stunning and intriguing element and I feel there is a Strong message there too, something akin to the idea that we are our own equilibrium and that, somehow, we have to discover our hidden strength to be able to project it outside the world, then uniting in peace and eternity… can you tell us more about the place where the picture was taken? That photo is actually of my father, taken in 1953, standing in front of the torii gate at Itsukushima Shrine on Miyajima Island, just off the coast of Hiroshima. It was low tide, just like when I visited again recently—nothing has changed. The image holds such weight for me: it's both personal and timeless, symbolizing thresholds, reverence, and intention. Seeing him there as a young man, full of life and openness, helped me understand him in a new way. That photo encapsulates the album’s heart—honoring the past while finding meaning and presence in the now. Thank you so much Mark! Find Mark's links here

Worldwide FM broadcast the 109th episode of Balearic Breakfast on October 04th 2022. About this show. ‒ This 108th episode of Balearic Breakfast was a special one for all of us, and you'll hear it very clearly in the first part of the show... With Worldwide FM pausing its activities (more about this here), we knew that the show would go on, and we also knew our Captain was not ready to leave the Balearic Breakfast ship on its own... Yet, somehow, life had a master plan as our requests were all going in the same direction: one of a calm decided and affirmed opposition to what was happening. Balearic Breakfast was Our Show, and it would always be that way no matter how hard the times or the situations! Listen back to the 108th episode of Balearic Breakfast: PLAYLIST ( 1993 ) Golden Girls – Kinetic (David Morley Remix) ( 2022 ) Chronixx – Never give up ( 1974 ) Dadawah – Seventy-two Nations ( 2019 ) Feater – Time Million (feat. Vilja Larjosto) (Blood Shanti Main Version) ( 1972 ) Cymande – The Message ( 2022 ) Jazxing – W Uścisku ( 1978 ) Lucio Battisti – Prendila Cosi ( 1973 ) Vangelis – Let it happen ( 1977 ) John Tropea – Short trip to space ( 2019 ) HF International ft Kasif – I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do) (Kaoru Inoue Extended Disco Dub Remix) ( 2023 ) ASHRR – Fizzy (Felix Dickison Remix) ( 2021 ) Roundtree – Get on Up (Get on Down) [Moplen remix] ( 1986 ) Rebles – Sweetest Taboo (Soca) ( 1979 ) G.Q.  – Make my dream a reality ( 1995 ) Mondo Grosso – Souffles H (King Street Club Mix) ( 2013 ) Brian Ferry – Don't stop the dance (Todd Terje Remix) ( 1992 ) Danny Tenaglia  – Equinox (Heavenly Club Mix) THE LISTENING EXPERIENCE A huge sun almost blinds you with its shining power. Covering your eyes, you're almost drawn into another world, a world of unity, hope, and musicality with a Family like you've never met before. This is our time, this is our show, this is our world, and we stand here tall, facing any event that might destabilise our peace. This pulsating and strong image, with the ocean there, in the distance, is precisely the one that Kinetic conveys as this 108th edition of Balearic Breakfast starts. Golden Girls were Michael Hazell and Orbital's Paul Hartnoll . The David Moraley Remix can also be found on the fourth volume of Mark Barrett and Pete Gooding's La Torre Ibiza compilation series. This show is all about resistance. As Tori Amos wrote in her memoir , "Being in opposition to something is to be in a position of power" . And this is exactly what Colleen conveys here; she always knew how to find the right words during the show's darkest days to cheer us up, as she says: " October is one of my favourite months, a season of change, and boy, change is really in the air right now. And it's something I'm experiencing both personally and professionally. Although change is the only constant, I can tell you it can be very difficult to deal with. I'm sure we all feel that especially when you have to deal with major obstacles and challenges that are beyond your own control. Sometimes it may feel easier to take the path of less resistance or to adopt a defeatist attitude. But if it's something important to you, something that you believe in, and the cause is just, then you have to do something about it and take action for what is right." And, going straight to the point, the next few songs are about resistance. First, because of the lyrics, of course, but also because of the musical genre, reggae. We know that music often stayed at the forefront of some of the major crises humanity experienced, and so did Reggae, which has come to be regarded as quintessential protest music ( e.g., Anne Schumann 's " Music at War: Reggae Musicians as political actors in the Ivoirian crisis" ) – also explaining why Gainsbourg chose to cover the French National Hymn "La Marseillaise" with Bob Marley's musicians, flying to Kingston and saying, being forced to cancel a show in Strasbourg in 1980 : "I gave the Marseillaise its true sense back! (...)" . So it's no surprise that the Balearic Breakfast Family came to choose some strong Reggae tracks, including: Chronixx' s " Never give up ": born Jamar Rolando McNaughton , this new song sounds like a classic Roots and Reggae tune! The singer is joined here by the Skankin Sweet band and encourages listeners to keep their heads up high through the downs of life –   Interestingly enough, the track was produced by Dean Josiah Cover (Inflo), producer to Little Simz, Michael Kiwanuka & Cleo Sol, just to name a few!; Dadawah 's "Seventy-two Nations" : born in 1943, Michael George Henry, better known as Ras Michael , is a Jamaican reggae singer and Nyabinghi specialist [ Note 1 ] , still making music to this very day; Feater 's "Time Million (feat. Vilja Larjosto - Blood Shanti Main Version)": the Vienna-based Daniel Meuzard, who goes under the name Feater, has released four albums, "Time Million" being taken from his 2019 LP, Sociale Blanco. This song, despite its cool rhythm holds very strong lyrics perfectly fitting our battling mood... (If time is a nation of mood / I am a dictator, insane, sovereign / If time is the currency I am Mother Teresa, I’m a millionaire/ I count a heartbeat, I breathe)!; Cymande 's " The Message ": the British funk group's name derives from the calypso word for "dove," symbolising peace and love. They had an incredible career in the United States ( headlining the Apollo Theater in New York in 1973 ) but were hardly noticed in their home country. Although they split up in 1974, their music was sampled by many artists worldwide, including the French rapper MC Solaar, and a new documentary telling their story is out!; For the next few songs, although the musical style and rhythm changed, the message the Balearic Breakfast Family felt the need to share stayed the same, even growing in intensity, I feel...: Jazxing 's " W Uścisku ": I interviewed the Polish band here on the blog. Taken from their "Pearls from the Baltic Sea" studio album, the song is also a tense and futuristic love declaration (lurking towards the sonic flairs of artists like David Bowie, as the band explained in this interview ) where a couple seems to face Absence by sticking together in an embrace...; Lucio Battisti' s " Prendila Cosi ": a beautiful song, and quite long actually, dealing with the endless love one can feel for a lost lover [ Note 2 ] . Despite the years, nothing really changes... Another way of transmitting today's show strong feeling of togetherness for sure... The album, which got very successful (translated:"A woman as a friend"), was recorded by Battisti in England (for the first time), and the pop arrangements met conversation-style Mongol lyrics dealing exclusively with relationships and everyday situations ; Vangelis ' " Let it happen ": this song from Vangelis ' 1973 " Eearth " studio album takes us into a more trippy part of the show where it seems Destiny takes its place - for a great interview about the way Vangelis composed, click here (this feeling is firmly enhanced by John Tropea 's " Short trip to space " and reflected in this post's illustration picture! ); As always, Colleen is leading us Musically. Can you feel her holding your hand through these three songs: Let It Happen, Short Trip to Space, and I Can't Go For That? This musical interlude (crafted with songs sharing a close sonic signature 😉) allows her to step up the rhythm and take us on a beautiful musical trip to the second hour of the show! There goes your WOW Effect in full bliss! Without further ado, let's dive into the songs of the second part of the show : should you be interested in discovering more about Kaoru Inoue, there's a great interview on Ban Ban Ton Ton about the Japanese DJ (see also here ). Of course, Hall & Oates' song deals with boundaries ( That song is about the music business, about not being pushed around by big labels, managers, and agents and being told what to do, and being true to yourself creatively. That's what that song Is about ), and it fits this episode perfectly) and it has been "covered" by Simple Red [ Note 3 ] ; I interviewed ASHRR  on the blog just a few weeks after they got signed and released Fizzy on vinyl. This is where the show gets even more interesting. After saying out loud that the Balearic Breakfast Family was not ready to quit, we all came back to what we all love the most: dancing and playing Funky tunes! The Disco and funk/band Roundtree was a one-time act assembled by Kenny Lehman (who also put together the disco studio group Lemon ). " Get on up " was found on the 1978 " Roller Disco " studio album - To find out more about the Italian producer Moplen, head over here ; Also known as D’ Rebel’s Band and led by St Vincentian band-leader and trombonist Denniston Young, Rebles helped define the soca genre outside of the Caribbean; the 1986 version of " Sweetest Taboo " sells on platforms for eye-watering sums but was reissued in 2019 ...; featured on G.Q 's 1979 album, " Disco Nights ", " Make My Dream a reality " had a nice success peaking at the 8th position on the U.S. R&B chart and is a very Balearic tune indeed, I love the realism of the instruments on that one! As Colleen says, " that song should get you going this morning!"; with Mondo Grosso's ( Shinichi Osawa ) remix, Louie Vega effectively proposes a reconstruction of the original track with a definitely more direct and upfront approach ; Colleen ends this beautiful dancing session by playing Todd Terje's astounding Remix of Brian Ferry's " Don't Stop The Dance " , a version that is part of several new remixes by renowned DJs, including Greg Wilson, Idjut Boys, and Psychemagik, just to name a few; ending the show with " Equinox " (a track created with pianist, composer and producer Peter Daou, including the vocal sample "I floated on a cloud" taken from one of the interview parts on Grace Jones's "Slave To The Rhythm": the intro of The Crossing (Ooh The Action)), colleen simply opens the gates to the next Balearic Breakfast show... Footnotes: [Note 1] Michael George Henry (aka Ras Michael and, for this lone release, Dadawah) was born in 1943 in Saint Mary Parish, in northeastern Jamaica. Henry was raised in a Rastafari community when the religious movement was still in its infancy and marginalized within Jamaica. It was there that he began performing Nyahbinghi, the Rastafarian devotional music that combines the influences of African drumming and Black gospel. Henry found himself in Kingston in the late 1950s where he worked for Coxsone Dodd at the legendary Studio One. By 1968, he had formed the group Sons of Negus and the first overtly Rasta record label, Zion Disc. As Rasta filtered into the mainstream, Henry released more music including albums for Trojan, Dynamic and Grounation labels. Originally released in 1974, Peace And Love - Wadadasow is Dadawahs magnum opus. Produced by Lloyd Charmers, the album features slinky basslines, wah-wah guitar, hypnotic keyboards, dubbed-out studio trickery and, of course, the propulsive drumming and rhythmic chanting characteristic of Nyahbinghi. Antarctica Starts Here presents the first widely available domestic release of Peace and Love - Wadadasow. This reissue is part of an archival series that focuses on Trojans essential 60s and 70s catalogue. Liner notes by JR Gonne. [Note 2] Battisti and lyricist Mogol (Giulio Rapetti) together have penned some of the most memorable hits of the 60s and 70s, shaping the course of Italian song. Confidently mixing Italian melodies, R&B, rock, pop and Latin beats, Lucio Battisti’s music and Mogol’s lyrics united in perfect harmony. Battisti’s suffering vocal style, his soft but high-pitched voice supported by an intense and rough energy, and Mogol’s brilliant lyrics, with their intimate, colloquial quality, have earned these two artists extraordinary success lasting for decades. Their collaboration began in 1965 and ended in 1980, when the two permanently parted ways, but their songs were performed by world-famous Italian and international artists such as Mina, Ornella Vanoni, Patty Pravo, Paul Anka, Gene Pitney, Wilson Pickett, and Tanita Tikaram. The voice of Battisti himself, unique and unmistakable with its falsetto overtones, immediately became a trademark of the singer-songwriter. In Italy, the binomial “Mogol-Battisti” became as famous as McCartney-Lennon, or Gilbert and Sullivan were in the English-speaking world. Their songs of love and loneliness told the stories of the new Italian urban society, with its contradictions and its predominantly masculine instincts. And it is precisely this crisis of masculinity which emerges clearly from certain songs (...) “E penso a te” (“I Think of You”) and “Prendila così” (“Take It As It Comes”) address, in nostalgic tones, the theme of ended relationships and the persistent thought of lovers. “Una donna per amico” (“A Woman for a Friend”) resolves, with nuanced irony, the tenderness and good-natured jealousy of a friendship between two people of the opposite sex. [Note 3] I look back on Sunrise as a pivotal track, maybe one of the most significant of my career – but it might just as easily have never happened. I had been briefly side-lined from the recording sessions Mick had begun with the band at his home studio in Surrey. A chance meeting with Ian Grenfell (the band’s manager) found me sitting in his car listening to the new recordings. I felt that Sunrise, with its strident chorus hook-line could make a great single and was asked by Ian to take a look. Around that time I’d been working a lot with Mark Jaimes, Danny Saxon and Mark Jolley on some new projects and they had gone down to MVC in Chiswick  to purchase a stack of CD’s to assess for potential samples. At the end of my session that day, I dropped in to see them, (they had a studio at Metropolis, too), and as I opened the door to their room, at that exact moment, the intro of ‘I Can’t Go For That’ by Hall & Oates was playing on the speakers.  A couple of weeks went by before Gota sent me the multi-track to Sunrise – I listened through to it with Mark and Danny and, recalling hearing I Can’t Go For That, I suggested we try it as a potential sample (‘mash ups’ being quite popular at the time). Miraculously it sounded like a hit straightaway, the key was the same, the tempo was the same to within a bpm or so, and where the sample finished, it broke naturally into Mick’s chorus and sounded as if it had been totally made for it. Mick Hucknall came on board and we worked on it together to completion. It went on to launch the album – the first on Simply Red’s own label – and helped it sell over three and a half million copies. Looking back, it also laid the foundations for the whole of the next chapter for my working relationship with Simply Red. The subsequent tour was sold out and the band’s trajectory took off once again.  I still sometimes wonder what would have happened if I hadn’t walked in on Mark and Danny at the exact moment they were playing that sample. A random twist of fate, you could say. I suppose I’ll never know the answer. But sometimes it does feel like someone’s looking over you and I can definitely say I believe in miracles.

Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy broadcast the 218th episode of Balearic Breakfast on her Mixcloud on April 8th 2025. About this episode. – Taking a week off from the show after her incredible tour in Japan, Colleen came back live in today's episode, better than ever, gifting us with a 2h18min. episode (hence the post's title...) ! The Balearic Breakfast family was happy as ever despite Mixcloud's mobile app not allowing us to tag our fellow friends as we would have loved it. Grargf, Message to Mixcloud sent today! This morning’s Balearic Breakfast is now up on my Mixcloud (link in comments) and its an extra long show as I have so much music to play for you – a true cornucopia of sounds. Today’s show features some of the music I picked up on my recent trip to Japan and includes new albums on an experimental tip along with some Japanese jazz and city pop from yesteryear. There’s a great italo classic rework, a forgotten Austrian treasure from the 80’s, some Balearic chuggers, deep house, nu soul and a lot more. Swipe for the playlist. Today’s show is also a bit longer as I’m taking next week off as both my husband and I will be en route to Ireland for his birthday celebration and also some parties. After a much needed rest this past weekend – actually walking nearly 20 km in Epping Forest may not be considered restful by some although you can see from the pic above the weather was glorious – these next few weeks are packed with parties and I hope you can make it along to one of these dates (and if you do please say hello): 10th April: Cosmodelica at The BBE Store  with Handson Family  in London 13th April: @ Burger-Disco-Club Athens , Greece 18th April: Connolly's of Leap  Cork, Ireland 19th April: Fidelity  Dublin, Ireland 3rd May: Melting Pot  at Queens Park, Glasgow 4th May: 1BTN  Birthday Bash at Patterns  Brighton 10th May: Balearic Breakfast Day Party with Joe Goddard  at Night Tales Loft  London 18th May: Pikes All Night Long, Ibiza 23rd May: Cosmodelica & Love Injection Fanzine / Records   Good Room  in Brooklyn, NY 28th May: @danteshifi in Miami, Florida The Request Line will go up Saturday, the 19th April and Balearic Breakfast will be back streaming live from the record room on Tuesday, the 22nd April. Until then, you can enjoy this show and others on the Balearic Breakfast playlist on my Mixcloud. Thanks for listening. Listen back to the 218th episode of Balearic Breakfast: The Listening experience. –  Taking us through a calm yet unknown Journey, where everything simply glows and grows in musical harmony, Colleen developed this episode in two parts, the first one showcasing pictures of spring (the first 40 minutes / 6 songs) while the second one was more upfront (yet still keeping intact that Wow feeling we all feel when Spring comes back into our lives –   Payfone's Volt to Volt  and Kraak & Smaak's Butter Bath are nice examples of that feeling)! There were several Wow Moments during this episode, including the show's opener Indigo Line  (which made me think of Max Richter's Vivaldi Recomposed album), Julia Mestre's   Vampira  (What a soundstage!), Salphunk's How Do You Like It , B.W.H's Stop (Danilo Braca ReStop Edit) ,  Tatsuro Yamashita's Love Talkin (Honey It's You)  & Minako Yoshida's Let's Do It   – which both made me think about these incredible Japanese productions with the sound being realistic, Neutral (yet on the warmer side) while being open and dynamic, with a dominant rhythmic guitar and a light pumping bass! Last but not least, we can't forget the incredible   Jam On  by Jambonne! All in all, this episode is a blooming musical experience! THE PLAYLIST ( 2025 ) Tomo Nakaguchi – Indigo Line ( 2025 ) Shin Sasakubo & Matchume Zango  – Kumkomba ( 2025 ) Mark de Clive-Lowe  – Embrace ( 1981 ) Masabumi Kikuchi  – City Snow ( 2025 ) Julia Mestre  – Vampira ( 1980 ) Crumb  – Love is a Game ( 2025 ) Salphunk  – How Do You Like It (Munich Mix) ( 2025 ) B.W.H.  – Stop (Danilo Braca ReStop Edit) ( 1982 ) Tatsuro Yamashita  – Love Talkin (Honey It's You) ( 2025 ) Rudy's Midnight Machine  – Foxtrot ( 2025 ) Payfone  – Volt to Volt (40 Thieves Remix) ( 2025 ) Peter Visti (ft Dawda Jobarteh & William Winding)  – Atlantic Fever ( 2025 ) Kraak & Smaak  – Butter Bath ( 2023 ) Lack of Afro (ft. Greg Blackman)  – Make it Shine ( 1978 ) Minako Yoshida  – Let's Do It ( 2025 ) Jambonne  – Jam On ( 2025 ) Joseph Malik ft Kameelah Waheed  – My Whole World (Variant Issue Orchestra Vocal Remix) ( 2025 ) Omar  – Can We Go Out (Zed Bias Remix) ( TBR ) Harvey Sutherland – Nobody Like U (Glenn Underground Dancer's ( 1999 ) Ciel Ernest St Laurent  – We Are One (Frankie Feliciano Remix) ( 2025 ) Aric  – I Love Your Love (Pete Blaker Dub Remix) COLLEEN'S PRESENTATION Part I Tomo Nakaguchi , the musician and sound artist from Yokohama, with Indigo Line , from his forthcoming LP, Out of the Blue , coming out on the 3rd of May on Audiobulb. And it's his third album for the label, and it meticulously crafts audio elements from traditional instruments, field recordings, and broken tape machines into a complex and beautiful soundscape. And Nakaguchi is also a member of the experimental rock band, 1769 , and a member of the multimedia group Skyward Photo Film . And you can head over to his Bandcamp to pre-order. Good morning! Ohayou gozaimasu! I'm Colleen Cosmo Murphy, hosting your weekly Balearic Breakfast, live on my Mixcloud, and greetings to the family over there, and thank you for joining me when I was streaming remotely from Japan. I also want to thank the guests that filled in for me, Kenneth Bager from Music for Dreams, Saucy Lady of Dippin' Records, Jen and Glenn from Hot Burns and Black, and Darren Morgan from our London Loft Party and Love Machine. They all did an amazing job, and thank you for giving them so much support. And it's great to be back hosting the show live from my record room, after an amazing trip and tour in Japan. I've been going to Japan since 1989. It was the first place outside the USA where I hosted radio shows, as I was a radio host on JOGZ in Nagoya, right after my 21st birthday, and I had barely traveled outside the USA, so it was a huge deal for me. And Japan is strangely also the first place I DJed in clubs outside of America, as I started playing there in the mid-90s. So Japan means a lot to me, and this is my first time back since 2019, just before the global pandemic. And I'd like to thank Ryo Watanabe for putting together a wonderful tour. It's the first one we've done together. All of the clubs who invited me, Club Mago in Nagoya, Boars in Obihiro, Bar Inc. in Osaka, Bar Bridge in Shinjuku, Woal in Takasaki, and of course, Precious Hall and Satoru-san in Sapporo. That's one of my favorite places in the world to play, as he changes the entire sound system when I go over to a loft-style system, with the Klipschhorn's Mark Levinson amplification and the lovely, gorgeous Koetsu cartridges. So it was truly sublime. And most importantly, arigatou gozaimasu to all who joined me on the dance floor. Today's show, of course, features some of the music I picked up in Japan and includes new albums on an experimental tip, along with some Japanese jazz and city pop from yesteryear. And also coming up in today's show, a great Italo classic rework, a forgotten Austrian treasure from the 80s, some Balearic Chuggers, new deep house and soul, and a lot more. So, ikimashou! Japan still on my mind. 1989 Photo booth ‘selfies’ and pics of the barefoot hippie DJ at JOGZ FM DEPO 76.4 FM with my old WNYU buddy Chris Cullen (CCM, 04/04/2025). We're going to start off with some spacey, atmospheric, and transcendental sounds from Japan. And this is a new one from Japanese guitarist and composer Shin Sasakubo , who has recently been releasing albums over the last two decades, many of which are collaborations, like this one. His most recent album, which is a collab with Mozambique composer and musician Matchume Zongo , who is a master of the timbala, a traditional wooden xylophone. And he's released one solo album himself, WataM'Cande . Together, Sasukubo and Zongo released the LP Kalamuka last month on Chichibu Records. And here they are with the album opener and a true journey in itself, Kumkomba. Ed. Note: Kikuchi in 2013, performing at a tribute concert for his former collaborator, Paul Motian (Getty)   A little something I picked up while record shopping in Sapporo. 80's Japanese jazz, courtesy of pianist, synth keyboardist, composer Masabumi Kikuchi . He worked with many musicians, including Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis, McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones, Gil Evans, and Toru Takemitsu. We just heard City Snow , which reminds me of snowy Sapporo, the biggest city in the northern island of Hokkaido. And I played it at the listening party at Precious Hall, where Kuniyuki, Yano, and myself played some jazz, African music, world music, experimental sounds. City Snow also featured James Mason on guitar and Ayrton Morera on percussion. And it's from Kikuchi's 1981 LP, Susto . Ahead of that, Mark de Clive-Lowe with Embrace from his new album, Past, Present, Tone Poems Across Time , coming out later this month on Greg Boreman's impressive collective label in partnership with BBE. And I met up with Mark in Tokyo, and he told me the backstory of the album. You may know he grew up in both Japan and New Zealand. And this record is a sonic exploration and reflection on family, heritage, and healing, created while he was retracing his late Kiwi father's journey across Japan 70 years ago. It's a gorgeous record of ambient jazz and emotional cinematic soundscapes. And it was all written, performed, and produced by Mark, using a ridiculous number of synths, along with some of his own field recordings. So you can head over to his Bandcamp to pre-order the vinyl, which was mixed by our friend Kuniyuki-san, and is coming out on the 18th of April. And we started off with Shin Sasakubo and Matchume Zongo with KumKomba.   You're listening to Balearic Breakfast. And this next one is from contemporary Brazilian music sensation, actress, and creative director, Julia Mestre . Mestre is a member of the Latin Grammy-winning Brazilian supergroup Bala de Seijo . And her forthcoming third solo album, Maravilhosamente Bem , is coming out on the 8th of May. Sorry, I don't speak Portuguese. I might be murdering the language. Apologies for that. This is the latest single from her new album. It's called Vampira . And it's her reinterpretation of Ray Reyes' original salsa song. And she transforms it into something more sultry, dreamlike, and sensual, which is her trademark style. Part II Yes, I do. I do very much. I really like it. That's a new disco chugger from Lisbon's rising talent, Salphunk . And we just heard the Munich mix of their new single, How Do You Like It , which came out on Dutch label Universo Positivo last month. And it's a follow-up to their debut Live On , released at the end of last year. So definitely ones to watch. And that's some 80s blue-eyed soul by Crumb with Love is a Game . And that's from The Other Sound of Music, forgotten Austrian treasures from the 1980s compilation, which came out at the end of last year on Austrian reissue label Edition Hawara. And there's some great tunes on there. Incidentally, the band Crumb only released one album in 1980, The Day When Mr. Goodbar... And it has a photo of a teddy bear on the album. And then they disbanded soon after. So you can now get that song on The Other Sound of Music compilation.   OK, here's an old Italo classic that I only ever had a bootleg of. You know, I don't really like buying bootlegs because I like supporting the artists. I would never do one myself, but I have been guilty of buying and playing them. It was conceived of and developed in the early 80s by the club DJ and producer Stefano Zito with a very young composer and arranger, Stefano Galante . And I believe Stefano's wife, Helen, and actress also played a part. They released a single, Living It Up , with the B-side Stop in 1983. And the Italian-born and New-York-residing DJ and producer Danilo Bracca has given it a great re-edit. D-W-D- B-W-H , with Stop, the Danilo Bracca re-stop edit. Loving this new one.   From Robin Lee , who is one half of Faze Action , under the moniker Rudy's Midnight Machine . And put out so many great records on this Rudy's Midnight Machine. Releasing records for the past 15 years. And this one, Foxtrot , is on the new album, Maestro , which came out this week. Ahead of that, another nugget I picked up on my travels in Japan. Singer, songwriter, guitarist and city pop megadon, Tatsurō Yamashita . He's also the husband of Mariya Takeuchi of Plastic Love fame. And Yamashita began releasing albums in 1972, up through to his latest in 2022. And in 1980, he broke through with his album Ride on Time . But all of his releases are worth checking out. We heard Love Talkin' Honey It's You from his 1982 LP, For You. And Minako Yoshida was on backing vocals and will be playing one of her classics later in the show. So please check out Yamashita's catalog. And if you can secure a vinyl copy of his sought-after 1977 LP, Spacey. Which goes for eye-watering sums on Discogs, well then, congratulations. Ed. Note: Mariya Takeuchi RCA YEARS Vinyl Box Collection Capture the moments, one song at a time! Don't miss to listen to the greatest city pop songs with the Mariya Takeuchi RCA YEARS Vinyl Box Collection! Directly from the heart of the 80s, this limited 6-disc analog box set highlights her distinctive voice and poetic lyrics, capturing the essence of youthful romance and hope; the sound is simply exceptional, with improvements made to enhance the listening experience. Vinyl aficionados may delve deep into the warmth and richness of the analog format, allowing Takeuchi's smooth vocals and intricate arrangements to shine in all their glory! Even if you are fans of Mariya Takeuchi or if you are curious about city pop genre, lose yourself in these songs that celebrate the magic of her enchanting sound! Okay, I have quite a few gigs coming up in the next couple of, next few weeks, I should say. And I just wanted to let you know because you may be somewhere in the world where you can come on by and say hello. This Thursday, I'm hosting Cosmodelica with my friends Cindy and Christian from Hanson Family at the BBE store in London . And that's this Thursday night. On Sunday, I'm heading over to Athens for Burger Disco Club. And then the following week, I'm going over to Ireland. First to Cork, my ancestral seat, which I've never been to. Playing at Connelly's and Leap in West Cork on the 18th of April . And then on the 19th, heading up to Dublin where I'm playing at Fidelity all night . On the 3rd of May, I'm playing for Melting Pot at Queen's Park in Glasgow . Along with a stellar lineup of horse meat disco and many others. On the 4th of May, the next day, I'm down in Brighton for 1BTN's Birthday Bash at Patterns in Brighton . Also playing with a Rup Roy down there. So that should be a lot of fun. On the 10th of May, a Saturday all-dayer in London. It's a Balearic Breakfast Day Party . And my special guest is Joe Goddard. And that's at N.T.'s Loft in London. So I'll be doing a few Balearic Breakfast shows there. I think the next one's in July and then one in September for the album release. On the 18th of May, I'm playing at Pike's all night long in Ibiza . And I have three dates there. One at the end of July and one at the end of September as well. And then at the end of May, I'm heading over to the States. Doing Cosmodelica with Love Injection at the Good Room in Brooklyn on the 23rd of May . And then heading down to Miami for Dante's Hi-Fi on the 28th of May. So quite a few parties going on. If you're able to make one, please come along and say hello. Okay, since 2013, Brighton and Barcelona duo Payfone have been crafting atmospheric, mid-tempo grooves on labels like Golf Channel, Lange & Defected. And this one is a late-night, sophisticated, synth-driven, drum machine-powered sound. This time featuring vocals from North Carolina's Joe Gabriel Harris and New York City's Terry Jackson . This is the slow-burning, moody remix by San Francisco trio 40 Thieves of Volt to Volt on Balearic Breakfast.   Loving that one. It's a new one from Kraak & Smaak . It's a Dutch duo, Kraak & Smaak, along with Butter Bath. And that's their latest single, Heat , which came out last month on Boogie Angst. And it's a great collaboration as it melds Crack & Smack's soulful, funky sound with the psychedelic pop sound of Butter Bath . And I have to say, it really resembles some modern yacht rock. And I dare say that's a great thing. It's the perfect song to kind of blast in the car when you're cruising on a sunny day with the windows down, like really pure pop bliss. And ahead of that, I'm loving that new Peter Visti album on Music for Dreams. The Danish producer and DJ earned his stripes in the late 80s and 90s playing cool venues around Europe and beyond. And he's been releasing records for two decades, including two albums on Steve Cote's Bare Funk label. This new album is fantastic. It's called Vesti's Vinyl Collective Volume 1 , so I expect there's going to be more. It's on Music for Dreams. And it features some collaborations like the one we just heard, Atlantic Fever with Gambian Kora player Dawda Jobarteh and Danish songwriter, producer and DJ William Winding . And we started it all off with Payfone, Volt to Volt, the 40 Thieves remix. Okay, we have a new single coming out tomorrow on Bastion Music Group by Lack of Afro . Absolutely love him and Greg Blackman . They released a gorgeous, feel-good, soul tune, Loving Arms , a couple of years ago. And it was on Lack of Afro's or Adam Gibbon's album, Square One . And there's a follow-up album and a tour on the horizon. So this is a new one, a beautiful, uplifting song called Make It Shine . Scottish singer-songwriter Joseph Malik , who released his first album, Diverse , in 2002 on Compost. And since that time has released many records, including three albums on Joe Wallace's Ramrock label. We just heard his collab with the talented Camila Wahid . I'm just really digging her right now. With the song, My Whole World . And we heard the Variant Issue Orchestra vocal remix. Ahead of that, a new one on Spacegrapes . The independent Dutch label run by Bobby Van Pooten and Danilo Plessow . Focusing on the best in contemporary live music. And they started releasing records in 2020. And I managed to scoop up a couple on vinyl. They now have a new one coming out by Jambonne . A moniker for Another Taste . A live and studio band that record for Spacegrapes. And it's called Jam On . And it's coming out soon on Spacegrapes . So do follow them because their records do sell out very, very quickly.   Ahead of that, we had the Japanese singer-songwriter-musician Minako Yoshida . With Let's Do It . The title track to her 1978 LP. Which some say was really the beginning of the city pop sound. Now I'm sure that's the subject of debate. People like to claim firsts. But at the very least, Yoshida and this album pioneered the sound. And she's been incredibly prolific. Releasing albums up to about a decade ago. And the song Let's Do It was co-written with Tatsuro Yamashita . Who we heard earlier in the show. So I hope you like that little wee jazzy segment of the show. This is Colleen Cosmo Murphy with you. Going a little bit later than high noon today. And moving on to something a bit housier. And I'm going a little bit longer because I have so much to play for you. But I have also a little confession. I'm not going to be here next week. We are going to be on a plane to Ireland. So we can't even stream a prerecorded show. So sorry about that. But many of us fell in love with the British singer-songwriter Omar 's voice. When he debuted in 1990 with the song There's Nothing Like This . Oh my gosh, I can hear it in my head right now. What a gorgeous voice. He has a new album coming out in June on Impressive Collective. In partnership with BBE. And it's called Brighter the Days . And over three decades he's been a defining force in modern black music. Crafting a sound that seamlessly blends soul, funk, jazz, salsa, dub, and hip-hop. With roots in classical music. And as he puts it, each album is an evolution, if you will. But I'd like to think this one is my magnum opus. Here is Omar with the Zed Ballas remix of Can We Go Out? Colleen Cosmo Murphy getting ready to sign off another edition of Balearic Breakfast. We just heard an old classic from 1999. Ernest St. Laurent We Are One . The Frankie Feliciano remix. Came out in 1999 on Yellow Productions. Loved that label. I also did a compilation for them in 2002 called The Disco-Tech of DJ Cosmo . If you ever want to check that one out. Ahead of that we had Melbourne DJ and producer Harvey Sutherland . Born Mike Key. With his single Nobody Like You . And we heard a forthcoming remix by Deep House and jazz producer DJ Glenn Underground from Chicago. Absolutely loving that one. Ahead of that, Omar , Can We Go Out? The Zed Ballas remix. Out now on BBE. And just a reminder, this Thursday if you're in London. Doing a free Cosmodelica party with Hands On Family at the BBE store. So it was rammed last time. Hope you can make it. Please say hello. Now I have to confess I'm taking one more week off next week. As I'm going to be on a plane to Ireland. And Adam is going to be with me. So he can't even stream a pre-record. It's his birthday coming up. Taking him out to a nice restaurant. Have a couple of gigs over there too. At Connelly's and Leap on the 18th. And at Fidelity in Dublin on the 19th. But then the request line will go up on Easter weekend. And the show will resume live on the 22nd of April. So hope to see you back here with me. Thanks to all who joined me on the Mixcloud Live. Leaving you with this great Groover from Pete Blaker . Loving this one. It's by Aric Sigman who is a musician and psychologist. And the song is called I Love Your Love . And this remix is from Gerd Janson and Elado . It's on Gerard Johnson's Running Back label . This is the Pete Blaker dub on Balearic Breakfast. Thanks for listening. And remember, just be Balearic.

Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy broadcast the 211th episode of Balearic Breakfast on her Mixcloud on February 11th 2025. About this episode. – Today's episode was a nice moment for the Familly. We gathered on the chat as usual, enjoyed almost all of Colleen's 2hours' hard work (sadly the stream stopped before the end), we talked about Music, about the We Out Here Festival , about The London Loft ( tickets availiable here ) and, as Colleen streamed from New-York she shared a nice memory with us, saying: "Yesterday I visited the woman who was the head of Radio and Sound when I was in university, and went up to the floor where the WNYU radio station was (not there anymore) and it was emotional" . Should you want to read S/A/M's Interview, click here . For Greg's Interview, it's just here (and don't forget to read the nice interview he did with me, it's there ). For your information, Colleen will be playing live on : February, 14th (For your pleasure presents Colleen Cosmo Murphy, tickets here ); February 15th (New-York City, Horse Meat Disco, tickets here ); March 6th (Listening room session / celebrating The Loft, tickets here ); March 8th at La Discothèque ( tickets here ) ; March, 9th 2025 at the London Loft ( tickets here ). "Greetings from New York and thanks to all who joined on the Balearic Breakfast live stream this morning. Did I catch you with this photo? It’s the only one Greg Wilson and I have together (also with Daddy Ad of Trojan Sound and Jerry Dammers, co-founder of the Specials taken at our Love Dancin’ tent this past summer). As I’m away, this week’s Balearic Breakfast features two interviews and mixes. The first is from the Glaswegian-raised Ibiza-based DJ/producer @samantha_s_a_m  who has a new compilation out called Suenos de Ibiza Vol. 1 on @msolrecords  she also has a lovely Balearic mix for us, too. The second interview and mix is from legendary @dj_greg_wilson  who has just published James Hamilton’s Disco Pages on his @superweirdsubstance platform. He tells us all about Hamilton’s role in the development of disco in the UK and Greg has given us a classic disco mix, too. Next week’s Balearic Breakfast will feature our annual Loft Anniversary Special so there will not be a request line this week, but I will be back in London in my record room streaming live. I hope you can join me and for now enjoy today’s show with music from @superweirdsubstance @msolrecords   @realblackbyrds  @georgesolaribiza @lonnielistonsmith @dennisbovell   @robin_12tree   @alkent   @arnauobiols  @_a_thin_man_ @pepllado   @tonarunur  @lorenzomorresi_ @margasolofficial   @lemongrassmusic   @circlesofsound   @djchriscoco " Listen back to the 211th episode of Balearic Breakfast: PLAYLIST S/A/M Mix ( 2025 ) Marchio Bossa (ft Ryuichi Zee Su)  – Nuvole ( 2024 ) George Solar, BJ Smith, Chris Coco  – Holy Sun ( 2019 ) Circles Of Sound  – Still Believing ( 2020 ) Misses Misty  – Mellow Mellow Ride On ( 2025 ) Shervin Bollorian, Sakari Heikka, Kipper Eldridge, Simon Mills  – Enjoy The Silence (All I Ever Wanted) (Simon Mills remix) ( 2024 ) Marga Sol  – Sail Away ( 2014 ) 12Tree  – Make A Little Reason ( 2022 ) Stella  – Détends-toi ( 2024 ) Lorenzo Morresi feat. Tony Scorpioni  – Neon ( 2025 ) Tonarunur  – Give Me Your Word ( NOL ) Dennis Bovell  – Heaven (Kazu edit) ( NOL ) Ludovic Navarro vs Diana Ross  – Upside Down Dub (S/A/M mash up) ( 2003 ) Pep Llado  – Gooli ( 2023 ) Al Kent  – Happiness & Peace ( 2003 ) DJ Friction  – Could Heaven Ever Be Like This (Duplex Inc remix) ( 2024 ) Anrau Obiols  – Pagan Mambo ( NOL ) A Thin Man  – Face Final ( 2025 ) Lonnie Liston Smith  – Expansions (Leo Zero edit) Greg Wilson James Hamilton Disco Pages Mix ( 2019 ) Earth, Wind & Fire  – In the Stone (Reflex Revision) Sharon Redd  – Can You Handle It (Late Nite Tuff Guy Rework) Blackbyrds  – Walking In Rhythm (Peza Rework) ( 2018 ) Chaka Khan  – I Know You, I Live You (Late Nite Tuff Guy Rework) Donald Byrd  – Love Has Come Around (Deep & Disco Edit) Jean Carn  – Was That All It Was (Fanfrandisco Edit) ( 2013 ) Players Association  – Turn the Music Up (Derek Kaye Rework) ( 2022 ) Stephanie Mills  – Put Your Body In It (Mikeandtess Edit) Oneness Of Juju  – Every Way But Loose (Dr Packer Rework) ( 1979 ) Brass Construction  – Shakit (V's Edit) Crown Heights Affair  – Dreaming a Dream (ID Edit/Cryptic Re-touch) S/A/M'S INTERVIEW WITH COLLEEN [Colleen] Good morning, Balearicans. This morning, we have two special mixes and interviews. The first one is with Sam, who is a regular DJ at Pykes and also Café Del Mar in Ibiza, and she'll be talking about her new album, Sueños de Ibiza, a beautiful chill-out compilation . After that, we have DJ Greg Wilson, who's going to tell us all about James Hamilton and his Disco Pages, and a book that he's just released on his own platform, Super Weird Substance. But first, here is S/A/M. Greetings, Balearicans. I'm here in the studio with Samantha Bagg , or known as Sam, who is a DJ, producer, and radio host in Ibiza, as well as a forthcoming compilation coming out on EmSoul called Sueños de Ibiza Vol. 1. Hi, Samantha! [S/A/M] Hi, Colleen. What pleasure it is to be with you here today in Balearic Breakfast. Thanks for inviting me. [Colleen] Oh, a pleasure. A pleasure. And where are you right now? [S/A/M] So actually, although I live in Ibiza, I'm in Maldives for a two-month placement doing music programming and playing sunsets for a resort called Avani. So yeah, I was invited over to provide their sunset and after-dark and poolside sets for the festive period. [Colleen] That sounds amazing. Take me there now! Well, that's great. Now, you're originally from Scotland, as we can hear. I love the accent, as you know. Can you tell us a little bit about how you got your start in music, because you have some great stories to share. [S/A/M] Well, I did music at college years and years and years ago. And it was a course that kind of specialized in performance, production, and event management. And I actually was a piano player, keyboard player, used to play in bands. And I did three years there. And when I graduated, a lot of my course, all my peers were going off to become session players. I actually thought, oh, I'm not good enough. So I had a real interest in the curation, production side of things. And so I actually had a mentor who was Stephen Pastel from an indie band called The Pastels. [Colleen] And I've met him before because he works at Mono Records. [S/A/M] Excellent record shop. We actually did a festival outside that record shop. So Stephen told me, gave me the heads up on a festival called Triptych that was happening in Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Aberdeen, and said the guys really need help on it. And I ended up working on that for three years. And we covered every aspect of underground music right across the scene. And we had people like Grace Jones, Cinematic Orchestra, Madlib, Terry Callier, and like so many different artists from really eclectic. And it really got me into the sort of festival production side of things. And I also spent my college grant on a set of decks. [Colleen] Good for you. [S/A/M] Yeah. So I got to know a lot of the promoters from working on this festival. And then I started getting offering gigs. And then from that, you know, that's going back 20 years. I, you know, got into DJing that way. And, you know, I was playing every weekend. And then moved to London and carried on. And I used to program a space called Supercute in Brixton Village Market. And then, yeah, and then I guess I moved to Ibiza seven years ago. And now, you know, play at places like Happy Del Mar, Pikes, where I've been a resident DJ for five years and across the sort of circuit there through the season. [Colleen] Before we leave Glasgow, you had a really cute story to share about my dear late friend David Mancuso, because he played in Glasgow, gosh, it was maybe 20 years ago? [S/A/M] Yes, that's right Colleen. And oh, he's such a lovely person. And so we had the pleasure of having David play with us a special, I think it was a five or seven-hour set at the Riverside Club, which you probably know. [Colleen] I played there. Yeah, I played there. [S/A/M] Yeah, it was amazing. Do you remember the carpet? [Colleen] I loved it. It's a Caley Hall. It was wonderfull. [S/A/M] It was wonderful. Yes, it is. It's amazing. And so David, because I've been in touch with him, organizing flights and like being his point of contact right up until he came, I went to his soundcheck with him and buddied him all day. And I just remember like walking round and round the room so we could check all the levels and just talking music and having just the most incredible experience, me, the sound engineer, and David basically all afternoon. And then we had all this expensive Linn equipment, because obviously David was so passionate about the sound levels, as you know, and as you know, Coleen. So we were running really, really heavy, hard core Linn equipment off this domestic power supply in Riverside. And halfway through the gig, everything just stopped. The lights went off, the music went off. Everyone was like, ooh. And me and the sound engineer literally ran. This was back in the day before like, you know, mobile phones were the way they were. So he just like ripped out this like little hand torch out of his pocket, gave it, thrust it into my hand and told me to point it at the plug and suck it in the wall. So he quickly took his screwdriver out and fiddled about and put a new fuse in. Plugged it back in, everything came on again. [Colleen] Oh my gosh. [S/A/M] Everyone just teared and David went back on, back in the room. It was amazing. [Colleen] Was that Iain Mackie ? [S/A/M] I think it was actually, yeah, I think so. [Colleen] He's one of my dear friends, because we met through David. He's the sound engineer for our London loft parties as well. That's a great story. And thank you for sharing that. What is it that brought you to Ibiza? [S/A/M] So I was coming out in summers and I had a nice contact with Malanga. And it was actually through the Ibiza Vinyl Club. And Malanga had just opened at that point. It's a really cool little venue. They invited me to come and play. So when I came out and I played there, I really enjoyed it. And that was a good few years before I moved there. But not that long ago, because I actually was going to places like Garden Festival in summer and before that, which is in Croatia. And because I worked in the industry, quite often my summers were not going to Ibiza. So when I went there to DJ, I realized this amazing scene. So I was spending more time there in summer. And it just got to the point where I realized that living in winter in London was not really that as well as much fun as I could potentially be having and better on my bank balance and living in Ibiza. [Colleen] This is the Glaswegian speaking people! [S/A/M] Well, yeah, actually, and I was living in London for eight years. But yeah, I mean, it was cold. I'm half Sri Lankan. And so, you know, I think I've got that in my blood. [Colleen] Got you. I'm with you. I'm feeling that way more as I get older that I need more weather in the winter. And then you started just tell me a little bit about how you kind of sank into the music scene there. So you have some really funny stories if you want to share a couple with just, you know, little anecdotes of how you found island life, especially in the sphere of music. [S/A/M] Ibiza is amazing in the sense that it's such a creative community that's really interconnected. And it's a small island, so it's very easy to meet people. And because I was doing radio as well, I was connecting with different people. And I used to go to pikes loads and and also like hostilitory. So I'd meet different, different people. And I had the pleasure of, you know, like spending time with people like Phil Cooper and George Solaar, all of these people who, you know, go to the gigs. But before that, I was going to pikes. And I think it was during the pandemic, actually, that I got offered to start playing there. And anyway, it's just so bizarre how you end up, you don't quite know what's going to happen next in Ibiza. I was at, I think it was a, yeah, it was a party that George Evelyn's Nightmares in Wax had put on. And that's not how it was already DJing, this was actually last summer. And I found myself at the buffet. And everybody was bringing a dish. So I took my special Spanish fish stew, which has, you know, got a nice dose of olives in it. And I was, I was, I was kind of like, chatting away to a couple of people. And then I noticed Todd Terry was standing in front of me. And he was going in for my fish stew. So I had to tell him that, you know, I made that fish stew. And he was like, Oh, great. Okay, then he started telling me about this like, bar cafe that he was planning on opening up in the States. And so we chatted a little bit. And then I said, when we get in later, and he came back, he was like, Sam, your fish stew was lovely. But can I suggest less of the olives next time, please? And then I was like, Oh, okay, then I'll take it on board. And then I think everybody thought the same thing. Because I did notice at the end, there was like this stew that was basically just like olives stew. And I remember Saeedo arrived and he turned around and he was like, Sam, I really enjoyed your olives stew. I was like, I think Todd Terry ate all the fish. [Colleen] And so what kind of stuff do you play over at Pikes? How would you describe your sound? [S/A/M] A huge mix, I feel like, because I've, my music mantra has always been music exploration with no restrictions. So certainly balearic sounds, but also, you know, my sound goes, you know, as balearic music does, it goes beyond and touches all genres and all forms. And for me, I feel it's very much about time of day, the people around you, the, you know, the different energies that you feel as to how that is reflected in the music. So if I'm playing a poolside set, yeah, definitely chilled out, down-tempo vibes, but really beautiful, sunshiny music. And if I'm playing in the bathtub, which is Freddie Mercury's old bathtub, from midnight to 4am, that's a totally different kettle of red. So, you know, it really varies across the board. And that's one thing that I'm really feel very blessed about is that I've had the opportunity to explore my sound, which has always been eclectic. [Colleen] And let's get back to Sam Baggs' eclectic mix here on Balearic Breakfast. [Colleen] And we're back here in the studio with Sam. And thank you again for joining us and for this beautiful mix. Now you have a new compilation out called Sueños de Ibiza Vol. 1, it's out on MSoul Records. And you also have a night at the Standard called that. Could you tell us a little bit about how this whole thing came about? [S/A/M] Thanks, Colleen. So, I have a radio show and music stream that I've had for three years now, it's called Sueños de Ibiza. And what happened last year was I sort of extended, decided it'd be a nice idea to sort of extend the program a little bit into a live thing. And occasionally, I started inviting guests on the show, where I would interview them, and they would share a mix. And then I started thinking it'd be really nice to kind of bring that to life a little bit more. So, I found a venue, which is the Standard Hotel, where Willie Graff does the programming. And I thought to do something really nice on their roof, that's very intimate. And, you know, has that Balearic vibe, and something that's, you know, almost acoustic, not acoustic, but, you know, electronic, but very stripped back. And so, the event itself is sort of sprung from that. So, I invited Lorenzo Maresi, who's a multi-instrumentalist from Italy, to come and do like a live set. And then I've worked with Robin Twelkey, who's actually Cantoma's producer, who also previously went under the name Slide. And it's funny, because 20 years ago, I was buying his breakbeat records. So, I invited him to come and play on the roof. And so, that was lovely. And both of those artists, I actually invited them to join me at Pikes. And it was really funny, because Lorenzo and I both ended up doing the midday to 4pm set at the poolside, which was Deadhill, Balearic, and then the midnight to 4am same night in Freddie's bathtub. So, four hours set, 12 hours apart, music totally different, but really eclectic. And we really buzzed off each other. So, it's been really nice. And I'm going to extend the program this year. So, I'm working on a bit of a schedule for that. So, I invited Marga Saul, who is the owner of M Saul Records. And she's actually, she owns five labels. But like you calling her, she does a million things. And I connected with Marga when she came to play at Café Del Mar, where I've had the pleasure of playing for the last three years. And we really sparked a connection. And I invited her on my radio show to share a mix. I had a lovely chat with her. She's such an inspiring person. And then she really kindly asked me, invited me to curate a compilation from the back catalogue of M Saul Records. So, that was a really beautiful thing, opportunity to kind of delve into the back catalogue and listen to all the vaults and go through everything. And I wanted the compilation to sort of feel like Ibiza and to be inspired by maybe I found some artists that were connected specifically to Ibiza. So, people like Ken Fan, Ibiza Child, she's an excellent, Jackie Crowe, she's an excellent Ibiza-based producer. And then from the Balearic Islands, we have Michael E, who's based in Mallorca. And so, I wanted the compilation to kind of feel almost like that kind of sunshine trip through the day into the night, the chill-out, down-tempo, the sunset, and that kind of feeling that Ibiza brings, that the sun brings. So, that's where the idea for the compilation came from. And that's what the story of the music tells. [Colleen] Well, it certainly does feel like that. We were just away in Lanzarabia, and I put it on, and it definitely has island vibes. And it's great that you're supporting local artists as well, or artists from the Balearic Islands. And I noticed that you also, you play keys on one of Ken Fan. Ken Fan is one of the residents of the Café Del Mar as well. And he has a new album coming out on Music for Dreams. And you contributed some keys to that as well? [S/A/M] I did. So, Ken is actually the music director. And so, he's my boss. So, he has ran the show there for like 11 years, and programs the sunset and beyond. And he plays in there like five days a week. So, he is sunset. But yeah, I had Ken invited. A great thing about Ibiza, as I said, is like everybody connects with each other. So, I think Ken's latest album that he's just produced, he works with a lot of local musicians. And I had the pleasure of playing some keys, just a little bit. But it was a really nice opportunity to do. And I didn't expect it, but it's on there. So, that's quite nice. [Colleen] Lovely. But you also have your own record out as well on Buckley's Upgrade Records. Can you tell us about that? [S/A/M] Yes. So, really excited. This is something that I produced myself a few years ago, basically by myself. And I worked with a vocal sample that I found, and I've done everything else. So, it's been sort of sitting with me for quite a while. And I just decided to send it out to people like just about a year ago. And Buckley got hold of it and said he loved it. He got in touch with me and said, I really would love to put this out on my label. And so, he launched Upgrade last year. So, this is release number two for him of the label. And it's a vinyl-only label. It's amazing artwork. And yeah, he said he'd like to sign me for the second release. So, that literally just came out last week. Very excited. It's been getting really good reviews and good feedback. And it's more danceable for me, maybe going back a little bit to my breakbeat roots. But it's kind of hip house breaks. So, yeah, it's good fun. Dance floor vibe. [Colleen] Fantastic ! Do you think there'll be more productions for you in the future? [S/A/M] I've got so many ideas and I've got a load of stuff that I've been working on for a while. Because over the years, I mean, I'm a classically trained pianist and also played in bands, you know, played with Cubase and everything. Although, you know, obviously my peers and so many producers, they're all like, you know, do it day in, day out. Because I've focused on the DJing for so many years. I feel like I took a bit of a backseat. So, I want to do more. So, I've got my little Akai keyboard here. I've got a studio at home with like full-length digital piano. I've got all my software. So, yeah, I'm getting creative and making more music. [Colleen] Great. Well, this is wonderful. Now, if people want to hear you this summer, will you be at Pykes and Café Del Mar? Anywhere else they can come hear you? [S/A/M] Yeah. So, hopefully I will be back at Café Del Mar. I'll definitely be at Pykes. I also play at Flash, which is at Pykes, which is once a month. I play at Pykes every week. I've got various other locations like Bambuja, Nobu Hotel. I sometimes play at places like Camaras. I play at The Standard. So, look out for the 20th Diabesta events as well. I play at The Standard. But yeah, all over the island, basically. [Colleen] Lovely. Well, this compilation is great, and when you sent it to me, I reached right out to you and said we want to feature this on the show because I think our listeners will absolutely love it, as I know they're loving your mix right now. Good luck with it, Sam, and thank you so much for joining us on Balearic Breakfast. And I hope to see you on the island. I may be coming this summer. So, hopefully I'll see you then. Take care. [S/A/M] Thanks. Thanks so much, Colleen. It's been a pleasure. Thank you very much, and I'll see you next time in Ibiza. [Colleen] Thank you, Sam. That was lovely. And now, we're over to Greg Wilson. GREG WILSON'S INTERVIEW WITH COLLEEN [Colleen] Well, Belaricans, I have a treat for you today. We have Greg Wilson with us. And Greg Wilson is a legendary British DJ, producer, a dear friend, a great guy, and a journalist, and a great music writer. And he's just published a book on his super weird substance platform that compiles the Wrecker Mirror columns from James Hamilton. It's called James Hamilton's Disco Pages. How are you doing, Greg? [Greg] I'm great, Colleen. Great to be here with you. Yeah, the book covers the period 1975 to 1982, so it's like the peak disco period, you know, the dawn of disco into the demise of disco, in a sense. [Colleen] And who was James Hamilton, though? [Greg] All right. James Hamilton was a writer for Wrecker Mirror. It was one of the main British magazines. He started in 1975 writing his column, James Hamilton's Disco Pages, which also was called Discos, and would write that right through until the early 90s when Wrecker Mirror was absorbed by Music Week, which was a trade publication. And the charts, which James had kind of started off, continued as the official Music Week dance charts, so they still exist today. So going back to that point in time, that disco was, like, obviously in its infancy, and there was seen as a need for a column to... You know, there'd grow in numbers of DJs in the UK at the time and everything to cater for that, and so James would, like, put out new feelers to all sorts of DJs and bring in, like, chart returns and compile the charts. His reviews, he had, you know, an absolutely unique style of reviewing, which people, obviously, who read those magazines will remember him for. And he became the hub of disco DJs in the UK at that point in time, and right through to the whole thing onwards. He was the main instigator of mixing in this country. He could see what was going on in the US. He'd been over to the New York Disco Forum on a few occasions. He'd been to Paradise Garage. He'd seen people like Larry LeVan and other mixing DJs out there. And he saw that as the future, but at a time when, you know, there was little heart for it here. DJs used the microphone. They were seen, the personality was seen as all-important. You know, there was a flow to what was going on and everything, but there was an interjection of, that was this track and this is that, you know. It was almost, like, kind of radio-like in a sense. Things were changing in New York, but we weren't aware of what was happening until James started writing about it and bits of information came in from other sources as well. But James was mainly pushing this idea of what he called New York-style mixing. And at the end of 1978, he wrote a kind of seminal piece in his column called To BPM or Not to BPM. He resolved that what he was going to do was he was going to count the BPMs for all the records in the chart and every subsequent review. So he just, everything all of a sudden was BPMed. He also started doing it for record companies, BPM their new releases and stuff like that. And so he was absolutely on this crusade. And it didn't happen overnight, like these things. You know, it took a long time before mixing took off. [Colleen] You were the first person to mix, to demonstrate DJ mixing on the television, weren't you? [Greg] That's right. But that wasn't until as late as 1983. So it was a long kind of gestation period before this started to make sense to more than a small minority of DJs. And another big thing, Colleen, was that we didn't have the equipment in the 70s. We didn't have very speed turntables. So the concept of mixing, of holding two records in sync together for anything more than a couple of beats, we just didn't have that. Now, as the 80s came into play, this is when very speed turntables started coming. Broggy, the famous DJ from the Funk Mafia, he went over to one of the seminars in 1979, and James had said, you've got to go to Paradise Garage. At the time, Broggy had the sound system, and he was into fixed speed decks. He didn't see the value of mixing at the time. So this is like in early 79. Now, what happened is that he went, he saw what was going on, and he completely flipped. You know, he saw the light. He came back. He bought the first pair of SL-1200s to be imported into this country, and put them into his sound system. And by the end of the year, he'd basically gone completely for mixing. So then you had another major champion there. You had somebody like Ian Levine, who'd been at the Blackpool Mecca playing Northern Soul, but would turn up in 1979 at Heaven, the major gay venue that had opened. And he was the DJ there. He had taken a mixing direction. He was aware of what was going on in New York and trips there. We had a DJ that came from the US, from New York, a guy called Greg James. And he came to a club called The Embassy in 1978, and it fancied itself as a bit of a studio for the UK, get Puss Boys and stuff like that. It's where You Make Me Feel Mighty Real by Sylvester, the video was filmed. He was seen at the time as the first proper mixing DJ coming from America. He had Studio 54 connections and stuff. And so he was there, and then he went to a club in Leeds called The Warehouse and opened that, which was like a club designed on New York-style disco. So these were all the kind of evolutionary steps towards it, in a sense, what was taking place. But James was a driving force, because every week this Record Mirror column was read by pretty much every DJ in the country. If you're serious, you have to read it. His reviews, the latest imports, he was talking about the charts that were in there. And so, and the news, he was giving bits of snippets of news of what was going on all over the place. People were connecting as a result of this. And it was an absolutely... I mean, he was the single most important figure in the UK dance music industry, in a similar way to what Pete Tong would be later. Because of the reach of his column of the magazine, it was so wide. It was similar to the way that when Pete Tong went to Radio 1, the reach of his listenership was so wide, and that kind of took things to a different level. So that's really where James started in terms of disco, although, if you go right back, he was a DJ who started off in the early 60s. And he worked at an infamous club called Esmeralda's Barn, which was in Knightsbridge near Harrods and owned by the Kray Twins. There's a lot of murky history with that place as well. You know, he was like in his early 20s and playing rhythm and blues there. He ended up going over to New York with a company called Cell Tab, which was Beatles spelled backwards. It's the people that took the merchandising for the Beatles. And again, you know, it's a notorious story because they took the last high-end share of the profit, whereas it should have been the other way around, and it's something that haunted Brian Epstein until his death. But anyway, James went out there to work for a music division that never really took off. But while he was there, you know, he was going to the Apollo every night. He was seeing all the main R&B stars. He got to personally know people like Sam Cooke and James Brown. The first ever kind of interview with Diana Ross in 1964, I think it was in Record Mirror, and it was James that instigated that. I mean, he didn't work for Record Mirror until later. He started in 1969 doing reviews and also US reviews, and he did that through until 75. There was a gap of about eight, nine months, and then he started the disco thing. But just rewinding back to when he was in New York, I mean, he DJed out on one of the islands. But when he came back, he became the DJ at The Scene, which was the major mod club in London. It was just after Guy Stevens, the famous DJ who launched that, had left, and he took it to the end. I think he finished in 1966. He acquired a name, Dr. Soul, around this time. That was his DJ name. And he also compiled an album for Sue Records in 67, I think, called Dr. Soul. So he was very much R&B involved at that point, you know, very much playing. He said that he played Northern Soul, but on his first time around, you know. But then he kind of went into, he continued as a mobile DJ. He got his mobile system together. It was one of the early mobile systems in the UK. But his background was quite, you know, quite a posh background. You know, he was like almost connected to the gentry, in a sense, you know. And he spoke very far back, and he was very unusual for this disco aficionado. But when he started the mobile, he was doing all these grand balls in these mansions. And so that was his kind of stock in trade. And it wasn't until later, until the kind of late 70s, that he came back to the clubs. And he was then, again, playing latest black music at a club called Gulliver's in May for a number of years. And he speaks about that, you know, a lot in the book too. So yeah, I mean, the book is a collection of James's columns, edited by Mike Atkinson, who was James's stepson. Mike basically was somebody who'd been reading Record Mirror and James's column for years. In the early 90s, his father died, and his stepmother, she got in touch with him sometime later and said, oh, do you know somebody called James Hamilton? And he was like, yes. And she was basically like, well, I'm with him now. Do you want to speak to him? And Mike was like, so Mike, you know, knew James only lived a few more years. He died of cancer in 1996. But, you know, Mike had those few years where he spent a lot of time with James and obviously was so interested in the whole thing. And, you know, Mike's the mind of information. He just knows a lot of this stuff down to minutiae because he's researched it. He's, you know, transcribed the whole thing, put it all together, done such an amazing job. And, you know, the big thing was that I'd spoken to Mike, you know, on email a long time ago, going back into probably, you know, 2006, 2007, which was around the time I wrote a piece about the history of mixing in the UK. And I needed to go to the British Library to research because James' columns, you know, the record mirrors were there. And I kind of go back and see what was happening. I did that. And I wrote this piece and, you know, both Mike and I obviously felt pretty strongly that somebody who was once so influential, you know, so major to our culture here was now completely forgotten. And in this more contemporary era, younger DJs would certainly have more knowledge about what was happening at Studio 54, Paradise Garage, The Loft, you know, than they would what was happening in the UK at the time. You know, there's been a disconnect there and the history has been told, but really it's very much been told from a US side. And so this is the UK side of it. I mean, John Savage and other people since have kind of brought up the similarity between this book and the Vincelletti book. It's a brilliant book. And both of them are covering a similar time span. I mean, Vince does 73 to 78, James does 75 to 82, but there's like a three year crossover. And it's fascinating seeing that although the source of the music was the same, that we over here in the UK were into black American music, you know, predominantly, and that's what we were drawing from, just as in New York, you know, the rest of the, you know, well, the main kind of discos in terms of the States, they were drawing from black American music. The differences in what tracks that we were choosing, I mean, there was a massive crossover, of course, there's all these big tracks that are the same in both cultures, but then there were tracks that were used from the US side that never meant a job here and vice versa. One of the things that you might find interesting from the book is that the whole, you know, Death of Disco, Comiskey Park, that whole kind of thing, it's not even mentioned. [Colleen] Wow. [Greg] It doesn't register at all. [Colleen] That's really incredible. It just kept going here. [Greg] Exactly. It's not part of our experience. I mean, there's no mention of The Loft or David Mancuso in there, no mention of The Gallery or Nicky Siano. The first kind of New York awakening really is, you know, obviously Studio 54, we know about that, so there was a kind of interest at Paradise Garage and Larry Levan, and that's really the connect here, whereby we have two separate lineages, like the UK lineages we were just talking goes back to the early 60s and the mods and importing in Rhythm & Blue tracks from America. So the import channels were open here and people were very involved, you know, with regards to the intake of black music, you know, and never knew anything about what was happening in clubs and things in the States. It was all our own experience and the way that we received it. Whereas at the same time, you have the New York side and what became the Disco era and the idea of mixing records together with continuous music and all that was evolving at the same time. And as I say, the crossover doesn't really start until the latter half of the 70s, you know, but once those two things connect, and I think that's why we have rave culture and it could only have happened in this country is because we have this specific lineage and then we took from what was happening in the US and we didn't kind of just completely follow it, but it always had our own cause. You can see within the book this collision beginning to happen, this coming together of ideas. I mean, again, with the book, what's interesting is the early charts are very pop-based because the DJs that were initially sent their returns belonged to what we call DJ associations and they were generally mobile DJs and by being a part of the association, they got discounts on equipment and news and now they've got a few new records here and there from the companies and things like that. They were seen as the more commercial end of what was going on in terms of the black music clubs and everything. Maybe people were more interested in magazines like Blues and Soul, later Black Echoes and stuff, and black music. And so, but what James managed to do was, I mean, in those early charts, you'd be surprised at some of the tracks that were listed in, that even got to number one, very pop-based tracks alongside the kind of dance tracks, but he was able to bring in the more specialist type DJs into the fold and I think by, after the first couple of years, it started to take shape as like a chart that was more geared towards, you know, like music was made for the dance floor, so to speak, you know, as opposed to music you could dance to. And eventually he separated pop completely from it. He did a separate, well he did a separate pop dance type chart and then he got rid of it altogether and the chart then, you know, was much more kind of geared to what was being played by DJs that were focused on, you know, more of a dance thing rather than the general Tiffany's, Romeo and Juliet's Friday night crowd, you know. [Colleen] Well, this is fascinating. I mean, it's so great. You've been documenting, well, you've been documenting DJ culture on your blog , both, you know, not just UK DJs either. You've done stuff on David and Larry and all these other DJs and it's, I love the way you write. I love the way you research as well and your enthusiasm. And I think people would love to find out more. And if they want to read this book, can they order it on the Super Weird Substance Bank ? [Greg] Yeah, either the bandcamp or come to the website . You know, this link's there and you can pick up the book from there. Yeah, so that's pretty straightforward. [Colleen] Okay, well you've done a mix for us in which you're playing some of these songs that James Hamilton was writing about. So why don't we get back to the music and when we come back, we'll discuss what you're doing in 2025. I'm sure you have a lot going on as well. [Colleen] And now we're back with Greg Wilson, and we've been listening to his mix that is centered around James Hamilton's Disco Pages. It's a book that Greg has just published on his super weird substance platform, and it compiles the Record Mirror columns from the DJ and writer from 1975 to 1982. Now, Greg, you are an amazing legendary DJ in your own right, and you are still going strong, which is amazing. You played with me in my Love Dance in 10th on my Casa Delica takeover. [Greg] I still do, yeah. [Colleen] Oh, that was so great. You literally, I'm trying to remember, you made me cry with the last song, and I can't even remember what it was now, but it was such a nice... [Greg] Would it have been Spread Love by Al Hudson and the Self-Honors? [Colleen] Maybe it was, that's right, because I ended my set with Love to the World. [Greg] Yeah. [Colleen] There you go. [Greg] There was definitely a lot of love in Love Dancing, that's for sure. [Colleen] Oh, my gosh. It was great. And people just adored your set. They adored it, you know. [Greg] Oh, nice one. It was a real highlight of the year, you know. I mean, I love the festival. We're out here and everything, and it's great, that particular area. People can lose themselves in there, you know, because it's just a great place, and what you've done with the system. [Colleen] Oh, thank you. Thank you. It's a great system, that's for sure. So what's going on in 2025 in Greg Wilson's world? [Greg] Well, you know, I mean, I'm just like, it hasn't been a great start, because I've had that virus, which wasn't great, but I'm just now... I did my first gig the other night, which is where the mix is from. It's Walthamstow Trades Hall. We did a book launch and everything, and I recorded that on the night. So I hope you enjoy that. Obviously, the music is within the kind of time frame of that 75 to 82, although I do use re-edits. So, I mean, yeah, I mean, it's a special year, really, because it's going to mark 50 years since I used to DJ. [Colleen] Wow. [Greg] Amazing. [Colleen] What was your first gig? [Greg] Well, I mean, my first club gig was on the 6th of December, 1975, and it was at a local nightclub called Chelsea Reach, which for people in the area where I live in, that place was a rites of passage. [Colleen] And this is in Liverpool? [Greg] Well, it was in New Brighton, which is on the opposite side of the Mersey to Liverpool. It's where the ferry goes, the ferry across the Mersey goes. And so, yeah, but I did, I had the mobile before that, that summer, and I just need to look up and find out what precisely was my first mobile booking, because that would be my first kind of professional booking, in a sense. But my first club booking was December, I remember that date, December 6th of 1975, and, yeah, that came on the back of, I had a mobile, as I say, for a short time, and we did a wedding upstairs, and they had functions rooms upstairs, and the manager came scurrying up and said, our DJ hasn't turned up, and I was working with another lad, we had a partnership on the mobile with him. He said, well, one of you come down, and I was like straight down there. And the formidable thing about then is, they used to buy their own records as well. So you'd buy your record, the club would buy their records. Often the DJ would go into a shop and buy two copies of a record, because he'd be buying one for the club and keeping one for himself, you know. So it was a different time, so I was able to go down there and play, and I got offered the job off the back of that, and so at 15 I was, my club career had started, and before I'd finished school, I was like working six, seven nights a week sometimes. [Colleen] How old were you? [Greg] 15, well, I was 15 when I started, so I was 16 a few months later. So yeah, I finished school at 16, and continued into being a professional DJ, which back then, you know, when I started my first night, I got £6 for that night, honestly. But that was good going, because most kids of your age then, if they had, say, an apprenticeship, and they'd have to do that for a few years after you left school, they'd get like about £15 a week, or if they went on to further education, they wouldn't get any money. So if I did like, you know, four gigs, five gigs a week, you know, that was £30, that was decent money for a young lad at the time, you know, and so yeah, I mean, I managed to kind of up it as we went on, and you know, get more professional and get decent fees, and then eventually, you know, I moved out of the area, and I ended up at Wigan Pier in the early 80s, and Legend in Manchester, and that was a whole different phase, but you know, those early days were really great, you know, just starting off with your local clubs, and you know, people you know, and everything. And the idea, the residency, I've been talking with a few people about this lately, because we don't have it now, really, but you work with the same crowd, week in, week out, over a long period of time. And you cultivated something, you built something, it was reciprocal. Nowadays, we don't have a similar situation, really, anywhere. There might be a few little outposts where there's a resident kind of thing, but generally, it's guests, and each guest each week does something different. And so if you said to a young person now, oh, the idea of going to see the same DJ week in every week, they'd think that was crazy. Well, no, I want to see all sorts of things, but really, what built those scenes, and what made them stay was, you know, people kind of believing in the music, people working with the audience, evolving it, then more people picking up on that, and that's where it all came from. It didn't happen ever overnight, it always took a long period of time. All the venues, everything, we look at all the great clubs, there's a resident DJ there. [Colleen] Absolutely, I mean, there was a sense of trust between them and the dancers, there's a sense of community within the venue as well, and, you know, that's the thing. Like, for instance, I remember a story that Larry Levan played Pat Benatar Love is Battlefield when it came out, and he played it the first time at the night, and everyone left the floor. Then he played it the second time, people left the floor again. Then he played it towards the end of the night, everyone came on saying, and they left with that earworm. Now, you couldn't do that if you didn't have a residency, because you wouldn't have the same level of trust. People wouldn't hang around, they'd go, oh, it's just some top 40 DJ, I'm off. They don't have the patience. But you're building up this rapport, this sense of trust, and even if they don't really know where you're going the first time around, they start to get the idea. And also, on the other side, as a DJ, I mean, all of my residencies back in New York, it was 10 to 4, you know, a few times a week. And you become a better DJ from that. It doesn't matter where you're playing. I didn't play places that were too commercial, but they certainly weren't all the loft, let's put it that way. It was sometimes a well-heeled audience. But you really learned your trade, and you learned not just the skills of the actual technical skills, but also how to read a floor. I'm not saying one thing's better than the other, but we kind of had to come through these ranks where we had to do this work and get this experience. There weren't a lot of superstar DJs when I had started out. I mean, there were some, but there weren't a huge number like there are now. [Greg] Same as here, you know, there were some DJs that were like Chris Hill and, you know, Broggie and people like that, that were elevated, you know. But generally speaking, you know, most DJs... We were still in a time then where DJs were regarded as... I can't remember the term, you know, the ten-a-penny. You know, there's DJs... I mean, now you could say that even more, you know, like everyone's a DJ now. But DJs weren't really taken that seriously here until, as I say, you know, the idea of kind of mixing. I mean, you know, on the specialty scenes, they were, of course, taken to that, like on North of the Soul or Jazz Funk. But, you know, where I was in a club situation at the time, DJs, you know, were disposable. That's how it was seen. So you had to kind of somehow rise above that. And how you did that was that you developed a relationship with your audience so that the club manager couldn't be sacking you because half of the audience would go along with you, you know. And that was how it worked back then. So, you know, it was. It was good in those days in terms of that kind of development of that kind of reciprocal situation between yourself and an audience that allowed you to... And, you know, what I did in my little area was I developed my own small scene where I was playing imports to, you know, it was only a backwater kind of club, but we had, like, Blues and Soul come and see us and recommend us and things. So that was great. But that took me nine, 12 months to get the confidence. I mean, one of the things that I used to... It's like DJs really cleared the dance floor in those days. If they played the wrong track, they cleared the dance floor. Everyone walked off. And that wasn't sinful, really, because DJs could take a risk and it might not work out. But the sin was not being able to reclaim it straight away. And it was having the records that you knew to get you out of a rut so that you could try things new, but then be able to bring everybody back in and work it on. And so, yeah, you know, you'd see DJs that would... Back then, they'd come in and they'd play all the big tunes really early and they'd think it was great because the people were dancing. And whereas my attitude was I'd hold the dance floor off because I wanted to wait till an optimum moment where there were enough people congregating around, then open it up, and then we're dancing all night. There's not going to be a... Whereas what I saw other people do, they'd throw all the big tunes at it and then they run out and all of a sudden they're losing the floor. And next thing, they've lost the floor and they're screwing it. And then they're doing really bad form things like playing what they've just played. [Colleen] Yeah. You've got to recover. You don't have to do that, Greg. We know that. [Greg] It's the old days. [Colleen] Where can people hear you this summer? I assume you have some festivals. [Greg] Well, yeah, I mean, you know, in the rounds of the festivals, we're still kind of blocking in the final ones at the minute. Probably be back at Glastonbury, which, you know, I'm not, you know... I'll wait till everything's kind of in place, but hopefully, you know, I missed it last year. It's not on next year, so it'd be a good time. Obviously, lots of other festivals around. You know, with the club dates, as I say, towards the end of the year, I'm going to do 50th anniversary club dates and stuff. [Colleen] Yeah, that'd be great. [Greg] We'll bring it up to December and stuff. I'm doing a really nice thing at Joshua Brooks in Manchester. The Hacienda. I'm doing a six-hour. I haven't done, like, such a long set for a while. I remember doing a few eight-hours, one in London and one in Berlin a few years ago, which were great. So I'll be doing that. I think that's in July. So there's just, yeah, you know, it's, as you know, from your own side, you know, that whole summer thing comes on and all of a sudden, you're out there, you're ping-ponging, you know, pinball in between different kinds of gigs and everything. And we're crossing over with each other all over again, you know, in the summer. [Colleen] Yeah. Well, thank you so much, Greg, for joining us. It's always fascinating to speak with you. And, you know, maybe you and I should do something in person as a live event for your 50th anniversary. We'll talk about that. Okay. [Greg] All right. Take care, Colleen. [Colleen] Well, thank you so much. All right. Lots of love. And thank you so much for joining us. [Greg] All right. Nice one. Good to hear from you.

Balearic Breakfast allows many music aficionados to meet every Tuesday to enjoy Colleen's selections. This time around, I had a lovely chinwag with Marc Stanford! 1) Hi Marc! Thank you so much for joining us on the blog! It's a pleasure! Let's start this 'Proust Musical Questionnaire'! What was the first album you listened to that got you hooked up on music? Bonjour Artur, It’s an honour to be here and thank you for asking me. Music of all different genres was always being played at home. The original motion picture soundtrack of the film “Oliver!” could have been the first album I listened to aged 5. It figured so much in my musical upbringing that when my mum asked me if I wanted to audition as Oliver for a local production, I jumped at the chance. I didn’t get the part of Oliver, they decided I would make a great Artful Dodger. 😂 There was a huge influence from Julie and Terry my older siblings. Julie playing Motown mostly and I remember she loved Marvin Gaye, What’s Going On. While Terry always had a much more eclectic taste which led to me being exposed to the following albums which I remember vividly: The Crazy World of Arthur Brown ( discogs ) An Evening With Wild Man Fischer ( discogs ) Moondog ( discogs ) Ummagumma ( discogs ) In Search Of Space ( discogs ) Tarkus ( discogs ) 2) The best live show you've been to? How do you define best? 🤣 I couldn’t begin to rate all the concerts I’ve been to, it would seem unfair as they all have special memories. Which ones stand out the most and why? Can I answer that self-posed question instead?😊 Blue Öyster Cult - my first big live show. Stevie Wonder - Second-row seats Rush - because Neil Peart was my drumming hero Prince - because, well, it’s Prince James Taylor Quartet - when James Taylor looked directly at me singing at the top of my voice during “Tore My Heart Out”. Yes, it was a good look. 🎤 🎶😄 Ancient Infinity Orchestra - because Colleen introduced them to me and I did some promo photography for them when they played in Brick Lane last year. 3) How do you listen to music? Are you an audiophile? I suppose I have purchased separates in the past. Dunlop Systemdek, Nakamichi Tape Deck, Cambridge Audio amplifier etc. I’m unsure if my current set up qualifies? I have 2 SL1210s, a CMX 3000 dual CD player and a DJM 600 outputting from the monitor circuit into a pair of active speakers. Space doesn’t allow for much more 😂 All of my digital content is saved to two external hard drives for redundancy and I listen to that through Sony MDR-1000X headphones or Shure SE535 wired in-ear phones. 4) What kinds of music don't you like, like at all? I will give anything a listen, once at least. I suppose I don’t really like current popular music very much. I believe that’s down to my ears detesting the amount of autotune being used with that awful metallic filter making most vocals sound the same. As an example, I looked at the top 100 singles on a couple of sites and gave the first 20 a listen. Stopped to listen to the whole of Eminem - Houdini, because Abracadabra. The rest lasted less than 20 seconds before skipping! 5) From the Balearic Realm, which record would you recommend? Afterlife's "Simplicity Two Thousand" was the soundtrack to my honeymoon in the Maldives and still holds a very special place in my mind and heart even though I am now divorced. I love the way the sound on that album sums up doing nothing on a tropical island and then gets super funky when the remixes come in. 6) Do you listen back to previous Balearic Breakfast episodes? Do you have any favourites? Since dumping Spotify, Balearic Breakfast is my, go to, new music algorithm. I always have at least 10 shows downloaded on my phone to play whenever and wherever I want. My favourite is probably the November 7th 2023 show . Colleen introduced us all to Ancient Infinity Orchestra which blew me away. 7) What does this sentence evoke to you: 'And remember, just be Balearic"? Positivity toward life and empathy toward each other. 8) How did you discover Colleen? Did you see her performing live or maybe at a CAS event? I couldn’t honestly say exactly when it was. I believe I happened upon the show via Facebook “you might like” because I follow François K it was only recently, really. One of the happiest accidents I’ve had to be honest! And, while I think of it, I recall I was scrolling through my Mixcloud feed and remembered that I used to listen to Worldwide FM and I believe I either heard a mix by Colleen or looked at a track listing of one of her shows followed her for a while and became a subscriber so I could have the most amazing collection of songs I have both heard and never heard before permanently 😊 9) A fun/happy moment you experienced while listening to Balearic Breakfast? The November 7th show mentioned above was special because at the time I listened to that show, I was in a very chic apartment on Avenue de la Bourdonnais in Paris, very near the Eiffel Tower, as you know, drinking wine and looking at the photographs I’d taken around the surrounding streets thinking how lucky am I to be here, listening to this right now. That and the fact Colleen played my request for Mink & Shoes by Psychemagik 😁 10) Why do you think Colleen is unique? Colleen’s pure dedication to sonic fidelity in everything she does makes her unique. That and her warmth and approachability. When we met in person for the first time, it was like meeting up with a long time friend. 🥰 The please refrain from dancing picture was taken after I had been reprimanded for dancing while listening to Alexander O’Neal in Boisdale in London. The B&W photo is of my son Max and me at the Night Tales Loft for the release party of Balearic Breakfast 3. The last one was taken by my friend and professional photographer Britt Willoughby while I was taking photos of her for her website.

After hearing Michele's "Carousel of Tears" during Balearic Breakfast, I had to meet the colourful composer and ask him a few questions... 1) Dear Michele, Thank you so much for joining us! The listeners were blown away by your track, 'Carousel of Tears' which openned the 215th episode of Balearic Breakfast. How do you chose the titles of the songs? Choosing song titles is one of the most exciting and stimulating aspects of this work. I try to imagine an image that can be described in just two words. For me, this track felt like a final farewell, a sweet end of the world that evokes nostalgia for the future. 2) Of course, the listener can't help but feel the undisclosed and unconscious influence of artists like, for instance, Steve Reich (City Life is somewhat close to some of your tracks, structurally speaking if that make sense). Still, your sonic palette is much more fluid, it has more depth and is "wetter" if that make sense, although retaining a very tense rhythmical aspect on the other side on almost every track... How do you approach music in general? Throughout my life, I’ve listened to millions of tracks. When I was around 28, I was on the verge of getting sick from music because I ended up never leaving the house just to make sure I wouldn’t miss a single new record. I had a sort of musical bulimia—it wasn’t normal.This obsession, on one hand, severely penalized me in finding a job that could sustain me because that passion never brought me anything financially, apart from a huge waste of time. But on the other hand, it shaped me into a kind of encyclopedia of sound. I have little long-term memory, so I don’t remember album names or titles, but those countless listens have layered themselves into my subconscious and inevitably resurface when I create. I love exploring new paths; I get bored easily, even when listening to other people’s records, and I’m extremely strict with myself about this. Being unplaceable is both my greatest curse and my biggest strength. 3) When listening to a few tracks from your album, it is clear that it is a very organic and vivd sounding musical journey which totally envelopes the listener. Is it something you wanted to achieve? How did you end up deciding on the sound you wanted for this new album? Who did you work with during the mixing/mastering process? Yes, that was exactly what I wanted to achieve. I wanted the listener to feel like they were on a sonic train where each carriage had a different interior design, yet they remained on the same journey.In terms of sound, I entrusted Marco and his team of engineers. For me, songwriting always comes first—at least, that was the case for this album. If one day I were to make a purely sound-based record, then I would have to work live with an engineer because I don’t have the technical skills to bring to life exactly what I have in my mind. You know, I have so many ideas—some I can't bring to life due to time constraints, since I have to work to make a living, and others because of technical limitations. 4) Why did you entitled this album "Pop Archetypes"? Do you believe it could be considered a concept album? I wanted something short, ironic, provocative, and that simply sounded good. The term "concept album" is always a bit risky because it can easily slip into excessive length and boredom. Plus, it can sound pretentious—setting an ambitious initial framework that often turns out to be forced.I had a concept and a meaning in mind, but it emerged naturally while I was writing the tracks, not before. One thing I was sure of, though, was my desire for change. I didn’t want my first LP to sound like a sum of my previous EPs—I wouldn’t have forgiven myself for that. That was the toughest challenge, and I think I managed it quite well. Every element of this album has been refined and carefully thought out to be exactly as it is, including the track lengths. For the first time, I even had an excess of material—something unthinkable for me—precisely because I wanted the final result to be as cohesive and unified as possible, despite the variety of styles present. 5) As a DJ, does it happen that your own sets triggers your compositors' soul? I haven't played a DJ set in five years, and I won’t hide that I miss it a bit. DJing was liberating for me because I would get swept up in the flow of music, and that catharsis helped me break free from the loop of everyday life. You see, I started making music out of sheer curiosity—I wanted to see what would come out of it. I was eager to find out if that all-encompassing approach I embraced during my sets could also translate into my productions. I didn’t start making music to release records; I did it primarily as a challenge to myself. And I have to say, it helped me bring out things I couldn’t express in words. 6) Will you tour with this album? Musically speaking, what's ahead for you in 2025? Touring? Of course, I’d love to it, but in the musical landscape, I simply don’t exist. 2025 might bring a small surprise, we’ll see. Something that closes the circle before moving on to a new chapter. For me, this imaginary is already dead. The future is always a possibility—whether dramatic or euphoric, but always a possibility.

Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy broadcast the 217th episode of Balearic Breakfast on her Mixcloud on March 25th 2025. About this episode. – Before embarking on her 2025 Spring Japan Tour, Colleen took the time to prepare this second episode for us, invinting Saucy Lady to discuss her brand new album and letting Darren Morgan craft a beautiful mix. While the Family was talking on the chat, I was surprised to hear how much the two mixes we heard were complementary, presenting Pulsating ethereal vibrations! But I will let you have a closer listen to them and I'm sure you'll have the same visuals I did! Of course, we could not help but think about Colleen's friend, the great Andy Williams, as she shared these thoughts on the chat with us: "It was very strange as in the next segment Saucy Lady and I talked about Andy Yamwho? who is on her new album. Hours later he passed away. Tragic." The Balearic Breakfast Family enjoyed Darren's mix too, our friend MachoGrande 70 saying "This is a glorious mix" and dancing_james sharing with us "On this sunny day solar gain is huge in my house and I have to confess I am now danving around with my top off. I blame Dr Bangers. If you now have a terrible mental image you too can blame Darren 🤣 " All in all, this was a very nice episode, and being able to exchange a few words with Colleen while she's on tour is always a real pleasure! On March 26th, Colleen shared these few words with us: "Yesterday’s Balearic Breakfast is now up on my Mixcloud (and please give me a follow while you’re over there :). As I’m in Japan this week’s show features two guests. First up is Japanese-American DJ, singer, keyboardist and producer Saucy Lady who delivers an uptempo soulful mix. We also have a chat about her new album ‘Love Fest’, out now on her own label Dippin’ Records. We did the interview earlier this month and had a chat about the special guests on her new record which includes Andy ‘Yam Who?’ Williams who duetted with her on a cover of Bobby Caldwell’s ‘What You Won’t Do For Love’. Hours later Andy sadly transitioned to the next realm. It’s so sad to hear us talking about Andy in the present tense and even suggesting they may collaborate again. Both Saucy Lady and I will be DJ-ing at a special benefit for Andy’s family in May and we will share details once it is announced. The other mix is a very Balearic mix from my good friend Darren Morgan of Love Machine and also part of The London Loft family. Its a beautiful mix and I’m sure you will love it. I’ll be taking next Tuesday off as I will be returning from Japan the day before and I’m sure I’ll be broken with jetlag so I need a week off. But Balearic Breakfast will resume on Tuesday, the 8th April hosted live from my record room. In the meantime you can catch up with past shows on the Balearic Breakfast playlist on my Mixcloud. Thanks for listening." Colleen on her socials, 25/03/2025: "I’m halfway through my Japanese tour so its time for the obligatory photo dump ;). Its been very emotional being back in my h(ohm) away from h(ohm). First stop was Nagoya where @club_mago pulled out all the stops and brought in Klipschorns and Klipsch Belles for the party and we had an amazing time. I took a little walk around the city in which I lived in 1989 when I was a radio DJ for JOGZ run by the Chubu Broadcasting Company (swipe to the last photo of me dancing in the radio studio - some things never change). My 21-year-old self would have never thought I would be returning 36 years later as a club DJ - I hope I made her proud ;). Back in Tokyo I reconnected with old friends @norihisamaekawa and @kenhidaka both of whom I have known since my first Japanese tour in 1997. And I also joined friends @markdeclivelowe and @nickdwyernz who is working on a fascinating film series about Japanese jazz kissa culture so it was fitting we went to his favourite spot Jazz Haus Posy. Then it was off to Obihiro in Hokkaido and we had so much fun at @boars_obihiro . @naoe_fire performed an amazing fire dance and the next morning the BOARS posse greeted me at my hotel (after no sleep) and sent me off on the train to Sapporo where they joined me for two more nights. Coming back to Sapporo and Precious Hall is like coming h(ohm). This is the first place I DJ-ed outside the USA and its one of my favourite places in the world. Satoru-san and his staff are like family - we have 28 years of history. And it was lovely playing with @kanikanita Saturday night and with @kuniyuki_takahashi_music and Yano for last night’s listening party - we went deep :). I also got play a few of the new Japanese jazz records I picked up earlier that day. Arigatou to @morihirorecords for coming up from Tokyo! Today is a day off so I took a long walk around Sapporo and Odori Koen and did a bit of shopping at my favourite spot (Tokyu) Hands. Next up is @bar_inc_osaka on Thursday, @woal_music_life in Takasaki on Friday and @dj_bar_bridge_shinjuku Tokyo on Saturday. Maybe by that time I’ll be over my jet lag. Thank you to all who have made my trip so uplifting. Arigatou gozaimasu. 🙏" Listen back to the 217th episode of Balearic Breakfast: THE PLAYLIST Saucy Lady's Mix ( NOL ) Crown Heights Affair – I See The Light (Young Pulse retouch) ( 2025 ) CON FUNK SHUN  –  Got 2 Be Enuff (JKriv Edit 2025) ( 2025 ) Da Lukas (feat. Di Martino & Saucy Lady)  –  In Motion ( 2025 ) Saucy Lady  –  Falling In Love ( 2024 ) Bellaire x Aaron K. Gray  –  Never Stop Dancing (Kelly G. Extended Shelter Dub) ( 2024 ) Audiowhores  –  She's Gone Dance On (Club Mix) ( 2025 ) Jay Vegas  –  Don't Want It ( 2024 ) DiscoGram  –  I Wanna Dance ( 2009 ) Modaji  –  Outboard Jeopardy ( 2024 ) Saucy Lady, Yuki, Omar, Young Pulse  –  I Can't Shake This Feeling (Young Pulse 'Baby Powder' Remix) (2011) Shuya Okino (ft. N'Dea Davenport)  –  Look Ahead ( 2025 ) Saucy Lady (ft. Derrick McKenzie)  –  Silver Haze Darren Morgan's Love Machine Mix ( 2020 ) Hirini Melbourne  –  Waiata Ki Te Ra ( 1979 ) Henri Texier  –  Hocoka ( 1980 ) Yello  –  Blue Green ( 1982 ) The G!st  –  Love At First Sight ( 2024 ) Harri Pierson  –  The Most Balearic Record In The World ( NOL ) Andi Hanley  –  Flight ( 1983) Judi Tzuke  –  Shoot From The Heart ( 2025 ) Alix Brown & Louis Fontaine  –   Tormento ( 2024 ) Laurent Bardainne & Tigre D'eau Douce  –  Meilleur ( 2025 ) Wham!  –  Blue (80s Extended Unreleased Vocal Mix) ( 1988 ) Kriss  –  Hey Mister Mister ( 1989 ) Malcolm McLaren And The Bootzilla Orchestra  –  Call A Wave (DFC Dance Mix) ( 1982 ) Alice  –  A Cosa Pensano SAUCY LADY'S INTERVIEW WITH COLLEEN [Colleen] Greetings, Balearicans! In the studio with me right now is the singer, songwriter, and DJ, Saucy Lady. She has a new album out, her fourth album, actually, and it's called Love Fest , and it's on her own record label, Dippin' Records. Hi, Saucy, how you doing?   [Saucy Lady] Hey, hey, how you been?   [Colleen] Good, you good. You and I played together at your really cool night at Vera's in Boston, gosh, nearly a year ago now.   [Saucy Lady] Yeah, that's a monthly slam-funk party that we have. It's been going on for a couple years. That venue is relatively new, but it was a different venue a few years before that, and I had been there for, in total, in that area, that spot, for about seven, eight years or so. So that party's sort of been going on for a while now, so yeah.   [Colleen] I see you have a lot of guests, and thank you for the invitation. That was a lot of fun, a lot of fun. I just wanted to talk a little bit about your musical upbringing, because you have a really interesting story. If you could tell our listeners kind of what life was like growing up, because you were surrounded by music.   [Saucy Lady] Yeah, I was born in Japan. I'm half Japanese, half American. My father's American. My mother's Japanese. And so I'm mixed heritage, and I was visiting the U.S. quite a bit every summer. I'd go to the Cape Cod in the East Coast. And so growing up, I listened to a lot of jazz and classical, because that was what was playing through the speakers. My father was a big audiophile and collected a ton of records. He used to sell a lot of rare jazz records as well. And so I listened to a lot of that, even since I was in my mother's womb. I was listening to some free jazz and wild stuff. And then I got into hip hop as an adolescence. And then I came to the U.S. for college and grad school. And during college, I was working as a radio DJ for my school radio, college radio, which was great back in the 90s.   [Colleen] Yes, and in the 80s when I did it.   [Saucy Lady] We got a lot of records and CDs. And so I got to listen to a lot of variety of music. And I was an urban music director at the time. I also even interned at Jive Records in New York City one summer. The late 90s, before they went, before iTunes took over and changed the whole industry. But before that, I got to really get a sense of the industry at that point. But another point I forgot to make is growing up, I learned to play piano, play classical piano. I studied classical voice for many years. From like five, I studied piano and then classical voice. I started around 12. And so I did a lot of like operatic arias, you know, training. And in college, I was a music major. So I continued to study. And then after I graduated, I took some private lessons with some jazz vocalist teachers. And so I studied jazz vocals after graduation. So some of that still kind of stays with me when I sing. I do a little bit of that sort of ad lib scatting here and there. It just comes out. So...   [Colleen] You have a wonderful voice. And it's so interesting to hear that you did operatic kind of singing because that is difficult.   [Saucy Lady] Yeah, that's what I trained to do for many, many years. These days, I don't. But I was in choruses, multiple choruses in the Boston area. And I sang at Fenway Park, Symphony Hall, and Carnegie Hall, and like those big venues. Those very exciting times. But then I wanted to be a solo artist.   [Colleen] Right. I mean, how did that come about? Because you started DJing in Boston around 2009, I believe.   [Saucy Lady] Yeah. Actually, this is March. So it will be 16 years ago this month in the Boston area. And just a couple of years before that, I had started recording my first album. So...   [Colleen] ... diversify.   [Saucy Lady] Yeah, yeah. I think that came out 2011.   [Colleen] Right. Now, at this point, you're creating a persona, Saucy Lady. And I love this persona. I mean, she looks fabulous all the time, first of all. I mean, you have to check out Saucy Lady's website . The photos are outstanding. You look great. And the thing I also love is that you really play with fashion and you play with music. And I find there's some humor in this, too. Can you tell us a little bit about who Saucy Lady is?   [Saucy Lady] I think Saucy Lady is someone that everyone has a little bit of. It's someone who has a little bit of attitude, who knows what she wants and is sexy, is open to being sexual and can go a little bit wild. My best friend in college, we used to be roommates together. She had told me, I'm very saucy. And I didn't know what she meant, really. So I was like, what do you mean? And so she described what it was. So I thought, wow, that's kind of a cool name to use for like, you know, usernames and things like that. I started using my Saucy Lady as sort of like an email and things like that. So when I came up with a DJ name, I was like, oh, that's perfect. We'll call it Saucy Lady. But then that, yes, became its own persona. And, you know, I was like, I need more headgear and outfits to perform. I don't perform lately, but when I was performing, I was very, very careful about how I presented myself visually. I think it's important to look your part when you are on stage performing, not necessarily DJing all the time, but I'm talking more actual singing and performing on stage that way.   [Colleen] Absolutely. Do you think also maybe this is one side that many of us have, you have an extroverted side and then you have the more introverted kind of private side that you protect a little bit?   [Saucy Lady] Yeah, I think so. I guess, you know, when you're recording an album and you're trying to reflect on things, you know, you do need time alone. So I didn't have a lot of alone time growing up. Also, I was an only child, so I'm kind of used to that. But that helps you become creative. And so that's maybe my introverted side, maybe. But, you know, I love to party. I love big socials and Butterfly. I love hanging out and seeing people. But I do get tired after a night out, right? The next day, I need downtime. So I guess it's sort of that, you know, you have both sides of the spectrum.   [Colleen] Yeah, have the balance. Now, you started DJing in Boston 16 years ago and you were collecting your own records. You said you grew up around a great big record collection, but you obviously have made your own record collection. How did this kind of all come about? And what's the dance scene like in Boston?   [Saucy Lady] So to answer your first question, you know, when my father was playing a lot of records in front of me, I wasn't allowed to touch records. So I was really like not allowed near the turntable. So I knew how valuable they were. But as I got older, he bought records for me. And I think the very first record I got was Kumo D. I go to work. I was 12 weeks single. And I played that so many times. So that was my first record. But anyway, and then I started to buy my own records later in life, like after college and so forth. Yeah.   [Colleen] Because some of your sets are all vinyl sets, that's why I'm asking. Because there's a lot of DJs that don't play any vinyl at all. And you are also a vinyl DJ. Some of your parties are only vinyl.   [Saucy Lady] Yeah. And I love the way it sounds. And it just there's something to it that's different from digital. And sometimes digital DJing is great. It's wonderful in so many ways. But I also get bored in some situations. So there's something exciting about playing records and having sort of that risk of, you know, things not working as you expect. Yes, living on the edge. Yeah. But this party that I have, the monthly party, it does show that Boston folks do dance. There are break dancers. There's also a house community. It's not a big one anymore, but it still exists. And also Gen Z, newer generation of people are coming out open-minded, also being somewhat familiar with some of the music from even the 70s. So it's pretty surprising. So yeah, Boston, there is a scene. It's not a big scene. And in the Boogie area, like that music, it's not very known. But we're changing that.   [Colleen] So yeah. Before we get back to the music, I wanted to ask you about your record label, Dippin' Records. Now, you've released four albums yourself. Some have been on other labels as well. You've also done singles for Big Love, Razor and Tape, I believe Midnight Riot as well. You've done loads of work. What made you start Dippin' Records? It was a couple of years ago. And you've been releasing other people's music too, not just your own.   [Saucy Lady] Yeah, I got kind of tired of waiting for people to release my music and also sort of like, hey, do you like this music? What do you think? And even though I believe in my heart, it's great and it should be heard by the public. Sometimes it's not the taste of the person listening to it or the label. It's just not the right fit. And so I wanted to make sure that I can still put out things when I know it's great. And that's why I just had to be somewhat independent there. And I still want to release some music if it fits other labels too. But I also wanted to give opportunities to other artists that I thought were great, but were not getting the exposure or the opportunity to put music on vinyl. So that's why I wanted to start that.   [Colleen] Which other artists are you working with who are on your label at the moment?   [Saucy Lady] Well, we have so far an artist from Boston area named Lee Wilson. He's been releasing a million songs and doing collaborations, but I realized he didn't have a lot of vinyl releases. And I thought it was important for the DJ community who actually play records to be able to play his music too. So and it's also something that I liked, so I wanted to play out. Yeah, he's another artist. And also Fabio Santana, and he's based in Brazil. And he has another album that he is working on right now. And it's sort of final touches. So we're talking about releasing maybe a single from there first. And so yeah, and then Yuki and I both have other projects that we're working on with other people as well in a band. So that's something that's in the works that we're looking into releasing in the future.   [Colleen] And Yuki is Yuki Hirokane Saka, who is your musical partner. And you do a lot of, you co-produce all your albums with him as well, I believe.   [Saucy Lady] Yes, yeah. I just realized I didn't introduce Yuki. But yeah, he is my partner in crime. And he does a lot of the production with me. And the four albums that we worked on together, we worked on pretty much all most songs we've heavily collaborated together on.   [Colleen] Well, let me get back to the music. And when we come back, we'll talk about your new album, Love Fest, on your label, Dippin Records. This is Saucy Lady on Balearic Breakfast. And you've been listening to DJ Saucy Lady on Balearic Breakfast. She's been listening to her mix, and I have her here with me. And I wanted to talk about your new album, which is your fourth album. And it's called Love Fest, and it's out on your label, Dippin Records. The first thing I wanted to ask about it is some of your albums have had themes, like Supernova has a theme of space. Love Fest does exactly what it says on the tin. It's songs about love. Could you tell me, first of all, why you like to do thematic albums, and then why you chose this particular topic?   [Saucy Lady] I think it's important to be sort of cohesive with an album. And it's different from a single. I had recorded some of these songs already and released them digitally, a couple of them. But I thought it made sense to put them all together because they were all, again, about love. And I have about half of the album is about covers, and the other half are original tunes. And yeah, it was great recording. I mean, a couple of them are pretty, yeah, brand new, haven't been released.   [Colleen] One single I've already played on the show is your cover of Surface's Fallin' In Love. And this is a song I always like, but it's a mid-tempo groover, you know, it's just kind of bopping along. And you brought it to like house tempo, and it really works. Could you tell me how that all came about? Is this a song you used to DJ out as well?   [Saucy Lady] I did, but I didn't play it very often because, again, it's mid-tempo. So I definitely thought it needed a little boost in that tempo. But it was a suggestion made by a friend of ours, friend of Yuki and I, who is a big, he loves to dig for records, and he's Japanese, and he's a big fan of Saucy Lady. He buys all of my records. And he's like, you should definitely do this song. And I was like, oh, it's kind of a bit known, and I don't always like to do something too obvious. But then I realized the vocals are very close to my range, and I thought the sound is very similar to Saucy's sound. So I thought, well, it's actually not a bad idea. People are familiar, so they're going to recognize it right away. And so by bringing it up in tempo, we wanted to make that the first song in the album, since with the groove being at the top, you know, it'll help with the audio being loud enough and good for the club. So that's why we have it very first track.   [Colleen] I love how you're thinking about vinyl pressing correctly. That is so great. Because, you know, sometimes you have, like, the song that you want to play out is like the inside cut. And of course, you know, the audio, the sound just gets squashed as you get closer in it. So that's really great, more expansive. You also cover Bobby Caldwell's What You Won't Do for Love. And you also cover it with a friend of mine, who I also have worked with in the studio and someone I've known for a long time, Yam Hu, who was first in a band called Fuzz Against Junk when I first moved to the UK on Euphonic. And then he started doing his own productions. And he and I have collaborated. He's worked on a few remixes with me. He's a great guy. But I have to say, all the years I've known him, I didn't know he sang. He never even sang in the studio when we were working together. So how did you get him to do that?   [Saucy Lady] Yeah, I didn't know either. So he actually suggested me to record that song for his label originally. And so Yuki and I, actually, it's funny, Yuki had his own album in the past where we recorded the same song, but it was like really just vocals and piano. It was a very stripped down version, which I really liked. But since we already recorded it, we're like, oh, we don't want to record it again. But then I thought, well, you know, Andy's saying he's going to put some vocals on it. And I thought, well, this might be interesting. So yeah, I was like, let's just do it. And then we recorded it and he sent his vocals and we kind of layered it with mine. And he's not singing like the verse or anything. It's not a prominent part.   [Colleen] It's like he's underpinning you like an octave lower.   [Saucy Lady] Yeah, but I always love hearing men, male and female vocals together. There's something great about that. And so it added a really nice tone, so I loved it.   [Colleen] I agree. I love duets, especially, you know, the two different types of voices. And it's a kind of a lost thing. I mean, I think about all these kind of great collaborations like Donny Hathaway and Roberta Flack, or there's so many great ones. And I think it's something that needs to be brought back because the textures sound really good together.   [Saucy Lady] Yeah, I've done a few in the past, and I did Saturday Love, and It Seems to Hang On, Ashford and Simpson. Also Tell Me, you know, SOS Band. These are covers we did with different male vocalists. And I love all of them. And there's something so magical about it. There's like a chemistry. And it's just obviously men do not have the sound that I can, you know, output. So there's something special about that. And so I love doing duets. It's hard to find a great duet to cover, though. There aren't so many. So it's always a challenge to find the right one. I've done a few, but maybe we'll do something in the future. Maybe with Andy or Yambui.   [Colleen] Yeah, that'd be cool. You also have a couple drummers as guests on the album. You have Jay Mumford and also Derek Mackenzie, who is a drummer for Jamiroquai. How did that all come about? Because usually you don't get drummers as collabs. You'll get like the featured keyboard player. You'll have like a soloist on, you know, a trumpet or something or a duet.   [Saucy Lady] Yeah, I think drummers, I mean, drums are really the most important ingredient initially for any track. So they mean a lot. And so with Jay, I've known him for many years. We've also collaborated on a few songs before. And we've always talked about, you know, wanting to do another track together. He loves everything that, you know, you and I work on. And so we finally got a track that would, you know, be very fitting for him and the tempo. And so, yeah, we got him to record and that went well. He loved it. And Derek, Derek McKenzie is someone that, you know, Yuki and I both really admire. And he has such an incredible disco, you know, rhythm and that no one else can really copy. So we were very honored that he was down to record. And he was so nice about it, everything. And it was incredible.   [Colleen] Oh, great. Well, you have two other covers on the album that we didn't talk about. Chic Sao Paulo and M2M's Love Lock. But I kind of want to move on to the originals as well, because you have three originals. What If, Break the Ice and Silver Haze. Silver Haze is a beautiful ballad, by the way. I love that one. Can you just tell us a little bit about that song?   [Saucy Lady] Yeah, I just was inspired to record something that had some of the elements that some of the newer R&B vocalists do these days. Like, for example, I love Devin Morrison. I discovered him through just listening to Spotify, actually. And I just love his sort of 80s sort of sound that he adds to the synths and his vocals. And then I learned about other vocalists similar to that style. And I realized I need to record something like that, where the voice is very airy, a slower tempo, some elements of the 80s keyboard synths. And so we did that. And then we, of course, needed the right drums. So we got Derek for that. It was great. I loved it.   [Colleen] Yeah, that's great. Well, what's going on now in the future for Saucy Lady? You have some like DJ gigs coming up, I assume. And what's coming up on Dippin Records? And what are the plans for the album?   [Saucy Lady] So right now, there are a couple of songs in Japanese that I had recently recorded. It's pretty much at the final mix stage. So we want to release that through, I think, through Dippin. So that'll be the next, probably the next release. And, oh, we also have the cover of I Can't Shake That Feeling by Click. And we covered that with Omar. And so that was released digitally last year. But we have a vinyl version coming out this month, I think actually in a week.   [Colleen] So that's great. That's a great song. I love what you did together.   [Saucy Lady] Yeah, so that'll be on a 12-inch, 45 RPM. So the sound should be pumping. Yeah, and also we're in the middle of recording a jazz funk album. So that's like a whole sort of new venture. And I love boogie and all that disco, but I want to move away a little bit from that and sort of be a little more experimental, a little more spacey, you know, a little bit of that Bonnie Liston Smith vibe with a touch of, you know, Blackbird and, you know, vocals like that, a touch of Roy Ayers. So, you know, the stuff we all love.   [Colleen] Yeah, that sounds great. And then you'll get to sing a different way.   [Saucy Lady] Yeah, it'll be different. It would probably not have verses and stuff. It'll just be more. Yeah, well, we'll see what happens. I don't want to spoil too much until it happens. We're in the middle of recording it, yeah.   [Colleen] Exactly. Well, for those of you that want to find out more about Saucy Lady, definitely check out her website, but also go to her Bandcamp, because that's where you can order vinyl and download her music digitally as well. Good luck with the album. It's fantastic. I'm really happy for you. You've been just working really hard.   [Saucy Lady] Thank you, Colleen. Thank you for having me and knowing so much about the album already and doing a little research. Thank you.   [Colleen] I listen to all of it. And, you know, I do my research. I do the due diligence, as do you. And hopefully I'll see you in Boston sometime soon. Yes, very soon, hopefully. All right, well, take care.   [Saucy Lady] Cheers.

Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy broadcast the 215th episode of Balearic Breakfast on her Mixcloud on March 11th 2025. About this episode. – After a few busy days (she played at La Discothèque at Manchester’s Albert Hall and hosted 2025's first annual London Loft Party ), and with the passing of one of her dear friends (the gofundme campaign dedicated to Andy Williams is accessible here ), Colleen came back and presented her 215th Balearic Breakfast show on Mixcloud. Since there was no request line this time, Colleen decided to play mainly new tunes during this episode! And boy was it great... A few minutes after the show started, our friend dancing_james asked on the Mixcloud chat "Is it just me that imagines Colleen lives in a Beatlesesque Magical Mystery World of swirling psychedelic patterns?" , a question which got an instant response from our Captain, saying "That's where I permanently live @dancing_james :) We missed you Sunday!" As we shall see in the listening section of today's episode, James question was really resonnating with the shows's Soul, hence the title of today's post! A Huge thank you to Rob, Iain, Kay, Aiko and Simon for sharing their London Loft pictures! "This morning’s Balearic Breakfast is now up on my Mixcloud and it features a lot of new music including a song from Ron Trent ‘s forthcoming album and also my new Cosmodelica remix of Saint Etienne Official  I have so many new records and promos and I feel moving forward I’ll ensure I do one show a month that is a catch up of all the great new music coming out – it’s really my duty to do so. This show also features tributes to the late Roy Ayers and also to my late friend Andy ‘Yam Who’ Williams. May they both rest in paradise. I’m heading to Japan next week but the show will continue thanks to my supportive husband Adam who will stream some pre-produced shows. In the upcoming weeks we have a mix from Kenneth Bager  of MUSIC FOR DREAMS  and we also have a chat about his new album with Findlay Brown ‘Silence Was Singing’. Saucy Lady  also joins us on the show with a DJ mix and we have a chat about her new album ‘Love Fest’ which also features a collab with our friend Andy Yam Who?. And we have two Balearic Breakfast family guest mixes – one from Jen Ferguson and Glenn Williams of Hop Burns & Black  and one from Darren Morgan of Love Machine and one of our London Loft family members. You’re in good hands! Thank you for listening and please kick back and enjoy the music from… HELL YEAH recordings  @michele_mininni Ubiquity Records  @sonsofsevilla @cantomamusic @deliarecordings @brown_fang HEAVENLY RECORDINGS  @tornadowallace Test Pressing  @red_laser_records @msdivablu @randomhouseperson @londonafrobeatcollective @kikonavarrodj @canopy.records @tribalwinds @djkennydope" Listen back to the 215th episode of Balearic Breakfast: Note: On March, 12th 2025, the new https://www.loftparty.org/  website was launched, with a previously unheard 2000 Interview with David conducted by Chris Menist on the " Music is Love "  page. PLAYLIST ( 2024 ) Michele Minnini – Carousel of Tears ( 2025 ) Brown Fang   – Light No Fires ( 2025 ) Tornado Wallace   – Bitter Suite (Symphony) ( 2025 ) Saint Etienne  – Alone Together (Cosmodelica Remix) ( 1972 ) Santana   – Song of the Wind ( 2025 ) Roy Ayers  – Everybody (Random House Project) ( 2004 ) Alison Crocket   – U R (Yam Who? Rework) ( 2024 ) Sons of Sevilla   – Everything I'm Looking For ( 1979 ) Roy Ayers   – Love Will Bring Us Back Together ( 2024 ) Il Bosco   – Destiny ( 1999 ) Funk Against Junk   – Born Under Punches ( 2024 ) Ron Trent   – Just Another Love Song ( 2010 ) Arthur Russell / Lola   – Wax the Van (Yam Who?) ( 2025 ) Cantoma   – Some Other Stars (Cazela Remix) ( 2025 ) London Afrobeat Collective   – My Way (Kiko Navarro Discoterraneo Remix) ( 2025 ) Unified Spirits  – Meant to Be (Antonio Ocasio Remix) ( 2005 ) Roy Ayers   – Holiday (Kenny Dope Main Pass) THE LISTENING EXPERIENCE Starting her set with the very kaleidoscopic Carousel of Tears , the main picture of today's show is set straight by our Captain. And, as James put it when speaking about Colleen, today's show is, indeed, a "Beatlesesque Magical Mystery World of Swirling Psychedelic Patterns..."! Speaking of this track, Michele Minni shared : "It would be too presumptuous to claim to want to create the soundtrack of a hypothetical end of the world, yet I thought of nothing else but the end of a long journey during these 5 minutes, when ancestral memories, aspirations, and cosmic tensions mix, farewell tears and the nullification of time. Past and future no longer exist and become a cosmic and bucolic sonic orgy, imploding into a silent black hole that marks the end of everything. But now I wonder, is it really over?" Oh how much I love listening to the songs during the show, having a feeling, pictures flowing in my brain, and then later realising that these subjective images do actually meet the musical and philosophical reality of each song played! This is something I've experienced so many times when listening to the show and it Always amazes me!! The colourful and slightly psychedelic feeling will stay with us for the rest of today's show. Can't you feel the turning kaleidoscope on Light No Fires , and can you see yourself slowly drifting away? Once again, when reading the description of the Album on bandcamp, here is what you can find: “These pristine recollections are a means to delve into the soul of space; to link earth, tuning peg, ears and fern. To give emotional latitude for musicians dipping their toes into cartography. To put our locale under the magnifying glass in the form of a vibrational tonic. Take a listen to the lakeside sunset or the moon on the lagoon and nod to their computer rhythms. For, if you let them, these familiar ghosts will walk you down private roads and ferry you across algae-filled waters”. Trippy, don't you think, and Colleen's selections really put that voyage to the forefront in this episode, especially with the next number, Tornado Wallace 's Bitter Suite (Symphony) ! Colleen's delicate mixing really helps the track breathe into one another... A Wow Moment for sure as far as I'm concerned! And the Dynamics on that track are Huge! Soundwise, I feel this third track is somehow close to the show's opener. Although Saint Etienne 's Alone Together has a more direct and concrete musical approach, Alina Bzhezhinska's Harp playing adds that ethereal feeling we found in the first few tracks of this great episode! There's a lot of depth in Colleen's version, the mixing is astounding, it takes you away, and fits perfectly into the Beatlesesque feeling we spoke about a few minutes ago! With Santana 's Song of the Wind , the never-ending swirling feeling just keeps on taking you away in its multicoloured musical frames... Did you realise these first tracks are closely linked to the Universe and to Nature?... The body melts into the universe. The universe melts into the soundless voice. The sound melts into the all-shining light. And the light enters the bosom of infinite joy Did we say that Colleen is living in a Beatlesesque Magical Mystery World of Swirling Psychedelic Patterns, yes we did! Stepping up the rhythm a bit, Colleen then plays the ultimately revolving and never-ending Everybody (Random House Project) . Despite the small silence, Colleen was able to keep the rhythmical flow, ensuring the listener kept on being lost in the music. Can't get better than that, Alison Crocket' s U R (Yam Who? Rework) , followed by the also mind freeing Sons of Sevilla 's Everything I'm Looking For , opening up to the funky number that Love Will Bring Us Back Together is ! Such a seamless transition there, my gosh, if this part doesn't free your mind...! On the chat, some family members shared their memories with us, of meeting the great Roy Ayers. Our friend Davstod wrote "I met Roy at Ronnie Scott's in 1990 where I took a copy of 'Red Black and Green' for him to sign - he said in that unmistakable raspy voice 'hey kid, where did you get this from? Not seen this for years'... He couldn't believe a couple of teenage London kids (me and my friend) had some 70s vinyl..." Also, dancing_james shared the tribute that Patrick Forge wrote on his Facebook page: The second hour of today's 215th episode keeps the mind-boggling feeling alive. Take the time to listen to the "space" in the songs, to the effects used, the reverb, you'll be lost in music too for sure! Speaking of being lost, we all lost our minds on Wax the Van (Yam Who?) , followed by the Italo-Disco number that Some Other Stars (Cazela Remix) is (despite being issued this very year, laughs!). I mean, Wow moment again! Speaking of Italo Disco, we also loved to bits Il Bosco's Destiny, which is an edit of Vivien Vee 's Destiny . Also, while searching about II Bosco's remix, I was intrigued by the sleeve of his record which reproduced a "Zero-Value Manifesto" which contained a text about AI and our organic nature, stating: "AI (language models) is the last step in the process started by humans of developing conscious thought (Logos in Greek). As humans we have valued that above our organic nature. We have identified ourselves with that thin self-conscious layer. AI is showing us that this is a mechanical process and it will be much better than us soon. We add zero value there! E.g. if an exam (school, university, etc) should be done without AI help otherwise it is cheating, then it means it is worthless. By definition, it focusses on useless skills. This was true also when you could not consult books during an exam, but this is deeper. Traditional education will crumble as a consequence. This poses the question then: what is the value of the self-conscious surface ? What is left of us when we remove that ? Solution: Let's stop identifying ourselves with our self-conscious surface Let's identify ourselves with our organic nature, the inside. As quantum physics shows, the ultimate reality is relative. Relations, not particles exist. The particle-based, absolute time view of the word, is obsolete. Our value is in the relations we form. (Daniele Turi 2024)" So I started digging the internet once again (🤣), and found Daniele Turi's blog , where he explains his idea in greater details, thus making me also think about today's show, about its intellectual and musical unity... Read the start of this analysis and make the link with Daniele's words... We need to connect to our deeper selves and meet the Beatlesesque Magical Mystery World of Swirling Psychedelic Patterns... The moment we stop identifying ourselves solely with the rational mind, we begin to see something more profound. Beneath the thinking self, there’s a vast, interconnected process of life. It’s the breathing, pulsing rhythm of existence. We are not just the crest of the wave, but the whole ocean, inseparable from everything else. And here, we begin to glimpse what really matters. (Daniele Turi, On AI and what it is teaching us, 2024) The last three songs also blew us away, including the incredible My Way (Kiko Navarro Discoterraneo Remix) , with Colleen's mixing taking us to another realm ( Siobhan Murphy then shared with us on the chat "Love it when Colleen goes in deep" )... And we really should have a Balearic Breakfast show every day... COLLEEN'S PRESENTATION I Michele Minnini, an Italian DJ and producer who started releasing singles just over a decade ago, and he now has a new album out on Hell Yeah! Recordings. It's called Pop Archetypes and we just heard the original version of his latest single Carousel of Tears and there's also a great remix from Gallo which is worth checking out. So head on over to the Hell Yeah! Bandcamp to discover more. Good morning, Balearicans. I'm Colleen Cosmo Murphy hosting your weekly Balearic Breakfast until high noon, and greetings to the family over on my Mixcloud Live. It's great to see you up bright and early and thank you for sharing your Tuesday with me. Well, I'm fully charged after a wonderful weekend of parties and then an acupuncture and massage session yesterday when you don't have a day off in a month. Self-care is, of course, of the utmost importance. On Saturday, I had a lot of fun up north in Manchester playing at the Albert Hall for the wonderful women behind La Discotheque and we celebrated International Women's Day in style. It was really great. We're hanging out with CC Disco, Errol Elkin, Hot Toddy of Crazy P, and Jim and Sevi of Horse Meat Disco and also Bessley. So a lovely lineup to be part of. And thanks to those of you who joined us. And then on Sunday, we had our London Loft Party and oh my gosh, the vibes were through the roof. I just have to say our London Loft team is just a joy all around. I mean, the party was set up in just a few smooth hours and the whole team is just so positive and inclusive and I really just couldn't be happier. So thank you to the London Loft team and to all who joined us on the dance floor. The next date for your calendar is Sunday the 15th of June when we will celebrate our 22nd anniversary and invitations will be going out soon. So DM me if you want to join our mailing list. I should also announce a few more festival, club, and party dates. This weekend I'm playing at Southport Soul Weekender and that's always a lot of fun. And on Monday, I'm off to Japan for two weeks for a tour. So please follow me on my socials as I'll be posting up the details of that Japanese tour. On the 10th of April, I'm joining my friends Hands On Family at BBE for another shindig. And then in mid-April, I'm heading over to Ireland for Connelly's and Cork and Fidelity in Dublin. So I hope you can join me at some point somewhere. And if you are able to, please do say hello if you can. Well, so far in 2025, we've lost some very special musicians and this week we pay tribute to two more. Roy Ayers and also to my friend Andy Williams who also went under the name Yam Who? Coming up in the show, we'll have a lot of new music also from artists including Ron Trent, Tornado Wallace, London Afrobeat Collective, Bosco, and I'm also going to share my new remix for Saint Etienne. And moving forward, I'm going to host at least one show a month featuring new releases as I feel like I'm seriously behind, you know, with the request shows. We'll keep that request line going, but I think we need to have at least one show where I can catch up on new releases. And also we of course have our guest mixes. But it's really a duty that I have to share in the music and I have to say I listen to something new that I've never heard of before almost every single day. So I want to share that as well. And this is one of those records. This is Nottingham instrumental duo Brown Fang . They're John Thompson who's played with Jim, Bent, Crazy P amongst others, and Torn Sale bassist and guitarist Henry Claude Scott . Last month they released a new album of Chilled Out, Ambient Vibes and that follows up their 2022 mini album Sherwood Pines . This new one is called Netherfield Lagoons and it's out now on dealer recordings. And it's an absolutely beautiful offering. I mean, the vinyl package is just gorgeous. And you can head over to their bandcamp to order it. This is Brown Fang with Light No Fires . II A request from our friends Shelf Peltzner and Christchurch, New Zealand for one of my favorite bands Santana . We just heard Song of the Wind with a nice, you know, start, you know, I'm just still learning how to DJ. And that's from their fourth album, 1972's Caravanserai , which is an album that really showed the band's musical breadth as it was more of a jazz fusion direction. Also a new spiritual direction for Carlos Santana. It was produced by Carlos and the band's drummer and percussionist Michael Shreve . And if you're a fan of that kind of sound, also check out the solo albums by Michael Shreve and also Carlos Santana, who is one of my favorite guitarists of all time. Ahead of that, that was my new remix of Saint Etienne , their song Alone Together . It's a single from their latest album, The Night , which is a real chilled-out affair. It was released in December last year. And I was just so overjoyed to do this. You know, I was a huge fan of Fox Base Alpha when it came out, gosh, in 1991, was it? And on Heavenly Recordings, or was it 1990? I'm forgetting now. But I did interview the band. We did a great, great session for Classic Album Sunday and National Album Day at the British Library in October. And it was just so great to hear the stories behind it. And then they asked me to remix this single. And I had such a great time doing it. It's a real balearic affair. I brought in my friend Darren Morris of North Street West Studios . And also my friend, I brought in my friend the harpist Alina Bzhezhinska . And they brought a lot to the song, I think. It's coming out next month as a CD single, but that's already sold out. But I have some good news for you. It's going to be on my forthcoming Balearic Breakfast Vol. 4 compilation, which is coming out this summer. Ahead of that, we had the Berlin-based Aussie Tornado Wallace with Bittersweet , his forthcoming single, and Appianto's test-pressing imprint. We heard the Ambient Symphony mix, but the other mixes are perfect for the dance floor, including Wallace's own original mix, and also a great remix from Rui da Silv a. It's coming out in May, and I highly suggest you pre-order it from your favorite record shop, as test-pressing releases usually sell out very, very quickly. Okay, sadly, Roy Ayres departed our planet for the next realm last Tuesday after a long illness. The vibraphonist, composer, and producer touched so many people's lives, including my own. I actually got to meet him around 15 years ago when he was rehearsing for an event at the ICA that my husband was putting together, and he was such a humble man. We totally bonded on being Virgos. At the age of five, the future godfather of neo-soul was given his first pair of vibe mallets by jazz legend Lionel Hampton. Ayres grew up in Los Angeles' South Park, which was the center of the Southern California black music scene, and even in high school, Roy was singing and playing in bands, and also producing fellow schoolmates like the late saxophonist Dexter Gordon. In 1963, he released his first solo album, West Coast Vibes , and in the early 1970s, he formed the pioneering jazz-funk outfit Ubiquity , and they released a string of game-changing albums, including Mystic Voyage , which features dancefloor burner Evolution , which sounded great at our London loft party on Sunday. Ayres also founded R.A.M.P., Roy Ayres Musical Productions , and they released one album, Come Into Knowledge , and then Ayres had his biggest hit with Running Away , and of course, there's Everybody Loves the Sunshine , and that's one of the songs he's most remembered for, and both records sounded great on Sunday at the loft. He collaborated with a lot of people. He toured with Fela Kuti , produced Sylvia Stripland , collabed with Rick James , and he's also on Jelly Bean's mix of Whitney Houston's Love Will Save the Day. First, we'll pay tribute with something that's a little different, as it's not a Roy Ayres original, but a rework by Random House Project that he sent me this week, which I thought you would like. It's a great chugger, and we'll play some Roy Ayres originals later in the show. III I can hardly hear myself there. Roy Ayres, Love Will Bring Us Back Together , and that's from his 1979 LP Fever , and that's Bernard Purdy on the drums there. Last week, Roy Ayres passed to the next round at the age of 84, and gosh, what a stunning career he had. As we said earlier, he was a pioneer of jazz funk, but he also worked with artists from younger generations, like Erykah Badu . He's on Mama's Gun . He worked with Guru. He's on Jazzmatazz, and he also collaborated with house legends, and I have something on that tip coming up later in the show. Rest in Paradise, Roy Ayres. Ahead of that, we had Everything I'm Looking For from Sons of Sevilla 's album, Lullabies for a Wild Cat , and that was released on San Francisco label Ubiquity at the tail end of last year. The duo of the Smiths brothers are from Northern England, but now live in, you guessed it, southern Spain. In fact, one of them, I think, played for Seville's football team. In any case, they started the project during the 2020 lockdown, and they were inspired by J.J. Cale and the sounds of music emanating from their parents' family pub, and this album is a result of their efforts, and if you're a fan of bands like War on Drugs, I highly recommend you check out Sons of Sevilla's whole album. It's a bit more balearic and less rocky than War on Drugs , but I'm sure you get the idea. Ahead of that, we had the Yam who? rework of Alison Crockett' s You Are , and I play this for a couple of reasons. First, Alison Crockett was the first singer I worked with as a producer on my debut single, Loneliness , which was released on Suburban in 1998, and I just love her and also her voice, and secondly, it's my late friend Andy Williams ' rework. He did it as a Yam Who? rework, and I first met Andy when I moved to the UK back in 1999, as we were both working with the record label Newphonic. He, with his live band Fuzz Against Junk , and I was co-producing the Loft compilations with David Mancuso. I also regularly saw Andy over at Reckless Records in Soho, as like many of the best producers and DJs, he worked in a record shop for a stint. I started working with Andy in the studio when Ashley Beedle and I were doing our Darkstar Disco Tech productions, and then later I produced some of my Cosmodelica remixes with him, including one of my favorites, Mother Mother by Fat Freddy's Drop. Andy was also behind the record label Midnight Rio t, and he did loads of reworks and re-edits as Yam Who? He was also quietly behind many other productions and worked with other songwriters and artists, some of whom I didn't even know until the tribute started pouring out last week when his sudden passing was announced. The night before his passing, I was actually talking about him in an interview with Saucy Lady for the show that's coming up in a couple weeks. As Andy is on her new album, they actually did a duet together. It was really lovely to hear his voice. Little did we know that hours later, he would no longer be with us. He's sorely grieved by our new disco and deep house community, and I want to send huge love to his family and to his nearest and dearest friends, and we'll have some more from Andy later in the show. Okay, now a great rework from Manchester DJ and producer Bosco , née Christian Wood . These tracks were unearthed during his many trips to Italy and have since been refined for the club. Now, I have no idea what the original is. I've shazammed away to no avail, so if you know, let me know please. This came out on the vinyl EP Please, No More Edits... From The Manctalo Disco! on his own label Red Laser last year. This is Il Bosco with Destiny on Balearic Breakfast. IV Phil Mison's Cantoma project with Some Other Stars , the Cazela remix, and I had Phil up on the show back in January . He gave us an exclusive mix, and we had a chat about his latest Cantoma album, Sea and the Sun, so you can check that one out as well. Just a really good mix there from Cazela. Ahead of that, the 2014 rework of Lola's Wax the Van by my friend, the late Andy Williams , Yam Who? , and I just absolutely adore that mix, and I have to say, doing a rework of that song is a really tall order for me because the first song I ever played with David Mancuso at his loft party, which was like over 30 years ago, was the John's dub mix on the original 1987 Lola 12-inch, so I really have strong ties to it, and generally when I'm really attached to a song, I don't want to hear a rework. I don't want to hear a remix. I even turn down reworks and remixes by songs that I'm so tied to, but Yam Who's remix really does it for me, and I've played it countless times, and sadly today playing it as a tribute to an old friend. Ahead of that, we had Ron Trent with Just Another Love Song , and that is from his forthcoming album Lift Off . It's coming out in May, and you can pre-order the vinyl on Ron Trent's Bandcamp. Now, for the last five years, Ron has mainly DJed in the States. Of course, he had his live show with his live project Warm at We Out Here , and we had Ron up on the show to talk all about that when the album What Do the Stars Say to You came out in 2022, and he's DJed a few times in the UK. Southport Weekender last year was great. He had a memorable set in the Bowl at We Out Here , and I just caught him actually a couple weeks ago over at Groove Odyssey at Fabric, and that was great. He sounded fantastic. I really love his kind of deep, rhythmic sound. In any case, he's called the album Lift Off because he's going to celebrate international touring again, so good luck to Ron Trent, and I love that song. There's some other great stuff on there, too. There's Street Wave , which I remember he played at the Bowl, and I was like, what is this song? And it's coming out on vinyl in May, so I'm really excited about that. Ahead of that, we had Fuzz Against Junk with their second single on New Phonic after their debut in 1998 with Country Clonk. Fuzz Against Junk was Andy Yim Hu and with Gordon Smith, with whom he also did Striker with Tony Rosano and Crispin J Glover, and we heard Fuzz Against Junk's cover of Talking Heads, Born Under Punches, and rest in peace, Andy Williams. Okay, this next one is a eight-piece live band called London Afrobeat Collective , and this is the song My Way . It's the third in a string of singles which have showcased reimaginings of songs from the band's fourth studio album, Asengo . Other remixes have been by and Patchworks, and this latest remixer is Mallorca 's Kiko Navarro , who's had a great project called Afro Terranio , which you should check out. This came out last month on Samu Sui's label Canopy Records , and you can find it on Bandcamp. Everyone was loving this on Sunday. It sounded so good. It's a remix by my friend Antonio Ocasio from Tribal Winds . He gave me a test pressing when I was last in New York, and I messaged him and said, God, the sonics on this are just absolutely amazing. So many people asked about it on Sunday. It's Unified Spirits , meant to be, as remixed by my friend Antonio Ocasio, who started putting out his own productions on his own imprint, Tribal Winds, gosh, nearly 30 years ago, and then over at Dance Tracks, and he used to come in with all of his daughters. I can't remember. He had so many of them, all girls. It's really funny. Anyways, thank you to Antonio for that, because it's just a beautiful, beautiful record. Ahead of that, we had the London Afrobeat Collective, My Way , and we heard the Kiko Navarro Disco Terranio remix, and you can find that on Canopy Records Bandcamp. Well, this is Colleen Cosmo Murphy getting ready to sign off. This is the last live show of the month, because I am heading to Japan on Monday for a two-week tour. Again, all my gigs will go up on the socials. I will be announcing that this week, but the show will continue while I'm in Japan. My husband Adam is going to stream for us, so I'm going to pre-produce a bunch of shows for you. Next week, we have an interview with Kenneth Beyer and an exclusive mix. We talk about his new album with Finlay Brown, Silence With Singing , and we also have a mix and interview with Saucy Lady the following week. We talk about her new album, Love Fest , which also features a collaboration with my friend, the late Andy Williams. The Boston DJ and producer's new LP has a lot of other collaborations, too. We recorded the interview only hours before his passing, so it was really strange and really sad. We also have some guest mixes from members of our Balearic Breakfast family, including Jen Ferguson and Glenn Williams of Hot Burns Black, and also Darren Morgan of Love Machine and also a London Loft team member . We will keep streaming, and Adam's going to help me out on this one, because I don't know what time it's going to be over in Japan. I don't know what's going to be happening in my life at that time. So the show will continue. We have one final tribute to the late Roy Ayers. This next one is by request from our friend Bert Francois in Brooklyn. In the 1990s, I was saying that Roy Ayers started collaborating with house producers like Kerry Chandler, and he also collaborated with Masters at Work or New Reconsole. This one was released 20 years ago on a compilation called Roy Ayers' Virgin Ubiquity Remix. There's lots of great remixes like King Brit, Phil Asher, Ocean Lotte, Pepe Braddock, but the one we're listening to right now is Kenny Dope's. It's Roy Ayers' Holiday, the Kenny Dope main pass. Thanks for listening and rest in paradise, Roy Ayers.

Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy broadcast the 216th episode of Balearic Breakfast on her Mixcloud on March 18th 2025. About this episode. – After playing an incredible set at the Southport Weekender 2025 event, Colleen packed her bags and flew to Japan for a 10 days tour in the city she adores so much. She shared the following post on her socials upon her arrival: "It’s great to be back in Japan as this country holds a lot of personal history. Even though it is on the other side of the planet from my native USA (both geographically and culturally), Japan was the first place outside the USA where I hosted radio shows (way back in 1989) and Japan was also the first foreign country I travelled to as a DJ in the mid-90’s. I DJ-ed at Precious Hall on that occasion and have done so on every trip back. The last time I was here was in 2019, both for a tour and a family holiday with my husband and daughter - I took the above sakura/Mount Fuji photo on that trip. Luckily we were able to visit while our daughter was still a teenager as it was a lifelong family dream and we made it just before the world changed in 2020. Well, now I’m back on Japanese soil and even though it has only been a few hours, it feels wonderful to be back. I hope you can join me somewhere along the way and fingers crossed the sakura will arrive before I depart." Despite a quite busy schedule, our dear Captain managed to say hello to us all while Adam was taking care of the stream on Mixcloud. JAPAN SPRING 2025 TOUR 19 March: @club_mago Nagoya 21 March: @boars_obihiro Obihiro 22 March: Precious Hall 24 March: Precious Hall Listening Party * 27 March: @bar_inc_osaka Osaka 28 March: @woal_music_life Takasaki 29 March: @dj_bar_bridge_shinjuku Tokyo *please note the tour flyer has the wrong date for the Precious Hall Listening Party which is on Monday, the 24th March. PS: Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all the friends who shared their precious pictures with me and allowed them to be published here! ありがとうございます This episode was both a Joyous one (we had a great interview with Kenneth Bager presenting his brand new album), and a sad one as Jen Ferguson and Glenn Williams (owners of the Hop Burns and Black shop in East Dulwich, London – more about this here ) dedicated their incredible mix to their late friend, Justin. As always, the Family united and we were all touched and sad. Losing great people is always unbearable... To Justin . " It's hard to believe our gorgeous Justin left us last week. It doesn't seem real. Justin & Natasha only came into our lives 5 years ago, but it feels like we've known them much longer. I've always thought of them as the king & queen of the prom (so smart, so stylish, so cool, so hot) & what brilliant company too, company Glenn & I got to enjoy all over the world, sharing amazing holidays in Ibiza, Palm Springs, Amsterdam, my Margate birthday weekender just last month...Some of the best times of our lives have been spent w these two, enough Top Palz moments to fill albums & albums. How lucky are we? Justin- a gentle soul with a giant presence. The mightiest of totaras, you were instantly drawn to him. Wry, wildly intelligent, perceptive & understated, Justin could be a man of few words but knew exactly when to deploy his famously dry wit or unleash a devastating zinger. We bonded over his excellent taste in music (my phone is full of Shazams from whenever J was at the controls) & our shared history of terrible teenage poetry & Jim Morrison adulation. Along with Natasha, we were always first to sign up for Country Karaoke at the ‘honky tink’. Unlike Natasha (don't worry, she knows 😂), Justin had a wonderful singing voice- his rendition of Always On My Mind last Nov (directed, of course, to his adored wife) left not a dry eye in the house. He was always the first, & the best, on the dancefloor- & no one rocked a vest like Big J. It's cruel & unusual to be talking about Justin in the past tense. It's beyond comprehension. The sadness comes in waves & is overwhelming. His departure leaves an unbearable void in our mini world & our hearts are breaking over & over again for Natasha, Saskia & Jasper. It's such a fucking waste to the world & I can't believe our dreams of a disco care home commune won't come true. As Natasha says, there'll forever be a Justin-sized hole in all our lives & dancefloors, but he'll always be there with us. Out of the corner of our eye we'll see him, in his Cowboy Hat cap, eyes closed, a faint smile on his face, quietly doing the Justin arms-aloft shimmy. Goddamnit, we love you so much, you beautiful man. You'll be always on our minds. I always write too much and there's never enough room on Instagram posts... but one of my favourite recent memories of Justin was at the @fillybrook , at one of the @idjut_boys parties Justin enjoyed so much. He and Natasha were on their way off home, then Conrad dropped Silly Love Songs, and Justin bounced back on to the dancefloor saying, "Just one more!" Rob turned to him and said, "You don't even like McCartney!" and Justin went in for a big, long hug. Because it didn't matter if Justin liked McCartney or not - what was important to him was that Rob loved McCartney, so he wanted to share some joy with a friend. That was Justin all over x" Listen back to the 216th episode of Balearic Breakfast: THE PLAYLIST Kenneth Bager MIx ( 1986 ) Ambiance II Fusion   –   Colours in Spaces ( 2004 ) Hiroshi Yoshimura   –   Hayama Sound Logo ( 1987 )   Minimal Kidds   –   Moon Gone ( 2009 )  Scott Matthews   –   Is This Love ( NOL )   Kenneth Bager & Findlay Brown feat Anna Domino   –   Don’t Look Back (Random House Factor Sunset Mix) ( NOL )   Niron Higor   –   São Só Palavras feat Bruno Berle & Alici (Kenneth Bager Extended Edit) ( 1988 )   Via Nova   –   Dreams For You ( NOL )   Dj Pippi & Willie Graff   –   Harmonized (LTJ Experience Remix) ( NOL )   The Swan and The Lake   –   Penari Sepatu Jen Ferguson and Glenn Williams' Mix ( 2021 ) Pete Blaker – Kylie N Jason (Beach Filter) ( 2015 ) Idjut Boys   –   Dub Shine ( Link ) Haircut 100   –   Evil Smokestacking Baby (Edit by Mr K) ( 2024 ) U-Bend   –   50Peter20 ( 2017 ) Beach Boys   –   The Trader (Psychemagik Edit) ( 2015 ) Bryan Ferry   –   Midnight Train (Idjut Boys House Remix) ( 1988 ) Kriss   –   Hey Mister Mister ( 1985 ) Moses   –   We Just ( 2025 ) Luca dell'Orso   –   Dear Rosie (feat Jolisa) ( 2022 ) Crosby Stills, Nash & Young   –   Carry On (Flying Mojito Bros Refrito) ( 2024 ) Marshall Watson & Cole Odin   –   Voyager (Extended Guitar Mix) ( 2003 ) Lemon Jelly   –   Rolled (20/03/2025) Greetings from Japan! I would like to thank @kennethbagerofficial of @musicfordreams for his mix for this weeks Balearic Breakfast. Somehow in the rush preparing for my tour I managed to cut off the last 15 minutes of his mix (sorry Kenneth) but the full interview about his new album with @findlaybrownofficial made it. And don’t we all look cute dressed up at @comaclub with @justinstrauss1 & @dj_pippi 🤩. And a big thank you to @missjenferguson  and @radiowammo  of @hopburnsblack  for a beautiful & poignant mix dedicated to our recently departed friend Justin. The chat on the live stream was very emotional and their mix is superb. KENNETH BAGER'S INTERVIEW WITH COLLEEN [Colleen] Hey Kenneth, how are you? [Kenneth] Thank you for having me on the show. I'm a big fan and it's always a pleasure to be on the show. Thank you. [Colleen] Thank you. We did a great extensive interview with you. Gosh, it was years ago now. [Kenneth] Yeah, it was like a non-stop talking for one hour or something like this. [Colleen] So if anyone wants to know more about Kenneth, go to my past shows. I'll let you know which show it was, but it was a few years ago . But thank you for coming back. [Kenneth] Yeah, thank you for having me.   [Colleen] Oh, pleasure. And I really love this new album. And could you tell me a little bit about how you got to know Finlay Brown? Because I know you did a single with him a few years ago. [Kenneth] Yeah, I think when he did his first album many years ago, I think even 10, 15 years ago. [Colleen] Yeah, Separated by the Sea.   [Kenneth] Yeah, it was incredible. He got fantastic reviews in The Guardian and in a lot of the English press and so on. And there was an amazing remix by Beyond the Wizard's League. [Colleen] Yeah, I got that on White Label. It was such a good one.   [Kenneth] Fantastic remix. And I think from that moment, I actually fell in love with his voice. And I found out that he was a more adventurous singer-songwriter than most. And it really tickled something inside me. And I thought, you know, I do many different albums when I'm in charge for the production. So I thought this one should be a little bit different to my previous ones, because I wanted to make an album that sounded not so much like a collab album, which a lot of lyric producers and DJs do. But I thought it should have a red line. And I thought the red line can be some of my production ideas, mixed with his unique voice all the way through. [Colleen] Fantastic. Now, he's since moved, because he's originally from York. Then he went to Brooklyn, if I'm correct. And now he lives in Copenhagen.   [Kenneth] He lives actually on an island, which is, I think, one and a half hours drive from here, which is super chilled. And, you know, everything is green there. And he's surrounded by water, the whole island. And we did some recordings there in his home studio. And basically, the whole album came about that I asked him. We did one song, and I was very, very happy with the result. And I said to him, you know, I have this idea. Why don't we do a full album? And he was really into it. And basically, I sent him the music. And then he recorded the vocals on top. And then we took the demo and put it into a pan or, you know, into a pot and totally destroyed maybe sometimes the demo and made a new arrangement and added a new musicianship to it. So he didn't know all the time what the end result would be. But neither did I. So it's been a fun ride. [Colleen] Well, that's the great thing about collaboration, isn't it? I mean, you just never know where you're going to go. And it's my favorite way to work, especially in the studio, because you can just take ideas so much further when you're with people that you trust, obviously.   [Kenneth] Yeah, and this is also one thing. And you can also work with other artists that, you know, will find it very problematic and very protective about how they want everything to be, which is another side, too. But I thought from also from his remixes and from, you know, having I went down in my car to visit him. And, you know, after some conversations, I knew that, you know, this would work out really well, because he's also adventurous. He listens to a lot of dance music, African music and so on. So he's not like only listening to to folk. He's a singer, songwriter music. [Colleen] Well, that that was apparent to me, you know, when I got that Beyond the Wizard's Sleeve remix, because I was playing that and then I got the album. I was like, oh, wow, this is a completely different album. But that's what I really like. I think the album that you've done together, Silence With Singing, has a lot of beautiful textures on it. I mean, there's moments that are more spaced out. There's moments that are more for the dance floor. One of the songs I wanted to ask you about was Red Flowers. It's a beautiful song, but it's quite funky. Can you tell me how that one came about? [Kenneth] It came about that, actually, it's quite a long story short, that when I was seven years old, my family didn't have a lot of money, but my father bought his first cassette recorder in 1969. And in the cassette recorder he bought, I was seven years old, there was a tape by Herb Albert in the cassette recorder. And I've been a big fan since of Herb Albert. I always wanted to do a collab with him, but it's possibly sometimes, it's maybe not easy. [Colleen] He's a little bit busy.   [Kenneth] Yeah, and I think he's always funky. And, you know, I've really been following him my whole life with all the incredible stuff that he's done. [Colleen] And also the fact that he's a label owner, just like you.   [Kenneth] Yeah, so there's a lot of... Even though you can't compare it. So when we did it, I've been wanting to do a trumpet-based or driven track for a long time. And we actually took a session with this, possibly the best Danish trumpet player we have, called Kasper Trondberg, which is very, very famous in the Danish jazz circuit. And he just played to some chords we had. And then after he left the studio, we played around with what he did. And we put a puzzle together, so we actually created the hook line in the track. So if you heard the demo, it sounded totally different. And then I sent it to Finlay, and he came back with something that I would describe. And I think it's one of the only tracks on the album where he sings, of course, his own, totally own voice, but he made it more like a David Burton, Brian Ferry kind of vibe to it, which I really liked. And I thought, you know, it's that kind of like early New York vibe to it. And that's also the more dancey tracks. I started as a DJ in 79, and I've always been a mega fan of what was happening in the New York clubs. And of course, the incredible remixes that Larry Levan did. And I've also been a massive fan of Compass Point Studios. So that's definitely something that I think you can hear in some of the production on the album, that it has that resemblance to... It's not that it's a reverb or anything, but it's definitely that kind of like Sly and Robbie, you know, disco type of thing, you know, like they also did on the Gwen Guthrie album. [Colleen] Gwen Guthrie album, yeah, exactly. That song Love From Outer Space on the album is probably my favorite. And you're right, now that I think about it, it does kind of fit in. You know, I mean, the Compass Point All-Star sound wasn't always the same, but it just had certain elements like Wally's Batarus keyboards and Sly and Robbie rhythm section. So yeah, now that you said it, I can hear a huge influence on me as well. You also work with Anna Domino on one of the songs, Don't Look Back. Can you tell me how you hooked up with her? [Kenneth] I actually contacted her, I think more than 10 years ago. And she wrote back that, because I've been a big fan of what she did in the 80s on this Belgian independent label and was always buying, you know, when there was a new Anna Domino album. And so I wrote to her and she said, oh, it's not a good time now. But then I thought, you know, we're doing this. Why not, you know, write her again? Maybe it's, you know, it's a big chance. But she came back now. I've suddenly got time and I'll do it. And she did it very quickly. And so it was a great honor to have her on the album and also to make it like a duet with her and Finlay. And she's also very glad and happy for the result. And also the other thing I wanted to say regarding the sound of New York from the early 80s, which is there is certainly on the album, is it's actually, I think, my first album ever that has had quite a lot of airplay in New York. [Colleen] Oh, really?   Yeah, yeah. So it's actually, it's kind of like it clicks together because it was the first time, I think, Francois Kevorkian, Danny Krivitt, Justin Strauss, they were playing here. I know Justin Strauss has been a big supporter for a long time, but I think they actually got it, you know, that there was some connection to, you know, looking back to make something that looks forward.   [Colleen] Right. Absolutely. Well, let's get back to your mix. Can you tell us a little bit about the mix you've put together for us? [Kenneth] The mix that I've done is a combination of some unreleased remixes of tracks from the album. And it's also featuring some edits that I've done to make it more special. And of course, some pretty obscure tracks that people can dig on the Internet to search out and find. [Colleen] Okay, well, let's get back to the music. Kenneth Beyer on Balearic Breakfast. II [Colleen] And we're back here in the studio with Kenneth Beyer, listening to his exclusive mix for Balearic Breakfast, which we are loving. Tack. Tack. Thank you so much, Kenneth. You know, Music for Dreams is one of our favorite labels on Balearic Breakfast. And there's so many great projects that you have put together, you know, with artists like DJ Teepee, Lily Graff. We also have Phil Meissen, of course. Your own stuff. Can you tell us what... Oh, Island Man, another great one. Can you tell us what's coming up on Music for Dreams in 2025? What we can look out for?   [Kenneth] There's a lot of... Obviously, there's always a lot of stuff we're releasing. But I'm very happy that we actually... There was a person that was, you know, an amazing producer from Denmark called Grasgård. We released an album, I think, in the beginning of the history of Music for Dreams. But he's made an incredible album that we released later this year. And he's kind of like... He's definitely different to what sells, but it has that kind of like... You can't really categorize what it is, but it's funky and it's, you know, some Afro stuff in it. But it's very nice. And then we have an album by Bill Mison, a.k.a. Ambala, which is his second album. It will also be out on a double vinyl. I'm really looking forward to release that. That is a very good album. And we've had the dailies... I would say the dailies are equivalent to Johnny Peterson, a guy called Jonas Vistie, who is hosting a show on national radio every Saturday. He's releasing a debut album, which has been doing really, really well. And it's kind of like an Afro-balearic kind of Guadalupe sound he's doing. It's really, really receiving. And he's already... He will be playing two of his debut concerts, and they already have to do a second date because it got sold out very quickly. So that's really nice. And then we also have an album, which I'm really looking forward to release by this artist, The Swan on the Lake, which is kind of like a... I would say he's sitting somewhere between Vangelis and some New Age. But he's done... He's coming with an album. He started to sing in Italian, and he's never sung before. So I was like super surprised. What's going on? And, you know, I was not expecting this. And then at the end of last year, he came back to me saying that he thought there was something that I should hear. And then he played the song where he was singing in Indonesian. So I think that's going to be one of our really big albums this year because if I have to say something, it feels to me like it's definitely a world music album. But it sounds to me like it's something like, you know, if you can imagine that if you took Deep Forest Enigma and made it in 25. [Colleen] Wow that sounds cool! [Kenneth] So this is what it is. But with a kind of Mediterranean sound. But it's really, really unique and very special. And I don't think there's anything out there that sounds like it. [Colleen] I really can't wait to hear that. That sounds really interesting. [Kenneth] We have an album coming out, the second album by Santino Serpas. So that's... And he's made a track that's very lofty, which was, you know, I thought he was sitting having a jam in the studio, a track called Underwater Disco. And we were just commissioning you to do a remix. So I'm looking forward to what that's going to be.   [Colleen] So am I! [Kenneth] I haven't gone in the studio yet. So fingers crossed, I'll do something that you like. And I also obviously have a Santino Serpas song on the upcoming Balearic Breakfast number four compilation. [Colleen] Okay, wow. [Kenneth] Yeah.   [Colleen] So there's a lot of Santino Serpas kind of connections here. Cosmic connections. Yeah. I love their sound though. You know, it has a kind of a Cruang Bini kind of sound as well. And it's psychedelic and it's surfy. It's just a lot of things that I really like. So thank you. Thank you for asking. And what are you doing this summer, Kenneth? Are you heading over to Ibiza? Are you doing any gigs that people need to know about?   [Kenneth] I've decided here during my holiday in February that I'm definitely going to go DJ a lot more in Ibiza this summer. Because I've been, you know, I did some, it wasn't intentional, but at the end of last year I was visiting, as I always do, Ibiza. And then I played two or three gigs a week and I really enjoyed it. So I'm going to go back and I think I'm going to go back and forward a little bit to DJ there. And looking forward to it. [Colleen] Good. Well, I'll be there, I think, I think I'm there May and then June and then July again. So hopefully we'll cross paths. [Kenneth] Hopefully we'll hook up and see each other.   [Colleen] Yeah. That would be nice. We'll see you. Well, thank you again for this beautiful mix you've given us and for taking the time to have a little chat with me about the album Silence Was Singing, your new album with Finlay Brown, which is out now on Music for Dreams. And good luck with the album. I hope it does really well. I think it's fantastic. [Kenneth] Oh, thank you very much. And thank you for having me on program, on your beautiful program. [Colleen] Thank you. It's always a pleasure.

I met Gez Dewar, member of the Random House Project, who crafted a beautiful tribute to the Late musical legend Roy Ayers. Let's dive into his musical world! 1) Hi Gez! Thank you so much for being here with us! I must say your remix of Roy Ayers’ “Everybody” took us all by storm. We really love the work you did on that one! First thing first, can you present yourself and talk about your musical journey ? Thanks Artur, glad you all dug the remix, it was a sad loss of a great musical legend, I was lucky enough to work with Roy Ayers and his band many years ago at a Soul Weekender where he played on my keyboards during an interview, such a humble and generous soul. I began my musical journey in bands in Birmingham then moved to London in the late 80's to go to Art College where I first got into clubbing and the music scene. I started working at MTV when it launched in 1987 and the following year the Acid House Summer of Love started and I got swept up in those clubs like the Wag, Spectrum, Bagleys, The Cross, Turmills and also Ibiza's clubs like Pacha where I was exposed to Dj's like Alfredo and Pipi. I started making records in 1990 with Doi-oing and got signed to Sean Mckluskey's Brainiak Records, we made a track called "Good Feeling" which sampled etta james and got us noticed , from there we were the first band to get signed to Ministry of Sound's Open label with the likes of Mr Monday , Green Velvet and Paperclip People. We then formed many other groups like Heliotropic, Tenth Planet, The Experiment, Thee Earls with Justin Robertson and Finally formed Random House Project with Mr Monday and made tracks with Robert Owens which was our first record for Darren Emerson's Underwater Imprint. I continue to work under that name on my own imprint Transmitter Recordings and mainly focus on Reworks and Edits these days as I seem to enjoy the process of reimagining classic tracks in new ways. 2) One of the first thing I noticed while listening to your remix is its delicacy, its precision, and of course its imagery which perfectly fit the 215th episode of BB! How did you end up creating such a kaleidoscopic track from that funky number and why did you choose that song, what did you want to achieve with it? Thanks glad you enjoyed the rework! I'm colourblind so maybe to compensate for this I have a very colourful musical palette and enjoy the process of creating detailed musical pictures and landscapes with my work. In a way I see the reworks as a new frame around the Artist much like the Pop Art work of Warhol and Lichtenstein; how they created those pictures of Celebrities. I grew up listening to producers like Trevor Horn, Steven Lillywhite, Peter Walsh, Flood, Ian Tregoning and Zuess B Held who created these incredible soundscapes that went far beyond just the reproduction and recording of musicians and songs and created new sonic landscapes that I felt were artistic statements in themselves.  I chose that track in particular because I loved the very simple answer and call Vibe part and the "Everybody" vocal, the track seems so inclusive to me and fits my ethos, I took a sample of an interview with Roy about his philosophy of life and how he would like to be remembered and that fitted perfectly with the sentiment of the track. I wanted to mark his death with a Portrait and that seemed the best way I could say Thanks. 3) Generally speaking, when remixing, do you have pictures that come meeting you and helping you during the mixing process or do you already have a clear idea you simply execute? When I approach an Artists work I'm generally looking for a new way to present the song which hasn't been tried before, this is the challenge. I always like to keep the vocal fairly intact and generally at the same tempo, but everything else is up for changing. I will often write in a completely different key and use chords and parts that are from completely different genres and I try not to limit or box myself into a particular or style genre from the start. I'm looking to surprise myself first and foremost by presenting the song in a totally new way if possible. The end result being the familiar presented in a way not heard before, which I think folks really Dig. 4) Was there a tougher part while working on “Everybody” (be it in the mixing or in the mastering process)?  Different songs require different approaches, not only in the palette of sounds you choose to put around them but also the structure of the track; Everybody was and interesting journey because it's primarily a Jazz track without the usual tropes of verse, chorus and lyrics or very little, so you have to create a structure which is sympathetic to the original parts you start off with, primarily Roy Ayers Vibes. Being Jazz there's a lot of crazy chord shapes and progressions in there and for me the challenge was to create a blend of Disco & Jazz that supported the Vibes but gave it that disco flavour, so many different progressions where ditched along the way to find the best fit. Tracks like jazz and funk are often less structured than Pop and rely more on the players constantly changing their patterns throughout, so injecting a more structured dynamic into the original, while retaining the overall feel of the original was the challenge.  This one is another killer, listen to how Gez has been able to slightly change the tonality of the track, especially in the verses. A True Masterpiece... BANDCAMP Page here 5) Are you already working on new tracks? What’s ahead for 2025 in your musical world? I never stop writing, it's a constant learning process. I've been lucky enough to have been asked to remix a couple of tracks for the Music for Dreams label which will be out soon and continue to explore new possibilities of reworks. I would love to be able to present my work live in the next year and create something to bring my work to a wider audience, like most artists I suppose. Thank you so much Gez for this! Thanks so much for taking an interest in my work and thanks for listening! Big Love

DJ, Presenter & Music Writer Maria Hanlon, interviews Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy on the London based Voices Radio Breakfast show. About Maria Hanlon. – London-based DJ, presenter, and music writer Maria Hanlon hosts The Voices Breakfast Show on Voices Radio every Friday from 9-11am . Working as a producer for BBC Introducing in London since moving back there in 2021, she has been actively performing ever since, her signature sound blending Soulful House, Deep House, and Garage. Despite only starting her DJing career about two years ago, Maria has quickly made a name for herself in the industry and has performed at notable events such as Secret Garden Party, Queens Yard Summer Party, and Cross The Tracks. In addition to her DJing work, Maria also contributes as a freelance writer for UD, an organization focused on music industry education and development (her article about structuring a radio show is a Must Read). You can find more about her on her Instagram . Her shows are uploaded both on her Soundcloud page and on her Mixcloud page . Listen back to Colleen's interview with Maria Hanlon: COLLEEN'S INTERVIEW WITH MARIA [Maria] Okay, so welcome back to The Voices Breakfast Show. This one here is Maytez and Pinty called Loosen Your Bones and my special guest is loving this one actually. I love it.   [Colleen] It's fantastic, really jazzy. I love the vocals on there. Fantastic. Thanks for turning me on to it.   [Maria] Of course. We were just sort of speaking about playing stuff in the morning for our breakfast shows and not taking it super heavy but still vibing. So this is like hitting the spot.   [Colleen] It really hits the sweet spot.   [Maria] Definitely. It's the one. So I want to start by there's a lot that I want to get through in this next sort of 45 minutes or so. But let's start at the very beginning. So could you talk me through your earliest memories of radio and music?   [Colleen] Sure. Yeah, I started. I think my first memory was my first real deep musical memory was when I was about six years old. And I was in my Uncle John's of a bedroom. He was a teenager. He was only 10 years older than me. And everybody was out and like the ultraviolet Blu-ray lights were on lighting up the Easy Rider poster. This is the early 70s. And there was a transistor radio. And I turned it on. I'm sitting there in this really moody atmosphere by myself in this really cool teenagers room. And all of a sudden the opening notes to David Essex rock on comes on like this baseline. And this is at a time when I really thought there were still little people in the radio. I didn't know how it all worked. And that was such a transformative moment for me. I always call it my first psychedelic drug experience without drugs because I was only six but it was like such a seminal moment. I think the radio the power of the radio you have to understand in the 1970s. This is how we discovered music. There's no streaming. There's music isn't accessible at your fingertips at all times. The only way to discover music is through other people and their record collections or mixtapes or the radio. That was it.   [Maria] Yeah.   [Colleen] And so it was hugely important and luckily I grew up outside of Boston and Boston had some great radio because a lot of the radio in the US was pretty dire. So being a big college town they had a lot of more variety and went a little bit deeper on many levels not just you know college rock but also like funk and things like that as well. So I was really really lucky. And that's kind of the way I kind of discovered you know music and I also became really obsessed. I got my own transistor radio like the following year and you know I go to sleep with it on and it's just I would I knew all the radio stations and all the top 40. I knew all the classic rock. I just became really obsessed at a very early age.   [Maria] Yeah. That's amazing. And because you had your first show at 14. Right.   [Colleen] Yeah.   [Maria] It's really a show.   [Colleen] Yeah.   [Maria] And it was called Punk, Funk and Junk.   [Colleen] That was a different one. I had four shows in the high school. So high school is four years. Freshman, sophomore, junior and senior. So each year I did a different show Punk, Funk and Junk I think was my junior year. So the first year I did I don't think you even had a radio a name but I was playing more 60s rock which is a big passion of mine. Then the following year I was doing a show with a guy named Andy and we were playing more punk and new wave and hardcore. Then the third year was Punk, Funk and Junk and that was with my friend Mary Caruso and she named herself Remix and I was Cosmo. We also played electro and hip hop.   [Maria] Is that where Cosmo came from?   [Colleen] That's where Cosmo came from because it was and I was a band called Nucleus and they had this big song called Jam on It at the time and their DJ's name was Cosmo with a Z. And yeah, we thought we were really cool. We made these sweatshirts that said Punk, Funk and Junk with our names on the back and rocks around our high school like no one really got it, you know, but yeah, it was a lot of fun. And then my last year I did a morning show. I was working at a record shop called Strawberries Records and Tapes. Again, I was obsessed with 60s psychedelia and there was an old band, pop band named Strawberry Alarm Clock. So I did a radio show called The Strawberry Alarm Clock and that was very, very eclectic. That was my most eclectic show. It just was like everything that I was into. It could even be Sade, into Black Flag, into New Order, into Run DMC. I mean, it was just all over the place.   [Maria] So would you say your taste has always been very eclectic?   [Colleen] Always, yeah. I mean, I just have, I just love music and I can find great music. I love country. I mean, there's great country music. You know, people laugh like, oh, you wouldn't play country? Yeah, I would play country. Yeah, I, you know, I have actually, I've played Willie Nelson on the show. He does a great version of Heart of the Come. But yeah, so it's, I do, I just love all kinds of music. I've always had an open ear.  [Maria] Yeah, because I think in your bio it said, you quoted, there's only good and bad music. That's what I think.   [Colleen] Yeah, I agree. That's your opinion anyways. Yeah, it's all taste. You know what I mean? There's no objective. It's all subjective.   [Maria] Yeah, agreed.   [Colleen] And you know, there's music there for everybody.   [Maria] 100%. And then let's fast forward to 1986. So that's when you relocated to New York, right?   [Colleen] Yes, yeah.   [Maria] To study sound and radio at NYU Film School. And whilst there, I love this, you became the first female program director at WNYU, one of the most significant college radio stations in the country at that time. So what was it like there at that time?   [Colleen] Oh my gosh, I mean, I might even get teary eyed thinking about it. Basically, I was just up at that same building two weeks ago, because I had, the head of the department was a woman named Lynn McVeigh. And I hadn't seen her in 35, 36 years.  And I just saw her for the first time, went back up to that floor where I practically lived. WNYU, especially the time that I went and we were reminiscing about this, it was its heyday. College radio in the 1980s was so hugely important for breaking massive bounds from Depeche Mode to REM to U2. And we were really on a mission at the time I was there, we were breaking bounds like Nirvana and you know, all sorts of bounds like that. And being in New York City, of course, all these bounds would come through. So they'd come up to our radio station for interviews, or sometimes live sets. So we were hugely, you know, privileged in the sense of our location. And we also had a really a transmitter in the Bronx. So our signal went all over the tri-state area. So it wasn't just so many colleges just broadcast to the campus. Our listenership was people just like all over, all over. And it was such a family atmosphere, like we would just hang out together all the time. We're all different types of people. You know, from like the my friend Marlene, who was like, you know, shorter than me. And she did the Hardcore Punk show and her name was Spermicide. To my friend Hugh, who was another one of my mentors, who's this tall guy with long red hair from Oklahoma who loved country. I mean, we just had all different kinds of people. We all got along. We were on this mission. We were this family. We would like sleep overnight at the radio station. It was like really an incredible atmosphere. And I am so lucky and privileged to have been part of it at that time. Because it's since changed. It's in a basement somewhere. It's not a community anymore. It doesn't have the same kind of recognition. I think also terrestrial radio was very different than online radio. You know, people could discover you in ways just like sitting in their car, you know, using the tuner and like, oh, what's below here? 88 to 92, those frequencies on the FM dial were for non-commercial radio. That's what the FCC, the Federal Communications Commission designated those frequencies for. So you'd find all the interesting stuff down there. And people, you know, later told me when I was doing house shows in the 90s, that's the first time they heard house music. So it's not like I think online radio, you kind of look for it.   [Maria] Yes.   [Colleen] Whereas if you're in your car, just flipping through the dials, you know, you can just come upon something that you never even knew existed.   [Maria] Yeah, for sure. Something more intriguing or different. Yeah. Talking about sort of cars and radio. I always tell the story of my dad who was in the car on his way to work. He was in the car park and Nights Over Egypt by the Jones Girls came out for the first time. And when you hear it for the first time in the car and the radio, you don't know when you're going to hear that again. Right. So he hid under his car because his boss was walking through the car park and he had to hear every second of it! So he hid in the car and his boss walked past and he got in a lot of trouble for being late, but he was like, it was worth it because I just had to hear the whole track.   [Colleen] You had to hear the whole track. I mean, it's so true. I remember, actually, I did that not so long ago, maybe five or six years ago. I was listening to a community radio station in the car on the FM dial and this long, unreleased Eddie Grant song came on that he did with The Equals and I had to pull over and listen to the whole thing. You know, yeah, it's magical.   [Maria] It's something really special about that. Yeah. So Colleen, I've asked you to bring a few tracks today just to sort of pepper in between the interview. So what have you got that you want to play first?   [Colleen] I've been doing a lot of remixes and sadly, I can't play you any of the new stuff. I've actually worked on my third remix so far this year. But this next one is one I did last year for a really cool artist named Bryony Jarman Pinto for a very cool label named True Thoughts, which I really like. And I really like it because it's a down-tempo kind of soul groover. Hum. But I've been working on a lot of different remixes this year and I'm just even working on one right now. And there's a lot coming out this year, but I can't I can't play into it yet. Actually, in one of the bands, I can't even mention who it is yet. So I thought I'd start.   [Maria] You'll have to send it to us after. Yeah, that sounds good.   [Colleen] This is my Cosmodelica remix of Moving Forward.   [Maria] Amazing. Great.   [Maria] Welcome back to The Voices Breakfast Show with the one and only Colleen Cosmo Murphy joins me. Thank you so much for sharing that tune. That was gorgeous.   [Colleen] Oh, thank you. Thank you.   [Maria] And we've got some of your longtime listeners locked in, actually. I see. We've got Prit Pal, John John, Poppy.   [Colleen] Yeah, hello.   [Maria] It's lovely to see everyone locked in on the chat. So thanks for joining us, guys. So we've got about half an hour left. And I was saying off mic that you are the dream guest to interview because there's just so much to talk about. Well, that's what happens when you're old. I don't know if it's... I don't think it's old. I think it's just had an incredible career so far.   [Colleen] Thank you. Yeah. Well, you know, it's been a long one. That's for sure. I realized last year was my... Gosh, I started on the radio in 82, started working in record shops in 84. So it's been over 40 years. Wow. Which is kind of crazy.   [Maria] Yeah.   [Colleen] You know, when I think about it, I didn't do any big anniversary things. I always forget what my anniversaries are.   [Maria] So it's always ongoing stuff.   [Colleen] It's just ongoing. But yeah, always. There's nothing like the present, right?   [Maria] We need like a list of all your stations at some point. I bet that is such a long list of all the shows and stations.   [Colleen] Yeah, absolutely. I've almost always had a show.   [Maria] That would be incredible. So look, we have to talk about the loft party. Yes. So we spoke a bit about New York. So while still on the topic of that, how did you first sort of get to know David who put on the parties at first?   [Colleen] You know, I was... I've never been one who kind of bum rushes the DJ booth. I'm terrible at conventions and things like that. I don't go and I just kind of cold call on people. So I had a radio show at the time, believe it or not. And I wanted to have him as a guest. So I asked a mutual friend. I mean, I was going and hanging out, but I would kind of sit around and I wouldn't really intrude. I could tell he was an enigmatic private person. I think we had shared a couple taxis after the after the party because I live near the bus station where he would go to to go to Woodstock after the party. But he said, I want to go out with her and have some drinks. And so we went out for some drinks, the two of us. And we just connected. We really clicked for a lot of different reasons. On my side, it seemed quite obvious why it would click, but I wasn't sure why it did on his. And I did ask him about this because he came up to my radio show and then really soon after. And it's nothing I had ever considered because being a woman, especially at that time, you didn't have that sense of entitlement that, oh, he's going to ask me to play. It would never even have occurred in my head that that would be even a remote possibility. And he said, you know, why don't you come play some records with me? And I was like, what? You know, I couldn't believe it. And so I did. And I played just, you know, then we became more friendly and just started hanging out with him more, going over to his place during the week, playing some new records. He kind of, I think, also looked to me to bring in a lot of new music because I had a good ear, you know, and I knew some of the newer tunes that would really work. I felt on the floor of being a dancer first, you know. And yeah, we just got tighter and tighter. And then when I said I was, you know, I had thought of an idea for him. I mean, he was really suffering. I think people don't realize how bad it was for him in the 90s. He was betrayed a lot. And, you know, he's a very trusting man. He was a very trusting man and, you know, quite open. And the whole loft ideal is quite open. And there have been people that have taken advantage of it for their own purposes. And he was very protective over it. And but he got taken advantage of a few times like everybody does, but quite badly. And in the 90s, it was difficult. So I think there was me and another guy named Goshi who really, really helped him. We were kind of like young blood, really, that we're just trying to help him kind of get through. And that's when I came up with the idea for the compilations. We did those compilations, which were really groundbreaking at the time. I mean, now you might look at those and say, oh, I know that song. I know that song. But at the time in the late 1990s, it wasn't as popular and well known. And people didn't know David's story. And what better way to do it than through music? So that was really a big thing. And then we started parties over here. And he and I played in different parties around the around Europe and even in Russia, believe it or not, you know, smoking pot out of the hotel room. And we also saw Condoleezza Rice, you know, march through our hotel. It was crazy. We had such a crazy time. And we had just we just worked a lot together. It just became closer and closer until. Yeah, amazing.   [Maria] And for those that are listening and don't know, David Mancuso was an incredible. He calls himself a selector, right, rather than a DJ. And he put on these amazing loft parties in New York. But how did they actually start? Because I was listening to another interview of yours. And he was saying that they started in his home, right?   [Colleen] They were always in his home. Up until the last the first the last party I played at New York before I moved here was in 1999. And it was Valentine's Day. It was the day before I moved here as my going away. And that was the first time he rented a space.   [Maria] OK.   [Colleen] But in the 90s, there were three different places in the East Village. Gentrification was happening. It was really hard, you know, when he started his parties, you know, you know, New York, you know, even Ford said, you know, that he wasn't going to help, you know, President Ford said he wasn't going to help New York. It was a really difficult place to live in. It wasn't like it was in the mid 80s when stockbrokers and people started moving in and they wanted to bring the suburbs to New York City. It was difficult, but the rents were cheap. And so it was a very different kind of terrain, a different landscape. So you could have parties in your loft until whatever time. So he had started doing parties actually in the 60s, just having friends over. He was really into audio. He loves music. He just put some records on. People would start dancing. But then he formalized it on Valentine's Day 1970 with a party called Love Saves the Day. Still private. He wanted to know who was coming into his home. It wasn't like a sign up membership where you paid like the Paradise Garage. That was always a bone of contention with him. Any paid membership was a real bone of contention. But you would have a contribution. You'd make a contribution. It was based on the rent parties in Harlem because, you know, all these people, these African-Americans had moved from the South to the North and they weren't really allowed or really welcome at a lot of the white establishments. So they did their own thing and they would do their own thing in their own homes. And they'd have bands and DJs in their own homes. And you would pay, you know, for I hate to say a fee, but that's what it is, I guess. A contribution, as David would call it, you know, to attend and to help out the people. And that's kind of what he based it on. And it ended up becoming hugely popular. And it ended up influencing so many other clubs from the very commercial clubs uptown like Studio 54 actually was also influenced by The Loft to a degree. Even though it had a very different principle to other parties and clubs like the Paradise Garage.   [Maria] I love that. That's so iconic. And you two had such a deep musical connection. You touched on a little bit there. But why do you think there was such synergy between you?   [Colleen] I think there's a few things. I think David was very in touch with his feminine side. He was a gay man who really promoted women. He did so at a time when it wasn't as fashionable. You know, I would say women's rights has never been hugely fashionable. And he lived it and supported it right from the start in so many different ways. Whether he would invite single mothers to come along and bring their children to he is the one who would ask women to play. Now, I was a third woman he asked to play. There was a woman, Freddie Taylor, in the 70s. It was my friend, Elise Tifanyshyn, in the 80s and me in the 90s. And even when he chose his board, he chose three women and only one guy. So I think the women thing is massive, was massive for David. And he even said when he asked me to chair his board, he said, one of the reasons is you're a woman. He was very clear about that. So I think that was one of the connections. He was really in touch with his feminine side. He used to call us Yin and Yang, me and him. And I asked him, why did he try? I was younger than 25 when I started playing records with him. I'm like, how did he even trust me? The equipment, the cartridge cost $2,000 30 years ago. Yeah. And he said, it just starts with a vibe long before one hits the turntable. I think also we had a shared sense of what music meant and sound. I had already studied sound, obviously. And then also a kind of basis in music. I think we shared some of the same favorite albums, Astral Weeks. As I said to you, I was really a 60s music aficionado. And that's his background as well. So I think also there was a certain openness of spirit and also a spiritual connection, which is something that sounds corny talking about it, but it was there. I had already lived in Japan, studied Zen Buddhism, and done all sorts of work on myself before I even met David. And he had gone through the same thing in the late 1960s. So you meet your tribe.   [Maria] Yeah, for sure. It sounds like you two had the most wonderful friendship.   [Colleen] We did.   [Maria] And a little quote here that he said about you, she's one of the only people I would trust both with the music and with the equipment to fill in for me.   [Colleen] Yeah, I know. I mean, it's quite something, especially because I was so young.   [Maria] But he saw it right then. And obviously he was right.   [Colleen] That's what he said. I was surprised. So yeah, he called me his daughter, which is beautiful.   [Maria] And then still sort of sticking to New York, I know that you presented one of New York's most important house music shows, Club 89. And as someone that loves my kind of soulful house stuff, I'd love to know more about kind of the format of the show and the types of guests you had on.   [Colleen] Yeah, it was a lot of fun. So basically on WNYU, we had two anchor shows that went five days a week. One was called the New Afternoon Show, which was four to 730 evening drive. And that was more of the alternative show. And that's the show I hosted in the 1980s. Then the station asked me back and I had gotten into all this dance music. That's when I used the name Cosmo again, because I thought I would confuse my listeners. Like she was the one that did the 60s psychedelic show and the alternative show. What's she doing now? I did a show called Soul School that was playing all these, this music I was hearing at the loft and other clubs like The Shelter, House Nation, Afterlife, went out to a lot of different clubs. And then they asked me to do the Club 89 on Tuesday nights, which was again, five nights a week, 1030 to one. And this one you could mix. We only had turntables. There was no CD players. And we had, you know, you have brought in a DJ mixer. And I kind of learned to mix as well on the radio, which was kind of crazy because you're using a radio board, which is completely different to a mixing board. There's a buffer and a delay between the cue and the program. And especially your monitors might be, you might have the air signal, which has another delay. So it's really difficult. Plus I was mixing disco, which is not like to the beat. It's live bands. So I can't even believe I did that because I listened back to a couple of some of them like, Jesus, that was a terrible mix. Oh my God. And what was I doing? But there were some good ones too. And I was really proud of them. But then Club 89 was great because, you know, I played lots of new music. I was really the only DJ in New York to really be playing imports as well because I worked at a record shop. So it wasn't just the kind of soulful house tunes from New Jersey and New York. I was playing French stuff, the stuff from the UK, a lot of Idja boys, phase action, the new phonics stuff. I was playing Japanese stuff as well. So it's kind of playing a lot of different imports. And I had a lot of guests. I had Little Lewis. I had Rome Anthony. I had Francois K, Joe Clausell, Danny Krivett. David, of course, came up to my other show, Soul School. I had Joy Cardwell, Sable Jeffries, Kenny Bobian. So many legends, yeah. Global Communications. Yeah, a lot of legends. And, you know, it was interesting because I didn't know Louis Vega, even though he came into the radio show. I mean, he came into dance tracks where I worked. I didn't know him well, and I'm not one of those people that goes up and introduces myself. Hi, hi. You know, I'm not like that. A bit shyer, believe it or not. And I thought from my last show when I announced I was leaving, this one person I really want to get up, and that's Louis Vega. He's massive, you know, massive legend. And this is 1999. He jumped at the chance. He brought up his own sound system. Wow. Three turntables. They did an installation. He thanked me. And we've been friends ever since. And I couldn't believe it. I honestly could not believe it. I didn't realize how important the show was until I announced my departure. And I got all these letters. And I have even from listeners who still follow me today. We saw that earlier. It's incredible. And it just really meant something to a lot of people. That's how they had discovered house music or whatever. And I always had a connection with my listeners. We would do shout outs, you know, and I'd have someone doing the phones and we'd shout out to everyone listening who called in. And I don't know. It was a really magical time. And I'm just so thankful that I was able to be part of that and to have those shows. They were just so incredible.   [Maria] That's amazing to hear. I love that. I got the chance to chat to Louis out here last year. And yeah, he is just so nice. Just his sets as well that we out here were incredible with elements of life. And then in Love Dancing, which we'll touch on. Yeah, that's a whole nother thing. We'll play a song and then we'll talk about that because I'd love to know more. But which song would you like to play next, Colleen?   [Colleen] Well, as we were talking about David, I thought we would play a song that David turned me on to. And that is a loft classic. And it's something that's really beautiful. And it's something I really agree with the sentiment. It's brass construction. Music makes you feel like dancing. [Maria] So we are vibing out in the studio to this one. It's sounding so good. And we're loving the female energy in the room.   [Colleen] Absolutely. Five of us.   [Maria] Go on, girls. Go on, girls. Loving it. Starting the weekend the right way. So, Colleen, next I wanted to chat about Love Dancing and also we out here. So Love Dancing is always such a highlight of we out here. And last year was no different. I mean, that 10, just next level. So I want to know, how did you and Giles first meet? And how did that come about?   [Colleen] I think Giles, I can't remember how we first met. I mean, I used to go to Bar Roomba when I moved over. And I think the first time we properly hung out, we did a classic album Sundays together on Sun Ra. And after that, when he started Worldwide FM, he got in touch, said, I want you to be one of the DJs here. And believe it or not, at that time, I was considering to stop DJing for various reasons. I found that after having a child 20 years ago, it was very difficult and not having a child. Well, of course it is. But, you know, wonderful. But yeah, I mean, you know, I wasn't getting booked. A lot of people had forgotten about me and stuff. So I had started Classic Album Sundays. And I dove into that. And I really just, that's all I wanted to do. And so when he asked me to join the station, I said, I just want to do Classic Album Sundays. I don't really want to do anything else. I don't know if I want to DJ anymore. He kind of made me. I finally started doing it, kicking and screaming. And then he booked me for Worldwide Festival down the south of France. And I played with him. And it was great. We just had a great time. So when he started we out here, he said, you know, I'd love you to bring your sound system and to host a tent. And so we did. And it's just become, as you said, you know, thankfully a highlight of the festival. We have great, you know, we have Trojan sound system. The Thursday. Mr. Scruff programs the Friday. Saturday is the Cosmodelica takeover. And Sunday is Dingwalls. And our sound system is just, you know, we have Danley sound on the speakers. We have a lot of audio partners like Audio Technica, Master Sounds, Core, DCS, and Loud and Clear. And they all kind of help us put together this amazing system that we are, you know, we're going to looking to tour it as well now. But it's not just the sound system is part of it. But it's also the people that we have playing. They bring all different kinds of people to the tent. And there's all different ages, genders, backgrounds. And it's a really unifying experience. And it's just, it's like the hangout at the festival, you know, backstage in our tent. That's where everyone hangs out. Even the people who are DJing at other places come and hang out in our tent. And it's just a really, really great vibe. And I'm just, I'm really proud of it. Hugely proud of it. People really love the energy in there. And the sound, I think because the sound is so great, that that affects people more than they really think. I mean, when you are just listening to things like distortion, it's not good for you. I mean, some music has distortion in it. But I'm just saying when you're listening to a distorted sound system, it's going to affect your whole demeanor. And people don't even realize it. But when it's really great sound, they can listen for hours. So yeah, and there's a wooden dance floor. Yes. So people can properly dance, you know? I mean, try to dance on grass or sand. It's terrible. It's really difficult. So yeah, people go for it. So we get some of the old school dancers and the newer dancers.   [Maria] And there was amazing improvised dance this side of Louie's set.   [Colleen] Oh my gosh.   [Maria] Honestly, I couldn't believe it. I couldn't move. I was like, I'm staying here all day. I just sat there like, I need to go.   [Colleen] It was incredible. Absolutely incredible. I love having those dancers there with us.   [Maria] People just really do. Like you said, they let loose. Like everyone around me wasn't just like two-stepping and trying to act cool. They were fully going for it, sweating, like just loving it. It was just electric energy in there.   [Colleen] It was nice. And this year as well, I felt there was more of a queer energy on my night. It was really great. These two guys kind of got up. One was in a veil and his pants and just dancing. It was just really fun. I really liked that they felt safe enough to kind of jump up on the speaker stacks. I'm not encouraging everybody to do that. They were very good in terms of, it was just really great to see that.   [Maria] Yeah, 100%. And I saw Muscle Car sat in there.   [Colleen] Yes, because I had wanted them. I asked for them to come right after the year before because I've been following their stuff and they're great guys. You know, they're friends now. Yeah. And I think it's really important to help the younger generations. I had that help. I mean, especially as a woman at a time when it really wasn't that popular for women to be doing this. I had a lot of people looking out for me to help me. Not just David, but Francois K, Joe Clossel got me a dance tracks. People got me on the radio. There's always people that help you. And if I'm in a position to help others, then I'm going to do that. And so that's another thing I really like about it. I try to book younger people, but also people like my age and also all genders and just really try to make sure that, you know, people are getting support. You know.   [Maria] I love that. That's amazing. And then I wanted to talk about, we've got about 10 minutes, but we need to talk about Balearic Breakfast.   [Colleen] Oh, yes. Yeah.   [Maria] Of course. Of course. So that began on Worldwide FM during the first lockdown, right?   [Colleen] 2020.   [Maria] And that was when you filled in for Giles Peterson. And then he loved it so much that he asked you to take over the slot, which is incredible.   [Colleen] It really is incredible. It started as a show with a terrible name called Summer's Vacation. You know, because he was going away for the summer. And, you know, I wasn't going anywhere. I know some people are flying off to places. I never got on a plane for like a year and a half. I never went anywhere. And many of us weren't. And so we were having a summer's vacation. And I also did it as a request show because during the pandemic, I felt like people needed community and musical conversation. And it was also more fun for me to do request shows because, you know, I was doing so many shows. It kind of made me rediscover my music collection. Plus it also turned me on to new artists. I mean, I loved that. I loved how there was like a family and a community that was evolving with this. That was really hugely important to me. And, you know, I had a captive audience, obviously it was a pandemic. And I was broadcasting from my front room, which I still do from the record room, which I think kind of gives a more natural feeling. You know, whether it's my emotional state at the time or how relaxed I am, it's very different just broadcasting from your house, like just going downstairs and, you know, broadcasting. But yeah, it really, I think it just, you know, it's a show that doesn't really have one musical style. I think that's another reason why it appeals to people. There's a lot of different things on there. It could go from spiritual jazz to even techno sometimes. I mean, it's kind of gone the gamut, you know. But I think there's a musical flow and it's just such a joy. It's really such a joy to host. And this year, the fourth Balearic Breakfast compilation is coming out as well. So it's been really great. And we're doing parties and I'm doing some parties at NT's loft.   [Maria] I mean, I love it there, yeah.   [Colleen] Yeah.   [Maria] That's so cool. Yeah, you can tell that you definitely love doing it. Yeah, you can tell it's so joyful. And I think a word that a lot of people have used with the show is kind of healing, especially in lockdown. It got a lot of people through. Why do you think that people resonated so much with that and still listen to it today?   [Colleen] I think live radio is really important. There's a lot of radio shows where people just like give a mix or whatever and they don't really communicate. And I'm a communicator first. I started on the radio before I started as a DJ. So it's all about communication and making people feel part of something. And I think the fact that it was live in real time was one of those aspects that really made it connect with people. They knew. And then I think even now when I stream live on Mixcloud, the family gathers. It's like all these people from all over the world, Asia, South America, I mean, all over. It's incredible. All different time zones. So I think it's the fact that they feel part of something and there's that live connection. And I think also if you put your passion into something and it's real and authentic, the right people pick up on that.   [Maria] Definitely. And we've seen that today. I think something so nice about all your shows and everything you do, even like guesting on my show today, you've got such like the same listeners are tuned in today, supporting them all in the chat. We just had the next show come in and she's a big fan. And it's so special. It seems like what you do really does resonate with so many people. And you can see it in the chat, the way they come to your parties, the way that, yeah, are we out here? You really like, you mean a lot to people and your passion for music is incredible. So, yeah.   [Colleen] Well, they mean a lot to me because without them, I wouldn't be able to do this. I mean, having to be able to, you know, support myself in music nearly in my entire life, actually my entire life, that's a privilege. And I don't take it lightly. I've worked, I've worked hard for it. And I've put up with a lot more than people will ever know. But at the end of the day, it's still a privilege. I mean, the fact that I have this life, that I can play music for a living and talk about music for a living, you know, I never forget how lucky I am. And it's the truth. You know, there's a lot of suffering out there and I'm really, really, really lucky.   [Maria] Yeah, that's amazing. We've got only a few minutes left and I do want to play one last track, Colleen. But before we do that, could we also hear when your next party is? Because it's in March, it's coming up. So tell us in detail.   [Colleen] Yeah, our next London Loft party's on the 9th of March. And we do have a mailing list. If anyone wants to come along or join, you just email thelondonloft at loftparty.org . And we're doing four parties a year. The next one will be June, then September, then December again. So we have that going on, which is really great. And yeah, so other things happening, you know, I have the next compilations coming out this summer, a bunch of remixes. I just remixed Saint Etienne. And that's coming out on my compilation as well. And then I just remixed, I just wish I could say if I can, one of my favorite bands from the age of 14 on. Oh, wow, okay. And I got a call from the head of this band to ask me to remix one of their songs. And I am like, just, I literally cried in the studio. I mean, I don't even, I can't wait to announce it. But, and then right now I'm remixing a band called The Street People from the 70s, a great New Jersey soul act. And then I'm remixing another band called Santino Surfers from Music for Dreams. There's been a lot of studio work this year, which has been great. You know, I love it. I love it.   [Maria] Well, thank you so much, Colleen, for coming on the show. It's been such a pleasure to have you. And thank you for everything you do. I know at Voices, we've got so many fans of yours. So this was a super special show to have you on. And yeah, tell us what you're going to end on today.   [Colleen] I'm going to end with this song, Glory Ann Taylor, Love is a Hurtin' Thing. It's a beautiful old soul song. And it's coming out on the next Balearic Breakfast compilation. And it's just a beautiful groover for a morning show. Perfect. Let's do it. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy broadcast the 206th episode of Balearic Breakfast on her Mixcloud on January 07th 2025. About this episode. – There's no better way to start a new year than listening to Balearic Breakfast with Colleen behind the decks and the Balearic Breakfast Family on the Mixcloud chat. When Colleen streamed the last episode on December 24th, 2024, we were all sad to hear that there would be no show on December, 31st! Even with the best of efforts, Colleen could not have streamed the show as she was playing that very night at Lafayette London alongside other great acts, such as Dimitri From Paris, Bill Brewster etc. Sadened, we said to ourselves that the pleasure would be even greater on January 7th and we thus eagerly waited for the request line to open, which ultimately happened this Saturday when Colleen wrote on her socials " Good morning! On the brink of a new dawn - or at least we hope! What would you like to hear this Tuesday on Balearic Breakfast? Which song will set us up for the new year ahead? Please join in the live stream this Tuesday from 10am to 12 pm on my Mixcloud Live for the show and family chat. I look forward to your suggestions and enjoy your weekend " Today's episode was a peaceful musical trip with a beautifully rhythmically evolving soul, always keeping an open and relaxed spirit! We were all so happy to be together again, sharing bits of happiness and sadness of our lives, supporting one another, and the chat was bouncing from hapîness indeed! We'll discover more of that in the listening experience part of this post but for now, let's give Colleen the final word: "This morning’s Balearic Breakfast is now archived on my Mixcloud at https://tinyurl.com/5nwxny8v (and please give me a follow while you’re over there). It was lovely to see so many members of the BB family from all corners of the globe on the chat group this morning and thank you for sharing your new year’s resolutions. This week’s show is mainly your requests for songs that will help us start the new year on the right foot. Once again, thank you for sharing your musical discoveries. And of course we close the show with a tribute to the DJ Alfredo as our friend Uncool jag said of the late Argentian DJ who made his name in Ibiza: “Without this beautiful human being none of us would be here today celebrating the beat that is balearic.” Word. And please excuse my proud mum moment, but the latest edition of my daughter Ariana Dewhurst’s Pirate Material radio show on The Boatpod is up on Mixcloud: I’ll be back streaming live on my Mixcloud next Tuesday and will get to more of your requests – as always there were so many great ones that I was unable to squeeze them all into one show. Here’s to another year of shared musical discoveries with the Balearic Breakfast community. Thanks for being part of it and thanks for listening." THE PLAYLIST ( 1959 ) Bill Evans – Peace Piece ( 2009 ) Jonathan Jeremiah   – Happiness (Morgan Geist’s Port Authority Remix) ( 1985 ) Sheila Chandra   – The Awakening ( 2024 ) God Colony ft Roy   – Loss is Not Infinite ( 1978 ) Sonya Spence   – Peace and Unity ( 1980 ) Dennis Brown   – Sitting and Watching ( 1991 ) Ryuichi Sakamoto & David Sylvian  – Heartbeat (Tainai Kaiki II) ( 1984 ) Everything But the Girl   – Each and Every One ( 1973 ) Marlena Shaw   – The Feeling’s Good ( 1981 ) Marti Caine   – The Way You Love Me ( 1980 ) Rockie Robbins   – You and Me ( 1993 ) Paris   – Assata’s Song (Remix) ( 1983 ) June Millington   – Don’t Be Careless with Your Love ( 1976 ) Ananda Shankar   – Cyrus ( 2007 ) Uyama Hiroto   – Windspeaks ( 1980 ) MFSB   – Mysteries of the World ( 1992 ) Cajmere ft Dajae   – Brighter Days (Masters at Work Remix / Kai Alcé Edit) ( 2022 ) The Style Council  – Promised Land (Juan Atkins Remix) ( 1973 ) First Choice   – Love and Happiness ( 2022 ) Deniece Williams   – Free (Dave Lee Rework) ( 1981 ) Mike Post ft Larry Carlton   – Theme from Hill Street Blues THE LISTENING EXPERIENCE Starting the show with Bill Evan 's " Peace Piece " , as always, Colleen perfectly set the tone for today's show, but, for me, this episode shines even more than some of her best ones because this feeling of Belonging There, in the calm moment, will linger on throughout the rest of the show. Also, Colleen will allow the Balearicans to share with her a few of their resolutions for the new year, something she didn't do for quite some time during the last episodes, and something I missed as it is another example of how greatly she's able to craft that intellectual unity with us, her listeners... As you can see, today's show is all about enjoying the calm moment, both musically and Intellectually, the sense of unity is here immaculate and bringing the warmth we all need in these frozen times... The peaceful musical moment will accompany us for quite a long time during this episode, with tracks like Happiness / The Awakening / Loss is Not Infinite . Even with the rhythm slightly stepping up with Sonya Spence 's Peace and Unity perfectly followed by Dennis Brown 's Sitting and Watching , the feeling is very relaxed because of the time Colleen took to let the music sink into our souls... Of Course, with Colleen behind the decks, there's never anything you can take for granted, and ending the second mix of today's episode with the great Heartbeat (Tainai Kaiki II) , tends to show you how much crafting a vibe is always about the Intention... Colleen ends the first hour of the show with a groovy/sexy little mix, letting the sunshine in our brains, it's all about those "Peaceful Grooves" , ain't it? 😉 Listen to how Colleen gradually steps up the rhythm today, still keeping the open and free spirit alive and well, Assata's Song (along with Ananda Shankar 's Cyrus ) being a wonderful example of that and also perfectly fitting to today's post title! Today's show is such a musical wave! The last 40 minutes of today's episode made us all lose our minds, both because of Colleen's selections and because of Colleen's mixing, winning undoubtedly the Wow Moment ! COLLEEN'S PRESENTATION I Peace Piece from the album " Everybody Digs Bill Evans " . And that may actually be true. The late pianist, composer, and arranger is beloved due to his unique use of harmony and melody, block chords, chord voicing. He influenced so many musicians and many of his songs have become jazz standards, including the one we just heard, Peace Piece . In fact, you've probably heard the motif in the opening notes to Flamenco Sketch's Miles Davis's album Kind of Blue, the seminal jazz LP on which Bill Evans also performed. Miles certainly had an ear for the best collaborators. And I really feel the sentiment of "Peace Piece" , and it was a great way, I feel it's a great way to launch Balearic Breakfast in 2025. And thank you to Artur in Paris for that request. Good morning, I'm Colleen Cosmo Murphy hosting your weekly Balearic Breakfast on my MixCloud Live until high noon, and greetings to all of the fam over in the chat group. It's great to be together as we embark upon a new year and a new journey. I hope you had a restful and restorative holiday season. I certainly did. Catching up with my nearest and dearest, taking some forest walks, baking an array of Italian goods and sweets, reading, listening to music, watching films, eating and drinking too much. I even had an uninterrupted eight-hour sleep last week, which is rather astonishing as that only happens a couple times a year. So my manifestation, what I want to manifest this year is to make an effort to not overschedule myself and to get more sleep as I've really overscheduled myself for most of my life. So I'm going to try to make a change this year in 2025. And if any of you in the chat group have a New Year's resolution you would like to share, please write it out and please post. Now today's show is all of your requests and most of them are songs that are pertinent to new beginnings. And of course, I couldn't get to all of them. So many will spill over onto next week's show. And in fact, some of them are from last month anyways, as I felt they were more relevant to listen to in the new year, like this next one, which is a request from Dalfredo for London singer-songwriter Jonathan Jeremiah , who has five studio albums under his belt. And this is a remix of the title track of his debut 2009 LP, Jonathan Jeremiah with the Morgan Geist Port Authority remix of Happiness . II Well, I think that may be my new favorite song. Love that one. London Liverpool duo God Colony . They founded the label Crack Copies and that featured Liverpool writer Roy , who released his debut collection of short stories, Algorithm Party , which is a view of Liverpool through different characters' eyes. And Loss is Not Infinite , which is the song that we just heard. It's also a short story from that collection. And we just heard the production by God Colony and all digital sales of that song in 2024, or in 2024, maybe still 2025, I hope, go to Damien John Kelly House , which is a center in Liverpool for men recovering from addiction. I absolutely love that one. And thank you to Matt Raistrick for that request. Ahead of that, former Monsoon frontwoman and celebrated solo artist Sheila Chandra with The Awakening from her 1985 LP Nada Brahma, Sound is God . And it's also found on the Naya Beat Vol. 1 compilation . And if you don't know Naya Beat , you should. It's a great label that's reissuing and releasing music from the South Asian subcontinent and diaspora. And this is the label that were behind all of the recent Asha Putli remixes. That was a request from Gareth Bratman, who wrote " Thanks, Colleen and everyone for all the great music I've discovered via this community in 2024. And this song, The Awakening by Sheila Chandra, seems appropriate for a New Year suggestion. And wishing everyone a healthy and happy 2025 ". Also, Ana Sancho in Barcelona resolves to "listen to more music in 2025" . Very worthy, Ana, I'm with you. And Terry Fincham, we send condolences to you. He lost a dear friend this past weekend, totally unexpected. And his resolution is "to not take anything for granted and to appreciate everything I've got" . And that... those are definitely amazing words and something we should always, always remember, no matter how tough things may seem to be, try to look for the beauty in life. Name three things that happened good today. That's what we try to do before we go to sleep. Okay, this next one is a request from our friend Kieran McCann up in Glasgow, who hosts the Coorie Doon parties. He requested this one. It's a great message. Peace and Unity by Sonya Spence on Balearic Breakfast. III Wow, thank you to Carl Banatov in Canada for that request. I just absolutely love that song. Ryuichi Sakamoto and David Silvian with Heartbeat , Tanai Kaiki 2 from Sakamoto's 1991 LP Heartbeat . And that was a very poignant request for me because I actually interviewed Sakamoto for that album that year when I was hosting and producing syndicated radio shows in the USA. And I had been a huge fan of Sakamoto since seeing him on Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, because I was a huge Bowie fan. And then I went down that hole and went through all of his solo work and down the rabbit hole of Yellow Magic Orchestra. Such a beautiful song. And David Silvian was formerly of the band Japan. And in fact, while David was working on the single, he met Ingrid Chavez, who is also on the album. And she's a singer and actress who had been a member of Prince's inner circle. And that same year, Silvian and Chavez married and moved to Minneapolis where they had some children. So a beautiful, beautiful song. Ahead of that, the 1979 single from my favorite Jamaican singer, Dennis Brown , the song Sitting and Watching , as requested by Josh Halsell, who said he discovered the song on the show. And he says it brings him joy and happiness every time, but it also makes his loudspeakers dislike him. So I think I can understand that sentiment. Nice, heavy, heavy bass there. We have a few more resolutions from the family on the chat group. Dancing James's resolution is "to keep clearing up while he cooks and to declutter the kitchen" . My husband, Adam, you might want to take a few... No, just joking! I just got the finger! Ha ha ha ha!! And Poppy Shepard says her New Year's resolution. This is a really good one! As well as decluttering the kitchen, James. But this is another good one! Poppy Shepard's is "to pick up the phone and make phone calls, not WhatsApp messaging, actual speaking conversations. It's much more personal" . And I have to say, as a Gen Xer, I do that quite a bit. And every time I suggest this to a Gen Zer or a millennial, they look like it's shock and it's like, no, pick up the phone, have a conversation. It's so much nicer. Okay, now a lovely request from Paolo Corsalini for the English duo comprised of Tracy Thorne and Ben Watt , Everything But The Girl . And this is their second single, which came out a staggering 40 years ago. And the couple are still going strong today, having released their 11th album, Fuse , in 2023. And of course, Tracy Thorne has written four books. I absolutely love Bedsit, Disco Queen, how I grew up and tried to be a pop star . And next on my list is My rock and roll friend , which focuses on her relationship and friendship with Lindy Morrison of The Go-Betweens , and reflects upon the experiences of female musicians in the male-dominated music scene. And speaking for myself as a DJ for nearly four decades, I'm sure I'll find some shared experiences there. In any case, let's get on with the music, Everything But The Girl with Each and Every One. IV Oh my goodness, I'm getting into a blue light mood, Bert. That's Minneapolis soul singer Rockie Robbins with his biggest hit, You and Me , the title track of his 1980 LP. And it was the singer's only big hit, and it reached the R&B Top 10. It was produced by Bobby Martin, who worked with Billy Paul on Me and Mrs. Jones. And thanks to our friend Bert Francois in Brooklyn for that blue light special request. Ahead of that, the late English singer, writer, comedian, actress, and presenter Margie Kane with her 1981 single, The Way You Love Me . And that's a Balearic Breakfast favorite. And yes, I've played that one before. But Emily Pictures Paradise wooed me with her request, stating, "Thank you for a great Christmas Balearic Breakfast show. So wonderful and uplifting. I hope you play in the Northwest this year, Colleen. The Golden Lion in Todmorden is a wonderful intimate venue. Crazy P and Richard Senn did some great DJ sets there. And maybe we'll be lucky enough to have you play there one day." So let's try to manifest that, okay? Ahead of that, we had The Feeling's Good as performed by the late American singer Marlena Shaw , who sadly passed away at the beginning of 2024. It's from her 1973 LP, From the Depths of My Soul . Shaw launched her career in the jazz clubs of New York City and Chicago. And it was there where she was discovered by Chess and Cadet Records , and her career really began to take off, especially with her version of the Ashford and Simpson penned California Soul. And thank you to Sue Forrest for that contribution. Okay, we have a few more New Year's resolutions from the fam. Matt Raistrick says he "resolves to listen and to make time to listen to more albums" . And that's probably what he tries to do every year, though. But just keep trying, Matt. Just keep trying. Ahead of that, Terrence the DJ says his or her "New Year's resolution is to re-record a mixtape I had back in 1993. I've tracked most of the records down and need to record them as I lost that tape years ago." Well, good luck with that. And Dancing James, along with Trying to Clean Up the Kitchen Atom, he also says "he wants to take some dance classes" . And I think that's a really great idea. I've always wanted to do that as well. I tried taking one dance class once. I lasted for one class because I'm left-handed. And every time I just kept getting the directions, you know, wrong. They'd go right, I'd go left, because that's my natural way to go. You know, just, you know, always contrary, what can I say? So I like that resolution. Okay, let's move on with the music. This is a request from Luca Ospitone in Sardinia for the San Francisco socio-political rapper Paris . It's his 1992 single, Assata's Song , from the LP Sleeping with the Enemy . And Paris, aka Oscar Jerome Jackson , is also the founder of Gorilla Funk Recordings and Scarface Records . And he also mentored artists such as DJ Shadow and the Conscious Daughters. And here he is with Assata's Song. V Ananda Shankar with Cyrus , and that's from the LP Ananda Shankar and His Music , released on Mr. Bongo. And that's the Indian sitarist, composer, and musician, who was the nephew of Ravi Shankar . And Ananda's musical family was very, very prestigious, and his upbringing led to a deep respect and love of the wealth of music that emanated from his birthplace. And his travels to the West Coast of America in the late 1960s saw Shankar immerse in the full swing of psychedelic rock. So there's a lot of different covers on this album. Highly recommended, and I hope you like that one here on Balearic Breakfast. Ahead of that, we had the Filipina-American guitarist, songwriter, producer, and educator, June Millington , with her 1983 single, Don't Be Careless With Your Love . Good advice for the year ahead from our friend Christina Da Souza. And Millington was the founder of the groups Svelt and Wild Honey , before becoming co-founder and lead guitarist of the early 1970s all-female rock band Fanny . Millington has been called a godmother of women's music, and she's also the co-founder and artistic director of the Institute for the Musical Arts in my native Massachusetts. And I look forward to investigating her more, because she sounds like a really incredible woman. Ahead of that, we have Paris with Assata's song , the remix, as requested by Luca Ospitone. Okay, this next one is a great request from our friend Ralph Odafred in New York. It's for Japanese saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Uyama Hiroto , and the song is Wind Speaks . It's from the compilation Hideout Productions' second collection , which is mainly a hip-hop compilation featuring mainly the late Japanese hip-hop artist Nujabes , with whom Hiroto and Uyama collaborated. And Uyama also has four solo albums, which I look forward to researching further. And thank you again to Ralph Odafred for this one, Wind Speaks . VI MFSB , or Mother, Father, Sister, Brother, with Mysteries of the World . Absolutely love that song. And gosh, what a lineup with MFSB. I guess they were kind of like the studio band for Sigma Sound Studios, and put together by Gamble & Huff for their Philly International to back a lot of the different artists they had performing on the label. But gosh, if you take a look and see who performed, it's incredible. You have Ronnie Baker, Tom Bell, Bobby Eli, John Davis, Norman Harris, Leon Huff. Good God. Vince Montana, Dexter Wenzel, Earl Young, you know, the drummer from The Tramps. So just an all-star lineup. And that was a request from Steve Wakley , who said he just absolutely loves that song, the title track to their 1980 LP. He said, it's been going around his head these past few days, and it's as exciting to his ears as when he first heard it. Always great to dance with its relentless bassline, floaty keys, layers of guitars and strings, and that spooky opening and gentle strings into the bass, a superb track. Ahead of that, we had a great tune from Yama Hiroto , Wind Speaks , and that's a request from Ralph Odafred. Okay, this next one is a request from our friend Barry Zerr, or Bear Nitz, in Washington, D.C. And I'm really excited as I'm heading to Washington, D.C. Well, I'm not excited for who's going to be in the office at that point in time, let me just say. But I'm very excited to actually be DJing there. It's the first time, I think it's the first time I'm DJing there ever. It's going to be on Valentine's Day, the 14th of February, and I'm playing for For Your Pleasure at 618 D.C. And I'm going to meet Barry for the first time. And he has this request here. First of all, I should say he has a resolution, is "to save as much money as possible to cover the cost of shipping all the amazing records I buy, thanks to all of the great selections Colleen and the Balearic Breakfast community shares" . So yeah, maybe I can bring some records over for you, if I have room in my record bag. Also, I should say James Bilderguy has a really good one too. His resolution is "to try and see more live music. We have a lot of fantastic clubs here in Glasgow, but I'm ashamed to say I can probably count on one hand the amount of live events I've been to, and I need to do more exploring" , and I share that sentiment. But back to the clubs, this is a request from Barry Berenitz for a club classic, Cajmere , featuring Daje with Brighter Days , the Masters at Work remix, and it's the Kai Alsay edit on Balearic Breakfast. VII Deniece Williams with the song Free , the Dave Lee rework, as requested by Real Trini Food, which is Franka Phillips . She's a food writer in Trinidad and Tobago, and gosh, the food from Trinidad and Tobago is top-notch. And such a beautiful song. I played that as my last tune at Coorie Doon Party , Kieran McCann 's party up in Glasgow, and somebody took a little video, and I posted it up, and that Reel got some traction, so that really encouraged Franca to request that song. She said she watched that Reel over and over and over again. Ahead of that, we had a request from David Stoddard for First Choice , Love and Happiness , and that's from their debut LP, 1973's Armed and Extremely Dangerous , and they began singing in high school as the Debonettes, and then performed in clubs after school in Philadelphia, and then they were introduced to Norman Harris, who produced that song. Just absolutely love that one. A great way to start the year. As was the song before, Paul Weller 's Style Council's cover of the 1988 Joe Smooth classic, with a remix by Juan Atkins, and that was requested by Love Vigilantes, and Smooth got the idea for the original song, Promised Land, while he was on tour in Europe with Farley Jack Master Funk, and he saw how house music was doing here in Europe, and he wrote that song with inspiration from classic Motown songs, and he had a hit. He had a classic song, and he had a hit over here in the UK, at least. And starting it off with Cajmere , featuring Daje, Brighter Days , the Masters at Work remix, and the Kai Alce edit. All right, this is Colleen Cosmo Murphy signing off another week's show of Balearic Breakfast. I will be back next Tuesday, finishing up some more requests. There were so many great ones, I couldn't get to all of them, but I had to leave this song for last, in memory of the late DJ Alfredo , who passed in the next realm in December, just before Christmas. This is a song he was known for playing. The Argentinian-born DJ made his name in Ibiza, especially at his residency at Amnesia, where people from all over the world gathered, and he had to please so many different ears, and he did so with aplomb. A really eclectic mix of music, everything from new wave to all different things, movie soundtracks and dance songs, all different things that he wove together into a great journey, a musical journey for his dancers, and this is one that he's really known for. It was requested by both Steve Clark and Uncle Jag. And Uncle Jag said, "without this beautiful human being, none of us would be here today, celebrating the beat that is Balearic" . And I was very lucky and privileged to meet him, and play with him, actually, back to back at the Beat Hotel in 2021. And you can find that mix, I think it's on Worldwide FM, I had it on a Baleric Breakfast show. He was a lovely human being. We had dinner before we played. It was the only time I got to meet him, and he was so humble, such a wonderful man. And it was just kind of interesting, all these different DJs that he inspired, you know, some went on to become global phenomenons. And he was just a, you know, lesser known, but we and the Balearic community celebrate him and his legacy, and we thank him. And this is just a beautiful way to remember him. You know the song. And remember, if you're feeling down this week, just be Balearic.