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Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy broadcast the 213th episode of Balearic Breakfast on her Mixcloud on February 25th 2025. About this show. – With a somehow disconnected soul, unexpected yet rooted in its own free and somehow worried spirit, this 213th episode of Balearic Breakfast is another great example of Colleen's ability to share the spur of Life's moments... For various reasons, this show was deep, on many levels, and musicaly of course, too... But we'll dig a bit deeer about that in the listening section of this post... This morning’s Balearic Breakfast is now archived on my Mixcloud (and please give me a follow while you’re over there). On this week’s show we pay tribute to two greats: Gwen McCrae and Roberta Flack, both of whom have passed to the next realm. Thank you for your song suggestions and for celebrating their life through music. I love seeing that ‘Sounds’ sticker on the Gwen McCrae record – purchased at the St Marks shop decades ago. Old record shop stickers give a sense of time and place and bring back to many memories. And on the memories front, I also pay tribute to a late friend of mine and colleague from my WNYU days, Philip Smart. The Jamaican born producer/engineer and radio DJ hosted the Get Smart! Show on WNYU and for many years I was on after him with my Soul School show on Friday nights. It was great going up to the studio and seeing Stone Love Sound System or Bobby Konders hanging out. Those were the days indeed. Today’s show also features your requests and music from#gwenmccrae #robertaflack #themonkees #wnyu #yachtrock @favoriterec @ubiquityrecords @timecapsulesounds @farout_recordings @joeclaussellsplaygroundd @djsaucylady @doctorsoul1 #yellowmagicorchestra @mimistgkobayashi @bbemusic @masters_at_work_official @claremont56 @furebymusic @folkfunkandtrippytroubadour @kennylattimore Thans for listening! PLAYLIST ( 1989 ) Sheila Chandra – One ( 1993 ) Better Daze – Golden Brown ( 1968 ) The Monkees  – The Porpoise Song ( NOL ) Philip Smart  – Drifter Dub Part 4 ( 1974 ) Gwen McCrae  – 90% of Me is You ( 1978 ) Jonathon Hansen  – What It Meant to Me ( 1982 ) Kenny Loggins  – Heart to Heart ( 1978 ) Izumi ‘Mimi’ Kobayashi  – Angel Sky ( 2024 ) Fureby, Moscoco & Faber  – Halcyon ( 1993 ) Yellow Magic Orchestra  – Pocketful of Rainbows (Heavy Rainbow Mix) ( 1971 ) Roberta Flack  – Go Up Moses ( 1969 ) Roberta Flack  – Compared to What ( 1980 ) Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway  – Back Together Again ( 1979 ) Gwen McCrae  – All This Love That I'm Givin' ( 1975 ) Hank Crawford  – Madison (Spirit, The Power) ( NOL ) The Jones Girls  – Nights Over Egypt (DoctorSoul Giza Dancefloor Re-Therapy) ( 2025 ) Saucy Lady – Falling in Love ( 1998 ) Kenny Lattimore  – Days Like This (Lattimaw Soul House Mixx) ( 2025 ) Far Out Monster Disco Orchestra  – Black Sun (Joe Claussell’s Classic Mix) ( 1982 ) Gwen McCrae  – Keep the Fire Burnin' THE LISTENING EXPERIENCE Presentation. – Disconnected from reality, you're shifting from one place to another, but you don't know where you are, you don't know what time it is, you don't know what you should do, what you have to do, nothing make sense, you wish you would not have to be here, now, you wish you were elsewhere, yet the pain reminds you that you're stuck in this inexistent now you know nothing about, and the sickness doesn't stop. Disconnected, you're just a ghost passing there, to another somewhere, another tangible somewhere, one day, in a few years, it's a detachment, an active phase, a hideous phase of losing someone you loved with all your soul, and nothing can bring that person back, everything is Beyond, Beyond your grif, Beyond your sorrow, Beyond today, Beyond Tomorrow... Disconnected, you're Beyond, already... But you don't know it, Yet... To Rick (and to everyone grieving over a loved one) Today's episode is all about that feeling of being absent from yourself. This happens in a moment where you face loss, but also in a moment where, tired, you don't have the strength to pull yourself out of the maze surrounding you. Still, you try to keep moving on, because, after all, there's nothing else you can really do. A Vast Majority of the songs selected by Colleen in this 213th episode of Balearic Breakfast have that disconnection at the very Core of their musical existence, and this feeling is of course reinforced by Colleen's immaculate mix, one of the finest she ever did. We can take for example the way Colleen mixes Better Daze's Golden Brown with The Monkees' The Porpoise Song , nicely followed by Philip Smart's dubby Drifter Dub Part 4 , leading the way to Gwen McCrae's trippy 90% of Me is You , perfectly ending this Beyond moment with Jonathon Hansen's What It Meant to Me ... Colleen pushes this feeling in the second mini mix of the show's first hour, reaching rhythmic perfection with the way  Izumi ‘Mimi’ Kobayashi's Angel Sky follows Kenny Loggins' Heart to Heart , not speaking of Fureby, Moscoco & Faber's Halcyon nor of, for instance, Go Mosses ! One last thing that struck me, when thinking about it, is that Colleen ends the show positively with Gwen McCrae's Keep the Fire Burnin' . Now, don't you find that this ending perfectly reflects today's post title? Going beyond pain and keeping the Fire Burning in one loving and intellectual unity... Is it me or is there a beautiful circle right there?... The Wow Moment. – For the disconnected feeling, the drunken wavy spirit leaving you lost in a place you can't disguise, for the cohesive, delicate mix, and the musical flow that truly reinforces your drunken feeling, I must say today's show's first hour wins The Wow Moment! If you want to get high, do it and listen to this show, you'll meet your new self walking somewhere, there... Beyond... This first part is so Mean... One of the meanest Colleen ever did, like really! I also must add that I love how, starting the second hour, Colleen takes a direct turn, leaving the lost, drunky and blurred-out feeling towards a more concrete and happier musical place yet keeping that estranged feeling intact... Once again, her musical choices from our requests is astoundingly precise! PS: Thank you so much Ana for your help in correcting this post! Fluffy hugs from the Lioncub!! COLLEEN'S PRESENTATION Sheila Chandra with One from Paul Hillary's Folk, Funk and Trippie Troubadour's volume 3 compilation on BBE. And that was requested by our friend Rick Van Veen in the Netherlands who very recently lost his mother. He said the show Balearic Breakfast was a huge support in difficult times for him, and it still is. He said, my mother's lung disease and taking care of her, which became more and more intensive, made life difficult, and he had little time for himself and to relax. And he said, but Balearic Breakfast and the community, and he said Ana and Artur have become good friends, help enormously. Everything is still very unreal. Her death in the past few years have gone through my mind as he wrote to me. I've planned to keep listening to music a lot but that does not always work. Recently, I heard the song One by Sheila Chandra for the first time, and somehow the song suits me perfectly at this moment and is constantly on repeat. I like to believe we are all one and if we are all one we will never be separated... I'm so sorry for your loss Rick, and thank you for sharing those beautiful words with us. Good morning Balearicans, I'm Colleen Cosmo Murphy hosting your weekly Balearic Breakfast live from my record room until high noon, and greetings to all over on my Mixcloud Live and thank you for joining me as always. Well, it's been a while since we've had a request show, and I won't be able to get to most of them again this week, so those songs will stretch over to upcoming weeks as always. We recently lost two major artists: Gwen McCrae and yesterday Roberta Flack, and we will pay our tributes to them and their music later in the show, and I'll also pay tribute to one of my former WNYU compatriots, the late reggae dancehall dub DJ producer and engineer Phillip Smart. But first, let's get in some of your requests, and this next one is from David Puzzi for a song by Better Days the duo of Andrew Jervis and Paul Scriver who released one album on Ubiquiti in 1996 called One Street Over and a year later they did an album of remixes from that album. The album melds together all different genres folk, funk, Bill Laswell style dub and more. David asked for the opening song to the album Here Are Better Days with Golden Brown. What It's Meant to Me by Jonathan Hanson , self-produced and self-released in 1978 by Jonathan, and it's a perfect recipe of the AOR soulful style lovingly reissued by Favorite Recordings. And they spoke with Jonathan and he said What it's meant to me was a song I wrote about the breakup of a band as with a lot of my songs I always write them to be more about more than one thing, primarily relationships and you can find that on Favorite Records Bandcamp. Ahead of that 90% of Me is You by the Queen of Rare Groove the recently departed Gwen McRae and that song is from her debut self-titled album released in 1974. The Florida-born singer, where she performed in clubs as a teen and then in 1963, she met and married a sailor by the name of George McRae who went on to have a massive hit with Rock Your Baby which was released the same year as Gwen's debut. And George also does backing vocals on the album. Prior to that, in the 1960s, they recorded together as a duo, and they signed the label TK Records which in the next decade was the leading southern disco label, and Gwen had success as a solo artist on TK subsidiary Cat Records with a cover of Bobby Bland's Lead Me On , and then Ed Townsend's For Your Love , and then she had a big hit with her own song Rockin' chair . The song we heard 90% of Me is You is much beloved on the Rare Groove scene, it was also featured on that great BBE compilation Strange Games and Things , and thank you to Bert Francois in Brooklyn for that request, and we'll have more Gwen McRae later in the show. Okay, the one before that is an old friend of mine Philip Smart we heard Drifter Dub Part 4, and Rob that primitive sound put this on my radar. Today is the 11th anniversary of Philip Smart's passing, and Philip Smart was on WNYU when I was on in the 1980s and 1990s, in fact I think he had the longest-running show it went from like 1979, I think to about 2004. And when I did the soul school show it was so much fun, because I was on right after him, and I come up to the studio and there would be like Bobby Condors hanging out, or a Stone Love sound system fresh from Jamaica, and I got to hang out with these guys, and they were just really cool because I was really into dancehall and reggae and dub at that time. In fact, I used to spin it you know and I was spinning house parties back in the late 80s, and early 90s, and I was a regular over at Sticky Mike's which was a great dancehall night. Well Philip, I mean, he was such a great guy. I used to write for a fanzine called Dub Catcher and I obviously interviewed Philip. He was a total legend and he also took me record shopping at the VIP records distribution, I think it was in Queens. Anyways, Smart's steadfast championing of local reggae acts and could be heard on his popular Friday night show Get Smart, and that was on WNYU 89.1 FM. And he says a Stan Evans Smith who used to to work with him I think he was a digital, I think he used to call himself, I can't remember his name, it wasn't Bobby digital but he used the word digital in his name. He said Philip Smart changed the radio landscape by using New York as a marketplace for New York-based artists. He helped establish dancehall reggae in New York so artists could have careers competitive with their Jamaica-based counterparts, and he was also a really fun personality, very strategic with his on-air approach. And he compelled other New York reggae jocks to allocate slots on their Jamaica-centric playlists for New York area artists, you know Philip had his own studio. He was an engineer and producer himself, and he had very very deep roots on reggae's earliest days with connections to Kingston's finest talents, and Get Smart was also a preeminent vehicle for Jamaica-based artists and producers seeking international exposure for their releases. And he also shared the tracks he played, and his vast musical knowledge with other radio hosts he broke records like Shabba Ranks he wrote I think he broke also Dawn Penn No No No No as well so he was just such a great great person and thank you to Rob That Primitive Sound for honoring him on today's show. Ahead of that we had The Monkeys with The Porpoise Song which is written by Carole King and Jerry Goffin, if you can believe it. And it was performed as a theme song of the monkeys 1968 film Head definitely a trip and we're seeing if you love 60s psychedelia and experimental filmmaking like I do. And the song mainly features Mickey Dolenz on vocals and thanks to Tim of Puerto Montt City Orchestra for that request. Okay, now did anyone see the Yacht Rock documentary now out on Sky Arts? Well, I did and I've been listening to Yacht Rock playlists ever since all weekend, and Questlove has one that's 51 hours. Anyways when our friend Victor Olteanu in Romania requested this song I just had to play it, and it doesn't need a lot of elaboration as it's a pretty well-known song by one of the best from the genre, and it also has Michael McDonald on backing vocal. Here is Kenny Loggins with Heart to Heart . The Heavy rainbow remix of Yellow Magic Orchestra 's Pocketful of Rainbows from YMO's eighth and final studio album Techno Dawn , released in 1993 when all three members Tsuruchi Sakamoto, Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi had concurrent strong solo careers. And in fact both Sakamoto and Hosono were folding in world music sounds in their solo albums around this time, and it can be heard on this final YMO release, and thank you to Virginia Tsioti in Athens for putting that one on our radar. Ahead of that, we had Furby, Moskoko and Faber with Halcyon from the Claremont edition series, and that series has been going on since 2020 on Paul Mudd Murphy's Claremont 56 label. It was requested by our friend Tom Torres in Vienna, and the song we heard was Halcyon and that's Danish producer Furby, a close friend of fellow Danes Mike Salta and Peter Visti joining forces with Guy Moskoko and Brian Faber for a gorgeously kaleidoscopic balearic groove for rich and fluttering flute solos simmering disco strings and sun bright electronics. Ahead of that we had Angel Sky by Izumi Mimi Kobayashi who is one of Japan's leading jazz funk pianists, and she wrote and recorded cult albums with fusion legends at home and abroad, obsessed with new electronic instruments. She penned some of the country's most well-known TV themes. She also pioneered the use of drum machines in anime soundtracks. A star in Japan, Kobayashi moved to Europe to record global hits with Depeche Mode and Swing Out Sister . She toured the world with the Reggae Philharmonic Orchestra , and she also made beats with my friend Tony Mwachukwu from Attica Blues . She's now based in London and she fronts Tokyo Rhythm Band, and Time Capsule Records have lovingly curated an album with some of her most significant tunes called Choice Cuts 1978 to 1983 and you can find out more on their Bandcamp. Well, we lost another great just yesterday, the American singer-songwriter and pianist Roberta Flack . As a great balladeer, she significantly contributed to the quiet storm radio sound which had a smooth romantic and jazzy sound, in which I've always been a sucker for. She was born in North Carolina and grew up in a large musical family and she used to go to the Baptist Church down the street where she would hear Mahalia Jackson and Sam Cooke singing. She started playing piano at 9 and got a full scholarship to Howard University at the age of 15, and she eventually changed from piano to voice, she became a teacher herself, and whilst performing in clubs in Washington DC, she was discovered by pianist singer Les McCann. He arranged an audition with Atlantic Records and the rest is history. As a great interpretive singer, her early albums mainly featured covers or songs written by others, and she had number-one hits, but this is one of my personal favourites of hers, and it's one she co-wrote and it's incredibly funky. This is Roberta Flack from her third album Quiet Fire here she is with Go Up Moses . Roberta Flack with Back Together Again a song she originally did with Donny Hathaway for the second album they did together. And Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway did two albums one in 1972, and the second in 1980 right after Hathaway's passing, in fact he fatally fell from his 15th-floor window after having dinner with Flack. The two were great great friends and professional colleagues, they did so many great songs together including the smash 1972 hit Where is the Love and 1978's The Closer I Get to You and Flack was a great collaborator she also had hits of Peebo Bryson and Maxie Priest , and she was celebrated with the Grammy Awards Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020. She also won several Grammys as well. Ahead of that we had Roberta Flack once again with Compared to What. It's an overtly political song that highlights women's rights and the concerns of the second wave feminist movement, and also an anti-war sentiment, and that's from her debut album First Take which I believe was probably named because she probably performed everything in one take. She recorded the entire album in 10 hours and she won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year, not the only time she's done that and right from the starting point Flack had hits. Her debut featured The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face . In fact that was written by folky Ewan McCall for Peggy Seeger , and Roberta's voice also had that kind of folk like quality a pure tonality found in artists like Judy Collins , but Flack also had that elegant soul stylings of you know singers like Dionne Warwick , and you can really hear that on her number one hit Killing Me Softly with this song . And we started it all off with Roberta Flack's Go Up Moses such a funky tune, and that's from her LP Quiet Fire and Bert Francois is over on the chat group and he said: "Her passing really touched me. My uncle who recently passed was her professor at Howard University and he told me she invited him to hear her perform at a nightclub, and he really enjoyed her performance, and after the show he encouraged her to pursue her singing career" . So there you go and also, Roberta Flack also encouraged Luther Vandross to do the same thing, and that just reminds me I watched the Luther Vandross documentary finally Luther: Never Too Much , shed tears, it's absolutely amazing. I mean he did things I didn't even know about like he was on Sesame Street when I was a kid. I can't even believe it's incredible and there's also a documentary about Roberta Flack which Bert told us about I believe it's a PBS documentary as well. Okay, back to another recently departed American soul great, Gwen McCrae and this next song was requested by Thanos Quatronis, and I'm also sending this one out to David Stoddard and for some of you it may evoke memories of Cassius's French touch classic Feeling For You which sampled it very heavily. It remains a killer record in its own right though, and this time has also been recently reissued. Originally released in 1979, it sees McCrae at her powerful best delivering a potent message to an errant lover over a killer low-slung disco-funk groove, and I should also say DJs and dancers here in the UK really supported McCrae who had hits on the northern soul scene, and she also performed over here and in Europe quite a lot. She recorded for the UK's Rhythm King Records in the late 80s and then recorded an album for British label Homegrown Records in 1996 here is Gwen McCrae with All This Love That I'm Given . I love love love the original version of Nights Over Egypt by the Jones Girls , but I have to say for a long time I refused to play it, because I heard it so much when I was DJing in the 1990s, we had this like lounge scene you know in downtown Lower East Side in the East Village where me and my friends would DJ, and I would always hear this song, so I just wouldn't play it. But I have to say I absolutely love it. Dexter Wansel of course there, and this is a really great rework by Dr. Soul called the Dr. Soul Giza Dance Floor Re-Therapy, and that was requested by Sue Forrest. I think it's fantastic. Ahead of that we had an album that's often in my record bag. Hank Crawford 's 16th studio album, I Hear a Symphony , released back in 1975 and I usually play sugar-free but Anthony Nabbit asked for Madison Spirit the Power, and that was certainly a very funky offering from the late Memphis Tennessee born saxophonist, pianist, arranger and songwriter. And Crawford goes way back appearing on a B.B. King record back in 1952, and he was also the music director for Ray Charles before he embarked upon his own solo career. Okay this is Colleen Cosmo Murphy with you on Balearic Breakfast for another half an hour. I'm still cutting out songs trying to fit in all these great requests and tributes just want to let you know about a few gigs that I'm doing. I'll be DJing over at LA Disco Tech at the Albert Hall in Manchester on the 8th of March, and then the following day it's our London Loft Party. So if you would like to join us here in London on a Sunday for seven hours of dancing and music and fun and food, and if you aren't on our mailing list, please email the London Loft at loftparty.org and we'll get back to you. I'll be at Southport Weekender on the 15th of March, and then I'm heading over to Japan for the second half of March where I'll be playing in Sapporo Nagoya Osaka Guma and Tokyo. So really looking forward to that. And while I'm gone I'm going to have to do a few interviews and mixes, and I'm hoping to get Saucy Lady up. She has a new album called Love Fest on her own label Dippin Records, and is co-produced with her husband Yuki who's a fabulous producer. And she's a real disco sensation, a Japanese woman actually, a Japanese mother, American dad, an American jazz loving dad, and she mainly grew up in Japan but then she moved to Massachusetts where I'm from and stayed there for university, and ended up settling there. And she has done four albums since 2011, and it's really incredible, her new album is again a standout blend of French boogie electro soul, taking fellow producers and performers Derek McKenzie Yam who and Jay Mumford in tow, and it's a slick 40 minutes, so we will have to get her on the show next month. Matt Raystrick requested her up-tempo cover of Surface's Falling In Love , and here it is on Balearic Breakfast. Oh my god, absolutely smoking stuff from Joe Claussell . And I want to send this one out to you Tomohiro Yamada, because you asked for a different Joe Clausel record which I did download. I was going to play it, and then I went through my promos and found this. I just had to play it, it's going to be a special one-off limited edition 12-inch release for Record Store Day 2025 , so you definitely want to queue up for this one. It's the Far-Out Monster Disco Orchestra with a Heidi Vogel on vocals, they're beautiful beautiful song, and it's called Black Sun , and that's Joe Clausel's classic mix. And the far-out monster disco orchestra have been going for over a decade, and they've hosted esteemed members like as a miss Jose Roberto Bertrami and Alex Malheros, and it's an enlisted and an illustrious roster of remixes over the years including John Morales, Theo Parrish, Al Kent, DJ Spinner, and I just love that one from Joe. And gosh that is just absolutely smoking. Ahead of that we had American soul singer Kenny Lattimore with his 1998 single remix by Masters at work called the Lattimaw soul house remix, and requested by Ana Sancho in Barcelona. And that was a little bit of Virgo musical synchronicity as I've had that record pulled aside for weeks now getting ready for a play. And I just also found out that Lattimore was also married to another great singer Shante Moore for a while, and he is still releasing records and the latest is 2021's here to stay. Well this is Colleen Cosmo Murphy, and you know I'm here to stay with the show but not on today's show, we only have one more song. I just want to say I just found out that sadly Donald Fagen has just passed away, and we will definitely pay tribute to him on next week's show. Seems like there's a lot of tributes, I guess must be must be my age it's just kind of part of human, the human condition part of life, I'm afraid. And, but yes very very sad news. Again he is featured on the Yacht Rock documentary which is which is excellent you must see it, it's both you know, it also has a lot of fun, but it's also quite serious too and Christopher Cross is quite a fellow. Oh my gosh you know he, he was tripping when he wrote Ride Like The Wind, I always knew why I liked that song but now I know why. Anyways, um yeah, really good documentary, and next week we will pay tribute to Donald Fagen, but we have one more tribute left, and again this is the last one for Gwen McRae. This one's going out to Chris Lee Steve Wakley and Alex Elliott now. After TK Records collapsed, Gwen McRae moved to New Jersey and she signed with Atlantic Records, and she had a hit with Funky Sensation, and then she later had a minor hit with this next song, so I just love this song. I think it's a beautiful way to end the show and yes, rest in paradise both Roberta Flack and Gwen McRae, also of course Donald Fagen as well. This is Gwen McRae with Keep The Fire Burning and have a wonderful week, and I'll see you next Tuesday.

In the latest episode of the KWYS show, Brian Lowery talks with Colleen about her career and how she shares Music on the dancefloor. About this interview. – Colleen met Professor of Organizational Behavior and social psychologist by training Brian Lowery (he received his doctorate from UCLA in 2001 with a minor in statistical methods) for a great interview, which stands out from the other ones she did in the past as she dvelves into What music brings to her and How she shares it on the dancefloor. We also learn here that our dear Captain is working on a Memoir 😊 LIstening to this nice and relatively short interview, you'll discover how, with her 35-year Career, Colleen works her way through her sets and the philosophy which allows her to take the dancers onto a real musical journey where music is able to transmit pure feelings. The interview is transcribed below and you can listen to it here: Music, Movement, and Meaning: Hanging Out with DJ Cosmo - Know What You See with Brian Lowery PS: Coming back from the USA, where she played the Horse Meat Disco Party, Colleen shared this on her socials on Sunday, 16th February: " Heading back to London after a wonderful trip to the USA and after a night of very little sleep after playing Horse Meat Disco at Knockdown Centre last night. I just love playing there not only because I love Luke, Severino, James and Jim but also because of the on-point staff and the amazing crowd - they are just so much fun and I absolutely adore playing there. And the night before I also had a blast playing in Washington DC for the first time at For Your Pleasure - a fabulous party hosted by Martin and Chelle and a great, eclectic mix of dancers. I have only been to DC less than a handful of times (half of which were for marches) and it was definitely a bit strange to be in the same vicinity as you-know-who but I managed to have a spectacular time. One of the highlights of my trip was reconnecting with a dear old friend from high school, Michele. We went to so many shows together - slam dancing at Black Flag, dancing on stage at The Smiths, witnessing a riot at New Order and staying up all night in a parking lot to snag tickets for the Purple Rain tour. Now she is a curator at The National Museum of African American History and Culture and I got to see her for the first time in over 3 decades. It is so life-affirming to reconnect with old friends and to be able to pick up just where you left off. I also caught up with my old WNYU friend Jocelyn Gonzales. She and I have worked together on podcasts and she is one of the best in her field. She and host Brian Lowery, PhD recently invited me up to their program ‘Know What You See’ for ‘Music, Movement, and Meaning with DJ Cosmo’ (link in comments) and I finally had the chance to listen. Somehow I seemed to make some sense (LOL!). And through Jocelyn I also reconnected with my first woman mentor - Lynne McVeigh. She was the Radio Advisor for WNYU and the Head of the Sound Department when I was in university in the 80’s and she had my back. She even got me a broadcasting scholarship which was very much needed at the time." Music, Movement, and Meaning: Hanging Out with DJ Cosmo Part I [Brian] I'm Brian Lowry, professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Welcome to Know What You See. In this season of the podcast, I'm diving into a big question. What's the point? In conversations with people who have committed themselves to a range of pursuits, we'll learn answers to that question that might surprise and inspire us all. Music has always been one of my biggest passions. Certain songs and albums are like mile markers in my life, and I'm sure the same is probably true for you. For me, Funkadelic, One Nation Under Groove, is my earliest music memory. And growing up in Chicago, arguably the birthplace of house music, with iconic spots like The Warehouse, I spent many hours tuned into WBMX. With Friday Night Jams, we are now into the mix with Frankie Knuckles.   [Brian] The station that played and still plays house music today. And in college, house music lived alongside rap as the soundtrack of my life. The DJs I listened to on the radio and at house parties, they weren't just playing music. They were curators of an experience. They knew more, obsessed more, and introduced me to sounds I didn't know I needed. But back then, I didn't think much about the experience of being behind the turntables.   What does it mean to bring people together through music like that? That's where DJ Colleen Cosmo Murphy comes in. She's been called the audio connoisseur you want in charge of your party. Colleen has been decades mastering the art of sharing music. She's a broadcaster, a club DJ, a festival performer, and the creator of Classic Album Sundays, a global listening series for music lovers and audiophiles. With thousands of records in her personal collection, and a deep knowledge of vinyl and sound systems, Colleen has built her career and life around sharing music.   [Brian] Colleen, first of all, can I start with the name, the story behind your name? Sure, yeah. I hosted radio shows on my 10 Watt High School radio station from 1982 to 1986. [Colleen] And I did a show called Punk, Funk and Junk. And that included early hip hop and electro and also punk. And there was a band named Nucleus and their DJ's name was Cosmo. And that's how I got the name Cosmo and I started to use it. And my friend, who was the other DJ, she called herself Remix. And we made these sweatshirts and have our names on the back and walk around our high school like we were really cool.   And that's how I got the name Cosmo. So when I started DJing in the 1990s, people knew my name is Colleen Murphy. But then I started to get into dance music. And I was really changing the format of what I was playing. And I thought it'd be too confusing for people to hear Colleen Murphy not playing 60s psychedelic music or post punk, but now playing dance classics, disco, house. So I just took the name Cosmo back, having no idea it was going to be part of my career. [Brian]   So what about music attracted you to it? I mean, that's kind of a funny question, because I think if you're a normal human being, you love music, but not many people do it as their career. So how did that happen for you? [Colleen] Well, it's interesting you ask this, because this is something I'm trying to research in a memoir, trying to figure out what it is that drew me to music, because I grew up in a small New England town. None of my family had any connections with people in the music business. And nobody was as obsessed as I was. But I think it came initially from the radio. The radio in Boston was really quite good. And when I was growing up in the 1970s, I was given a transistor radio for my seventh Christmas when I was seven years old. And I remember running upstairs and turning it on and hearing Fly Robin Fly by Silver Convention. And I was really hooked. I listened to the radio all the time. And I think there were a few reasons. One, I just naturally gravitate towards music. I can sing on pitch. I started playing piano when I was five years old. It's something that's always been able to get under my skin and really move me in a very deep way. And that's just my personality. And I can't explain why that is. But the experience of having these great radio stations around me and exposing me to all different kinds of music, we had so many college radio stations, we had black radio stations, we had gray AOR radio stations like WBCN, some of the most progressive in the country, and a really varied radio format. I was very lucky to be raised where I was in the 1970s. I had access to all different kinds of music. And I think that's really one of the things that made me gravitate towards a career in it. Because I started doing radio when I was 14 years old.   Then I started collecting records when I was 15. And my first job was in a record shop when I was 16. [Brian] What was your first record? [Colleen] Well, the first record that was given to me was by my very cool aunt, who was only eight years older than me. And I think I was about eight years old when she gave it to me. It was Elton John's Greatest Hits. [Brian] You said you started on radio at 14. How did that happen? [Colleen] I had another cousin who was doing a radio show on our high school radio station. And then she and her friend Eric invited me up because they knew I loved music. And so I went along to their radio show, brought some records with me. And I remember they turned the microphone on. And I literally ran out of the room and across the library. And it took me a while to start talking. So you ran out, they turned on the microphone. [Brian] Did you come back? [Colleen] I did come back, but I don't think I really spoke. I think I stayed away from the microphone. I was a bit intimidated by that. I wanted to sort of be a silent DJ. And even when I have one radio show on cassette, and I don't talk that much in high school. It was really when I went to NYU and started working on WNYU and had a lot of people who actually trained me where I became more comfortable. It took some time. And so how did you end up going from radio to live events? [Brian] How did that happen? And when did that happen? [Colleen] At WNYU, we did host some live events as well. And we also had connections with different venues throughout the city. So the first time I really started DJing in public was in the 1980s for CBGB's record canteen, their record shop, because they had a bunch of WNYU DJs there. And we would host different WNYU nights. I remember playing on the roof of Mars in the late 1980s. Which was a really cool club in New York. I started going out to a lot of clubs in about 1991, in the early days of house in New York City. And I went to one party in particular that really changed my life. And that party was called The Loft. And it was hosted by a man named David Mancuso, who became a very good friend of mine afterwards. And a friend of mine brought me to this party. And I didn't know anything about it. It was on East Third Street between Avenues B and C. There's no sign out outside the door. You just walk through these doors. And there was somebody there collecting money to get in. And when I went through the next set of doors, it was this beautiful big space that had these huge clip-shorn loudspeakers dotted around the dance floor. And it looked like somebody's home because it was somebody's home, even though it was a converted former theater. And there was a very enigmatic, mysterious man behind the turntables playing music that I hadn't really heard before. And the music sounded incredible. It was on a beautiful sound system. And it just gave so much more emotion and nuance to the music. I had never heard a playback system like that before. I just fell in love. And I started going back week after week. And I had to seek out what records he was playing. I was asked to come back to WNYU around that time, because I had already graduated. And I came back and I said, but I want to do a different kind of show. I want to do a show that plays dance music as opposed to the other stuff I've been known for. And I started a show called Soul School. And from there, people started tuning in. I started to build a really great community. And from there is when I started to be asked to play out in different places. [Brian] So what's the difference between radio and live events for you? [Colleen] Well, radio, you have a connection with your audience, but you can't see them. A lot of the times, you're not necessarily responding to what they're doing at that moment in time, because your radio shows can be pre-programmed. You know what you're going to play, usually, not all the time, but usually. Whereas on a dance floor, you are responding to the moment, to everything that is happening, whether it's the mood of the room, the temperature, the acoustics, where you are, who is there, how they're feeling at that point in time, what the sound system is like, what's sounding good on that sound system, what's not sounding good on that sound system. There's so many different outside elements to process. And if you are what I call a proper DJ, you aren't going and rocking up with a playlist and just playing a set one to 20 or whatever. That to me isn't a DJ set. A DJ set, you are actually interacting in real-time with the people on the dance floor and everything going on around you. [Brian] So I grew up in Chicago in the 80s. As you know, there was a big house scene. [Colleen] Yeah, the warehouse. Yeah. [Brian] The best DJs are taking the crowd on like a journey. That was my experience of it, right? There's a kind of a ebb and flow, like you move up, there's like a crescendo, and then there's a moment of kind of bringing it back down and just kind of the DJ is making sense of where the crowd is and kind of moving them in different directions. And the best experiences I've had, it was almost meditative or trance-like when it was like, you're just in there dancing, there's very little light, everybody is kind of moving. It's just a very communal, almost ritualistic kind of experience. And I'm curious, as a DJ, what that feels like? Like when you're the person managing that experience? [Colleen] Well, it's interesting. I started on the dance floor, like many DJs do. So that is something that you're trying to tap into when you're actually on the other side of the turntables. It's like a call and response. That's the way I would describe it.   It's a lot of responsibility. You have this sense of experience that obviously comes into play. And knowing how to move people or when they're getting, when it's time to bring it back down, and when it's time to bring it back up, and when it's time to play that peak song. And as you said, I also do play in an arc. I played for seven hours on Sunday. And the first two hours, I mean, I start with ambient, built it up, built up the tempo, built up the tempo, get everybody kind of moving and then bring them down and up and down and up and down and up and then bring them down for kind of a re-entry into the world. It works best when you don't think about it too much and you use your intuition. The experience comes into play when you're observing the room and you're seeing what's going on and you're starting to feel what they're needing at that time. And it's a silent conversation. I mean, there might be whoops and cheers and whatever, but it feels like you're helming a ship. You're responding to all the outside elements as well. And you have your crew with you or the sound system and all the other things that are really important to make this experience really crystallize and to really move people. But the best times when I know it's all working is when I'm not even really thinking. And it almost, without trying to sound silly, it's almost like channeling. So the experience comes through when you know your music, you've played for dance floors as I have for 35 years, that all comes into play. But it's almost, I guess, like being a concert pianist. You practice and you practice and you practice, but when the moment actually comes, it should be somewhat effortless. You should not be overthinking it. And it really becomes quite an instinctual process. So you're really opening yourself up to what is coming back at you. [Brian] What does that bring up for you? How does it feel for you? [Colleen] And it feels very cathartic. I mean, music is a way that I've been able to connect with my own feelings. It can bring up incredible joy and also incredible sadness. In fact, on Sunday, when I was doing my seven-hour set, some of it was in tribute to a friend who recently passed away. And a lot of friends that were in attendance were a friend of this person as well. Of course, I would play songs that we shared together and I'd be crying. It just comes out. Music tends to allow me to not retreat from my own feelings, but confront and process them. So it's quite emotional going through this. There's moments of euphoria. There's moments of oneness. And at the end, it just feels cathartic. Like I've been on a whole journey with a whole group of people. We've gone from A to B and share this incredible experience together. I feel a sense of solidarity with the dance floor. I feel that music and movement brings us together. It makes us feel part of something that's bigger than us. And I also wonder if that really taps into some kind of primordial need to connect with others through movement that may even predate language. I'm not an anthropological biologist, but I wouldn't be surprised if Homo sapiens were communicating through movement first before language and finding ways to connect through movement. I also just feel that while it allows me to process feelings, it also allows me to tap into something that's bigger than myself. It could be that sense of unity, that sense of oneness, that sense of communal euphoria when you actually drop your own personality and you drop your own ego and you're able to kind of be part of something bigger. [Brian] Yeah, I really like that. It makes me think about the kind of tension between being you, like the individual, and being a part of something larger, like losing yourself in something larger. And I guess I wonder how much of you is retained when you're doing this. I'm curious how you think about that tension between you, the individual, and being part of and losing yourself in the larger experience in the group. [Colleen] I guess being the individual is all in the preparation and the experience and everything I bring to the table. So, for instance, before I do a seven-hour set, I'm putting together records for over two days, really understanding what I'm bringing with me. I know that music inside and out, especially then there's some newer songs, of course. So that's the part of being an individual. But that's the part I want to let go of once the party's in play. I don't want to be thinking about me as an individual. And really, it all becomes about being part of this kind of process and becoming part of the whole spirit of the dance floor. And I've done all that work, but in the moment, I just want to be in the moment. I just want to be in the moment of the music and the dance. [Brian] I'm with Colleen that music and the collective vibration of all those bodies on the dance floor is a way of drawing me into something bigger, something more mysterious. When I'm lost in the sound, it's not just about me anymore. It's about the connection, the release, and the sense of being a part of something greater. We feel that kinship with other listeners. Isn't music a universal way of reaching out for something transcendent or even divine? We'll get into that next on Know What You See. Part II [Brian] We're back with DJ Khalil Cosmo Murphy. This is a random question. Have you ever been to the church of Coltrane? [Colleen] I'd like to go. That's in San Francisco, isn't it? Yeah, I need to go. I haven't been to California in like 25 years. So I'm hoping to go back at some point soon. But no, I haven't. And I'd like to go to his home in Long Island, because that's where he wrote A Love Supreme. So I just want to go and be there, you know, just feel it. [Brian] I wonder how you connect a religious experience or spiritual experience in music, because Coltrane was very explicit in making that connection. I just wonder if you think about that as a point of connection, religion or it doesn't have to be organized religion, but a religious spiritual experience in music. How do you think about those two things? [Colleen] Well, I do. I had a double major at NYU. One was film, radio and sound, and the other one was comparative religions. And so it's something that really, really does interest me. And every religion has music and dance associated with it. It allows us to free ourselves from our own brain, our own personality, our own ego, our own individuality, and to connect with a greater spirit and something that is bigger than ourselves. And that allows us to transcend our everyday lives. And it's how people thought they could communicate with the gods. And I still think you can, whether it's gods or the universal being or whatever you want to call it. I do feel that music is the way that I've been able to tap into spirituality. [Brian] I think of music maybe as kind of a proto storytelling, right? So it's a way to create a communal understanding, right? And we think once you have literature and language, you can write those stories down, or you can tell oral stories, you can tell your histories, but there's something maybe about music that connects us all in a story that maybe strips away the individual and lets us see the reality of our communal existence, or it lets us experience maybe the reality of our communal existence. And I mean, I hear that in the way you're describing like music, maybe. [Colleen] Yeah, also dancing too. I don't think we've spoken specifically about dancing, but really dancing and sinking into your own body and into movement. It allows yourself to free yourself from your brain. And it allows you to let go of the embarrassment of movement or your body and lets you let go of pride. You become vulnerable and you give yourself over to something bigger. And it can also unite you with everybody else around you on a dance floor. There's a certain sense of solidarity. There's a unity of feeling. There's a unity of movement. And I felt that a lot with house music when house music first started. I think because house music is kind of easy to dance to, you know, this four to the floor, it's easier to say than dancing to salsa or Brazilian music where there's so many different intricate rhythms. House music, anybody can dance to it. And I think it let down a lot of people's guards and united them in that way where they just felt they could let loose and just be themselves and be part of something bigger. Also, dancing releases endorphins as well. So it enhances your mood. And that can be whether you're watching other people on a dance floor or it's you yourself dancing. It's incredible, like how good you feel dancing. And I remember during the pandemic, and I'm a DJ, you know, people don't necessarily think of me as a dancer. They see me behind the turntables. And what I missed more than DJing out was dancing. I missed the communal sense of dancing with other people on the dance floor way more than I miss playing records in front of people. [Brian] And you were nervous about going back to DJing in front of people. Why the nervousness? [Colleen] I was so nervous. I felt so vulnerable. I wasn't sure if I could still do it. I didn't know how people would respond. And I think a lot of DJs are actually a lot shyer than people think. There's some people that gravitate towards DJing because they want to be a performer. They want to be the focal point or the old rock and roll reasons, drugs and partners and, you know, whatever, sex, drugs and rock and roll. That could be one motivation for people to become DJs. But for a lot of us, it's because we're actually more introverted. We'd be the ones going to a party and everyone's talking and socializing and we'd be looking through the record collection and maybe popping a record on. I'm not very good at huge crowds and being the focal point of attention, although I've learned to do so because of what I do. But it's not that I'm very talkative in that way either. I tend to express myself best through music rather than words. And when you're DJing, you're kind of in this isolated area that sort of protects you as well. And you're able to communicate through music rather than through your own words. Going back after the pandemic, it was just really nerve wracking. Your insecurities rise up and you don't know how people respond and you get stage fright. Whereas in my own record room, it was a lot different. I couldn't see everybody. [Brian] So people can't see your record room. I'm curious to estimate, how many records do you think you have? [Colleen] About 10,000. [Brian] And by the way, I'm surprised it hasn't collapsed your home. [Colleen] I know. [Brian] It's quite heavy. [Colleen] We're on a ground floor. I have had friends that had to move records from their second, third floors because the floors started to sag. [Brian] All right, so here's a hard question. You ready? [Colleen] Yeah. [Brian] You're on a desert island. You only get one album. Which album is it? [Colleen] Ooooooh. I can't answer that. But it changes all the time. [Brian] Today. [Colleen] Today. Okay. I know what I'd pick today. John Coltrane, A Love Supreme. And I think for me, I'd have to pick music that taps into some kind of spirituality if I'm going to be listening to it over and over again. Plus he did so much in terms of technique and exploring the lexicon of music and the language of music. And so that type of music is something I can listen to over and over and over again because I can always hear something new. I don't think I could... There's so many great albums. I could say Songs in the Key of Life, of course. And it's a double album. So that'd be more fun than bringing a single album on a desert island because it's longer and there's more variety. But I think sometimes instrumental music can free your mind even more because there isn't a lyric to dictate what the narrative is. [Brian] In 2010, Colleen figured out a way to combine the communal energy of her club events with the more personal experience of listening to a favorite record. At her Classic Album Sunday events, crowds gather at a live venue to listen to a full album all the way through on a very sophisticated sound system. At these listening sessions, the story behind the making of the music is as important as the song sequence itself. [Colleen] I felt Classic Album Sundays really hearkened back more to my teenage years. Like in the 1980s, when I would get a new album, I'd go home and invite friends over and we would listen to it. And what I noticed in the 21st century, at least the early part of the 21st century, is that our listening habits had changed. And people were listening to music in very isolated situations, usually on their own, you know, personal stereos, on headphones. And that's all great. I still do that too. But it seemed we had lost the art of listening to music together in terms of pre-recorded music. I'm not talking about in a club or a live venue, but just listening to an album together. I also felt people had stopped listening to albums, that they were listening to this single there and not sitting down with a whole body of work and listening to it in the way in which the artist intended, from like A to Z, every single chapter of the book as opposed to a single chapter. People really come out transformed after they've been to a Classic Album Sunday session, especially people that have been there for the first time, that don't know what to expect. And some people thought they wouldn't like it because they had to turn their phones off and they couldn't talk throughout the album and they just had to sit there and they weren't sure what to do with themselves. Because we're not used to turning ourselves off. We're not used to turning our devices off. So it took them maybe a song or two to let down their guard. But once they did, they felt transformed. Some people cry, some people laugh at certain parts of songs they hadn't heard before. But they all came out probably with lower blood pressure levels, number one, more relaxed, just less frantic, less pulled in every different direction. [Brian] You know, I remember I read the liner notes to Gil Scott Heron's album, I'll Take Care of You. And in those liner notes, he's very explicit like this, the album was designed for you to sit down, turn off everything and just listen to it from beginning to end. And then listen to it again. And he's just almost adamant that is the way the music was designed and what it was designed for. And he talked about it as respecting the intention of the artist. Like the work I've put into this experience for you deserves attention and you will get the most out of it. You leave something on the table if you don't experience it in this way. [Colleen] I agree. I agree. And also in the order that they put it together. And, you know, it'd be like me picking up a book and say, I'm just going to read chapter three. [Brian] And then maybe chapter eight, maybe chapter eight two. [Colleen] I'll go back to two. And then maybe I won't even listen to chapter... When I said people sometimes laugh, I mean, Gil Scott Heron is a perfect example because he had such a turn of phrase. It was so freaking funny. When you're really just sitting there listening, you know, a lyric, he'll say something and you just start laughing out loud. And it just brings people together. In a sense, Classic Album Sundays probably brought a lot of different aspects of my career together. We have had a few people dance at Classic Album Sundays, I have to say. I did one with Sister Sledge and I was dancing with two of the sisters in the back while the album was playing and then everyone got up and started dancing. So it does happen every now and then. [Brian] Yeah, well, I really appreciate it. I really appreciate the time and it's fun to talk to you. I hope I get a chance to see you DJ live. [Colleen] Yes, I hope we get to meet. If I'm ever out on the West Coast, I'll let you know. Yeah. [Brian] Music isn't just sound or the words of a song. It's connection, it's emotion and energy. For DJ Cosmo, it's about creating moments where people let go and come together, whether through epic DJ sets or kicking back to enjoy a classic album. Sharing music can heal, inspire and unite. In a world that feels more divided than ever, isn't that what we all need? Know What You See is produced by PRX in collaboration with the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Our production team is Jocelyn Gonzalez, Emi Chan, Jonathan Cabral and Emmanuel Desarme from PRX Productions. For more about me or the show, go to knowwhatyousee.com , created and masterminded by Will Danger Robinson. Follow me on socials at knowwhatyouseepod or drop me a line on my website, brianlowryphd.com . Follow the show on your favorite podcast app and if you like what you hear, leave us a positive review. It really helps to get the word out. Thanks for listening.

I interviewed Martin Palm, a member of the Balearic Breakfast Family, who works with adult SIB autistic patients in Estonia, about Music's healing powers. Hi Martin! Thanks for joining us here on the Balearic Breakfast blog! Can you present to us your professional work history and the patients you work with? Hi Artur, thanks for having me! I live in Estonia and have been working in the field of mental health for some time. In 2023, I started working with adult SIB autistics. This specialized care service is new and unique in Estonia and is considered the most challenging in this field. SIB autism refers to a form of autism that involves extremely self-injurious behavior. Our team works with adults diagnosed with this form of autism, who also have pervasive developmental and speech disorders. This means we work with individuals who are, in a sense, trapped in their own bodies and minds—unable to speak or express themselves, and, due to their developmental disorder, unable to do many things that most people take for granted, such as reading, writing, or clearly communicating their needs. Since our clients have speech impairments, we cannot rely heavily on words and spoken language in our work. Instead of speech, we use pictogram symbol cards to guide and support them in their daily activities. You may have read the interview I did with our friend, Douglas noble in which he shared how his work helped elederly people, and also people with diseases like dementia.Were the listenning sessions part of the initial program or did you introduce them? How did it all start? The right and suitable music can have an incredibly powerful healing effect on a person. Music can set a positive mood for the entire day, and a person in a positive mood is much more likely to achieve better results in any aspect of life—be it work, studies, or treatment. That is why I believe that the use of music and music therapy in medicine is still highly underestimated and underutilized. I firmly believe that treating any severe illness could be much more effective if it incorporated music tailored to the individual—music that lifts their mood and helps dispel negative thoughts. Why, for example, shouldn’t hospitals have music therapists to create a personalized and supportive musical atmosphere for patients? In my opinion, this would have both a direct and indirect impact on producing better treatment outcomes. In my work, the clients’ day is structured, and it includes a time we call sensory time, which means the client engages in their favorite pastime—one that is also developmental according to their unique traits and abilities. People with autism can have sensory perceptions that develop in very different ways. One person might be less sensitive to temperature or smell but have an extremely heightened sense of hearing. Another might have weak hearing but an exceptionally sharp sense of vision. I often work with a 29-year-old client who has an extremely sensitive sense of hearing (Initially, we started these music sessions with two clients, but one preferred listening to calming nature sounds (tropical rain, bird calls, rustling trees, flowing water) instead of music.) For that client, who has heightened auditory perception, I began playing different types of music during sensory time to understand his preferences. As a person with an extraordinarily developed sense of hearing, he perceives every sound with remarkable precision—every nuance and vibration is distinguishable to him. When listening to music, he can pick up all the hidden layers, details, and undertones that subtly weave into the rhythm and melody. If he enjoyed a particular piece, he would close his eyes, immerse himself deeply in the sounds, sway to the rhythm, and sometimes vocalize his excitement—especially when the melody took an unexpected turn or included sounds he had never encountered before. In short, music took him on a journey. You briefly explained the type of music you select in the playlist you use during these sessions, saying you mainly chose instrumental music (Zimmer, Oldfield, but also Enya or Coldplay). Does the Tonality of the music come into play too or is it just about the frequencies and the purity (simplicity) of the music played (as you said your patients liked high and pure sounds)? How do you select the songs? We started the first sessions with Estonian lullabies, which worked extremely well and put the client into a meditative state where he was happy to stay. In the following months, we moved towards new compositions and styles. By that time, I had realized that instrumental music was easier for him to follow, as songs with lyrics—whose meaning he didn’t understand and which were therefore harder for him to process— were not as effective as instrumental pieces. However, tracks featuring chanting, wailing, or moaning, where the vocals functioned more like an instrument, worked exceptionally well. It became also clear that he enjoyed high notes and a pure, clean sound. During this phase, we listened to a lot of Mike Oldfield (Ommadawn, Tubular Bells), Air (Moon Safari), Deep Forest, and Hans Zimmer. One of his absolute favorites turned out to be Clocks by Coldplay. I started experimenting with different styles to see what worked and what didn’t—ranging from classical music (Chopin, Vivaldi) to modern electronic genres. Vocal house, for instance, left him indifferent, but deep house in the style of Larry Heard and Ron Trent resonated with him a lot. The same happened with drum and bass—tracks with overly intense rhythms were more disturbing than enjoyable, but Peshay mixes, with their slightly softer and gentler beats, were very much to his liking. Reggae also suited him very well due to its rhythmic structure and repetitive patterns. He also responded extremely well to tracks by Galaxy II Galaxy, Los Hermanos, and Rolando. Did you actually made your patients listen to a full Balearic Breakfast episode or to just snipets of the show (I presume the listenning sessions don't last too long)? Did you notice any reactions to Colleen's voice (as it is both friendly, calm and in a way soothing)? How do the patients react to Balearic Breakfast? Yes, Actually. At one point, in the listening process with the patient, I dedicated an entire session to listening to Manuel Göttsching’s E2-E4 album in full, and it worked absolutely perfectly. I realized that the ideal music for these sessions might be something in the Balearic style—dreamy, meditative, filled with layers, nuances, and vibrations. I initially considered moving on to José Padilla’s compilations, but then I remembered the existence of Colleen and her Balearic Breakfast. In December, we listened to a fresh episode of Balearic Breakfast, and it worked instantly. After that, I abandoned my own playlists, opened the Balearic Breakfast archive, and we started listening to the episodes from the very beginning. We try to listen to a full episode or at least as much as the session time limit (1 to 1.5 hours) allows us. It is interesting that you asked about Colleen's voice, as I thought about its effect during one of our listening sessions. Yes, there is an extremely positive and soothing effect in it, and although my client does not understand English, he does not disengage or show signs of disinterest, as the soothing sound of Colleen's voice works as a pleasant bridge between different tracks. The reception of BB has been excellent, as Colleen's music selection largely matches what suits this client. Perhaps he doesn’t fully engage with some tracks that have a lot of vocals, but most of the songs are exactly his cup of tea. Usually, the selection is really eclectic, and every song feels like a gateway to a new world for him, so he remains very attentive and focused. However, some songs work better than others. Here are some examples that he really liked: The Durutti Column's Otis with Vini Reilly's meditative guitar riffs is a really good example. Despite the intensive vocals, Quincy Jones's and Donna Summer's State of Independence with all its chanting and high-tone details worked really well (I actually think that Chrissie Hynde's 15-minute-long version of that track would work extremely well too). What also works really well for him is music with an oriental influence, like Jhalib – Mysteries of the East, where the rhythm with a different structure and the combination of flute and sitar was extremely captivating for him. Marcel – On The Beach worked really well, and so did Sueno Latino – Sueno Latino. And so on... What do you like the most about our beloved show? I love the show's eclecticism and Colleen's boundless knowledge and passion for music. The fact that Colleen is able to find so many different styles within those two hours, yet everything is extremely balanced and works in harmonious unity. I think José Padilla once said that Balearic can be any music that elevates you. And the music selection in the Balearic Breakfast show is a living proof of that.

I met Pritpal Ajimal (Swayoftheverses) for a very nice little interview. I've been deeply touched by both his graphical and musical skills. Let's chat! I thought I’d be happy with a couple of people tuning in, at least that would have been a nice start and then I could develop and become really professional by, you know, 10 episodes or something. But it’s almost been a crash course for me because I’ve had to do really well in just two episodes and the amount of attention that it’s received has been absolutely amazing and not just from friends and family, from colleagues and people in the music industry too. To get comments from people like Mr Scruff, Charlie Dark and Coco Maria is just like, wow, this is really mad. Pritpal Ajimal, Fad Magazine interview, 29/03/2022 The first Balearic Breakfast Show of 2023 started with a beautiful mix by Pritpal Ajimal (also known in our Family as swayoftheverses - click here to see his page on beehivv ). Digital Artist (designer) and Radio Show Host, Pritpal is well-known in the South Asian Arts sector. Apart from creating promotional materials, he has also been involved in photography assignments and has been working with Manasamitra since the inception of the company, designing the website, branding, and promotional materials. Listen to Pritpal's mix here during the first 2023 Balearic Breakfast show : Also, if you want to discover Pritpal's creative talent, head over to Fadmagazin's website as he talks with Radio Presenter, DJ & Writer, Maria Hanlon about his exhibition Lines #1 , which took place at Above the clouds. His mixes are available here . 1) Dear Pritpal , thank you so much for being here with us on the Balearic Breakfast Blog! 2023 was a beautiful musical year for the Balearicans, starting with your guest mix during the year's first show! Can you tell us a little bit more about your childhood? What did you listen to when growing up? My parents always had music on, either traditional sikh hymns, north Indian Film Music or Radio 1 or Radio 2, so I had a very broad range of music to listen to. At the age of 13 I got the opportunity to learn Raga Based Music when Dharambir Singh came to teach at the Leeds College of Music.   2) You have quite an incredible professional life! You are an independent and Professional Graphic Designer. Can you tell us more about it? I completed a degree in Software Development and was working as a programmer; but always felt the urge to do something creative, I had the chance to do a leaflet for south asian arts organisation and did an illustration for the amazing tabla player Pandit Sharda Sahai - head of the Benares style of tabla - as a part of the commission. My journery into graphic design started from that one job.   3) I saw some of your stunning graphic realisations, which I shared back then on the blog. How do you approach that part of your creative Journey? I needed a creative outlet that wasn't anything to do with client work, so I decided to explore the journey of creativity, of learning, that act of repetition, using introspection and understanding of each step, that then allows implementation in the next iteration; taking you from simple first steps into an understanding and mastery of much more complex skills. For the medium I decided to depict a graphical representation of concepts, phrases and movements within different ragas, using a limited palette of colours within Adobe Illustrator.   4) We also know that you're a DJ (a member of the Melomaniacs; you played at the last and previous We Out Here festival in the "Love Dancin' tent" alongside Colleen and other great DJs we know and profoundly love). How did that part of your journey start, and do you approach a DJ set the same way when working on a graphic design? I think like most people I've always made mixtapes, but with digital music files it became infinitely easier to curate a mixtape and burn it onto a CD, but I had never really thought to become a DJ. Charlie Dark was djing at a space outside the O2 Arena in North Greenwich and it was an opportunity to meet him in real life after listening to him and many other DJs on WorldwideFM throughout lockdown. Whilst I was speaking to someone else, my wife told him 'I should be on the radio', and he asked me if I'd like to try out with a station - RunDemRadio - he had set up and was running every weekend. The seed was planted there and then. I was very fortunate to meet many, many people along this journey who have helped me realise this dream of first presenting a radio show, to eventually DJing at the We Out Here festival. Having the opportunity to ask questions and observe other amazing djs craft a set together has been like going to DJ school!   5) A strange but very Balearic question for you: when creating, do you feel like "losing your mind", meaning being disconnected for a moment from the world around you? Do you feel like ideas are pouring out of your soul, or do you have a more rational way of working things out? I always use a combination of an outline of a plan, with intuition, to have a basic understanding of what I'd like to achieve and then leave the rest to the universe to guide me.   6) Lastly, what does Colleen's sentence "And remember, just be Balearic" evoke to you? To have the ability to appreciate the beauty and magic of nature, from which everything we do originates.

Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy broadcast the 210th episode of Balearic Breakfast on her Mixcloud on February 04th 2025. About this episode. – Following Marianne Faithfull’s passing, and shortly after returning from vacation, Colleen launched the request line last Saturday, February 1st 2025. As we shall see later in the Listening experience part of this post, today’s episode was a moving musical experience, allowing the listener to experience what the last exodus might feel like. Enhanced by the passing of Family members’ loved ones, today’s musical trip was a deep dive into sorrow and strangeness, allowing us all to find in the music an airy and floating path to the next realm… "This morning’s Balearic Breakfast is now up on my Mixcloud and includes tributes to the late Marianne Faithfull, music from Wally Badarou (I’m hosting a event with him in London on the 19th February - reserve your free tickets on the @classicalbumsundays  website), some Loft classics (London Loft party on the 9th March and our website at loftparty.org  is going live soon!), italo, soul, dub and more. Thank you to the Balearicans who joined me on the live stream this morning - it was great chatting with all of you. I’m streaming remotely next week and have an interview and mix from @gregwilson who is not only a DJ and producer extraordinaire but a great music journalist and has also edited James Hamilton’s Disco Pages. We also have a mix from British born Ibiza based DJ @SAM and we chat about her new comp Suenos de Ibiza. Until then, kick back and enjoy the music…" By the way, we also learned today that Colleen spent some time in the studio lately, working on a very special remix which she can't wait to share with us, so stay tuned 😊 Listen back to the 210th episode of Balearic Breakfast: THE PLAYLIST ( 1986 ) Marianne Faithfull – The Hawk (El Gavilan) ( 2005 ) Richard Hawley   – The Ocean ( 1997 ) Bob Marley   – Exodus (Bill Laswell Ambient Translation) ( 1995 ) Marianne Faithfull   – Love in the Afternoon ( NOL ) Cymande   – Coltrane (Crooked Man Remix) ( 1984 ) Wally Badarou   – Mambo ( 1983 ) Marianne Faithfull   – The Blue Millionaire ( 1983 ) Al Jarreau   – I Keep Callin’ ( 1976 ) Flowers   – For Real ( 1984 ) World Premiere   – Share the Night ( 2021 ) 122 North   – Drive ( 1980 ) Marianne Faithfull   – Broken English (Special 12” Single) ( 2025 ) Pellegrino & Zodyaco   – Mario ( 1992 ) Mission Control   – Outta Limits ( 2025 ) Electric Wire Hustle   – If These Are the Last Days (Eliphino Remix) ( 1992 ) Liquid Variety   – The Edge (New Dimensions) ( 1986 ) Enzo Avitabile   – Black Out ( 2024 ) Surya Botofasina (ft Radha Botofasina)   – Your Soul Is Perfect (Supreme Uniter) THE LISTENING EXPERIENCE Destiny lies there, where we, in our humility, accept receiving it... (The Lioncub) Death is nothing at all. It does not count. I have only slipped away into the next room. Nothing has happened. Everything remains exactly as it was. I am I, and you are you, and the old life that we lived so fondly together is untouched, unchanged. Whatever we were to each other, that we are still. Call me by the old familiar name. Speak of me in the easy way which you always used. Put no difference into your tone. Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes that we enjoyed together. Play, smile, think of me, pray for me. Let my name be ever the household word that it always was. Let it be spoken without an effort, without the ghost of a shadow upon it. Life means all that it ever meant. It is the same as it ever was. There is absolute and unbroken continuity. What is this death but a negligible accident? Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight? I am but waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near, just round the corner. All is well. Nothing is hurt; nothing is lost. One brief moment and all will be as it was before. How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting when we meet again! Henry Scott-Holland, 1847-1918 As I started working on this post, I saw this picture on Luke Una 's Instagram... Of course, it brought tears to my eyes. Death is just another part of life as they say. I wish it didn't Hurt That Much though... Whenever I hear The Hawk , I always have Richie Haven's version in mind, but also Kris Kristofferson 's music video (he initially composed the song)... The Hawk is about transmission, about hope, about letting things go and moving forward... What else can we do in the face of adversity... There's a lot of it in our world today, violence almost everywhere, death on every side of our stories, less and less joy... We got to have peace one day soon... And The Hawk brings that hope, even if it does so with an unbearable amount of sadness... Today's episode is exactly about that peculiar mood The Hawk presented: a long, somewhat uncertain and worried yet constant march in an undisclosed space towards a heavenly destination... All the songs have that incredible eerie feeling, letting you go, unaware, to a place you know nothing about. This feeling is perfectly represented in the first 44 minutes of the show, where the ambience is calm, yet uncertain as with Richard Hawley's The Ocean which seems to be about " returning to a place of familiarity and comfort with someone you’ve shared a wealth of experiences and feelings with ". Colleen's ability to pick up the songs dealing with the same subject (even if on separate intellectual levels) is just mindblowing. I mean, starting the show with these two purely sets the message clear: yes, you'll lose me one day, but you'll have to keep moving on, and you'll remember the places where we were happy. I'll always be there, with you . After all, we don't know if the man in the song speaks to a real woman... it may just be his imagination.... you see me coming, don't you...? In any case, the tone is perfectly set here. And there's more to come. Colleen's delicate mixing helps us see the path, gently leading us to Bob Marley's Exodus ( btw, thanks to davstod for recomenting David Rodigan's biography! ). If you're not walking towards heaven with us right now you'll never do it again in your entire life, this I can tell you. As Bob Marley shared it in his own words "After the shooting, me never want to just think about shooting,” Marley told Vivien Goldman of Sounds. “So me just ease up me mind and go in a different bag. What me stand for me always stand for. Jah [God] is my strength.” " The album is Marley’s most political and religious work but it also features beautiful, vivacious and downright funky and sexy jams. As a committed Rastafarian, Marley would often quote from The Bible, so it was no surprise that he chose to name his album after The Old Testament’s second book which portrays the exodus of the Israelites. However, there is another reason for the title choice as ‘Exodus’ also portrays a man experiencing his own personal exodus " ( Classic Album Sundays ). If you listen closely to today's episode, you will undoubtedly share with me the feelings I felt, and the following song in Colleen's mix, Marianne Faithfull's Love in the Afternoon keeps the pace to an unmatched perfection... We clearly feel the "marching force", we still have the lost feeling, we're searching for something, is this path the right one, is a secret love affair meaning to last... At this point of the show, we could almost refer here to those of us believing secretly in god without speaking about it openly... Once again, you see me coming, don't you...? After all, what do you think about when transitioning to the next realm?... These thoughts are so aligned with Marianne Faithfull's dark-sounding, and oh so lost album, A secret Life ... With Cymande's Coltrane , an open-hearted tribute to the Jazz Saxophonist, and generally speaking to music, the message is now plain to see. Think about what I Just wrote earlier, and also to a few of older posts where I explained how Colleen constructs the show, you might feel we reached here a transitioning point as Wally Badarou's Mambo starts... Think about it and try to see why... 😉 With Marianne Faithfull's The Blue Millionaire , a strange song, undefined, the music still keeps us moving forward... The "marching feeling" that accompanies us throughout the show can be explained by Colleen's choice to put Marianne Faithfull's songs along with the other songs she selected for this episode, creating a beautiful musical unity with Colleen always taking great care of the cohesivity of the whole mix. There's an intention here... (even if unconscious) confirmed by the first hour's last two tracks which are I Keep Callin ’ and Flowers' For Real and also by the fact that a song like Broken English has been inspired by Terrorism, and you know how much, according to some of these extremists, these barbarian acts are supposedly linked to Faith... Another way of seeing today's theme, don't you think?... The second hour of today's episode is also all bout this journey, with Colleen's mixing being perfect and transmitting the phases of the journey like it was a painting... I mean, listen to what she does during the mini mix ( Outta Limits / If These Are the Last Days (Eliphino Remix) / The Edge (New Dimensions) / Black Out ), it's astounding and this one wins the Wow Moment of today's episode! We were all on our knees while listening to it, perfection on our marching journey! Do I need to say more as the last song comes onto your mental screen? Your Soul Is Perfect ... “The question of our individual purpose as we traverse on Earth is often one we are scared to meet. The intention of this song is to acknowledge the truth about us all- we are beautiful for the beings that we are, with a Light that can never be extinguished. Having courage to be content and happy is no small feat when mental health is involved… The Supreme Uniter is not only a nod to this, but to Meghan Stabile as she dances to this one from stars back to down to us. All of this is only possible due to Magnificent Shakti of Swamini Turiyasangitananda.” (Surya Botofasina) COLLEEN'S PRESENTATION Marianne Faithfull with El Galivan , arranged and accompanied by Mark Isham. And she recorded this song in 1985 for the film Trouble in Mind , directed by Alan Rudolph. And it's a beautiful song, and I'm kind of picturing her as an El Galivan, or a hawk. And I have this image of her flying off into the sunset as she transitions into the next realm after a life filled with beauty, joy, and a lot of pain and suffering as well. She was an incredibly resilient person, having been on top of the world in the 1960s with a successful recording career, acting in several films. She was also a style icon and Mick Jagger's girlfriend. But her life soon spiraled out of control when she became addicted to heroin. And she also ended up homeless and also tragically without custody of her son. But after a successful comeback in the late 1970s, she found a new voice, both literally as she suffered from a severe bout of laryngitis and her voice changed forever. But she also found a new voice figuratively, and that she found and wrote songs that suited her next stage of life. Torch songs, chanson, also she kind of dipped into the kind of whole new wave sound. And she also acted on television and did about 20 films. She also wrote an autobiography in the mid-1990s . And when it came out, I interviewed her for a radio show I was hosting at the time. And we did an interview at her friend's apartment. I think it was on Fifth Avenue. It was very posh, very flash. But she was delightful. And I was just absolutely mesmerized as a young 20-something-year-old woman. What a life. Thank you to Rick Shearman and David Puzzi for that request. And we'll have some more Marianne later in the show. Good morning, Balearicans. I'm Colleen Cosmo Murphy, hosting your weekly Balearic Breakfast. And greetings to all over on my MixCloud Live. It's great to be back hosting the show live from the record room, although we had a great two weeks off in Lanzarote, which is just such a weird and wonderful place. You have the artwork of Cesar Manrique, like in roundabouts. And it's dotted around the island, this volcanic, rocky, black-sanded island that sometimes looks like a moonscape. It's like 80 miles, I think, west of the Western Sahara. It's just really different. And I absolutely love it. And thank you to our special guests, Phil Meissen and Tiger Balm and our Balearic Breakfast family members, Christine DeSouza and David Stoddard, for the mixes they contributed while I was away. I know you all love them. I'm away again next week, so I have Greg Wilson and Sam from Ibiza taking over the reins while I stream remotely. But on today's show, we have mainly your requests and some new tunes. And this next one is quite a poignant one for me, as it's a song and an album I listened to over and over again when my father was dying about 15 years ago. And he lived near the ocean in North Carolina. And every day I would drive his truck to the hospital and I would play this song. Matt Raistrick requested this from the classic album, Cole's Corner, released 20 years ago. This is Sheffield's Richard Hawley with The Ocean . A request from Christine D'Souza for Love in the Afternoon . From Marianne Faithfull's 1995 LP, A Secret Life , which mainly featured songs she had written or co-written rather than covers. And it was a collaboration with American composer Angelo Battalamenti after his work on Twin Peaks. And it was influenced more by Faithfull's passion for classical music. And it was released just after her biography came out. And that's when I had the chance to meet and interview her. And you got the sense that the book was both a relief, but also a weight and that now her personal life was public, which is why I love the name of the album, A Secret Life . And we'll have some more Marianne Faithfull later in the show. Now, this Thursday would have been the 80th birthday of Bob Marley. And it's not an exaggeration to say that he single handedly brought reggae to new heights around the world. I remember when I was a teenager and in university, everybody had the Legend compilation , including myself. It was just one of those records you have like Dark Side of the Moon or What's Going On. And it's really incredible how Marley globally popularized Jamaican music and sent many people digging deeper into the sounds from that island. We heard Bill Laswell's fabulous ambient translation of Bob Marley's Exodus from the 1997 LP Dreams of Freedom , which featured ambient dub reworks of Marley's songs. And that must have been a lot of fun in the studio and sending that one out to A.J. Elliott. And ahead of that, a request from Matt Raystrick for Richard Hawley's The Ocean . And I'm sending that out to my late father, Roger Murphy, who was a boat captain, a scuba diver and an amazing swimmer and just absolutely loved the ocean. And he gave me my love for the ocean as well. Now, some of you may have seen the recent documentary Getting It Back , the story of Cymande, the British funk band that had been had a lot more success, actually, in America, switched around with their debut album, which featured some great tracks, including Bra and Dove. Well, they are back with a new album and it's great. It's called Renascence and it's really a spiritual and sonic successor to their 70s output. And it also features guests Celeste and Jazzy B. Ana Sancho in Barcelona asked for a cut from the new LP, but I was just sent a new remix by Crooked Man and it's an advanced copy as well. So I wanted to share it with you. So I hope you don't mind, Ana, that I'm taking some creative license. Here is Simon Bay with the Crooked Man remix of Coltrane . Blue Millionaire from Marianne Faithfull's ninth studio album, A Child's Adventure , released in 1983 on Island Records. And it features some of the amazing talent that was featured on loads of records from that era on Island Records. Mikey Chung on guitar, Barry Reynolds , who also wrote and collaborated with Grace Jones when she was on Island, and also Wally Batteru, who co-wrote and produced that song and a few others on the album. And they were all, of course, part of the Compass Point All Stars, a group kind of put together, a session group kind of really put together by Chris Blackwell for the Compass Point Studios in Nassau in the Bahamas. So some people on the chat were saying, oh, that sounds like Talking Heads or Tom Tom Club. Yeah, because it's some of the same crew of musicians there. But that one was co-written and produced by Wally Badarou , who was the song before. Now, perhaps when the previous song started, you may have thought it was Daydreaming by Massive Attack. Well, that's because they sampled it. We heard Mambo by French African musician, songwriter, producer and all-around amazing talent, Wally Badarou . And that's from his 1984 LP Echoes . And that also has Chief Inspector on it as well. That's a balearic classic. Badarou was also a de facto member of Level 42 all throughout the 1980s. He collaborated with and produced Marianne Faithfull, Fela Kuti and Salif Keita. And he was a central figure and part of the Island Records Compass Point All-Stars. He performed on records by Grace Jones, Talking Heads, Mick Jagger, Gwen Guthrie, Robert Palmer, Sly and Robbie, amongst many others. He also scored music for films, including Kiss of the Spider Woman and more recently, the award-winning documentary, Tahomee. And he will be my special guest for our next Classic Album Sunday's event , being held at the KEF Music Lounge in London on Wednesday, the 19th of February. We will explore his illustrious career and we'll have an in-depth look and listen to Echoes. Tickets are free and they've just gone up on the Classic Album Sunday's website. So be quick. And for those on the chat on the Mixcloud Livestream right now, I have put the link into the comments. So there are limited tickets. So please be quick with that. All right, let's slip into something smooth and soulful. And I'm loving this request from our friend Victor Olteanu in Romania. And funny as it's from the same early 80s era as the last two songs I just played, it's by the late American singer-songwriter Al Jarreau , who had a massive album in 1981, Breaking Away . And it spent two years on the Billboard album charts and it hit number one on the jazz and R&B charts. So how does one follow that up? Well, with another hit record. Two years later, he released Jarreau and it did rather well as it became his third consecutive number-one LP on the jazz charts and reached high numbers on the R&B and album charts, too. This is the last cut on the album. It's Al Jarreau with I Keep Calling. Everyone on the chat's loving this one. Going back, World Premiere with Share the Night and it's some more smooth soul and it's kind of a studio assemblage like the Act Change , but this time put together by songwriter-producer Douglas Pittman under the name World Premiere. And they put out a couple of singles on EZ Street Records and we just heard Share the Night , co-produced by the late New York City DJ Jonathan Fearing and requested by Peter Jongenil. I had about a rare soul tune that I sadly used to only have on bootleg, but I sadly think the one I just played is on bootleg. I think it sounds worse. So sad. Sorry. But it's had the vinyl reissue. It's it doesn't sound wonderful, but it's such a great song. And it's called Flowers, which is really Richard Flowers. He only released two singles in 1976 on the label L.A. Expressio, and we heard the song for real. I just love that one. And starting it all off with Al Jarreau , I Keep Callin' as requested by Victor Olteanu. All right, let's send some love to our friends in Canada. Our friend Karl Banitov in Montreal made this next request for Quebec Act 122 North , which was assembled by Danny Provencher , who is also in the band Under the Lights . 122 North released one EP called Night Drive back in 2021, and this is the original version of Drive on Balearic Breakfast. Italian jazz funk producer Pellegrino and his band Zodiaco , they have a new album out and the whole thing is worth a listen. It's called Koine and Leonardo Lau requested that song, Mario. Absolutely love it. In fact, I don't think Pellegrino and Zodiaco put out a bad record. So head on over to their bandcamp and their latest is also out on vinyl as well. Ahead of that, we heard the title track from Marianne Faithfull's 1979 comeback album, and I'm sending that one out to Gemma Bagnell and Artur in Paris, who also made additional Faithfull requests. And after reaching the depths that she probably never thought was imaginable, drug addiction, homelessness, Faithfull tried to stage a comeback in 1976 with an album called Dream in My Dreams , but it didn't really work out. And then Chris Blackwell signed her to Island Records and really encouraged her to forge a new sound, a more modern sound. He brought in people like Steve Winwood and kind of really transformed her career much in the way that he helped transform Bob Marley's career, who we played earlier, encouraging him to fuse more rock and pop sounds. In any case, it worked. Broken English was the album that redefined Faithfull as an edgy, contemporary chanteuse, and it's a great record. And Broken English is also our Classic Album Sunday's album of the month for our online album club , which is open to Classic Album Sunday's Patreon members . And the album club this month will be held on Tuesday, the 25th of February on Zoom. And if you want to find out more about it, head over to the Classic Album Sunday's website and rest in paradise, Marianne Faithfull. OK, this next one is an old Loft classic and one of the records that I heard my friend David Mancuso play quite a bit when I started going to the Loft in 1992. The Loft anniversary is coming up on the 14th of February and we will be doing a Loft special as we do every year on Balearic Breakfast in a couple of weeks. And the London Loft will be launching our new website this month as well and be at Loftparty.org and it will feature a complete interview with David that has never before been published in its entirety. And of course, we also have our next Loft Party in London on the 9th of March . If you would like to join our mailing list, you'll be able to do so on the new website, but you can also message me on the socials until then. This was requested by Ben Oliver, who loves the introduction by Timothy Leary. This is Mission Control with the Shelter Mix of Outta Limits . Oh, caught me unawares. I love that one. Kevin Fleming requested it a few weeks ago and I just thought I got to get this on vinyl. So I did. And that's what you just heard. It's by Neapolitan saxophonist and songwriter Enzo Avitabile , who collaborated with Pino Daniele, James Brown, Afrika Bambaataa, Randy Crawford, Tina Turner, amongst others. And we just heard the club mix of his 1986 single Blackout , the original of which is on his LP SOS Brothers . And you can file that with Pino Daniele, I Know I'm On My Way , or Stop Bajon by Tulio Piscopo. I think it has that same kind of feel on that one. Ahead of that, another Loft classic, also from 1992. I was just I just bought it recently, actually just found a new copy. Liquid Variety , who is JT Irish, Joey Campbell and Joey Gold with The Edge (New Dimensions). It came out in Kaleidoscope and it followed their single The Best Part of the Trip . So I think you know what they're talking about over there. And I just love that one. And again, in a couple of weeks, we'll be doing our Loft anniversary special here on Balearic Breakfast and our London Loft parties on the 9th of March. If you want to join us, you can message me. And we started before that with New Zealand's Electric Wire Hustle , who have released three albums and the original of the song we heard, If These Are the Last Days , can be found on their 2014 LP, Love Can Prevail . We heard the Elefino remix of If These Are the Last Days, quite a relevant title for these challenging times and requested by our friend Barry Zare in Washington, D.C. And I'll be in Washington, D.C. next week, playing at 618 D.C. next Friday on Valentine's Day, the 14th of February . Admittedly, it will be a bit strange to be there at this time, but I'm looking forward to meeting some listeners like Barry and some old friends. And also, I think it's my first gig since New Year's Eve, so I'm ready for you. I'm ready to play. I'm coming over and I'm ready to play some records and really looking forward to that. So as I said, I will be in the States. I'll be streaming next week remotely. So I have two guest mixes. I have one from Greg Wilson . I'll also be talking with him about James Hamilton, who is the late British disco and soul DJ who had a column in Record Mirror from 1975 to 82. And Greg has just edited James Hamilton's disco pages and compiles all of his columns from the Record Mirror. So that will be really interesting. And we also have an interview and mix with DJ S/a/m from Ibiza, and she has a new compilation coming out called Sueños de Ibiza . And I thought you would like a mix like that as well. Well, this is Colleen Cosmo Murphy signing off another edition of Balearic Breakfast. But before I go, I'm going to leave you with a beautiful request by Rick Van Veen in the Netherlands. It's by keyboardist and composer Surya Botafossina , who was taught in the tradition of Alice Coltrane by Swamini Turiya Sangitananda herself on her ashram in California, which is where he grew up. He also recently toured with Andre 3000 . So you may have seen him on stage. Botafossina creates deep listening, spiritual jazz and meditative sounds and is devoted to one love, family and music. I guess that's what we're devoted to here on Balearic Breakfast as well. And this song is from the album Ashram Sun , released last year as a follow up to his acclaimed debut, Everyone's Children . And this one features Radja Botafossina . It's a beautiful, beautiful song and it's called Your Soul is Perfect , Supreme Uniter. Thank you so much for listening and I'll see you next week.

The Balearic Breakfast blog is the place where you meet Talented Musicians and Djs. Scott Ferguson is undoubtely one of them! Let's discover his journey! 1) Thank you so much for joining us here Scott! Can you take us back to your first years? How did you start your musical journey, who were the artists/DJs who influenced you? Thanks for having me Artur! My musical journey started back in the '70s in Glasgow and The Borders, where I grew up, thanks to my three older brothers, who were big into music. I’d always be digging through their vinyl collections. My oldest brother bought me a six-pack of Madness picture-disc 7” records for my birthday—I couldn’t have been any more than 7, and that probably cemented my lifelong obsession with vinyl. Back then, I loved the sounds of the 2Tone scene—The Specials, The Selecter, and The Beat—before moving on to bands like The Jam and Secret Affair. The first taste of dance music that grabbed me came from Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, followed by Afrika Bambaataa's Planet Rock . That track completely blew my mind and hooked me on the sounds of electronic music. Around that time, a friend’s cousin would bring us tapes from Tim Westwood’s Kiss FM show, which introduced us to the emerging breakdance and electro scene. My mates and I were obsessed—we got into breakdancing, bought records, and were all into music in a big way. My mate Richie was the first DJ in our ‘crew’; I still call him Richie Fresh today. When I was 18 and living in London, I saw my friend Richard Bell DJ for the first time—I knew I wanted to do that. He was so skilled technically and creatively, and a pretty big influence. I had already started collecting records seriously and going to clubs in London, listening to DJs like Andrew Weatherall, Danny Rampling, Johnny Walker, and Trevor Fung. I then moved back up to Scotland, where the likes of DJ Harri and Stuart & Orde from the Sub Club continued to provide me with a priceless musical education. I played my first gig in 1990, and by 1991, I was a resident DJ at the Citrus Club in Edinburgh and other venues across the city. I worked at the legendary Bomba Records in Glasgow, which connected me with other DJs and producers, sparking collaborations and studio experiments. It was at Bomba that I met Colin Gate of Deep sensation, and together, we opened Defunkt Records, also in Glasgow. My first studio session was with my mate Gordon Smith, aka Blackbeard, in 1997. We made a Balearic tune and recorded it at Can Can Studios. I’ve been making music ever since. 2) Colleen played your track "Beats from the far east" during Balearic Breakfast, can you tell us more about the way you composed that song and what you wanted to convey? Beats from the Far East evolved from an ambient track I’d previously produced and released called Dreams From The Far East which was played on Radio 6 and featured on Nightmares on Wax’s Cover Mix for Mixmag magazine a few years back. Sometimes it happens like that—a tune doesn’t just begin and end with itself. If I sense that there’s ‘more legs’in a track, that’s what I like to do: develop it further and bring a new dimension, like a new episode to a story. In the case of BFTFE, I had a clear vision of the Balearic and trip-hop tinged sound I wanted to create while retaining the personality and unique features of the original track. I added some mid-tempo beats and keyboard riffs to the existing ambient elements, blending those chilled vibes with a rhythmic energy to make it feel fresh and dynamic. Small musical changes, but they elevated the tune to something pretty special. I am very proud of it, it’s definitely one of my favourite works, and I’m happy it’s been so well received. 3) Generally speaking, what drives your imagination? Where does the music come from and how do you work when composing? Do you try to draw a general musical line and then perfect it or do you work, on the contrary, bits by bits? My general love of music drives everything. I’m constantly listening to different genres and I find inspiration everywhere. After over 20 years of making music, I’ve got seriously loads of unfinished musical projects sitting on my computer and ideas on paper too. I am always jotting ideas down in my diary so I don’t lose them—it happens more often than I’d like these days! On the whole, my tracks come together in pieces, I start, but then I will take a break and sit on it for a while and come back with a fresh ear, then tweak it until it feels right—there’s always something to return to. Some releases are projects that have been completed over many years. Once there’s a seed of an idea my process starts with sample hunting, and I’ve got a big record and digital music collection so there’s thousands of samples to work with. A track often begins with a few loops, then I layer in beats, vocals, and other elements bit by bit. 4) How do you approach your DJ sets? Do you prepare them in any way or do you rely on the spur of the moment, the vibe you feel when being right there with the dancers? I prepare in as much as I’ll have a rough idea of what I’m bringing to a gig, but it’s all very spontaneous. It’s always about feeding off the crowd, which comes from experience and plain old practice. It’s like give-and-take between yourself as the DJ and the crowd. I’m there to take them on a journey, but they guide the story too. I’ve been DJing for a long time, and mostly that’s meant DJing on vinyl as well as CDs. I was a very late adopter of the digital way and resisted it where I could. But times change, and you evolve your methods. Back in the day, you’d turn up with a box of maybe 100 records. If you ran out of music, you’d play the B-sides or dig deeper into your crate. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t—that was just part of the game. Now, with thousands of tracks at your fingertips, it’s all about being organised, making smart selections and memory. 5) I read in another interview that you suffered a stroke. I am so sorry to hear about this. How are you doing today? Can you share with us a few of your next musical moves for 2025? Thank you for asking. That’s right, yes, I had a serious stroke in 2022 that nearly took my life. I was very lucky, my wife was with me and got help very quickly which is key with a stroke. It’s been a tough recovery, and I’m still dealing with the effects of my brain damage, I have physical difficulties with my left side, some sight and spatial awareness issues. Day-to-day this shows itself in various ways relating to how the brain uses planning and memory. Sadly, one of the ways this has affected me and I still really struggle with is mixing records, trying to get that coordination working together in my brain just doesn’t quite work yet, and that breaks my heart. Over the past two years, however, I’ve overcome many hurdles and I make improvements all the time, so I keep pushing forward. Recovery never stops, and the human brain is pretty amazing, so you never know how much things can improve with time and effort. I’m hoping for 2025 to continue on the strong momentum of the last few years with my production (all of my tracks are availiable on my Bandcamp ). I have a four-track EP — Robot84 Promo vol 5 — coming out on vinyl via Juno Records in February, and the response so far has been brilliant. I’m also releasing a Balearic-fuelled EP on the Magic Wand Special Editions series ; I’m very excited about this one. I’ll continue to put digital releases on Bandcamp, and I’ve started work on Robot84 Promo 6 , which is taking great shape. Beyond that, I’m wondering and hoping 2025 might be the year I DJ again, which would really make it a year to remember. Thank you so much Scott. You are in our thoughts and I'm sure we'll meet all on a dancefloor soon. Take Care and thank you for the Music!!

Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy broadcast the 205th episode of Balearic Breakfast on her Mixcloud on December 24th 2024. About this episode. – No request line for this episode and no "Best of 2024" either, but a show which is the closest one to Christmas we ever had since this beautiful adventure started in 2019. 2024 has been a beautiful year for Balearic Breakfast as Colleen streamed 46 shows all in all (2021 broke all the records back then with 51 streamed shows)! So Congratulations dear Captain for taking the helm so firmly! You know how much we all love you. I also wanted to thank personally every artist who answered my humble questions and who took part to the blog, not forgetting every member who did the written interviews with me here! You can't imagine how much hapiness this brings me, this place is our safe harbor, I do mu utmost to make everyone happy! And I am ready for 2025... 😍 As far as this episode is concerned, it is a Soulful, Funky and uplifting musical moment! "Wishing you a Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Happy Kwanza, a peaceful Winter Solstice and overall seasons greetings. Thank you for your continued support of my weekly Balearic Breakfast ‘radio’ show hosted on my Mixcloud Live on Tuesday mornings and today’s show is now archived on my Mixcloud at https://tinyurl.com/mutkat2y The BB family has grown heaps since the show started over four years ago and together we become stronger and stronger. Thank you for supporting Balearric Breakfast, my Cosmodelica remixes and for joining me on discerning dance floors across the planet. I wouldn’t be able to lead a life in music without your support and am truly thankful for each and every one of you. I will not broadast on New Year’s Eve although I will be DJing that night over at @fever105 Midnight Funk New Year’s Eve shindig at Lafayette in Kings Cross in London alongside DJs Dimitri from Paris, Bill Brewster and more. And I’m also squeezing in a trip to Oslo to play at the club @jaegeroslo on the 28th December (they just did a lovely interview with me at https://jaegeroslo.no/obsessions-an-interview-with.../  ). But I will be back on the airwaves on Tuesday, the 7th January 2025. Wishing you peace, health, happiness and great music in 2025 and please enjoy music from… Wah Wah 45s  Scott Ferguson   DJ Terry Hunter   Kerri Chandler   Danny Krivit   Flamingo Pier   Soundway Records   Salsoul Records   Rush Hour  and more..." To everyone... Merry Christmas... Listen back to the 205th episode of Balearic Breakfast: PLAYLIST ( 2003 ) Alison Crockett – Like Rain ( 2000 ) Tabla Beat Science  – Magnetic ( 2025 ) Robot 84  – Beats From the Far East ( 1975 ) Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes (ft Sharon Paige) – You Know How to Love Me So Good ( 2017 ) Jeff Silna  – Its Always Something With You ( 1980 ) Common Sense  – Voices (Instrumental) ( 2024 ) Terry Hunter (ft Raheem DeVaughn)  – Favorite Thing to Do (Mr K Edit) ( 2024 ) Lawne  – Beta Pan ( 2024 ) Maya Blandy  – It’s in You (Puerto Montt City Orchestra) ( NOL ) Erwin Bouterse  – Voglia Disco Party (Belabouche Reshape) ( 2024 ) Phazed Groove  – Sao Paolo ( 1999 ) The Charlie Rouse Band  – Waiting on the Corner ( 2024 ) Orchestre Poly-Rythmo  – Zo Tche Kpo Do Te (Jose Marquez Remix) ( TBR 2025 ) Phenomenal Handclap Band  – Like A Constellation ( 2021 ) Flamingo Pier  – Cosmic Sunset ( 1998 ) Kerri Chandler / The System  – You're In My System ( 1981 ) Salsoul Orchestra ft Jocelyn Brown  – You're All I Want for Christmas ( 2008 ) Alfredo de la Fé & The Latin Jazz Ensemble  – My Favorite Things’ (Live) COLLEEN'S NEWS Colleen will be featured in these forthcoming events: 28th December: Romjulsfestivalen 31st December: Fever105's Midnight Funk 15th February 2025: Horse Meet Disco 8th March 2025: La Discothèque - Albert Hall Mnachester 3rd May 2025: Queen's Park Spring Weekender '25 Also, a few days ago, Colleen shared on her socials she participated to the " Dust and Grooves " book, Vol. 2, stating : "I’ve often thought about why I began collecting records as a young teenager, especially as it wasn’t the norm for adolescent girls in suburban America in the 70’s and 80’s. I suppose the main reason is quite pragmatic in that the only way I could hear the music that I loved was either waiting for it to come onto the radio or owning a physical copy. It is strange to think about, as music is now so ubiquitous and nearly any song be accessed nearly anywhere at anytime. But back then, you had to make it a mission to track down your favourite tunes and to discover new ones. Nuggets and Planet Records in Boston’s Kenmore Square were two of my favourite places to potter around, flicking through the bins, discovering old records by my favourite artists or a checking out a band I just heard Oedipus play on his Sunday night radio show ‘Nocturnal Emissions’ on WBCN (that’s where I first heard Brian Eno - the song was ‘Baby’s On Fire). I had very open ears and surprised the clerk at Nuggets when I bought the record he was playing in the shop - Rahsaan Roland Kirk’s 1965 masterpiece ‘Rip, Rig and Panic’ (such a great name for an album and apparently Neneh Cherry and co agreed :). When you found a record that you loved or would grow to love, it felt like Christmas morning. Colleen in her Record Room with the Chuck Maglione record she's been given by David Mancuso The other big change is that even more women have become serious record collectors and gone are the days i which a record shop would have a placard on a bench that said ‘girlfriends sit here’ (yes, I spotted that at an old record shop in New York City’s East Village now gone). And the new Dust & Grooves Volume 2 features many of us along with a host of diggers into a spectrum of sounds. This afternoon, I’ll be putting on an album and reading the many stories and salivating at the record shelves. Some habits never die. " COLLEEN'S PRESENTATION I Alison Crockett with Like Rain from her 2003 LP, Becoming a Woman , and that was also released as a single on Wah wah 45s which is Dom Servini 's label which celebrated its 25th anniversary this past year. And I was delighted when Matt Raystrick requested this song as I love Alison. I first met her when she was singing for my friend King Britt's Silk 130 album, and I fell in love with her voice. So when Tommy Musto asked me to produce a song for his Suburban Records label back in like the late 90s, I roped in Alison to sing on the first song I ever wrote and produced, so she really holds a really special place in my heart. Good morning, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa and all around season's greetings. I'm Colleen Cosmo Murphy hosting your Balearic Breakfast until high noon, and hello to the BB family joining me in the chat group for the live stream, and it's wonderful to be together, and thank you for your continued support in 2024. Now I won't be broadcasting on New Year's Eve, although I will be DJing that night for Fever 105's Midnight Funk New Year's Eve Shindig at Lafayette in King's Cross in London, and it's alongside DJs Dimitri from Paris, Bill Brewster, Pauly Ritmo and more, and I'm also squeezing in a trip to Oslo to play at the club Jaeger on the 28th of December, but I'm taking New Year's Eve off from Balearic Breakfast, so this is officially the last show of the year. And you may wonder why I'm not doing a countdown of my favorite tunes of 2024, and the reason is over the years I've decided I'm generally not really into charts and top tens and listing my favorite tunes or albums, as I just can't include everything that I really want to, and I inevitably forget things, and of course my own tastes are really ever-shifting and ever-evolving plus there's still so much more music to get to in 2024, so I don't really want to do a review of the past. So there you go no best ofs for me anymore, instead I'm catching up on some requests, some new tunes, and some older songs that deserve some attention like this next one by Tabla Beat Science which is the late tabla player Zakir Hussain and producer and bassist Bill Laswell 's group, and they founded it together in 1999. Sway of the Verses, or Pritpal Ajimal , made this request in light of the amazing Zakir Hussain who recently passed to the next realm, he called Hussain "a musician that's known as one of the greatest Indian classical musicians of his generation, and someone that traversed different genres with ease collaborating with some amazing musicians outside the classical world" . Now, Hussain was recognized as one of the greatest ever tabla players, and he was also a percussionist composer producer and actor and he brought classical Indian music to the world through various collaborations with artists like John McLaughlin , The Grateful Dead's Mickey Hart , Jan Garbarek , and Pharoah Sanders . Here he is with his collaboration with Bill Laswell as Tabla Beat Science with Magnetic . II Jeff Silna with It's Always Something With You , and it was originally only released on a promotional radio compilation recently reissued by French reissue label Favorite Recordings. Actually, they reissued it first in 2017 and have again, and it can be found on their Bandcamp, and it looks like that's the only release by Jeff Silna; he recorded it at TK Studios in Miami, and that label at the time were pumping out disco hits and forging the Miami sound, but that one obviously has a more AOR kind of yacht rock feel to it. Really love that. Ahead of that the Gamble and Huff penned and produced You Know How to Love Me So Good by Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes , featuring the gorgeous soulful vocals of Philadelphia natives Teddy Pendergrass and Sharon Paige , and it's featured on the 1975 album Wake Up Everybody , such a great album, and that was requested by Dominic Mesmer. And if like me you're catching up on movies and docs and box sets over the holidays, I urge you to check out the Teddy Pendergrass documentary If you don't know me , what a voice and what a life. Ahead of that we heard Beats from the Far Eas t by Robot 84 . I've been playing his re-edits and reworks quite a lot over the last few years, and he's very creative with them, assembling many different parts into a really unique groove. The one we just heard Beats from the Far East is now out on a vinyl EP with a more up-tempo track called Let's Do It on the flip. Okay, our friend Simon Ellis recently requested Voices Inside My Head by the Police, but Simon, I hope you don't mind, I've taken a bit of creative license, a bit of creative liberty, and rather than play the police version, I'm playing the cover by Common Sense , and I'm actually gonna do the instrumental as well. Begon Cekic was born in Serbia Montenegro and he moved to Brooklyn when he was 17 years old, and he worked in construction during the disco boom. He decided to capitalize upon it by setting up a record store and then a label on which he produced what were perhaps some of the early examples of dance tracks made up of loops and reworked riffs and and hooks from earlier well known hits, along with the help of mixer DJ T Scott and keyboardist Fred Tsar from 1980. This is Common Sense with the instrumental version of Voices. III Erwin Bouterse Voglia Disco Party , and that's from the Kindred Spirits compilation. Kindred Spirits they released Suriname compilation , and with an estimate of half a million inhabitants in Suriname it has a lively music scene, although relatively unknown, but it has a very strong influence on the Netherlands, where many of these Suriname people live, and the music from Suriname is mainly known for its Kaseiko which evolved out of traditional koina music and soul music. But the Surinamese have also been active in other genres, such as pop, funk, and jazz, and just love that one Voglia Disco Party by Erwin Bouterse, and that was a reshape by Italian producer Belabouche . Loving that one. Ahead of that we had the Portuguese and British singer, her name is Maya Blandy with in It's in you (sorry about that), she released her debut album Stardust earlier this year, and it was co-written and produced by Jake Wehrry of the Herbalizer, but the song we heard is more recent. I'm trying to find out a bit more about it in terms of a release, but it's a mix by Puerto Montt City Orchestra and has a real soulful disco vibe on that one, kind of stepping out of their usual ballearic sound. Ahead of that Lawne , which are self-confessed music nerds like them already Joe Nicklin and Joe Martin. They got together in 2019 to forge a sound that melds dub, electronics, hip-hop, psych, jazz, post-punk, Afrobeat, all things that I love, and it's no wonder that I love their debut album Attic which came out on Wawa 45s last year, and the whole LP is great. Matt Raistrick over on the chat group agrees it's really varied; and I've been playing it a lot while I was doing my end of year accounts. How lovely, it really kept me going. We heard Bait Up Pan again from Lawne's debut Attic , and ahead of that we heard the Chicago DJ and producer and label owner, Terry Hunter and the Grammy-nominated Washington DC soul singer Raheem DeVaughn with Favorite Thing to Do . It came out last year on Mirabal Recordings but I played the Danny Krivitt edit. Okay this next one I don't really know too much about, but it really sounded great when I played it in New York City at the Subculture NYC party in which Francois K and I played back-to-back, so I wanted to share this one with you on the show. It's called Phazed Groove with Sao Paolo on Tropical Disco on Balearic Breakfast. IV Zo Tche Kpo Do Te by Orchestre Poli Ritmo the Jose Marquez remix. And that's from the first of a two-part series on Canopy Records documenting the work of the Beninois supergroup T.P. Orchestre Poli Ritmo. They were responsible for an astonishing multitude of records numbering well over 250 releases, and while the group underwent numerous personnel changes over the course of their 40-plus years. The founder, composer, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Clément Melomé remained the constant, and he's the singer on the song we just heard. It's sung in phone by the band leader, and it translates as " my fire will not go out" , and we heard the remix by Los Angeles DJ and producer Jose Marquez. Ahead of that we had the late American saxophonist and flautist and Thelonious Monk collaborator Charlie Rouse with his Charlie Rouse Band with Waiting on the Corner , and it's from the Charlie Rouse Band's only LP Cinnamon Flower released in 1977. Although he released many many albums from the late 1950s through to the late 1980s as band leader, and before his passing, I believe it was 1988 . And I have to thank another saxophonist for that one Scott Towers from Fat Freddy's Drop. They were just touring loads of sellout shows in Europe and he came over and had to offload some of the records that he bought because he couldn't fit them in his luggage going back to New Zealand. So thanks for offloading some of your records here Scott, you might get it back one day, but yeah thank you for that. Another great record he left was by Ahmad Jamal 7 really jonesing and listening to a lot of that recently as well. Okay, Daniel Kala of Phenomenal Handclap Band has sent me a very tasty exclusive, it's not even out as a digital promo yet, so muchas gracias to Daniel, but I'm just loving it. It has a very cosmic vibe and a very cosmic title to match. Here is Phenomenal Handclap Band with Like a Constellation . V Oh... It has to be done, thank you so much to David Sautter for that request. Salsoul Orchestra featuring Jocelyn Brown You're all I want for Christmas , and it's a Patrick Adams production and that's found on the Christmas Jollies volume 2 from Salsoul Orchestra. Had to play a Christmas carol for you. Ahead of that we had Kerri Chandler as The system You're in my system , and when it came out on Ibadan Recordings Jerome Sydenham's label in 1998 and Greca Mac requested it. She said it was "a highlight from the Hacienda night at WHP in Manchester earlier this month" , she said "the night was very unexpectedly epic" and she also sends love to the Balearic Breakfast family. Ahead of that a lovely request from Askush for Cosmic Sunset by Flamingo Pier from New Zealand and one of my best memories of 2024 was, you know, hanging out in New Zealand going to New Zealand for the first time, and to Australia, and we played for Flamingo Pier is really cool cool festival called the Waiheke Festival in February, so thinking about that where I was going. We left I think on the 27th of December, we're gone for six weeksn so it is on my mind. Gotta make our way back down there at some point in the near future. Well it's about time to wrap up another year's worth of Balearic Breakfast. We've been going for over four years now. I can't believe it and I just want to say thank you for listening and for all of your support, thank you for being part of the Balearic Breakfast family. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Winter Solstice and Happy New Year's and overall season's greetings, and I'm wishing you all health, happiness and a lot great lot of great music in 2025. I'm going to leave you with one last song which does fit the season's mood. It's not a... It's not a Christmas carol, it's non-secular, but it's often lumped in with Christmas songs. It's a cover of My Favorite Things , a beautiful beautiful song as you know from the Sound of Music and you know, covered by so many different jazz musicians including Alfredo de la Fe who is a really, is a very interesting violinist. He was born in Cuba lived in New York but he also lived in Colombia for a decade and a half, and he adapted the violin to Colombian traditional music, and he was the first solo violinist to play with a salsa orchestra, and he's played with loads of different great artists Latin artists like Eddie Palmieri, Tito Puente, Celia Cruz, The Fania all-stars, it goes on and on and on and on. And in 2008 my friend, David Mancuso , started a record label called The Loft Audiophile Library of Music which I helped him out, wich only had one release but this was the release, and it's Alfredo de la Fe and the Latin Jazz Ensemble with a live version of My Favorite Things so here it is, sending you off with this. Thank you again for joining me, and remember, if the holidays get a little bit too much, just be Balearic... Sadly, a few hours after today's episode, we learned about DJ Alfredo's passing. Here is Colleen's tribute to him, she published on December 26th, on her socials. May you rest in peace Alfredo 😢 Rest in paradise DJ Alfredo. I didn’t know Alfredo well but I was lucky enough to DJ back to back with him three years ago in Ibiza for Beat Hotel. Of course, as I host a show named ‘Balearic Breakfast’ I knew a lot about Alfredo, his huge influence on the Balearic and acid house scenes and the musical eclecticism he transmitted at his Amnesia residency. So yes, I was a tad nervous to play alongside him as he is a true legend. Before our set, we had dinner together and what struck me was how humble and gracious he was - soft-spoken but strong. I wondered if he truly understood the extent to which his DJ style and his musical selections had influenced so many people including some who went on to become global superstars. His sweet and gracious manner was the antithesis of the fist-pumping, glory-seeking attitudes that we sometimes see in the upper echelons of commercial dance music. But yet, whether they know it or not, DJ Alfredo influenced them because of his impact on global dance music culture. Alfredo and I had a lovely time DJ-ing together and turning each other onto tunes. I am so thankful for that experience and you can listen back to an hour of our set on an archived Balearic Breakfast at https://tinyurl.com/36ph4afy Sending my condolences to his son, his family and to those who knew him well. Thank you for the music Alfredo.

Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy broadcast the 209th episode of Balearic Breakfast on her Mixcloud on January 28th 2025. About this episode. – While enjoying her last moments in Lanzarote (a small town in the Canary Islands), our dear Captain streamed this beautiful episode that brought us so much hapiness! Although she did everything that could be done to ensure the episode would be streamed flawlessly, Colleen wasn't lucky as Mixcloud stopped working during David's mix! Sigh! This episode was a very joyous one: Tigerbalm 's mix was off the hook (the transcribed interview is here ), David 's mix (read the review here ) was soulfoul as can be (he shared with us the luck he had, meeting Rose Robinson when she did a vinyl set in London), we celebrated Natalie Alleyne 's Birthday and talked everything music on the chat! Our friend Macho Grande summed it all up perfectly by saying "Loving this, makes me wish I was on holiday and not sat in an office" 😂💕👌 And, for your complete information (we're doing our best here 😉) Colleen is heading to Massachussetts and NYC next week and she will be streaming the show at 5am! "It’s the last day I can hang out with my new buddy in Lanzarote. I’m going to miss him! This week’s Balearic Breakfast is now up on my Mixcloud and features a guest mix and interview with @tigerbalmmusic . I have played many of her tunes and remixes on the show - tunes that are spread across labels like @razorntape and @ubiquityrecords . I know you’ll love her mix of global electronic beats. And she was kind of enough to take some time while on the road in Peru to have a chat about her music-making process and her forthcoming second album. After that we have a guest mix from Balearic Breakfast family member @davstod . He has put together a gorgeous mix of orchestrated soul which will hopefully clear away the winter blues for our listeners in the Northern Hemisphere. Thanks for those who joined on the Balearic Breakfast live stream - it was wonderful to be together as always. The ‘Request Line’ is back this Saturday and I look forward to your suggestions for next Tuesday’s Balearic Breakfast (and once again I’ll stream live from my Record Room). Enjoy your week and thanks for listening!" Listen back to the 209th episode of Balearic Breakfast: PLAYLIST Tigerbalm's Mix ( 1969 ) Stevio Cipriani – Mary’s Theme ( 2020 ) Gitkin   – Chicha Nola ( 2024 ) Yuksek, Diogo Strausz, Juveniles (ft Julia-Baptiste)  – Pura Onda (C'est pas I'oiseau Jam Mix) ( NOL ) Tigerbalm (ft Jimena Angel)  – Columbia Calypso ( 1998 ) Aldo Sena   – Cumbia Reggae ( 2024 ) Tigerbalm (ft Joao Selva)  – Vem Ca ( 2023 ) La Jungla   – Salto Palante ( 2025 ) Dennis Liber   – Hidden Island ( 1974 ) Trio Ternura  – Filhos de Zambi (Bernardo Pinheiro edit) ( 2020 ) Super Mama Djombo – Dissan Na M´bera (Suur Di No Pubis) (Daniel Haaksman Edit) ( 2019 ) Maria Bethania  – Eu A Agua (Lov.ini Edit) ( 2023 ) Coati Mundi  – Me No Popeye (Juju Muzik Edits) ( 2024 ) Tigerbalm (ft Joy Tyson)  – Profunda Alma ( 2021 ) Tania Alves  – Fankiando Planador (Aroop Roy Rework) ( 2022 ) Balkan Beat Box  – Adir Adirim (Nickodemus Remix) ( 2024 ) Emperor Machine  – La Cassette (Tigerbalm Remix) ( 2021 ) Mainline Magic Orchestra  – MMO Theme David Stoddard's Mix ( 1971 ) Isaac Hayes  – Early Sunday Morning ( 1978 ) Jeffree  – Mr Fix It ( 1979 ) The Love Unlimited Orchestra  – As Time Goes By ( 1976 ) Leon Ware  – Learning How To Love You ( 1976 ) Diana Ross  – One Love In My Lifetime ( 1970 ) Shirley Bassey  – Spinning Wheel ( 1971 ) Labi Siffre  – The Shadow of Our Love ( 1964 ) Tenorio Jr.  – Nebulosa ( 1978 ) Lemuria  – Hunk of Heaven ( 1978 ) Chaka Khan  – Some Love ( 1978 ) Esther Phillips  – Native New Yorker ( 1977 ) The Originals  – Call On Your Six Million Dollar Man ( 1979 ) Mongo Santamaria  – Watermelon Man (disco promo 12" version) ( 1979 ) Angela Bofill  – People Make the World Go Round TIGERBALM'S INTERVIEW WITH COLLEEN [Colleen] Greetings, I'm Colleen Cosmo Murphy hosting your weekly Balearic Breakfast on my Mixcloud Live until high noon. And hello to the Balearic Breakfast family joining me on the live stream as always. Today we have two special guest mixes. The first is from Tiger Balm, born in South London as Rose Robinson. She DJs and produces a unique sound that gathers African, Latin, and various world influences and somehow makes them work alongside modern electronic music. Her penchant for global music flavors is infectious and peppers her debut album, International Love Affair. She has also done remixes for Nicodemus and Razor and Tape and Emperor's Machine, and she has a new album on the horizon in 2025. After that, we have a special Balearic Breakfast family mix from David Stoddard, who has been wowing us with his requests for the past couple of years. But first, it's over to Tiger Balm. Now I'm here in the studio with Tiger Balm. I've been following her career for the last couple of years. She put out a fantastic album called International Love Affair in 2022 on Ubiquiti. The following year, she had some great remixes on the follow-up album. And then just recently, she put out the Profunda Alma EP. She's put out great music on Ubiquiti, Razor and Tape, and Leng, and she's here in the studio with me now. Hello, how are you? [Tigerbalm] Hi, I'm great, thank you. Thank you for having me. [Colleen] Oh, it's a pleasure. It's a pleasure. And the fact that you live just on the other side of the park from me and that I see you at the hairdressers is pretty cool as well! We're official neighbors. Official neighbors, exactly. I just wanted you to kind of, if you could kindly recount how you got into music. [Tigerbalm] At uni actually, I just was clubbing a lot in London and would kind of hear the DJs playing and a lot of the West End clubs actually at uni and wanting to like, I'd quite often be that annoying person going, oh, can you play this song? Can you play this song? Or if it was a DJ, can you play that song that I loved last week? And was, yeah, just really into it. And I ended up just buying myself my own CDJs and started learning to mix at home and having little art parties. So that's how my first little DJ moment started. It was during uni in London, but I had always been really into music. My mum and dad are so musical and they had a big record collection and a salsa and yeah, there was always music. My grandma's a singer, opera singer, so music was always like a massive part of me anyway. So it was just like, I loved dancing. I used to do choreographs when I was younger. So it's just music and dancing have always been a big thread. And then it developed, I think like just, I found a couple of like styles of music I really liked. I was playing at Momo's a couple of years after getting quite good. I used to play, you know, there it was this kind of Moroccan world global sound and it was dance music, but more electro. And I found some music I liked and felt really at home there. And then struggled with the shift in genres and I just couldn't find music I liked. And I was sort of like, shall I make music? And then I met a guy called David Baker, actually an old friend of mine who introduced me to new disco, but like more cosmic new disco, like Jaxophilus, really spacious cosmic sounds. And that was like, Ooh, I love this. So then I kind of started going to Hackney Whip, these mental warehouse parties that blew my mind because I was like, what is this music? Oh my God. But it was like sacked off West London completely. I was going to these parties like Colours, it's like Guillaume Ronin. And yeah, the music was like a lot of Afro inspired mixed up with cosmic disco, but not too cheesy. And yeah, from there it was like, I just wanted to be a DJ. Every time I was at those raves, I was just staring to get there. I want to be there in that moment. And that was kind of like a goal. And unfortunately, by the time I'd established myself, all of the awesome raves got shut down, you know, but it was like a big inspiration for me to make music, to like embody those moments. So yeah, I just started learning on 8th of June and worked a bit with my friend Christy Harper. We sort of were learning together. We tried making some music together as well, which was really fun and did some edits. And then yeah, I met my ex-partner, Isaac Gray, who we formed Earth Boogie, which was our production duo. And yeah, after that, after that relationship ended, I went on to do my solo career. So it kind of, it was very organic. [Colleen] Wow. It sounds really interesting. You have such a unique sound, which I love because as you mentioned earlier, it is influenced by global sounds and you're making it and, you know, bringing in this kind of electronic kind of modern dance element, which is really, really great. And it seems to me like when you first started in 2020, you did your first single with Ella Coco, and I see that our friends in New Zealand, Flamingo Pier, also did a remix. Now, were you initially just getting inspired by different places to make music? [Tigerbalm] Like on a psychological level, I've been somewhere in a moment and I want to make a song for that moment. And I'm often making the song I'm thinking about that moment. And I have, as an empath, like a strong ability to recreate feelings and emotions in the form of a memory. So Wacky Key from my first album was made because I played at Weekly Z Festival with Flamingo Pier. So when I was there DJing that set, which was amazing, I was like, I need to make a song that I could have played in that set. [Colleen] Wow. That's a great idea. That's fantastic. I played for them last year. I wish I had done that. They do have a song called Cosmic Sunset though, which I've kind of co-opted to play quite a bit. No, I can't call it my own. But they're great guys. So you got, that's how you got inspired to do your first release. And then after that, you started to get inspired from other cultures like Indonesia and also Brazil. [Tigerbalm] Exactly. [Colleen] Do you travel a lot? [Tigerbalm] Yes. So Ella Coco was started in Indonesia when I was still with Isaac. So we had to split our Erfugi tracks and that one, I was kind of really excited to have it because it was half done and I got to finish it off. And yeah, so that's what the Ella Coco was. And then everything after that has come from a trip. So if you look at the first album and you dissect it, like Labrisa on that album is called Labrisa from Beach Club in Bali. But like each name has a thread to something historically, like a bit like a diary, I guess. And yeah, I'm trying to think of the order of the songs now because so much stuff has come out. But yeah, the album was an amalgamation of my style from Erfugi into Tiger Bomb. So it was more deep electronic, more clubby. And as I've evolved, I've learned to work with session musicians and create more of a live sound. So it's really like when I went to Brazil, I was like, how am I going to make this music, like this style of music? I'm like, OK, I've got to work with people. Who am I going to work with? So I just contact friends of mine I've worked with and say, hey, do you recommend anyone that plays this style of percussion or a really good bass player that could do this vibe? And, you know, all the good people always just go, yeah, yeah, I'm going to introduce to him. Then that person knows the trumpet. And all of a sudden you've gone down the rabbit wheel and you've made all these new tracks. Yeah, I guess. [Colleen] Fantastic. Now, what is what are some of the great things that you've taken away from other cultures in terms of producing music? [Tigerbalm] Mexico is where I've spent the most time. I'm working with the trumpets and kind of creating that. I don't like to use the word tribal so much, but they call it tribal house, you know, the more Afro house sounds. I've always loved that deep Afro house sound. And I was very inspired by my Tulum trips to create Pagoda Dance, which was my one of my singles this year on House Music With Love. I was in Tulum and I was playing in these different venues and I was like, OK, I need to make a big Afro house track. And then, you know, getting big trumpets in it, because all of those tracks have the sound. So finding someone that could record with me. So I sort of take different instruments from different cultures and sounds. Brazil, obviously, you know, I couldn't record the percussion that I bring in amazing percussionists. I worked with Miquel on Trifunda Alma. He is based in Napoli, actually, but he is a composer and he is just a Brazilian guru. So I came up with a concept for a song and was like, OK, here's the different Brazilian songs I love. Can we take these sounds and recreate them? And so you have to go down a rabbit hole with instruments. And in Brazil, there's so many unique instruments to work with. And definitely Ipanema, I went to a music store. I've actually got some different pieces that I bought there, about five or six crazy pieces. And we've used those in some of the songs as well. I like a couple of the shakers, but only little layers, you know, that we can use in the studio. I want to buy more instruments when I travel that I can actually record live. But my new album has got a lot of live recorded instruments that I use from a studio in Portugal. [Colleen] We'll talk more about the new album in a while because I want to stay where we are, because this is so interesting. As you're traveling, are you just going into people's studios as well and recording as you're traveling as well, like local musicians? [Tigerbalm] Recording the new album, yes, in Portugal with a singer and a guitarist that were recommended to me. But in the new album, yes, but that was the first time I'd done it. So far, it's all been remote. But we'll do a Zoom session, we'll chat, and then we'll bounce backwards and forwards quite a few times. And there's also Fiverr, which is a really unusual platform that a friend introduced me to. I'm not allowed to share the name of the people I'm using there because he made sure I wouldn't share them because I like his weapons. But he introduced me to a couple of sick keys players on there and Brazilian musicians and they've recorded on Lacassette and my Mama Chip album, and Mama Chip remix, sorry. So I've got all these little special musicians that I've been starting to work with. But it's always remote, they'll send you a draft, you give them feedback. And it's like two or three rounds of, you know, it's almost like with COVID, you learned to work remotely. [Colleen] Exactly, I had to do the same thing. It was so interesting. Yeah. [Tigerbalm] Yeah. And the singers as well, like there's a new track that I've just sent to a singer called Kemena Angel in Colombia. I met her at a festival in the summer and I had this track and I was like, well, let me send it to her. I was like, babe, what do you think? And she was like, she just sent it back, she'd already recorded on it. Like she didn't even be like, yeah, I like it. Let's work together. Let's have a chat. It was like, boom, she sent me these Insta videos and I was like, whoa, this is amazing. Okay, so I reworked the track and then I sent it to Juksek and he was like, I love it. We'll put on a compilation. So it's just randomly organic. It's like everything is like, yeah, just flowing in some kind of weird way. [Colleen] Well, it certainly sounds like it. Well, why don't we listen to your mix, get back to the mix, and then we'll come back and talk about what's in store for you in 2025 and a new album as well. You're listening to Tiger Balm on Balearic Breakfast. [Colleen] And now we're back with TigerBalm here in the studio on Balearic Breakfast. We've been listening to her fantastic mix and I just want to talk with you about what's going on in 2025. I mean, I just have to say that your enthusiasm is so infectious and your vibes are so positive and strong. It's absolutely a pleasure to speak with you, but also to hang out with you and to listen to your music. And I think because of that, you've had a lot of really fruitful collaborations and I see that you've worked with many different people and two people that I see that you work with quite a bit. One is Jay Kriv from Razor and Tape and the other one is Joy Tyson. I just wanted to speak with you a little bit about that because Jay Kriv is also a very prolific producer and you seemed to start on a journey with him a few years ago. Tell me a little bit about your relationship with with Jason or Jay Kriv from Razor and Tape. [Tigerbalm] Yeah, we met in the Hamptons in New York about, wow, it probably was eight years ago now. It could be even nine. But I was doing a residency at a beach club at the Andre Balazs Hotel on Shelter Island. And I was there for, I think, nearly three months. And I was like, right, I'm here. Like, who do I want to meet that's in New York? And of course, I was a massive fan of Razor and Tape. And pretty much most of my new records have been from the label because they do the disco with a bit of Afro and Brazilian. So I've been really inspired by all of his remixes. I was like, basically his biggest fan. And yeah, I just text him like, you know, I think on Instagram, like, oh, you know, I'm in town for a few months and gonna be doing some different shows. It'd be great to link up if you're free. And he was on Shelter Island that weekend visiting a friend. [Colleen] How funny. That's serendipity. [Tigerbalm] Yeah. And yeah, I remember he was having lobsters at the house. I remember the whole conversation the first time we met and I was playing outside and it was all sunny. And yeah, after that, we just stayed in touch, like music swaps and things like that. And then, yeah, as I sent him, I was sending him music for a while actually, but before they first were like, right, this is the song that we love. So when I send them Nina, he was like, wait, wait, don't send that to anyone else. I was like, okay. I was actually in Margate when I sent him that, I remember the moment. So I was like, oh my god, because it was like a dream to release on Razor and Tape. I mean, they're prolific. [Colleen] Very prolific. [Tigerbalm] And yeah, we're just great friends. [Colleen] Oh, he's a lovely guy. I finally got to meet him the last time I was in New York, because I played at their record shop. And I have been a big supporter of his music as well. Also, I've been a supporter of the label Ubiquity. And that's where you released your album, International Love Affair and the remix album. Can you tell me a little bit about that relationship and how that developed? [Tigerbalm] Yeah, that was also a lockdown moment where I made the album and I was like, who do I want to release it with? And I was researching all my favorite artists at the time that had a similar sound and was just contacting, I think, like Soundway Records, just different people. And I found this album from Bossk that I had on vinyl. I was literally methodically going through my record collection, flipping the back, where was this released, going online, contacting him on Bandcamp. That was my process. And yeah, like they were on that list. And I got a call from Michael, the head of Ubiquity and was like, yeah, we love the album. And I was like, oh my god, like, okay. And then it was like, yeah, it just like, just, again, I was in Margate because it was lockdown. I remember I was on, I've been on like a beachwalk, I was sitting in the car and I was like, screaming out loud. But yeah, it was like such a big moment for me, you know, it was like my first solo album, you know. And it was a struggle for doing Earth Boogie sometimes because it was like, you know, we would work on the projects alone and then together and they'd go in different directions. And it wasn't always your authentic result. You know, you didn't always love it. You had to compromise like a relationship, you know, it was the same with the music and the songs. And then it was like, this is me doing me. And it felt great. [Colleen] That's great. I mean, it sounds great as well. It was like such a cool album. And the whole image you kind of put together is really great as well. I mean, it's, you're controlling all these different aspects of what, of your output, image, music, doing the productions, doing remixes. And I can hear from speaking with you too, that it's, you're very driven. This is something that you're not just sitting around waiting for people to ask you to do things. And I found this with a lot of different women DJs and producers. They go out and create the stuff rather because they know they're probably not going to be asked if they just sit around waiting. I mean, you know, we have to kind of create our own platforms and really be quite disciplined and driven to kind of get out there. And I really admire what you're doing. Now, you also put out some great remixes too, one for Emperor's Machine, which I love them. And I know that they did a remix for you. I guess you're doing some swaps on remixes now, aren't you? [Tigerbalm] Yeah, that was a Lange swap, that one. Yeah. And I actually loved doing that remix. It was really interesting. I kind of wish I'd lowered the BPM now for some reason, because I was umming and ahhing for a long time about the speed. But I end up DJing at lower BPM, which is laughable, because I debated for so long about the BPM. But anyway, you have to laugh. Lange Records are obviously my original baby. I was with Fugi, where all my albums came out with them. And then they released my first single. So Simon from Lange Records has been incredibly supportive all throughout my career and books me at his Philly Brooklyn venue in East London. So yeah. But yeah, we were talking about Ubiquiti there. You'll laugh, because they were like, we want a photo of you on your next album. And I was like, oh, my God, I've got to curate a whole thing now. Because I was like, let's just get Illustrator to do it. Like, just like take it off my hands. And then it was like, oh, my God, I had to create this whole image again. But it's actually really fun. It's a lot of work. And it's a lot of pressure. And it can be a little stressful. But when you actually look at the product at the end, it's like, I just did that. [Colleen] It looks great. Your website looks great. It's fun, as well. Your music is fun. It has energy. It's uplifting. It's different. I love it. So tell us, right now you're in Peru. Are you doing any recording in Peru? Are you doing any music in Peru? [Tigerbalm] I've got my Roland RO7 on me, which just field recording. So I have captured Carnival in Rio on there, as well, which I still need to put into a track. But yeah, I plan on using it a bit more, I think, in the Sacred Valley. There's a lot of amazing artists who live up there. And I'm definitely going to use that. And I might meet people on the way. So I'm remaining very open to whatever comes universally. I just trust the process. I've got one gig there called Discophobia in Lima, which I'm very excited about. Apparently, the vibration in Lima for parties is up there. So I'll be in my full element. But yeah, I think the trip is very action-packed, apart from the Sacred Valley, which is up in Cusco. It's very high altitude. And yeah, I just, the universe just, yeah, I never know what's going to come until it comes. [Colleen] Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. You have to be trusting, trusting that it's all going to work out. Just put your faith in it. [Tigerbalm] Yeah, something will come out of it, though, for sure. [Colleen] Yeah, I'm sure. I'm sure. Now you have a new album coming out. Is it all ready to go? Is it all finished? [Tigerbalm] It's finished. [Colleen] Okay, tell us about that. [Tigerbalm] Yeah, that's definitely, I have to say, really proud of it. Definitely the best thing I've done. I've worked with, I've recorded every singer on there, and there's about three session musicians on each track. And it's 50% women, 50% men. [Colleen] Brilliant. [Tigerbalm] On the vocals, it was really important for me. Also with the remixes, everything needs to be 50-50 and neutral. So there's four Brazilian tracks, four Afro tracks, all inspired by sort of late 70s, early 80s Afro disco bubblegum vibe. So yeah, it's a really new sound for me. And yeah, it evolved the album because I started it. And then I created this new sound. And then I had to drop some tracks out because they weren't fluid with the overall sound of it. But I've sung on two tracks. [Colleen] Oh, fantastic! [Tigerbalm] That was a huge, you know, I had to go, I had to see a voice coach, not for singing, but for like, moving through emotional blockages, because actually using your throat, your throat chakra is like, about not trauma, but like, you know, you've got to release it and work with it vibrationally. So we did a lot of like chanting and vocal work and cleansing. And that actually was what gave me the confidence to sing. [Colleen] That's fantastic. Yeah. I did singing the other night at karaoke on Boxing Day for the first time since 1989 when I was in Japan. I did have a few drinks, but the last time I sang in public, maybe the last time I ever will. No, I'm just joking. But that's fantastic. Because that's you have to really let your guard down to be able to to sing. I think if you're not a, you know, if that's not your usual vocation. [Tigerbalm] Yeah, I used to love singing. I just I had glandular fever a lot when I was younger. And I used to lose my voice and always get sick. And I think I just, that process sort of disengaged me from because my voice just goes a lot. Even after like talking of a loud sound system, it will go more than anyone else's. But I had this sort of fear around using it, especially because I thought if I record something great, I probably can't sing that live because I just find my voice very unreliable. But I just worked through that and I'm sort of finding my sound. I'm gonna keep going and keep trying to make songs. One of them I'm singing in English and it's like a rap, which is the single. And it's it's kind of jungle bookie, but it's it's funny and playful and silly and kind of new canary. And the other one I'm singing in Portuguese. So I had to work with someone to get that. And I wrote the lyrics for that one based on my last Brazilian trip. So yeah, there's a whole story around those tracks, but they're Brazil and Afro. Basically. [Colleen] Fantastic. And when is that coming out? Which label? What's the name of the album? [Tigerbalm] That's Ubiquity Records. And it's called Bubblegum Disgust. It's fun. And so the single should be either the end of March or early April. And then we're going to stream three more singles and then the album will come out June or July. And there will be about one year later a remix as well. And we're just signing off those artists slowly, slowly, you know, looking at budgets and things. But yeah, it's a long process, but it's exciting. [Colleen] Fantastic. Well, I'm really looking forward to it. We'll obviously give it support on Balearic Breakfast. And thank you so much for joining us today, and for taking some time out of your busy schedule in Peru. And we're loving the mix and really good luck with all of your endeavors. I'm really happy for you. And I just absolutely admire you and what you're doing. [Tigerbalm] I'm the same. I'm a huge, huge admirer of yours. And thank you so much. It's been great to be here. [Colleen] Thank you so much, Rose. That was fabulous. And now a special guest mix from one of our family members, David Stoddard. Each week I look forward to a special Soulful Requests, which often send me directly to Discogs. And here's a little note from David himself. The selection is quite eclectic, but definitely soulful string led, which always lifts the heart in the depths of winter. And it's vinyl only, hence the occasional clicks and crackles. Here is David Stoddard. THE LISTENING EXPERIENCE I still keep in my mind that interview Colleen once gave where she said she stopped writing album reviews because she felt it was impossible to write about music in a way that would serve the purpose, with a lot of the reviews being poorly written. On the contrary, I would say this: if you think you love Music, then go ahead, and write about it. But write about it with your soul, with your guts, make that article the music you're listening to. Try to describe everything you feel, everything you see, make the listener listen again to the songs and help him find what you found. If you're able to do this, then your paper was a good one. If you didn't, then, obviously you served no one interests... And as far as I'm concerned, I konw I've not found the best words to perfectly describe a mix yet, one thing I know is that some mixes require a classical writting style whereas other ones require a more creative style, and it all comes down to what I hear and feel... Dave Stod's mix is one of those mixes that you need to listen to again and again. First because the songs selected are off the hook, they're not well-known or overplayed hits. They're reprensentative of what Soul is, they're so groovy you're going to melt. Also, the way Dave presented them, in a relaxed yet precise mix, really puts them into a beautiful spiritual light. Dave changes tempos, sometimes with a lot of audacity, but he keeps the listener awake and he does not lose him along the way by selecting songs that would be too much apart from one another. To the topic, listen to the first three songs, the way tey're mixed together perfectly depicts what I've just written. Jeffree Page 's Mr. Fix it slides in the end of Early Sunday Morning (from Shaft's Soundtrack ), like a bird gently flying away and As Time Goes By 's quicker rhythm ( a musical cover of the 1931 song by Rudy Vallée ) perfectly embraces Mr Fix it luxurious rhythm, with Learning how to love you really starting the party! ( the great Minnie Riperton is among the backing vocalists - more about the 1976 studio album here ) The mixes are short ones, they're not long, they're not complex, they tend to be close to Colleen's way of mixing during the show, so Dave really respects the Vibe that Balearic Breakfast is... The audacity of Dave's mix is well represented with how One Love in My Lifetime enters the mix, Dave is not here to play around, he knows where he wants to take us, and he does that with aplomb. When a DJ knows his craft, you feel it. Of course, the mix can be prepared, but still, if there's a musical soul in there, anything is possible, and the pleasure given drives the listener crazy, lifting his spirits up! Fun fact, the identity of the backing vocalists was never disclosed and even people at Motown kept the secret for a long time, the new release of the album allowed for this information to be released at last: the Jones Girls  were the backing vocalists on Diana's album and on that particular song! I must also add that Dave's setup must be a fine one, there's a nice realism in the sound! Did I saiy a bird flying somewhere? Here he goes again when Spinning Wheel enters the mix ( a cover of the 1968 song by Blood, Sweat & Tears ), if you don't feel the groove here, you will never feel anything, it's delicate, it's precise, it's wild at the same time, it takes you, it grabs you and takes you away, there's nothing more I can say. God, I love that. And listen to that rhythmic guitar sliding on your left and then on your right, with the bass guitar being also so precise, you can hear every note being played, great sounding record!! "Spinning Wheel" was written by vocalist David Clayton-Thomas, arranged by saxophonist Fred Lipsius, and produced by James William Guercio. In our 2015 interview with Clayton-Thomas , he explained: "I came up with the song just picking it away on a guitar when I found some chord changes I liked. As for the lyrics, everybody was getting so serious about 'The Revolution' and everything else in those days. It was just kind of a way to say, 'Lighten up people. Take it easy. It's all going to come full circle.' And it did. Ten years later, we went from 'The Revolution' to Ronald Reagan." Even if Labbi Siffre 's T he shadow of our love 's start is slighthly calmer, the fact it has the same rhythm as the previous track keeps the listener hooked on the groove. With Tenorio Jr. Nebulosa arriving so unexpectedly in the mix, Dave strikes the listener because that song acts like an ending point to Labi Sifre's song! Absolutely mesmerising musical moment! WOW Dave! And what can I say about the way Hunk of Heaven enters the mix? Another stunning moment, there's a beautiful musical momentum here, we're forgetting the mix and we're able to concentrate on the vibe the music brings to the table, that's what a real DJ should be able to do, mix in a way that lets the music speak without barriers! Such an astounding mix here! "The minute you think you're greater than the music, you're finished." - Frankie Knuckles I love the small "décroché" Dave does at the start of Chaka Khan's Some Love (from her groundbreaking 1978 studio album ). Listen again here, you'll hear that the track does not perfectly start on the beat, yet, this creates an uncredible Groove, bringing out Dave's musical message! I am melting here... Mixing is not always about perfection, never forget that 😉 By playing Ester Phillips' Native New Yorker (a cover of the 1977 song, sung by Frankie Valli and made famous by Odyssey later the same year), The Originals' Call On Your Six Million Dollar Man , incredibly followed by Mongo Santamaria 's Watermelon Man , Dave keeps the rhythmic unity intact, keeping our feet on the dancefloor and our spirits high as a duck flying to a new destination (am I going crazy now?!) 😄 Ending his mix with Angela's Bofill's People Make the World Go Round (a cover of the 1971 song by The Stylistics ), Dave Really grooved us all... Out... All in all, Dave's mix is an astounding listening experience , the only thing I'm missing is a bit more dynamics in the sound, maybe by turning the volume knob slightly down on the recording output of his mixer ( just a few dBs down ) will Dave be able to take that sonic groove out and free his listeners even more!

The Balearic Breakfast blog is the home of Colleen's musical friends! When I discovered Sparky's instagram, I knew I had to meet him! Let's talk about that Balearic thing... 1) Hi Marc! Thank you so much for joining us here on the blog! With Musica Balearica you're one of the few accounts I know which actually propose posts on instagram about new Balearic Releases. I feel it's such a great idea since this musical movement is not always well represented outside of its "niche". How did you start that account and how do you manage it? Thanks for having me Artur! I wasn't very social media minded (I had a twitter account to follow football, politics, music and friends). I never had Facebook, but when lockdown happened I was given 5 months off work and thought I'll get into painting again.... So I downloaded Instagram on my phone to connect with other artists and to get inspiration and also to discover what other DJs were digging and promoting. I think I did also want to use Instagram as a means of reaching a wider audience of who would be interested in listening to my mixes and, in addition, to being able to get better gigs once we were out of lockdown. I started doing posts which started with the title... "Recommended Balearic listening" whereby, I would try to promote a new release on a Balearic tip I was digging, or I had recently discovered. I always have intentions to post more (as I feel compelled to promote independent labels and projects which resonate with me), but more and more I try to spend less time on devices (and have gotten so very sidetracked and overwhelmed with the constant flow of quality new releases and reissues!). I also don't post everything I pick up on my Instagram as I want listeners of my mixes ( on Mixcloud ) to be surprised and have that "What on earth is this?" reaction when hearing a killer Balearic melter for the first time on one of my mixes. That's part of being a DJ I suppose! You want to please the crowd with familiarity but you also want your audience to be  mystified and excited from hearing an oddball cover version or a balearic bomb they have never stumbled across. 2) You're also a DJ and you have your own Mixcloud page where you share your shows. Of course, this activity helps you to keep the instagram page up to date! Can you tell us how you got involved in music in the first place and how you started your DJ carreer? I was taken round record shops and vinyl fairs when I was in primary school during the late 80s early 90s by my dad who was focused on collecting certain bands such as Queen, Uriah Heep and Wishbone Ash... Proggy type tackle. I think I kind of fell in love with flicking through records and calling my dad over to say "I found one here which I don't think you have!" , my dad would be saying "It's Japanese that one, far too expensive" . Haha, even then I was a sucker for an Obi strip! When I went to secondary school I was opened up to a lot of Rave and Indie music and started following in my dad's footsteps of visiting record shops and fairs, still with a completest type mindset way of digging, but this time for Prodigy and Blur records. Later on, when I was about 12-13 I was really into The Doors, Portishead (I had a Portishead long sleeved T-Shirt when I was 13 which gained me a bit of credibility with the older crew at school), The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Chemical Brothers, Massive Attack, Daft Punk. The band that really sticks out to me during those days was The Beta Band. All my mates were proper into them too. I suppose we loved their sound and image which was a proper mish-mash of styles such as Indie, hip-hop, chill out, Experimental and library music. Maybe, it was the Beta Band who pushed that eclectic melting pot of sounds onto me, and motivated me to incorporate so many styles into my DJ sets! By the time I arrived at college, I'd met a few people on my Arts course who were into techno, house and that big beat sound which was big back in the late 90s. They were going to Bugged Out at Cream, Voodoo at La' bateau's and various breaks, chill out and garage events above Hannah's on Hardman street (Liverpool). They would come in on a Monday, still on a buzz, telling me about their weekends and being into that type of sound as well. I started dragging my mates to join the cool arty kids at Bugged Out and Voodoo. I absolutely loved the back room in Cream. It was the smallest room, but it had this incredible sound system with a very eclectic mix of music, nu-school breaks, techno, house, disco, weird Latin and soulful stuff. I loved it there, and very rarely ventured out to the courtyard which stuck to techno or the main room which was predominantly house orientated. Jon Carter was the resident in the annex (who was incredible), but I was introduced to all sorts in there. I soon bought a pair of belt-driven decks and started getting into trying to pick up and mixing the type of breakbeat records I was hearing on that system. In those early days I saw Moonboots, James Holroyd, DJ Shadow and James Lavell in the Annex, but it was the first time I saw Gilles Peterson which really blew my socks off. I remember him playing this really floaty mellow jazz record which I think was Michael Garrick and then dropping Aaliyah's Try again right afterwards, which sent the room nuts (which is when I thought I wanna do that)... I wanna play eclectic music which isn't one particular genre as I'm not into any particular genre. I'm into so much that I should express those inspirations in the music I play and take those willing to listen on a journey and introduce them to records they haven't heard before. 3) You took part in a lot of great events lately. Which event of 2024 stayed in your mind like the best moment you had in a long time? Can you tell us why and how you prepared for it? Generally speaking, how do you prepare your sets? I loved my couple of gigs at the Kazimier Gardens in Liverpool last year as they were 6 hour sets which allowed me to bring 3 bags of records and build up the vibe slowly with chilled ambient downtempo records, whereby I can shift gears into a proper Balearic disco party as the space fills up and the crowd are up for dancing. The Kazimier is a great gaff too, a really nice space which you can probably get up to 300 people in. It's kind of like something you'd expect to see at Glastonbury as in terms of the design. I think it's based on the ruin bar culture of Eastern Europe, it's got that bric-a-brac feel too it but also the guys who build it create all these art deco, but also sci-fi lighting decorations and hangings. Plus the disco ball is massive too. The crowd is always top, a proper mix of misfits, hip looking cats and subculture magpies. Also there is a diverse mix of ages willing to let loose and who are open to a plethora of styles and sounds from around the globe. I love that I can play an obscure gypsy disco pumper and segue into a Middle Eastern oddball synth bomb in there and the crowd stay on the floor whether they are familiar with that sound or not. I don't do too many gigs, usually a couple a month which gives me plenty of time to think about what records I'm going to bring. I tend to bring the new records I've picked up over the last couple of months on my travels or from local stores and discogs and focus on them and think about bringing other records from my collection which will compliment the new additions. I try to play new music too, not just reissues and old records as there are plenty of top producers and artists out there making top Balearic orientated music. I also make sure I pack a small amount of Balearic, italo classics to please the crowd. I tend to think about my selections whilst walking or running and make a little Spotify playlist to remember what to take and as a reference. 4) Speaking of Balearic Music, we, of course, share a common love for Balearic Breakfast! Without coming back to the structure of Colleen's show, if you had to chose a part of it, which one would it be? Would it be the slow and reflective start or the groovy side with the splendid mini mixes Colleen crafts each time? I'm into all different tempos, styles and feelings within music and therefore find it difficult to focus on any particular mood for a long periods and that's why I love Coleen's show as you get to hear a proper range of tempos and feelings. The problem with being into music in this way is the bank balance and the desire to own a multitude of records. It's funny I was in Betino's record shop in Paris over the Autumn and I had a bunch of records saved to my Discogs wantlist which I was using as a reference when talking to the guy behind the counter. I asked "Do you reckon you have any of these ?" And he was like (with a Parisian accent) "My, my! man! You are into many styles, very eclectic but very taxing on the pocket!" . I wouldn't have it any other way tho, I couldn't collect just house music or disco music. I try to pick up all sorts and it can be a nightmare but it also gives you variation of where you can play and many options for the ride. 5) What's ahead for you musicallly speaking? This year I've got a vinyl release of edits coming out on my new label Melodies of Love in the spring, which have been put together by Silas (also known as Eclectic Journeys). Silas is an original Balearic spirit who now lives in Palma Mallorca and owns the best digging record shop there "Got Blues Listen to Jazz". These edits he has made are unbelievable, they absolutely blew me away, so much so that I've started a record label for the first time in my life to get them out there (also allowing me to have a copy on vinyl). They aren't your big standard edit with a filter in and a 4 to the 4 beat at the start and end. Silas has been very clever in his production on these and I know DJs are going the appreciate the magic of these killer tracks. Honestly, I can see Harvey digging these, hopefully Colleen will dig them too. Check the socials for when that will be dropping over the next month or so but hoping for an April release. On a DJing tip, I'm hoping to do a couple of festivals in the summer (I was very close to doing We Out Here last year but it didn't happen due to my flight arriving back from a holiday in Vietnam too late, but hoping for a slot there this year), I am also looking into a residency in Liverpool over the summer, but, for the time being, I'll keep on doing the odd gig here and there sporadically (I like it that way sometimes), doing the mixcloud uploads more frequently and also starting my own radio show from my own studio. Of course I'll keep traveling with my lovely wife Lesley (Much love x) whether that be for leisure or accompanying her on her international work schedule, which is very fortunate for me as I'm able to keep searching and discovering the perfect Balearic beat! Thank you once again Marc!

Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy broadcast the 208th episode of Balearic Breakfast on her Mixcloud on January 21th 2025. About this episode. – Today we weren't as lucky as always, laughs! While being on vacation on the Canary Islands in Spain, Colleen tried to stream today's episode, but destiny had other plans and despite Colleen's willingness to share the show she worked on, the wifi connection wasn't strong enough and, sadly, cut our hapiness short after half an hour! Yet, just as she said, Colleen posted the full episode on her mixcloud a few minutes later! " Frizzy hair and frumpy top - I must be on holiday! Any guesses? Today’s Balearic Breakfast is now up on my Mixcloud at https://tinyurl.com/46jacdxj  and as I’m away and cannot stream live from my beloved record room, this show features a guest mix and interview with Phil Mison of Cantoma music . Phil is a legend in the Ibiza / Balearic chill out scene who was semi-discovered by Jose Padilla when he asked Phil to fill in for him at the Café del Mar in 1993. Since that time, Phil has graced many chill out spaces with both his DJ sets and his own music. As Cantoma, he has released 5 albums of deep Balearic goodness and we have a chat about the latest ‘See in the Sun’. You will love the mix he did for us, too. After Phil’s mix we have a family mix from one of our regular contributors to the show. Balearic Breakfast family member Christina DeSouza has been making great requests for the past few years and this time she gets an hour all to herself. I think you’ll love it. Thanks to all who joined me for the live stream this morning and sorry we had to jump ship. The WiFi here isn’t powerful enough to handle our heavy tunage - what can I say . We’ll try again next week as we have another great show with a guest mix and interview with Tigerbalm and a BB family mix from David Stoddard. In the meantime, I’m going to get back to my book (reading Karl One Knausgaard’s The Morning Star series) so please kick back and relax to this week’s show..." Listen back to the 208th episode of Balearic Breakfast: PLAYLIST Phil Mison's Mix: ( 1971 ) Ennio Morricone – Rodeo ( 1985 ) Airé  – Airé ( 2016 ) Bendith  – Mis Mehefin ( 1972 ) Os Borges  – Es Sou Como Voce E ( 2022 ) Disperazione Gioia Mia (Bottin Edit) ( NOL ) Ambala  – Amor Bailar (Idjut Dan Dub Reprise 2) ( 1989 ) Piero Fidelfatti  – Experience ( 2023 ) Kim Anh  – In The Stars ( 2025 ) Kenneth Bager, Findlay Brown & Anna Domino  – Don’t Look Back ( 2024 ) East Coast Love Affair  – A Gradual Precipitation ( 2022 ) Calm  – Late Summer Night ( 2023 ) Michael David ft Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith  – Here With You ( 2024 ) Cantoma  – First Nothing (Noche Espafiola Remix) Christina DeSouza's Mix: (XX) Serenity  – Serenity ( 1983 ) Will Powers  – Smile ( 1988 ) Giant Steps  – Steamy ( 1983 ) Marcella Bella  – Nell'aria ( 1988 ) Mike Francis  – Times Out of Time ( 2012 ) Michael Franks  – Jealousy (Geyster Remix) ( 1977 ) The East St. Louis Gospelettes  – Have Mercy on Me ( 1972 ) Odyssey  – Our Lives Are Shaped By What We Love ( 1979 ) Christian Gaubert  – Sweet Maryline ( 1989 ) Malcolm Mclaren  – Deep in Vogue ( 1982 ) Eye to Eye  – Nice Girls ( 2010 ) Cristina  – When U Were Mine ( 1969 ) Stelvo Cipriani  – Mary's Theme ( 1983 ) Robert Palmer  – Deadline ( 1981 ) Marti Caine  – Love Is Running Through Me ( 1976 ) Jaye P. Morgan  – Keepin' It to Myself PHIL MISON'S INTERVIEW WITH COLLEEN Greetings, I'm Colleen Cosmo Murphy hosting your weekly Balearic Breakfast on my MixCloud Live until high noon. And a big hola to everyone joining me on the live stream. Thanks for being there. Today we have two special guest mixes. The first is from Phil Mison, a DJ who for the last three plus decades has had a strong connection with Ibiza as he was mentored by the late José Padilla of the Café Del Mar. Phil is a wonderful DJ and a seasoned producer who as Contoma has released several albums of deep Balearic goodness. On today's show we have a chat about his latest album Into the Daylight and we are treated to a special one hour mix from him. After Phil we have a special guest mix from one of our Balearic Breakfast family members, Christine DeSouza. For years she has made some great requests and we're excited to hear what she has in store for us. But first here is Phil Mison of Cantoma . [Colleen] Well, greetings Balearicans. With me in the studio right now I have DJ and producer Phil Meissen who has a new Cantoma album out called Sea in the Sun which we have featured here on Balearic Breakfast before. And he is a Balearic stalwart and I'm just so excited to have him here in the studio with us. He joined us once when Balearic Breakfast started after the passing of José Padilla but we haven't really had a chance to talk just about his own kind of career and journey and music. Phil, how are you? [Phil] Very good, Colleen, thank you. Are you? [Colleen] I'm good, thank you! I'm good. It was good to see you yesterday at the Idgit Boys. It was lovely. I know many people know your name from various places, whether it's Reverso 68 or your Cantoma moniker or your own name Phil Mison. How did you get your start in music? [Phil] Yeah, my mum always played records indoors, and she works briefly for Polygram or Polydor but she was on the assembly line sort of packing records in boxes. That was when I was about eight so she used to bring loads and loads of records home. So yeah, I always just had them on. [Colleen] Are there any records that you remember in particular? [Phil] Yeah, she bought home a bright pink one, Generation X, King Rocker. I was really into Blondie. I was kind of a bit obsessed and my mum joined me to the New York Fan Club or something when I was nine or ten. So I had a lot of Blondie albums on. I was going to the local record shops as well. I'm just buying all sorts of records and I was showing as well. [Colleen] And then how did you kind of get into the whole DJ world? [Phil] Yeah, that was kind of by accident really. Actually, first of all, it was a couple of friends from school. We sort of started just doing local parties and stuff and then seriously, you know, I was buying a lot of records from 87 onwards, going to Groove Records in Soho and then, you know, in 88 I was buying, you know, going to Black Market and then Tracks when it opened. And then the real DJ thing was, it was a quite random thing. I had a cassette tape that I'd done, so it was all sort of pretty ambient sort of thing and Darren Emerson heard it in a car. My friend was driving and he said, like, who's this? And he went, oh, it's Phil. And he asked me to do a warm-up at the milk bar for him in 91, which was Nicky Holland. And so I kind of did that and then I think Darren left and Chris, the manager, said, look, you want to come back and because you're playing nice music at the beginning of the night, you're not kind of playing all the hits and turning it up super loud. And so from there really, I just kind of fell into it really. [Colleen] I think that's kind of what happened to many of us, especially in the past when we didn't even know you could have a career as a DJ. It was like, who even knew you could have a career as a DJ? I didn't know that when I started. [Phil] The milk bar was great. It's a really fantastic place to start playing. [Colleen] What was it like? [Phil] It's quite small. It was maybe 250 people. It was just off Soho Square, Sutton Row. It's downstairs, just one room, simple DJ booth in the corner. And that was it really. I did the Mondays, but I first went on a Wednesday for pure Danny Rampling's night, which was fantastic. Yeah, so I played there in 92, 93, and it closed in 93, I'm pretty sure. [Colleen] Not soon after you went to Ibiza. Can you tell us a little bit about that and that whole connection? [Phil] Yeah, that was, you know, friends have been going there for years, and I just went there with them. Heard, you know, we didn't know who he was, José at the Café du Mar, but you know, everyone bought the tapes. That was the thing you did, you know, clubbing, tapes. And then I think... the one year I didn't go back in 92, but I'd made these cassettes for my friend to give to the DJ. And it was José. And José's a bit confused. Then I randomly bumped into him in Tag Records in Soho in 92, winter of 92. He's like, Oh, yeah, I've got the tapes. And I invited him to play the Milk Bomb with me. And then, yeah, and then he said, Look, in February 93, I'm going to go away touring for a month in Asia or something. Do you want to do the Café du Mar while I'm away? So I said, Yeah, sure. So he came down the next week with a plane ticket and his house keys. And I thought... [Colleen] Here we are! We are on. Wow. That must have been a real dream. [Phil] It was. Yeah, it was pretty random. I was quite young. I was 22. So it was pretty nuts to do that. Picked up by Pepe, the owner. Couldn't find Jose's house because it was right up in the hay balls. And yeah, but it was an adventure. It was brilliant. [Colleen] So what was the Café del Mar like in 1993? [Phil] It was the same as it is now. Interior designed by Liuís Güell It opened in 1980. So I think, you know, that was the same, but there was not much around it then. I guess there was just less people going there. Obviously, no one had mobile phones or anything, obviously. So people were kind of just there, maybe playing backgammon, having a sort of, you know, the old world, wasn't it? That's just the way things were. But yeah, it was it was a great thing. [Colleen] And what kind of music were you playing then? [Phil] It's weird because the first year, I seemed to pick a soundtrack to play from a film. So that year, 93, I played a lot of Betty Blue , Gabriel Yared . And the next year, I played the piano by Michael Nyman and a lot of things like that. [Colleen] And what was the island like for you at that time? [Phil] I think because it was springtime in 1993, it was pretty, it wasn't that busy, really. At night, the Café de Mar wasn't so busy. But at sunset, it was pretty packed. Yeah, I used to just go with the people living in José's house. We used to kind of just go into town in the evening, a few drinks in bars and what have you. Yeah, it was, I just had my little moped because I didn't have much money. So I just used to zoom around. It's quite far to go, but I used to do it. [Colleen] That sounds great! It sounds so free and wonderful. [Phil] Yeah, I was thinking about it in José's house. We didn't even have a landline, but loads of people found us at the house. [Colleen] How did you start to get into production? [Phil] That was, I met Kenneth Baker, Kenneth Bayer ( ed. Bager, Music For Dream's label founder, see here ), in 93 at Roskilde Festival. And we just kept in touch. And then in 94, he was in Ibiza. He's always, Kenneth's been going to Ibiza since, you know, the 80s. And we just all started hanging out. And he came to the Café de Mar. And then in the winter of 94, me, José, Steffen Andersen from Mental Generation, who made the Café de Mar record, went to Copenhagen and we all made an album, and parts of which came out later on José's solo album. And then, yeah, Kenneth, in the late 90s, asked me back to sort of do some more music with Cantoma stuff. So I started that with Kenneth. But yeah, I'm still in touch with Kenneth a lot now. I do music for him now under Ambala , which is another name I use. We work with a lot of people in Copenhagen. Walter, his son, Trollsheba. But yeah, I think the second album should be out next year, I think. [Colleen] Now, you also did a lot of compilations, Pure Ibiza . You did a compilation called The Original Chill Out in 1995. You did one for Claremont 56. Which one was the first compilation that you did? [Phil] That was the one in 95, The Original Chill Out. [Colleen] Can you tell us a little bit about that? Because that's around the same era that José Padilla was starting to do the Café Del Mar compilations , which we were selling at Dance Tracks in New York. [Phil] Right. Ben Turner was in the Café Del Mar a lot in 94. In his Musik Magazine , he was a dance writer for Melody Maker in the early 90s. And he kind of promoted Underworld and a lot of Orbital and a lot of dance music. Then for a kind of, which was, I guess, more of a Melody Maker, it was a dance Musik Magazine. So then he's the editor of Musik Magazine, which became a big thing. And so Ben, there's records like Paper Moon, 51 Days, Sands Your Man, Alabama Blues, Mechanical Soul Saloon. They became like the backbone of that compilation, really. [Colleen] 51 Days, Paper Moon was a record that I used to play at The Loft as well. [Phil] Wow. Yeah, that was like a peak record at the Café Del Mar in 94 at night when the bar was just heaving with people. I used to play that record and it's really long as well. So you can wander around and chat. But you actually listen to it now. It's quite a mellow record-ish really. And so you used to play it at The Loft. [Colleen] Yeah, I remember bringing it before it was on Touché. And I played it at The Loft and it became one of the kind of loft classics because David used to kind of turn to me to bring the new stuff in. So it'd be like Pasha, One Kiss, Fathers of Sound remix and a lot of Karma, High Priestess was another one. It was quite a few records like that. In any case, why don't we listen to some of your music now? This is a great exclusive mix that you've put together for us. And we'll return and talk about the new Cantoma album. [Colleen] And we're back with Phil Mison from Cantoma. And even though I knew you, Cantoma landed on my radar in a really strange way. I was in Los Caños de Meca in Andalucía in 2003. And we had rented a house and somebody had left behind a CD. But it was one of those CDs that you burned. It didn't have any writing on it. And we listened to the CD over and over and over again. And I actually also burned a copy so I could bring it home. And we listened to it all the time. And then later found out it was the first Cantoma album. And you and I were already friends. I didn't even know this. And since that time, you've put out five albums, the fifth being See You in the Sun in 2024. So Cantoma, you work with a lot of different people. And one person that you work with is Robin Twelftree . Can you tell me a little bit about him and how you got together? [Phil] I had to do a remix for Cirque du Soleil , the Canadian circus people. And then I was looking for an engineer to work with, to do it with. And then someone recommended Robin, who was working in Arch 25 in King's Cross, which was the arch next to the Cross Club, where Coal Drops Yard is now. Robin is the core of, I think, the Bubble Club. But yeah, Robin's worked with a lot of people. And yeah, he's someone I've worked with since then, really. I've also worked with Robin Lee. Robin lived at the end of the Metropolitan line. So it's easy just to jump on a train down there and do a lot of stuff with him. That was the Into Daylight album, did a lot of stuff with Robin there. And I'm working now also with Justin Drake in Staines. This album, a lot of it was done See You in the Sun with Justin. Justin Drake, I got put in touch with by Diesel from Express 2. So he works with Express 2. [Colleen] How would you describe the music and what you're trying to do? [Phil] I think primarily, just make something you like. That's important. Not too worried about, you know, I don't want to follow trends of thinking, oh, you know, people like this now are going to make that. I kind of just stick to this path of doing what I like. It's just ideas and words and songs just appear in my head sometimes. And I just write them down and go from there. [Colleen] Well, I think most people would agree it has this kind of more like the chill out balearic kind of sound that you're trying to express through Cantoma. At least that's what I've heard on the five albums. With this album, I see a step in a more kind of musically mature direction. And I noticed that you have about 20 different contributors. And you mentioned, you know, you have obviously Robin and Justin, but there are a bunch of guest musicians here as well. Can you talk us through some of the people that have participated on this record? [Phil] It's an important one is Quinn Lamont Luke . [Colleen] I love Quinn. Yeah. [Phil] I met in 2008 at The Loft in New York. [Colleen] Oh, yeah. Wow. [Phil] That's where I met Quinn. Then we were just hanging around. We were introduced through mutual friends. I think I was aware of his music and everything. So, yeah, it's always great to work with Quinn. And there's through Robin 12. I got hooked up with a girl, Luna Asteri . She's a Spanish singer. Who else did I work with? There's always Patrick Dawes on percussion. We worked with Gruvomodo. Yeah. My friend Sebastian Lilja from Stockholm on guitar. So, yeah, there's lots of people. [Colleen] And was there anything that you wanted to accomplish with this record before you set out to make it? [Phil] I think maybe more songs. I thought I'd give it a go, having more songs, then do an instrumental version as well. It's sometimes more popular than the actual vocals. Oh, yeah. André Esposito ( ed. Espeut ) , I worked with him as well. I used to leave big gaps between making albums, but now I'm just carrying on. I have another album I'm working on. [Colleen] Oh, my gosh, that's great. You're being very prolific then. That's wonderful. And you said before that this album also has an instrumental version and you've done this before, like when you had the album out of town, you had another release with the remixes, which actually included a remix of mine for you, Dix Werte, a Cosmodelica remix. Why did you put out an instrumental version of Sea and the Sun? Do some people prefer just to have instrumentals? [Phil] You know what? They do, I think. Some people, yeah. You wouldn't think so, but yeah, some people just like instrumental versions. I don't know why, but I thought I've got them sitting there. I'll just give people the choice. [Colleen] It's a beautiful cover as well. It's Dix Werte that did the cover, correct? [Phil] Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's correct. Yeah, and she's got a few more too. [Colleen] Really, really wonderful. Now, before we love you and leave you, I just wanted to ask you first, what's coming up in the near future? You have the Ambala album with Music for Dreams coming out next year. What else is happening? [Phil] The 7-inch that's out the 29th of November, hopefully. That's 250 limited little 7-inch, which is just a new track that I remixed. I don't know why I've done this, Colleen. I've just done it. And then doing a couple of remixes of the Sea and the Sun of some other stars, doing a remix of that. And then, yeah, just carrying on with the new album, really, and a bit of DJing here and there. [Colleen] Lovely. Thank you so much for joining us. And you do have this last song that you wanted to tell us about, which I believe is the one that's coming out on 7-inch in the near future? [Phil] Yeah. The next release is First Nothing, a Nocciaspergnola remix, which is coming out on 7-inch on the 29th of November. [Colleen] Thank you, Phil. That was wonderful. And now a special guest mix from one of our family members. Christine D'Souza was born in Lisbon and brought up in Manchester. And her love for music started via her late father, who collected well over 5,000 albums throughout the 70s, 80s, and 90s, which she has inherited and to which she is making her own editions of CDs and vinyl as she loves looking through the record shops and charity shops. She also worked in pop music PR for many years, but she says she is purely just an amateur collector lover of music. But the Balearic Breakfast family and myself absolutely love her musical choices. And for the next hour, she'll be taking us on her musical journey. Here is Christine DeSouza. CHRISTINA DE SOUZA'S MIX A one-hour, uplifting, free and all direction moving nice musical trip, with some beautiful light mixes between the songs, having its best moment in the mid-section (around half an hour into the selections played). This is how we could present Christina de Souza's mix in a few words! Although we would have loved to have a more pronounced melodical and rhythmical unity, the mix really grabs us by the hand and takes us to dance, and this happens right from the start between Serenity  and Smile , the latest track taking the listener by surprise but still allowing the previous song to end beautifully! Keeping the energy intact, Christine then plays Giant Steps ' Steamy (I love the huge and spacy soundstage on that one!!) nicely followed by the gorgeous Marcella Bella's Nell'aria , showcasing here Christina's free musical spirit and perfectly followed by Mike Francis' Times Out of Time , do you feel the fresh air taking you away here? Christina then keeps the open and relaxed feeling a little bit longer by playing Michael Franks' Jealousy (Geyster Remix) oh so beautifully introduced in the mix! We're 30 minutes into the mix and the most beautiful moment starts here, with The East St. Louis Gospelettes ' Have Mercy on Me , incredibly and beautifully followed by the mesmerising Our Lives Are Shaped By What We Love (Odyssey) , not forgetting here the perfectly fitting Sweet Maryline by Christian Gaubert (a huge figure in French Music's history as he orchestrated a lot of music for movies, also working with international artists like Celine Dion, also crafting the astounding arrangement of Charles Aznavour's 1968 Desormais or working as a composer for Mireille Mathieu)! To me, this part of the mix, starting from 1h30, is the absolute Wow Moment of today's episode!! Then, Christina takes us to the last part of her mix, keeping her open and free musical spirit with Malcolm Mclaren 's Deep in Vogue , followed by Nice Girls (we would have loved to be able to keep Deep in Vogue 's vibe and rhythm a little bit longer, we must admit that ^^). With the next songs, Cristina 's When U Were Mine (written and first released by Prince in 1980 ) and Stelvo Cipriani 's Mary's Theme , and despite their revelancy, the listener feels a bit lost in the music as there are a lot of changes to deal with. This feeling is also very present as Robert Palmer 's Deadline enters the musical scene (taken from his Pride Album), slightly rebalancing the mixe's musical homogeneity though. The last two songs, Marti Caine 's Love Is Running Through Me and Jaye P. Morgan's Keepin' It to Myself beautifully open up the end of this nice mix which only lacks a tiny bit more of rhythmic and musical homogeneity to be Perfect! Nice musical moment indeed!

With the huge influence Calm has in the Music's realm, and with all the love the Balearic Breakfast Family has for him, I asked the great Japanese composer a few questions... 1) Thank you so much for joining us on the blog dear Kiyotaka! It's a real Honor! Calm's music is often played during Colleen's Balearic Breakfast show and we all tremendously appreciate the beautiful musical creations the band offers! The last track that was featured was "Drift to Dreamland" from the "Quiet Music Under the Moon" album, dedicated to "new family members, and those who sadly passed". How did you start working on that album, was it an easy album to work on? Thank you very much for your invitation, Artur. For me, it is very tough to start working on a brand new album. I use all my energy to make an album, so I need enough energy and new input to start a new project. As for "Quiet Music Under the Moon" , about three months after my son was born, I was so busy taking care of him that I didn’t have time to make music. Still, when seeing him live and grow up, I decided I should start making music dedicated to him. Incidentally, the previous album called “before” was made to thank my son for the new life he was going to offer me, the album being composed when he was still in my wife’s belly. This was the first impulse that led me to start working on a brand new album. The second impulse was my mom’s death. Four months after my son was born, suddenly my mom died. I made a video call the day before my mom passed away, and I still can’t forget what she said back then to me in a thin voice, she wanted to see my son soon... She lived far away from my place, and at that time COVID was raging all over the world, so, very sadly, it was hard to go and see her. I should have had a little more courage to go and see her... I still regret I wasn't able to do that... Both these joys and sorrows have been the driving force behind this “ Quiet Music under the Moon ” album... 2) "Drift to Dreamland", as a lot of your other musical pieces, allows the listener to create mental pictures, and thus to reach a relaxed piece of mind. It seems that you draw your inspiration from the Moon. And it is present in a lot of your other compositions (I'm thinking here about your "Moonage Electric Ensemble" album). What makes you being so close to the moon as an artist? As you may know, I was born late on July 15th, 1969. The 16th was a special day when Apollo 11 flew toward the moon. My parents had a hard time choosing my name and Apollo was among the candidates. When I was teenager, I discovered David Bowie’s wonderful album “Ziggy Stardust', I love this album so much... This is when I heard the song “Moonage Daydream” which is the third track on David's album. This moment was like a thunder from heaven, marking the beginning of my moonage story! By the way, my son’s name is Tsukito, and in English it means “Moon” and “Sound”... 3) You collaborated with other djs who did beautiful reworks of some of Calm's tracks. I am thinking here about Lova's "Authentic Love Song Batticuore Remix". It is, indeed, a beautiful remix and it shows how much you and Davide Lovato share a common sense of inner relaxation. How did that collaboration happen and what memories do you keep of it? I really really love Lova’s remix! He is a wonderful producer on the Balearic scene, I really think that. I love his production, so it was only natural for me to ask him to make a remix of my track! 4) On your last studio album, you worked with great musicians such as Toshitaka Shibata on piano, Yuichiro Kato on saxophone, Tomokazu Sugimoto on upright bass and Kakuei on steel pan. Can you tell us how you all worked together? Did you have all the partitions written in advance or did you let a huge part to musical improvisation? I always enjoy collaborating with musicians. That’s why I always try not to give them too much information when we play together, other than concepts and themes... I believe that this musical freedom is able to instill new ideas in my compositions. Still, when I was making “Quiet Music under the Moon” album, I suggested various information like melody lines, or a certain playing style to the musicians. It was the first time it hapenned, but with “Quiet Music under the Moon” being such a personnal album, I couldn't do it otherwise... 5) As a producer, and with technology's constant evolution, is it always easy to keep Calm's sound signature intact? Do you believe Calm has a sonic signature or do you believe sonic differences may happen from one album to another and that sound should only serve the mind's travelings, surpassing any "sonical gimmics"? I’m still an inexperienced musician, and I think I’m always in the middle of evolution. I always firmly believe that my next work will be my best one... So I always take the time to stop and think things other so I won't take a wrong path... However, I always try not to lose sight of the destination I want to follow: creating wonderful music and music that I can share with you... Words can not express my gratitude, dear Kiyotaka... The Balearic Breakfast Family wishes you all the best for this new year... We keep you close to our hearts...

Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy broadcast the 207th episode of Balearic Breakfast on her Mixcloud on January 14th 2025. About this episode. – Following last week's episode, Colleen took us today on an unexpectedly haunted trip, playing tracks the Balearic Breakfast Family requested for the new year. Although there was no request line this past Saturday, we all knew this show would be a great one, did we all expect this one to be lurking into despair, nothingness and hope? Somehow we could have guessed it since the tragic events that unfolded in Los Angeles the past few days, known as the " Palisades Fires " ... Still, we were all surprised by the intensity that pierced through these 2 musical hours... " On today’s show we have your remaining new year requests along with some new tunes and some cuts from new Folk Funk and Trippy Troubadours compilation coming out on BBE Music  and DJ Notoya’s forthcoming Tokyo Bliss compilation on WEWANTSOUNDS . We have some tributes to Los Angeles and sending love to all who have been affected. For LA-based musicians, in need there are some charities to which you can donate including MusiCares  and the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund . Our hearts go out to all who have been affected." Listen back to the 207th episode of Balearic Breakfast: PLAYLIST ( 1977 ) Joe Henderson – Black Narcissus ( 2024 ) Common Saints   – Rebel Paradise ( 1975 ) Fox   – Yuli Yuli ( 1978 ) Nina Simone   – Baltimore ( 2025 ) Robin Frederick   – Night Blooming Thing ( 2024 ) Max Essa & David Harks   – Lobster Boys (Hifi Sean Mix) ( 1986 ) Yasuko Agawa   – L.A. Nights ( 2025 ) Masatoshi Kanno   – Day by Day ( 2025 ) United Freedom Collective   – Higher Drums ( 2025 ) ASHRR  – Please Don’t Stop the Rain (Ron Trent Remix) ( NOL ) Eagles   – One of These Nights (Ashley Beedle Remix) ( 2025 ) Ghost Assembly   – I Keep on Making the Same Mistake ( 2025 ) Tonarunur   – Lifting Off ( 2017 ) Auntie Flo (ft. Anbuley)  – Dance Ritual I (Leonid Lipelis Dream Dance Remix) ( 2001 ) Dennis Ferrer  – Funu (Hi-Life Mix) ( 2024 ) Nickodemus (ft Pat Kalla)  – Mama Tchipp (Follow Me) (Tigerbalm Remix) ( 1979 ) Black Ivory   – Mainline ( 1981 ) The Clark Sisters   – You Brought the Sunshine ( 1985 ) Curtis Mayfield   – We Got to Have Peace THE LISTENING EXPERIENCE Today's episode is one of those I love the most, one of those that has a strong musical and intellectual core and a slowly evolving pace , if I can put it that way, meaning there are no "quick jumps" in the playlist and that even "happier" or "quicker songs" retain that "worried, unexpected, lingering soul set at the start of the show"... There's no denying, when I saw the picture Colleen chose to promote today's show on her socials, I knew she had something on her mind. To those of you who read the blog since I started it a few years ago, you know I experience something quite strong here, and from the start, I mean, I feel the show's soul, Colleen's intentions and I don't need explanations, I simply feel our Captain and where she leads us. It changed the way I interact with her, and also with the show in itself. It's like I was deeply connected, a story without words... And today was no exception... Listen to the first hour of today's show, Black Narcissus (to find out more about its specific structure, click here ) / Rebel Paradise / Yuli Yuli / Baltimore (the lyrics were written by Randy Newman although he knew nothing about the city , with Simone's version being much more passionate and personal ): I mean, don't you have tears in your eyes when thinking about what hapened in LA and can't you see the abandoned ship, lying there on a lonely beach, with the sea so far away from it... Of course, Ana's request won our hearts without the shadow of a doubt and, consequently, the Wow Moment of today's episode! Rebel Paradise is the longest record on the album and is a real journey. I think everyone will feel the Pink Floyd vibes here. This one took some years to create as I parked it for four years and then picked her back up for the album as I felt like it had an incredible energy to it. This is all about magic and the world and how we must try to solve things together as a united humankind. This is where Cinema 3000 exposes the power the media has over us and can change our minds in whatever direction it feels it wants. Essentially a call to remaining conscious and grounded when everything is breaking around us. Charlie Perry - The WhyNow Interview The soothing Night Blooming Thing is a little lie as its darkening tones don't bring the true peace we'd love to find here, there's always something lurking in this night, the music is a sexy number, waiting to strike... The feeling presented here can also be found, of course, in the lyrics of the songs, and, in the end, it all comes down to the Balearic Breakfast's family strong intellectual connection to the music... We're doing an incredible show all together and your emotions really shines through, dear Balearicans... Lobster Boys (Hifi Sean Mix) bring another worried musical moment, and it makes me think that "night" is quite present in the lyrics and in the imagery of today's songs, brilliantly selected by our Captain, this feeling being of course confirmed when listening to songs like L.A. Nights ( Augie Johnson (from the group 'Side Effects') wrote and produced both 'LA Night' and Light of the World's 'London Town' of course played during Balearic Breakfast ) which explains the similarities found in both songs ) ; Please Don't Stop the Rain and of course One of These Nights (Ashley Beedle Remix) . The lyrics of One Of These Nights are all themed around the pursuit of a mysterious woman but also serve as a wider metaphor for chasing your dreams. “It’s about putting things off,” Frey once explained. “We’ve all said, ‘One of these nights I’m gonna do something – get that girl, make that money, find that house.’ We all have our dreams – a vision we hope will come true someday. When that ‘someday’ will come is up to each of us.” Henley admitted that “the search” is an overarching subject of many of the best Eagles songs , with the group exploring how, although the whole of life is a journey, “getting there is more important than the journey’s end”. Many Eagles fans are drawn to the beguiling imagery of One Of These Nights, in which Henley sings “I’ve been searching for the daughter of the devil himself/I’ve been searching for an angel in white/I’ve been waiting for a woman who’s a little of both/And I can feel her, but she’s nowhere in sight”. Colleen's selections, the way she chose to play them, creates a ligering feeling of dizziness: we'd love to relax, but there's that something, somewhere, in the music, in the flow, that prevents the listener to feel a positive freedom... Of course, this beautiful musical tribute to LA, which is undergoing extreme fires at the moment, does not help to feel relieved... Will the second hour of today's show be happier? Not really as  I Keep on Making the Same Mistake , which opens the second hour of the show, sends us a strong and worried message, explaining us how the moments we live on this earth are just borrowed time and that, ultimately, we will have to "give them back", even the greatest of them... Perfectly followed by Lifting Off , the vibe does not seem to get onto a happier scheme and, judging from the record's cover, still offering nightly visions which Colleen keeps very alive during her next mini mix. Starting it off with Dance Ritual I (Leonid Lipelis Dream Dance Remix) – find out more about the original album here – , Colleen lets Funu take the worried feeling away for the first time today. The next 3 songs will allow us all to have a proper dance for sure, including a nice request by yours Truly... Vinyl Vault: This 1979 release of Black Ivory’s “Mainline,” was a favorite of Frankie Knuckles and was often played at the Warehouse, also known as the birthplace of House music. This record from the Frankie Knuckles Collection was given to Frankie by his collaborator and legendary Chicago House DJ, Chip E ( @iamchip_e_ ). Black Ivory, made up of Leroy Burgess, Stuart Bascombe, and Russell Patterson, was an R&B group which formed in Harlem, New York in the summer of 1969. “Mainline,” a groovy soul ballad, was written by Burgess and sang by Patterson. The song eventually released in the group’s album Hangin' Heavy, in 1979. Black Ivory, originally known as the Mellow Souls, is also known for their hits “Don’t Turn Around,” “You and I,” “Time Is Love,” and “Will We Ever Come Together.” As you can feel, today's episode has a strong intellectual unity, a lot of the songs share a worried, lost, intrigued musical feeling, sharing lyrics of sadness, hope and encouraging the listener to keep on moving forward despite the events... Ending the show with Curtis Mayfield 's " We got to have peace " , a song Curits Mayfield wrote during the then raging Vietnam war , Colleen perfectly ends a show which was a demanding listening experience through and through... Let's hope we will all find peace someday soon... on every level... COLLEEN'S PRESENTATION I Black Narcissus , the title track of the 1977 LP by the late American jazz saxophonist Joe Henderson . In the early 70s and after working with Herbie Hancock, Henderson began experimenting with funk fusion and electronic effects, and his music became more political with titles like Power to the People , In Pursuit of Blackness , and Black Narcissus . That was a request from Scott Towers, the saxophonist for Fat Freddy's Drop, who are now back in New Zealand after a sellout tour, and Scott's back from a family holiday in Sri Lanka, and he said that song was on rotation on his headphones whilst he was away for a few months. Good morning, Balearicans. I'm Colleen Cosmo Murphy, serving up your weekly Balearic breakfast until high noon, and greetings to the family over on my MixCloud Live, and thank you once again for joining me on a Tuesday morning. Coming up on today's show, we'll play some of your New Year requests, catching up with those, along with some new tunes from United Freedom Collective, ASHRR, Ron Trent, Tona Ruehner, and Ghost Assembly, and also songs from the latest edition of Paul Hillery's folk-funk and trippy Troubadours compilation series, and Japanese DJ Notoya's forthcoming Tokyo Bliss compilation, We Want Sounds. Now, this next one is from our friend Ana Sancho in Barcelona, and I loved it so much, I had to buy the album on Bandcamp, as I need this on vinyl in my collection. It's the debut LP from Common Saints , who is British producer, songwriter, and musician Charlie J. Perry . He worked with Georgia Smith, and also K-pop superstars BTS, but as Common Saints, he began releasing music with the Idolize EP in 2020, followed by the Starchild EP, which I supported on Balearic Breakfast when it came out. Well, he released his debut LP on his label, Starsonics, last autumn, and it is brilliant. I've had it on repeat all weekend, and if you like Tame Impala or Michael Kiwanuka , I think you will absolutely love this. Ana selected a song that sounds like it could have been lifted from a lost Pink Floyd LP, so sit yourself down, turn on, tune in, and drop out to Rebel Paradise by Common Saints. II Robin Frederick with Night Blooming Thing , and this is from the third volume of Paul Hillary's compilation series, Folk, Funk, and Trippy Troubadours , and the third edition is coming out on BBE in February. You can pre-order the vinyl on the BBE Music Bandcamp, and the whole LP is great. Solid selections, as you would expect from Paul Hillary. Features an array of funky folk, jazzy AOR grooves, fuzzed-out lo-fi dub, DIY folk-tronica, private press grails, and previously unreleased material, and it also has extensive sleeve notes, which I haven't read yet because I don't have the vinyl, so I don't know anything about Robin Frederick or Night Blooming Thing . In any case, I interviewed the enlightened heathen, as Paul calls himself, for his We Are the Children of the Sun compilation series on BBE, and that's on the Balearic Breakfast archive, so make sure you follow me on Mixcloud, where you can access all of the past four-plus years of Balearic Breakfast shows, and really looking forward to that forthcoming compilation from Paul. Ahead of that, Baltimore by Nina Simone , the title track of her 14th studio album, released in 1978, and the song was originally penned by Randy Newman , all about the harsh realities of life in the capital of Maryland. However, it was requested by Mick Cole, who is experiencing the harsh reality of life in Los Angeles at the moment. Mick is the solid selector in Los Angeles, and he wanted me to play that song in honor of Moon Shadows , which has burnt to the ground. It's a venue in Malibu, and this is a staple song that Mick has played over the many years of playing music for their beloved customers at Moon Shadows. Moon Shadows Malibu has a GoFundMe campaign , which you can find on their Instagram, and later in the show, we'll share the names of some other charities that are helping musicians who lost everything in the fires. It's just so incredibly horrific. Ahead of that, the British 70s pop band Fox with Yuli Yuli from their second album, Tales of Illusion . The band was put together by Kenny Young , who composed the song, Under the Boardwalk for the Drifters, and it features the charismatic Australian singer, Noosha Fox . It was requested by Gemma Bagnell, who loved this album as a child. She bought all their albums and loves this song because of the beautiful drums and lyrics, and she wants to dedicate it to her late friend, the singer Linda Lewis . She said she used to play her Fox, and she loved it. "Thank you, Colleen Cosmo Murphy, for your contribution to music and the world and bringing joy" . Thank you, Gemma, and she's hoping 2025 will be a year of wonder and peace and sending love to the Balearic Breakfast family. Okay, this next one came out a few months ago on paper recordings, and somehow I never got to it, and I'm still trying to play catch up. It's called the Clean Trip EP , and it's by the Japan-based British producer and DJ Max Essa and the Berlin-based English artist David Harks , and it was given a remix by Hi-Fi Shawn. Here they are with Lobster Boys . III Loving that tune, and that is Masatoshi Kanno with Day By Day , and that's on the upcoming compilation Tokyo Bliss, which is compiled by Japanese funk expert DJ Notoya , and the DJ has picked a diverse selection of great funk, boogie, and city pop tracks recorded between 1974 and 1988 for King Records , one of the most venerable record labels in Japan, and the tracks on the compilation are very much in demand on the Japanese groove scene, and they're mostly new to the international ears and showcase the breadth and quality of Japanese music recorded during the 70s and 80s, and I have no information on the artist. I do have to wait for the compilation to actually come out and read the liner notes, but I'm really looking forward to it. All the songs are fantastic, so great job, DJ Notoya and We Want Sounds. Ahead of that, the Japanese singer Yasuko Agawa with L.A. Nights , her 1986 love letter to Los Angeles. It came out on Bluebird Records, and the flip side has a love letter to New York called New York Afternoon , and both of these songs most likely were recorded in the footsteps of Light of the World 's song London Town , which I played a few weeks ago, but of course I'm playing it for the residents of Los Angeles, where the fires have taken lives, livelihoods, homes, all of people's memorabilia and personal belongings. It's just so, so, so tragic, and really tragic for the musicians, for everybody, but we can't forget the musicians and artists in Los Angeles, many of whom have lost everything, and there's a few different places where you can donate, a few different charities. There's Music Cares , which provides financial aid, grocery cars, and instrument replacements for the affected musicians. The Sweet Relief Musicians Fund provides immediate financial assistance to music industry professionals impacted by the Los Angeles wildfires, and the Guitar Center Music Foundation is offering grants to replace instruments lost in the fires, and you can make donations to some of these, and there's loads of GoFundMe campaigns as well. I'm sure you're seeing them on your social media feeds. It's just incredibly, incredibly tragic what's going on there. This next one is the United Freedom Collective , founded by Robbie Redway and psychedelic researchers Mathieu Seynaeve and Wai Fung Tsang . They're based in Margate in the UK, where I was this past weekend, eating fish and chips from Pete's on the Parade and sitting outside in this glorious sunshine. It was beautiful there. In any case, I digress. United Freedom Collective was originally conceived around creating soundscapes for psychedelic therapy sessions, online yoga, and breathwork channels, and the musical scope has expanded on each of the four EPs released on Maribu State's Dama Dama label, and here they continue with their debut on Multiculti. It's called the Between Memories EP , and here they are with Higher Drums . IV I bet you think I dropped some Eagles in the middle of the show. You know, I know we're paying tribute to Los Angeles in some of today's songs, but maybe you feel I overstepped the line here. In fact, I distinctly remember playing this at Plastic People. That shows you how underground I am. It's an Ashley Beedle remix, people, and we saw Ashley this weekend, actually. He's doing really, really well. In any case, that was a request from Rob Eggleshaw, as the Eagles are one of the favourite groups of the late British radio host, Johnny Walker , who passed away on New Year's Eve. He began his career in 1966 on the pirate radio station Swinging Radio England before joining Radio Caroline. Then he joined BBC Radio 1 in 1969. He was also reprimanded for criticizing On Air, Give a Little Love by the Bay City Rollers, then at the height of their popularity, describing them as musical garbage. He left Radio 1 and then moved to the United States where he stayed for five years working for K-Sound and Soundfrown, KPFA in Berkeley, California, and also WHFS in Maryland. He recorded some shows for Radio Luxembourg until he taped a record at the wrong speedball party in the studio. Sounds like a really interesting life. Then more recently, he presented Sounds of the 70s on Radio 2 and the Radio 2 Rock Show on Friday nights. He retired last October due to a fatal illness and passed on to the next realm on the 31st of December. The Eagles, One of these nights , the Ashley Beedle rework going out to the late and great Johnny Walker as courtesy of Rob Eggleshaw. Ahead of that, we had ASHRR , Please Don't Stop the Rain , and we're sending love to the Los Angeles outfit Asher. They released their debut album, Sunshine Low, on 2020 Vision last year and I did an interview with them and they did a great remix, a great mix for us too. You can find that on Mixcloud. And we heard their next single, Please Don't Stop the Rain. They have their own sound system remixes on the B-side and two from Ron Trent on the A-side and that's what we heard, the Ron Trent remix, and it's coming out on the 3rd of February. So pre-order your vinyl now. Okay, this next one is from our friend Abigail Ward in Manchester going under the name Ghost Assembly and she really is one of Manchester's finest DJs, curators, and all-around top humans. She and Kath Middermott played in the Love Dance in Tent this year for my Cosmodelica takeover and you should follow her on Mixcloud. She does some great mixes. I listen to them all the time. And her debut release, the original Ghost Assembly 12-inch , I Missed Your Love , it dropped a year ago and it sold out almost instantly. It's going for 100 quid on Discogs, so I'm feeling kind of smug because I snagged one. In any case, she's back with a forthcoming single called I Keep On Making the Same Mistake , which also has some Choice Remix names. Feel free to investigate further. In any case, it's coming out and net proceeds from both the vinyl and digital versions sold through Bandcamp will be donated to medical aid for Palestinians for the duration of 2025. V Icelandic producer Tonarunur , who is Björn Gauti Björnsson , who's released music for over a decade as BG Vardagarn, Arm Whiskey Disco, and Silhouette Records. And as Tóna Rúnar has released the Dive Into The Night EP in 2020, this is Lifting Off from his forthcoming Gym Tech EP coming out next week on San Francisco label Dream Chimney. So head on over to the Dream Chimney Bandcamp to pre-order. And also please head over to the Ghost Assembly Bandcamp to pre-order I Keep On Making The Same Mistake , which we heard before. And please be aware that net proceeds from both the vinyl and digital versions sold through Bandcamp will be donated to medical aid for Palestinians for the duration of 2025. Okay, Brian D'Souza is an award-winning sound artist, DJ, music producer, and live performer known for taking world music into the future, and as Auntie Flo has been releasing records since 2011. And the Glaswegian's album Theory of Flow was nominated for Scottish Album of the Year in 2015. This next one is a cut from that album, but given a dreamy remix by Russian producer Lipolis , as requested by Virginia Tsioti in Athens, here is Auntie Flo featuring Anbuley with the Lipolis Dream Dance Remix of Dance Ritual 1 . VI A little track to the eighth album by the gospel group the Clark Sisters released in 1981. And this song actually became a hit a couple of years later. And as a group, the Clark Sisters won two Grammy Awards, and they are the highest selling female gospel group in history. And thank you to London House Music Works for that request. Ahead of that Black Ivory with Mainline . And the group was originally known as the Mellow Souls and formed in Harlem in the summer of 1969 and included teenagers Leroy Burgess and Stuart Bascom. And the audition over the phone with the late Patrick Adams, who took the group under his tutelage, and they became Black Ivory and they began performing at private parties, block parties, social programs, eventually signing to Today Records in 1972. And they released five albums in the 1970s, including Hangin' Heavy released in 1979 and featuring the single we just heard, Mainline. And thank you to Artur in Paris for that request. Ahead of that we had Nickodemus featuring Pat Kala with Mama Chip Follow Me , a very funky, fresh, tropical mix from disco queen Tiger Balm, loving that one. And it's really an afro disco summer anthem. And that is from the original is from Nickodemus' Soul and Science album and that came out last autumn. And Tiger Balm has certainly been prolific. We loved her Profunda Alma EP on Razor and Tape last year. And she has a new album coming out this year. And in fact, we have an interview with her and an exclusive mix from her in two weeks' time. Ahead of that, an old favorite of mine, Funu , the High Life mix from super producer and DJ Dennis Ferrer . Absolutely love that. And starting it all off with Auntie Flo featuring Anne Buley with Dance Ritual One , the Lipolis Dream Dance remix as requested by Virginia Ciotti. Well, I am heading to the sunshine, Lanzarote, in fact, for a couple of weeks and some vitamin D and some sun and some surf. But I will be streaming remotely over the next couple of weeks with some special shows featuring interviews and exclusive mixes. Next week, we have Phil Mison on the show. We'll be chatting about his latest Cantoma LP . And he's also sent us an exclusive Balearic mix. And we also have a mix from our Balearic Breakfast family member, Christine D'Souza . And the following week, we have an interview with an exclusive mix from Tiger Balm , along with the Balearic Breakfast family member mix from David Stoddard . So really looking forward to this. I love streaming remotely and just having other people do the music while I hang out on the chat group. It's a lot of fun. This last one is our last New Year's request. It was requested by Chris Lee a few weeks ago. It's by Curtis Mayfield . It's called We Got to Have Peace . And I'm also going to send this and hope that we see a Gaza ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. It's looking hopefully likely. Hopefully, we'll be able to get some humanitarian aid to the Palestinians who we all know are in need, and the return of some of the hostages back to Israel. So fingers crossed, there will be a ceasefire deal. Of course, we want everlasting peace. That could be a bit simplistic to think about. But you know, you can only hope. And let's leave you all with this lovely uplifting song and meditate that we do see some peace in the Middle East. Thank you all for joining me and looking forward to seeing you next week. And again, thanks for listening.