As a regular follower of NOTHING BUT HOPE AND PASSION you might know that we fell in love with the Too Slow To Disco party and sampler series a while ago. So, if you’re still not familiar with the work of DJ Supermarkt I highly recommend you to read this feature story with the man himself from 2016. Over the past two years Marcus Liesenfeld, the man behind the DJ alias continued to establish himself as an expert for smooth disco vibes, yachtrock and other forgotten pop delicacies from the golden age of analogue recordings. He just released the latest installment of the series, Too Slow To Disco Brasil, compiled by Ed Motta, a true expert of Brazilian soul and funk classics. Needless to say it became another truly satisfying summer soundtrack.
Today, we are thrilled to have DJ Supermarkt back at the NBHAP sound delivery service with a brand new and exclusive DJ-Mix. But this time it goes beyond the yacht club party and straight into space as the acclaimed DJ delivers a selection that’s even slower than any picks from his usual set-up. So, it totally makes sense to name this one Smooth Music For Your Next Space Travel as it’s the sort of sound the Arctic Monkeys would also play in their fictive moon-based Tranquility Base Hotel, right? In the wake of this brand new guestmix we also ask Mr. Liesenfeld a few questions about it and beyond.
Are there specific criteria for your usual TSTD mixtapes where you decide ‘Ok, this one’s on it and this one’s not’?
To me it is more a topic or a story, that has to hold my mixes together. After I find that idea, it is obvious to me, which songs actually are close to the atmosphere I am looking for. A good DJ-Mix(tape) to me should tell a story, and I sometimes work a lot on a mix, but then it stays ‘silent’, and I dont finish it … That’s why there aren’t tons of DJ Mixes by me out there in space. I am really proud of this one,
DJ Supermarkt in his natural environment
Tell us a bit how’d you picked the tracks for this space travelling mix?
I remember we both already talked about the idea of an ‘ambient’ Yachtrock DJ Mix some time ago, Maybe we didn’t think of the exact same sound at the time, but I started collecting songs for that atmosphere. And now finally this makes sense to me. The songs are all very slow, they float, but this time, I didn’t really take care of the ‘age’ of the tracks. The sounds you hear range from the 1950s to 2018! I always liked the naivity of the idea of Space Travel in the 50s and 60s, and this whole idea spoke to me and I wanted to make a travel-mixtape for that kinda idea…. of course with all the scientific mistakes possible: for example: it rains on several songs …! The spoken words are from two unbeleivable LPs from 1960/1950, where two companies explain their scientific approach to Space Travelling: Raybestos Manhattan and Bendix – The Tomorrow People.
Any specific highlights and hidden treasures in it which we should take a closer look at?
Most of the tracks are hidden treasures or reworked better known tracks, I think surprises are the main course you should serve in a DJ-Mix… Very special ones: I recently came across the Andreas Dorau track Meine Lieder which finishes the mix. It’s a Reggae track and it was a b-side in the 1990s. Love it so much! I even sneaked in a track by Yoshinori Sunahara, whcih I released with my old label Bungalwo Records in the 90s…. There are two reworks by Parisian magician DoctorSoul, one of my favorite producers at the moment. Last one: Most people think the interest in Westcoast Yacht-Pop started five years ago, but Low Motion Disco from Switzerland did their balearic reowrk of Valerie Carter’s classic Ooh Child already in 2007. Respect!
How do you discover ‘new’ old music? Digging through sounds from the analogue age I imagine it being a lot of record store/ vinly digging. Or do lose yourself in countless YouTube sessions?
Always get that question, and then I totally disappoint everybody! I used to go record hunting all my life, but i stopped some years ago… My flat is so full of records, my neighbour underneath is very scared. Nowadays I get all my influences and discoveries on Soundcloud and YouTube and in those weird ‘Groups’ on Facebook, where people share their most loved tracks. That is the only reason, why a Westcoast/California (or now Brasil) based compilation series like Too Slow To Disco can come from Berlin!
The latest installment of the ‘Too Slow To Disco’ sampler series has just been released.
What made you ‘travel’ to Brazil for this new sampler?
Like most people, I mainly knew about the Bossa Nova/Tropicalia movement from Brazil, but hardly ever got in contact with AOR-Boogie influenced music from there. After I met Ed Motta, we often exchanged rare music that we discovered, and so i came to listen to all these great songs from bands, I never even heard of. So it became obvious, that we had to do something about it, and release some of them. Ed really liked the idea of doing it together! So soon after he send me all those tracks (way too many, of course…), so there might be at least a TSTD Brasil Vol 2 in the air…
Are there any other specific genres/ styles you are interested and in which you tend to dive into?
There actually is: It is a part of the post punk area (mid 80s), and it is the Sound of Young Scotland, as it was called way back then: Bands like Orange Juice, Love and Money, Aztec Camera, Prefab Sprout, Friends Again etc… who came from Punk, but were suddenly influenced by extremely cuncool music like Yachtrock and even disco/funk … Most of that music is already available in every form, so there sadly is no way a compilation of that sound could be financed by sales …
But before we take a trip to the 1980s, let’s go a bit further and enjoy this space travelling mixtape featuring lazy floating bits and pieces from artists Raymond Scott & The Bendix Corporation, Low Motion Disco, Valerie Carter, Raybestos Manhattan Inc, Love Unlimited Orchestra, All Good Funk Alliance, Mai Yamane, Jonathan Jeremiah, Quiet Village, Air, Selector Retrodisco, Michale Franks, DoctorSoul, Blur, Leisure, Kween, Valique, Roger Wilco, Mylo, Yoshinori Sunahara, Everything Is Recorded, Emapea, Moods, High Hoops, Koomuki, Tipsy and the already mentioned Andreas Dorau.