For our second 2Q Report, Chris Miller showcases 10 mixes from 2012 that have stood out from the surfeit of free mixes on offer.
Jenifa Mayanja
LWE Podcast 110: DJ Jus-Ed
LWE got in touch with Ed to talk about the move to self-distribution, as well as the closing of Tape in Berlin, a club that has deep ties with the Underground Quality family. He also provided us with our 110th podcast: a special mix of his tracks (with some guest cameos) dedicated to the closing of the club.
Jenifa Mayanja, Close Encounters
Jenifa Mayanja, wife of Underground Quality impresario DJ Jus Ed and veteran DJ in her own right, has released house singles and “mix albums” over the last couple of years almost exclusively on her own Bu-Mako label. While buoyant and imbued with energy, much of her self-released output has owed far too big a debt to New Age for me to really get behind; the rawness that has made so much recent New York house such an invigorating listen has been lost on her 12″s behind an impenetrable wall of incense smoke. So what a pleasant surprise “Close Encounters” — Bu-Mako’s twelfth release — is, both for anyone who would rather sweat while dancing than taking a Bikram yoga class and for New York house as a whole.