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John Talabot’s ‘DJ-Kicks’ Mix Will Be ‘Quite Strange’

John Talabot, 'DJ-Kicks'

Barcelona’s John Talabot joins the ranks of Carl Craig, Tiga, Booka Shade, and Kode 9 this fall as the latest DJ to record a DJ-Kicks mix for !K7. The long-running series is known for encouraging DJs to avail themselves of more eclectic selections than are typical for traditional club sets — Four Tet’s 2006 installment, to wit, included songs from Stereolab, So Solid Crew, the avant-garde composer David Behrman, and space-rockers Gong along with more DJ-friendly picks from Akufen and Model 500. Naturally, Talabot’s mix follows suit, skirting the edges of the dance floor instead of diving in headfirst.

“It has some dance tracks towards the beginning,” says Talabot via statement, “but as it progresses it chills out. It’s not an easy mix. It’s quite strange. It doesn’t really build up in the way many mixes do. A lot of the tracks I’ve never played in a club because they wouldn’t work.”

Fittingly, a glance at the tracklist doesn’t immediately suggest any single scene or sound. Madteo’s loopy, lo-fi hip-house rubs up against Harmonious Thelonious’ new age Afrobeat; obscure German techno types like Max Mohr and Kron are scattered among more au courant names like Bridgeport, Connecticut’s DJ Jus-Ed, Sweden’s Genius of Time, and Manchester’s Andy Stott. Talabot’s own Hivern Discs label is represented in songs from Bostro Pesopeo, Pional, and Mistakes Are OK, and Talabot himself contributes two new exclusives: “Without You” and “Sideral,” a collaboration with the Swedish house troublemaker Axel Boman (under the alias Talaboman).

Talabot’s DJ-Kicks is out October 29; see below for a cryptic teaser video for the mix. Meanwhile, Talabot and his frequent collaborator Pional will release their debut under the new alias Lost Scripts later this month. Backed with a song from Koreless, it’s the first installment of a series of split EPs from Young Turks, the home of the xx and SBTRKT. And as we reported earlier this week, this Saturday Talabot and Hivern Discs’ Franc Sayol kick off a weekly radio show, “El Ritmo Infinito,” on Spain’s Radio 3. The hour-long program will broadcast between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. CET (2 p.m. Eastern / 11 a.m. Pacific) before being archived in podcast form.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=Efjc1OoH8Qc%3Fhl%3Den_US