RA.873 Solid Blake

  • Published
    Feb 26, 2023
  • Filesize
    164 MB
  • Length
    01:11:31
  • Colourful electro and techno from Copenhagen (via Glasgow).
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  • Emma Blake is, musically, something of a nomad. She made her name—Solid Blake that is—in Copenhagen, where she cofounded the influential Apeiron Crew alongside Mama Snake and Smokey. They were responsible in establishing the city's contemporary techno sound, which blended sleek techno and trance influences into something colourful and retro-futuristic. But Blake's side of things was always more rooted in electro, with a party-starting flair that you might be tempted to pin to her Glaswegian upbringing. (Her first release, Mario, came out on the label of the legendary Glasgow taps-aff basement nightclub La Cheetah.) And she's also spent time in Berlin, so she has those techno bona fides, too. Another EP, released on Modeselektor's Seilscheibenpfeiler, further fleshed out her electro-techno hybrid sound, also explored in her Historical Repeater project with Danish artist Ctrls. DJing has been her major focus, though—she has an excellent Rinse FM show—and you'll hear a refined approach on her excellent RA Podcast, which is like a club set in miniature, starting out midtempo and rushing towards a heady climax with tracks like Pariah's "Squishy Windows." It's loaded with creative grooves, toothsome textures and the kind of sleek melodies that helped define her stint in Copenhagen since the beginning. What have you been up to recently? For the past year I've spent a lot of time hopping between Copenhagen and Berlin. I moved to Berlin in 2021 for a job at Ableton, so a fair bit of my energy is spent on that these days. I've learned so much from the job and my colleagues, and that's starting to pay off creatively—I've been making quite a bit of music again after an extended break. When I'm not doing any of that, I'm playing gigs or working on my monthly Rinse FM show. How and where was the mix recorded? And can you tell us the idea behind it? My friends kindly lent me their apartment in Copenhagen so I could use their setup: 3 XDJ 700s and a Xone 42 mixer. The recording covers quite a lot of ground—it's not as self-indulgent as some of my late-night Rinse shows, but it starts a bit loose and chuggy before making its way to higher tempos and resembling more of the frantic energy you'd typically get from me playing in a club. I usually focus on newly-discovered music in recorded mixes, but for this one I included a few old favourites too. What's one club or party that had a major impact on you as an artist? Growing up in Glasgow, the only place to be on a Sunday night was Optimo at the Sub Club. It influenced so much of my music listening as a teenager, and it's still the night I think of when I want to remember the kind of energy I'd like to try to capture on a dance floor. You said you're getting back into production. What have you learned in the time since your last release, and what can we expect from the new music? There are a million little things I've picked up that support my workflow on a technical level. One thing I've found surprising is that since I started working at Ableton I'm far more likely to reach for devices that I already have, rather than looking for new plug-ins in the hope that they'll fix everything and make my stuff sound like I want it to. And on the creative side, I've learned that things become a lot easier when I can detach myself from the music, to view it as a project to be completed rather than something that has to communicate my whole self. Overthinking and perfectionism have too often left me frozen and unable to make anything. I've learned how valuable it is to switch off my stupid brain and work with a project as it is in reality, rather than obsessing over the Platonic ideal of what my music could be, if only things were different. I still have a long way to go before I'll be satisfied with how I think about making music, but I have something coming out quite soon that I think reflects these developments. Hopefully others will hear that in it too. You've had quite an adventure across Europe, living in Glasgow, Copenhagen and Berlin. Do you think this mix of cities/cultures has affected the kind of music you play, or how you play? I feel very lucky to have moved around and experienced three different cities, and I think it would be difficult not to be influenced by the place I'm living and the people I come across there. Ariana Grande perhaps put it best when she sang, "One taught me love, one taught me patience and one taught me pain." I won't say which is which, though. What's one social or political cause you want the world to pay more attention to? It's tricky for me to answer this for two reasons: first, there are so many causes that deserve the attention of this paragraph; and second, it's tough for me to raise any issue before having a hard look at my own efforts (or lack thereof). That said, one thing that's on my mind a lot is the biodiversity loss we're facing as a planet. I do what I can as an individual to feel alright about my own contribution to this problem, but we need massive systemic change to slow the destruction to the planet we're already causing. What are you looking forward to in the near future? I'm pretty excited to be doing a residency at Tresor this year. I fell in love with the revamped Globus room when I first played there, so I'm looking forward to being back more often. I've also been dreaming up some plans with two old friends that I used to play with a lot, and we're hoping to do some fun stuff together later this year.
  • Tracklist
      Front De Cadeaux – There Is Something Wrong BLCKEBY – Sentimento FFT – Disturb Roqe 4 Sid Angel – Fresh One Gamma Intel – Fata M Estebahn – Ode To Thomas Hydelic – Pulse Technobeton – No No (Donald Dust remix) Osheyack – A River’s Mouth Anoesis – Trouble Down Groove Stanny Abram – Rotating Sphere Kukido – Scientist Le Motel – Helix Beresi – Hyper Inflation Part 1 Dave NA – Solo Move (Vox Edit) Frazer Ray – Screamer Protect Ryan – DJ Weddings & Receptions Dansa – Forceps Pantile – Join The Queue Maroki – Coldred The Accomplice – Critical Asmus Odsat – Indulgent Pariah – Squishy Windows Magugu x Le Motel – On Topper Client_03 – Personal Share Correction Brassica – Sauna
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