- The London DJ displays his expansive taste in modern club music.
- Radio Mumdance was one of last year's most vital slots on Rinse FM. Throughout the 40 episodes that made up the first series, the artist, AKA Jack Adams, was joined by a huge spectrum of cutting-edge artists. He often played back-to-back with luminaries and personal heroes of his, such as DJ Storm, Surgeon, Nina Kraviz, Ben UFO and Slipmatt. It also spanned a huge range of music: banging acid, classic jungle, hardcore techno and experimental ambient, to name a few prominent styles. Fans of his were used to being surprised—his early releases on labels like Mad Decent tended towards tropical sounds before the grime-influenced techno that he became chiefly known for emerged. But over the course of Adams's Rinse FM shows, you could hear his tastes and influences evolve.
Shared Meanings has been billed as a follow-up to that radio series. Released as a free mix, digital compilation and vinyl sampler, Shared Meanings expresses a range of Adams's musical interests, just like the radio show before it. Here, however, the focus is less on legends than peers and contemporaries: Szare, Hector Oaks, SØS Gunver Ryberg and Galaxian have all contributed new music to the project. On the Shared Meanings website, Adams outlined his own personal journey and relationship with each act, a lovely detail that makes clear his excitement as a fan.
The mix opens with a couple of melancholic ambient tracks before the irregular pulse of "Terraforming Is No Easy" by Bambounou rises out of Caterina Barbieri's "Molecular Illusion." There's a lot of fun for studious DJs to have with a format like this, especially with as creative a mixer as Adams at the helm. I'd bet that many DJs will try to emulate the triplet mixing that, 36 minutes in, allows him to go smoothly between the stark techno of Metrist's "ME Siphoning" to the brutal drum & bass of Homemade Weapons's "Seasick," cleverly weaving in "Termination Shock" by ASC as the backdrop and jumping 40 BPM without skipping a beat.
Mumdance and Logos's version of Daft Punk's "Teachers" anchors the mix two thirds of the way through. Like its predecessor, a robotic voice recites a list of influences. This time, though, the artists mentioned belong to what's sometimes known as the hardcore continuum. Doc Scott, Ruff Sqwad, LFO, Boy Better Know, Hellfish and others get shout-outs over hefty, warehouse-ready acid. J Colleran's "Infra01" and the abstract sirens of Boylan's "Say Goodbye" reset the energy before the rave stabs of Peder Mannerfelt's "Over My Face" signal a second onslaught.
The intensity ramps up from there. The mix's climax comes via "Bliss Overdose," the debut release from a producer called Tales From The Underground. It's a brilliant old-school hardcore track, submitted via email thanks to a request on social media. (That post got thousands of responses, and getting through them all took Adams a full month.) Creating a cohesive mix of 32 new tracks from a wide-ranging cast of contributors must have been a daunting task. But Adams has always been an ambitious artist, and Shared Meanings is yet more evidence of his bold vision for club music.
Tracklist01. SØS Gunver Ryberg - Flying
02. Space Afrika - After They Entered It Was Only Evident
03. Caterina Barbieri - Molecular Illusion
04. Chevel - 777
05. Monotronique - Bounce Yo Head
06. Bambounou - Terraforming Is No Easy
07. Szare - Sink Hole
08. Hector Oaks - Dare To Care
09. Mark Broom - TwoEightFour
10. JK Flesh - Underpass (Weightless Version)
11. Dino Sabatini - Bridge #43
12. Metrist - ME Siphoning
13. ASC - Termination Shock
14. Homemade Weapons - Seasick
15. Last Life - Ancient Lightning
16. Torn - Loopback
17. Abyss X - Allegory
18. Sleeparchive - Smokestack
19. Deapmash - Abstract Straight Lethal
20. Mumdance & Logos - Teachers
21. J Colleran - Infra01
22. Boylan - Say Goodbye
23. Peder Mannerfelt - Over My Face
24. Galaxian - Viral Shredding
25. Imogen - Katla
26. Nkisi - Kinenga
27. Chevel - Voices Sound In My Head
28. Isabella - Rattle
29. Repro - Lies of Commission
30. D. Carbone - Rush To Crash
31. Tales of the Underground - Bliss Overdose
32. ZULI - SW Keys