Bad Internet Mix
Up next for Tapes #64 is Belgian native, Bad Internet. The La Bonne Musique co-honcho is a newcomer to the London scene, yet in a year's time has firmly settled in hosting some of the city's most exciting line-ups with his imprint and event collective.
The upstart brand pushes a diverse roster of promising DJ's and producers in venues like The Cause, Venue MOT, Peckham Audio and Dalston Den all the while boasting an eclectic discography as a label and a vision that aims to push healthy narratives within dance music culture. Additionally, his arsenal of acid-laden breakbeats and affinity for finding deep, mind-melting cuts have landed him a recent show on Brussels' Kiosk Radio, and saw him make his first festival appearances at the Seaside Beano and Queen's Yard Summer Party.
Tracklist
Seaside Department - Introspection
Dolly - Mellow Fellow (Slo Mix)
Ramin - I Can't Understand
FAR EAST FLIGHT - Reivaz (AJO's Cosmic Culture Mix)
Lazuli - Waterworld
Turntable Terranova - 29
Agent Caine - Carrera
Artefakt & Claudio PRC - Sonic Rite
Unreleased
DJ-Ungel - Tidal Tribes (feat. Jofr)
Aaron Palmquist - Dreamtime
Beyun - Central Kinematics
Ruddi Saval - Transmission
Sickarone - Silly Goose On The Loose
Glaskin - Hydrogroove (Scuba's Break Back Mix)
Liam Fattori - Another One Please
Hi Enno, welcome to the Origins tapes series! Can you tell us a little more about yourself?
Hey, thanks for having me! Really excited to get involved with the series! I'm a Flemish DJ and sometimes producer hailing from Brussels, but have been residing in the UK for the past six years. During the day I work in the music industry and in the evenings, and mostly at night, I help run an event collective and label called La bonne musique.
Can you let us know a bit about the mix? What was your process when recording it?
I recorded this from my living room where I've set up a little studio (Sorry housemates!). Lots of recent releases, upcoming stuff, and some dusty vinyl. Almost all squelchers.
Tell us about your background - being born in Brussels how do you think your European roots have shaped your sound?
This is an interesting one. I feel like the big move to the UK ended up exposing me to an insane quantity of musical styles I wasn't used to back home, definitely chalking this up to being too young but back then all I'd experienced was Industrial Techno and House. When I first moved I ended up experimenting with every single genre I would come across and made some really influential discoveries.
I've tried it all, which brings me back to your previous question. I'm currently at an important point with my alias where I feel like it's reaching a certain maturity. I'm ready to leave behind most of the syncopated and bassy club sounds I used to push and have found a groove that really works for me: this mix perfectly encapsulates the blend of breaks and acid-driven house and techno, trippy organic trance and spacy electro that I'm into and that's been feeling natural to me, informed by both the UK and European scene. It's been a gradual process for a while but this is the energy moving forward!
And your label la Bonne Musique, how did that come about? Is there a particular sound you lean towards?
LBM was born around four years ago in my university town, Reading. Our nightlife there wasn't super exciting bar the odd night by a collective called Incognito Radio. We were at London's doorstep but shockingly Reading uni students, including my lazy self, really didn't fancy taking that half an hour train journey for a big club night. Some friends and I had started a little facebook group to share electronic music in. This expanded really fast, which led to us hosting house parties and ultimately when Incognito left for London we decided to move our functions from our wrecked kitchen to the backroom of local pubs and run down venues, now we do something similar in the big smoke. One of my best mates who I run the brand with came up with the name while she was learning French and it stuck, I've grown to love the grammatical mistake in it.
To be honest, we've been a bit of a melting pot of genres with both the label and the events but usually it's multi-genre and clubby. I think rather than defining by genre it's better to define our sound by the up and coming. Back in Reading we were one of the first collectives to book artists like Fauzia and Aleksandir as headliners outside of their places of residence. Then once we moved to London we really made an effort to continue giving promising artists a platform. I can speak for the team when I say we really love to see talent grow - shouts to everyone we've hosted while we've been here there's too many of you :)
The same story with the label, it's been lovely to see the artists we work with go on to do incredible things. Sempra has released on Coco Bryce's label and recently on Future Classic, Small Crab is releasing on Marie Montexier's Pariyah, Myledo is smashing it down under with Extra Spicy. It's honestly so so cool to see, we just hope to continue giving a platform to talented people wanting to put their music out!
What’s the nightlife like in Brussels? How would you compare it to London?
Funnily enough with covid and my studies getting in the way of things it's been yonks since I've experienced proper Brussels nightlife. I recently went to Horst festival though and while I love the many different flavours of London I have definitely missed some aspects of nightlife back home, it's definitely live! Especially the beers lol.
Would love to go home more often and pick up some more music bits back there, one day hopefully! Promoters get at me ;)
What's the story behind the name Bad Internet?
At the end of the first lockdown I was moving out of my house and I'd cancelled my broadband which ended up a wifi disaster for the final months of my tenancy. This happened while I spent loads of time on my computer writing music so frustration made me adopt the alias. Also been told before the tunes I play sound like the old internet dial-up noises so that played a part haha.
What are you up to at the minute? Any exciting plans?
Yes! Currently promoting a new release by Sempra, we're working on our next event in August in collaboration with Suspect London and our radio station Aaja music and I'm working on new music for a new exciting side-project. Later this year we have a cool exchange coming up with Boo's Newcastle based Ghetec, we're going to host them in London and in turn are having a dance over there. Additionally we are slowly turning LBM into a magazine with editorial focusing on the grassroots underground scene and more :)
Will also most likely be bouncing off the walls as a punter at various festivals over summer, looking forward to the next few months!
DJing or producing?
Dancing (been told I'm not very good though lol)
Go to peak-time track?
This ones been doing damage lately.
Thanks for being a part of the Tapes series!
Interview by: Isha Kewlani