Ronan Mix
Ronan, who joins us for the big #50 on our Tapes series, is the moniker of sound sculptor and disc spinner Robin Lohrey.
A lifelong lover of rhythm and the capacity of sound to facilitate extended states of consciousness, he cut his teeth helping organise the legendary Groovy Groovy rave series in NYC from 2015-17. He has released music on his own label Eternal Ocean, as well as Planet Euphorique, and OnLoop. Enjoy!
Tracklist
Salamanda - Overdose
E.S.G. & Slim Thug - Gangstafied (Jungle Edit)
Art of Noise - Crusoe (Aquasky Remix)
Nueen - Wait Until Then
dj bobo1 - Beeper rack
upsammy - Between the Stone
Ronan - Sacral Dub
Ronan - Shadowbox
bambinodj - breaks in disguise
K-Lone - Deluxe
Joki - 4A Bouncin
Antoine 80 - Acid ou deux bouts
Ashe 22 - Cro Cop
Kaotic Chemistry - L.S.D.
Abra - Unlock It (Feat. Playboi Carti)
Fio Fa - Gateway to a 50 Bag~
Artful Dodger - Still On Your Side
Drexciya - Aqua Worm Hole
Ronan - Body Knows Best
Ronan - Vagus Nerve
A Little Seal - Waiting, Watching
Thanks for getting involved in our Tapes Series! Why don't you start by introducing yourself. Where are you currently residing?
Thanks for having me :) I’ve been living in a small medieval village called Sauve in the south of France since October and it’s been super magical and transformative. I rented this house with a big terrace and now it’s getting warmer and you can sit out and have a coffee in the sun. There's so much room for your imagination here but something that I’m missing is that connection to my community. The last few years have been quite transitory for me, living in Colombia, Mexico and back in Washington State for a little while and now here. Everytime someone asks me where I’m based it’s somewhere new, so I am planning on moving back to NYC in April and basing myself there for a while and am hugely looking forward to being around my people (physically) again.
Tell us a bit about this mix. Did you record it in this dreamy place in the South of France?
I am in the process of coming back to my practice as a DJ right now, I’ve performed a few times since the pandemic but not much so this has been a nice opportunity to re-engage with it. I have been going through old music library backups and finding old tunes that I dug for or ones I made a long time ago and juxtaposing them with newer tunes of friends and a bunch of steezy edits and vocal stuff. I love just trying out a million different iterations of a mix of two tunes until you find that exact right blend that just fits, especially when the tunes may be very different on the surface level stylistically or historically… Music is the best :p.
I know we've discussed artist names and monikers and you were thinking of changing your name recently. What are your thoughts on an artist creating music of different genres but under the same name?
Hehehe, yeah if you have been following me on the internet the past few months it’s been a bit all over the place. I’ve been going through a period of self-reflection around how to frame the music that I make because I get caught up in this sort of modern music industry conceptions around marketability and getting niched down as soon as possible. I always admired the artist pages on Discogs where the artist would have like a paragraph long list of aliases and side-projects, I think Future Sounds of London literally have like 30 different ones. Nowadays there is pressure to grab people's attention and keep it with press campaigns, social media rollouts, etc. I think I just needed to take a step back and consider how I wanted to play the game in a way that felt natural and honest. I was considering dropping the alias and starting fresh but In the end I decided to stick with Ronan as it’s a fun alter ego to me (Robin hehe) and it feels like I still have more to express with that part of my personality. I think it comes down to creating our own little mythologies and allowing the characters to arise naturally and following your imagination and seeing where it takes you. The trick then is how to invite people into that process in a way that feels like the world you’re building feels cohesive. Giving yourself the time to explore and play around with your ideas is so key, it’s definitely an unfolding process but I am happy with it and I’m excited to see where the path is going to lead me.
Talk a bit about your label, Eternal Ocean! Been loving the releases on there so far - when’s the next coming out?
Thank you :) It’s been a lovely experience running a label, I’ve definitely learned a lot about how the industry works and it feels great to put out good music that you believe in. I’m not exactly sure on the timeline for the next releases, we definitely have some more Plebeian music and more of mine in the pipeline but other than that I’m in a bit of a strategy / A&R moment where I’d like to put together a string of cohesive releases and do something a bit different i.e. not just 12” EPs. I’ve been considering moving into a bit more of a multi-media model and putting out digital audio/visual content alongside the physical items but I’ve also been shifting some focus onto my own practice and working a day job as well so I’m letting everything take its own time.
I saw you played in London for the first time a few months ago - how did you find it compared to playing in New York?
Oh my god yeah that show was so fun and unexpected. I had gone up to London for a meeting that weekend and there was Shanti Celeste’s Peach party happening at Corsica Studios. The day of the party I got a voice note from Shanti saying that the person opening had contracted Covid and if I could play instead. I had the best time, everyone was just so down for whatever, but in a very engaging way. I think you can really feel that electronic music has such a long-standing history there and it’s so normalised as part of the youth culture which is amazing because everyone has the context and is really enthusiastic but it can feel a bit codified I think, that sort of goes for Berlin as well a bit. In NYC, what’s interesting is electronic dance music has had so many periods and moments that sort of ebb and flow and in this current wave it feels so exciting and fresh but at the same time still quite intimate and community focused which is lovely to see.
Who's inspiring you musically at the moment?
I am actually listening to an Andrew Weatherall mix at the moment and it’s so good, he’s someone that really embodies that no genres, no borders concept which is so inspiring for me. Also, the whole Jose Padilla / Cafe Del Mar chillout lounge vibe has been such a goldmine for me lately.
What kind of stuff are you enjoying producing at the moment?
I haven’t been producing much this past month but in the Fall I had a really prolific moment where I made a bunch of different things, a few hyperpop adjacent songs, a sunrise tech-house anthem, some dubstep, and a little bit of indie shoegaze-y stuff. I’ve just been having fun letting all of it come out and seeing what direction I feel like moving in, I try to let the music dictate the path.
A few quick fire questions to finish off: Favourite club or club night in NYC?
Well I am biased as having been involved with Groovy Groovy which is a rave series that my bestie Andrew Akanbi started back in 2016 and I got involved with in 2017 when I moved down to NYC. We threw a bunch of underground parties then which were pretty legendary and they’re about to throw the first official Groovy party post-deep-pandemic so I’m super excited for that vibe coming back, the Groovy Groovy dancefloors I know for a fact were quite life-changing for myself and a number of people, it really set this tone for getting freaky on the dancefloor and losing yourself in the sound, as we would say ‘if you’re not sweating you’re doing it wrong’... Clubwise, Nowadays has to be my favorite club in the world hands down. They had started up just as I was leaving NYC in 2018 but when I was back in NYC in the fall I went every weekend for 3 weeks and the vibe has just matured in such a beautiful way. Someone said it’s like partying in someone’s living room and I think they’ve really captured that energy in a really beautiful way :)
What are you most looking forward to this Summer?
Dancing at Nowadays speaking of… hehe but really just being with my friends and enjoying the summer in NYC, gonna hit the beach, play around in the open fire hydrants, make a lot of music, drink natural wine watching the sunset on the east river, etc…
Hardware or software?
Both tbh, although I have been pretty much exclusively with my laptop due to traveling so much and I just haven’t felt the pull to really engage with the gear that I have but I think having a more long term studio and base of operations will inspire me to get outside the box and into some other boxes.
Thanks so much for joining us!