Order via Bandcamp NEXT Festival Records

Recorded 4 December 2009 at NEXT Festival, Bratislava

ErikM & dj sniff – Next Mix23.5.2023 / NEXT Festival Records For this release, NEXT Festival Records dives deep into its archive to unveil a collaboration from NEXT Festival 2009 – one of the highlights of that year’s festival – a tape by French musician, composer, visual artist and improviser ErikM & Japanese musician, curator, instrument designer and producer dj sniff. 13 years on, the sounds on ‘Next Mix’ still resonate, channelling the frenetic energy of free jazz, the looseness of plunderphonics and sample-based music and the revitalising intensity of live performance.

Performed entirely on vinyl and (customised) turntables,this performance encapsulates the magic of turntablism at a moment when its wide-ranging potential is being reexamined by experimental artists such as Mariam Rezaei, Maria Chavez and Victoria Shen, Graham Dunning and many others. ‘Next Mix’ showcases complex scratching techniques, elaborate looping structures, masterful drum breaks, but also experiments with the materiality of vinyl as an object and with the potential of the turntable as an instrument. The virtuosity of both turntablists is balanced by a sensibility to texture and sound, as the French and Japanese artists walk the line between frenzy and control.

Presenting this vinyl-based performance on cassette is a conscious choice, a nod to cassette culture and mixtapes which are increasingly rare in the current experimental music ecosystem.

credits