Sock Free Hideaway

BEATS OF LOVE 

135. Ultra Violet by Mark E

I HARK back to the hours, sat on cold floors listening to blokes (always blokes) mixing after hours. Mixing similar BPMs and similar records. Then, whenever the chance arose, I'd spin 60s tunes, which pissed people off. Shirley Bassey's Something excepted. 

Unless Fiona, Emma or Joanne beat me to it and they'd always spin something truly memorable. Then something else that sounded brilliant, but they'd be dancing and not mixing. I was always dying to know what they were playing. They turned me on to utterly memorable music like There's a Riot..., Stepping Razor, Forever Manna, Rune Lindbaek and Larry Heard's brilliant mid-nineties stuff and were effortlessly cool.  

When rehearsing for our joint DJ debut, I recall Jeff listening to my records and finding the dramatic point in which to cue on another record and realised he was actually doing it properly. I just danced then changed the record or if I was DJing, fade out the sound on one deck before cross fading. I sort of assumed that as long as the music delivered and the drama stayed in focus, I'd keep the floor and I was sometimes right. I took my influence from my three unsung heroes, who were actually poets and journalists when not partying. These brave women trod a path to make it easier for the next generation to find a collective voice. 

I'm pretty sure if we had a time machine and could play today's music at yesteryear's afters, there'd be loads of beige beatport DJ wannabes mixing away and then breaking the rare silence, Fiona would stagger across the room and drop this onto the deck in a no-nonsense manner. Enough said.