Author: Darren Ressler

Iconic Ibiza DJ José Padilla Dead at 64

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dj jose padilla death

Famed Spanish DJ José Padilla, who was known internationally for his downtempo chillout sunset sets at Café del Mar in Ibiza in the ’90s, has died at the age of 64.

According to a post shared on Padilla’s Facebook, he succumbed to colon cancer.

Hola amigos. It is with great sadness that we bring you the news that José passed away peacefully in his sleep on Sunday night here on his beloved island of Ibiza. His family and friends would like to say thank you to everybody who sent donations and messages of support to help make his last few months easier, and to all the staff of Can Misses Hospital for taking care of him until the end.
Now he has gone and the sunset in Ibiza will never be the same without him , but the beautiful music of Jose Padilla will stay with us forever. Adiós maestro … x

Padilla was born in Barcelona and moved to Ibiza in 1975. He began his residency at Café del Mar in 1991 and drew an international reputation for sets that included ambient and chillout music.

In addition to mixing six well-received Café del Mar mix CDs, Padilla toured and released his own original music.

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Joy Division/New Order’s History To Be Told on ‘Transmissions’ Podcast

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Transmissions Joy Division New Order Podcast

A new podcast titled Transmissions: The Definitive Story will discuss the history of iconic Manchester post-punk bands Joy Division and New Order.

The genesis of both bands will be told from the perspective of group members and a star-studded coterie of musicians including Bobby Gillespie, Bono, Colin Greenwood, Damon Albarn, Hot Chip, Honey Dijon, Johnny Greenwood, Johnny Marr, Karen O, Perry Farrell, Stereolab, Thurston Moore and others.

The first episode of the eight-part of Transmissions series will air on October 29. The show will investigate Joy Division’s formation through the release of 1983’s seminal album, Blue Monday.

Bernard Sumner recalls, “Nothing would’ve stopped us – nothing did stop us, did it? Ian’s death didn’t stop us, Martin’s death didn’t stop us, getting all the equipment stolen didn’t stop us… There was nothing to go back to. There was no plan B.”

“To be in one band with such a distinct identity is pretty bloody lucky but then to get into two bands was amazing!” says Peter Hook.

Transmissions: The Definitive Story is produced by Cup & Nuzzle, who helm Robert Plant’s rather excellent Digging Deep podcast.

You can listen to a trailer for the first episode of Transmissions here.

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Premiere: Shpongle – No Turn Un-Stoned (Cosmic Trigger Remix)

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Cosmic Trigger - Shpongle Remixed Twisted

Twisted Records UK is getting ready to present an interesting, er, twist on the remix album concept.

Instead of compiling an album’s worth of re-rubs crafted by a variety of producers for Shpongle Remixed, label boss and Shpongle founder Simon Posford enlisted producer Jamie Grashion (a.k.a. Cosmic Trigger) to re-interpret an entire album’s worth of the group’s tracks on his own.

A member of the Twisted Records UK family, Jamie, who assists Simon in the studio, was already intimate with the music, making him the ideal person to take on remix duties.

We’re thrilled to world premiere “No Turn Un-Stoned (Cosmic Trigger Remix)” from the upcoming release.

Jamie’s remix is an intoxicating interpretation that takes the song into new spiritual territory by way of punchy basslines, a sprinkling of atmospheric glitch-hop vibes and assorted eargasmic magic dust.

“I’m really happy with how this one turned out,” Jamie tells us of the remix.

He adds, “It’s quite different to the original, but as with the others on this album I was taking the original stems as a springboard to delve into new tangential sonic environments. I was experimenting with foley quite a bit on this track inspired by listening to a lot of KOAN Sound, and happily, I managed to fit a duduk solo in there, one of my favorite folk instruments.”

Hit the play button below and check out Shpongle Remixed in its entirety on October 19.

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Matisa Recalls Last DJ Set Before COVID-19 Lockdown

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DJ Matisa

Throughout our Last DJ Set series, we’ve asked a range of artists including  Alinka, David Morales, Alan Oldham, Spencer Parker and Julia Bondar to recall their last gig before government-ordered lockdowns and travel bans went into effect in March, forcing clubs and festivals to close. Along the way, we were able to relive magical moments as we hope for better days to come.

For the final installment of the series, we spoke with Rome-born, Florence-based DJ/producer Matisa.

The vinyl-only decknician is known widely for championing a diverse style that embraces house, electro and any style that’ll move a dance floor.

Having released The Elsewhere EP on Biologic Records featuring a remix from Kim Ann Foxman in June, we connected with Matisa and asked her to recall her last DJ gig before turntables stopped spinning.

Here’s hoping we can launch our new series, My First DJ Set After COVID-19 Lockdown, very soon. Continue Reading →