Explorers of deep, vibey house will certainly be aware of “Situation,” a standout collaboration between Londoners Citizen and Joe Ashworth. The sixth release on W&O Street Tracks, the stellar jam featuring vocalist Shona Carmen harkens back to the ’90s, a time when a contingent of producers crafted moody, bare-bones grooves for dimly lit dance floors.
As buzz builds on “Situation,” Joe Ashworth presents a truly epic Big Shot Guest Mix. Featuring “Situation” and cuts from Thomas Fehlmann, Ghostpoet as well as his own tracks, Ashworth finds the common ground between his dalliances in stripped down techno and minimal house.
“I treated this mix as a DJ set in a club. I imagined I was playing in some grimy basement club with an amazing sound system — maybe it could be the ‘Situation’ release party or something like that,” he explains. “I wanted ‘Situation’ to dictate the overall sound of the mix, so I chose a few tracks with a similar, dusty, gritty kind of sound. ‘Situation’ is an upbeat sounding track without a doubt, but the song itself is about a dilemma, so I tried to bounce the hands-in-the-air moments with more melancholic, reflective tracks.”
Ashworth adds of his DJ heroes, “All the DJs I admire have this in common: the ability to — within the confines of being in a club, where people go to dance — shift between moods and feelings, in ways more interesting than ‘ooh here’s an intense bit, better chill it out for a couple of tracks.’ An hour is a short mix, but I tried to capture that as best I could.”
Citizen & Joe Ashworth’s Situation EP is out now on Waze & Odyssey’s label, W&O Street Tracks.
Big Shot Guest Mix: Joe Ashworth by Big Shot Magazine on Mixcloud
Big Shot Guest Mix: Joe Ashworth
1. Thomas Fehlmann – “Tree”
2. tINI feat. Charlotte CA – “Turn Around”
3. Ripperton feat. Cooly G – “Thinking”
4. Manar – “Riddle”
5. Citizen & Ashworth feat. Shona Carmen – “Situation”
6. Javier Moreno – “Palm Acid” (James Barnsley remix)
7. Ashworth & Aggborough – “Bis”
8. Ashworth – “Twang”
9. Ghostpoet – “Meltdown” (? remix)
10. Citizen & Ashworth – “State”
11. Monoloc – “Try” (Skudge Try Again Version)
12. Larry Peters & Peter Lobo – “State Of Mind” (Re-Up remix)
13. Ashworth & Kiwi – “Dusk”