Big Shot Guest Mix 306: Sebastian Russell

SEBASTIAN-RUSSELL

With a bevy of choice releases for labels including Telegraph, M_nus, MBF and Trapez to his credit, London mixmaster Sebastian Russell presented his full-length debut, Force, in September. Never one to be afraid to draw outside of electronic music’s circles, his roots in classical, jazz and rock inform the album’s genre-defying beats and techno grooves.

Russell brings his eclectic musical ethos to Big Shot Guest Mix 306. Clocking in at just under 48 minutes, he brilliantly weaves together woozy selections by Kelpe, Shigeto, Trentmøller and Seven Davis, Jr., articulately expressing his ever-evolving musical modus operandi.

“I like to melodically connect tracks to create a harmonious flow with soft and edgy tracks,” he says of his exclusive 13-track session. “You can expect some hip-hop, electronica, minimal and tech-house tunes. It’s all about feelings and emotions.”

Hit the play button below and enjoy.

Sebastian Russell’s Force is out now on Fenou/Mo’s Ferry.

Image by Josh Leon

Big Shot Guest Mix 306: Sebastian Russell by Big Shot Magazine on Mixcloud

Big Shot Guest Mix 306: Sebastian Russell

  1. Dwig – “Rauf Und Runder” (Luettje Luise)
  2. Nekochan, Rose Ryot – “Wait For Me” (Katermukke)
  3. Kelpe – “Answered” (Drut)
  4. Shigeto – “Tide Pools” (Ghostly International)
  5. AbJo – “Kalimba” (Heavenly Sweetness)
  6. Robinn – “Dialog” (Compost)
  7. Shigeto – “Ritual Howl” (Ghostly International)
  8. Trentemøller – “The Forest” (Out Of Orbit)
  9. Plaid – “Liverpool Street” (Warp)
  10. Lo Shea – “You’ll Know When” (SZE)
  11. Seven Davis Jr. – “Summers” (Apron)
  12. Sebastian Russell – “Absent Mindedness” (David Durango Remix) (Multi Vitamins)
  13. Dorian Concept – “Do, Undo, Redo” (Ninja Tune)

Album Review: Shigeto / ‘No Better Time Than Now’ (Ghostly International)

Shigeto No Better Time Than Now

★★★★☆

The souring of buttery instrumentals by Zach Saginaw crafts a trickle-down effect of warm beats hitting jagged rocks. Like settling down at the end of the day in an uncomfortable chair sent by the LA beat scene, Shigeto is just above melancholic but is never far away from disaffected, creating silver linings — just like the eponymous track 11 — with fractures in them.

The mixing of analogue plug-ins with methods using digital chopsticks, hardens adolescent innocence to cold facts. “Olivia” gets heads nodding while administering paper cuts to ears, and hip-hop burbles chunter under their breath (“Detroit Part 1”). Any positivity is always consumed mildly, a habitual sweetness in the air (“Ritual Howl”) handled with concern. Where one or two beats refuse to let on, sometimes you wish Shigeto would come out and be less emotionally indistinct. “Perfect Crime” noodles and fidgets away, teasing with hopeful segments that are quickly done for.

Saginaw sifting through several processes at once is why his mood never appears as cut and dried as merely lonely or savouring isolation. With there being no barren spells of emptiness, flickers, squirms and tics in a smothered surround sound create a low-rent richness you feel you can lean on. Conversely, when fighting for sleep as temperature takes over, the lava lamp alongside starting to churn fiery colours, this is just the instrumentalism to go with it.

File under: Teebs, Sweatson Klank, Frank Omura