These days lots of labels stick to what they know. They tend to have a sound and work into that, putting out record and record of the same thing until they fade into the dark space of discogs never to be seen again. This is not the case with @blankmindlabel . With a diverse selection of all things be it field recordings, ambient experimentations, bass heavy club anthems, dark dubstep rhythms or the legendary Shake Shakir remixing an underground tribal house and Socca masterpiece this label has defined a way to break the norm and keep us on the edge of our seat until we fall on to the floor. This curation all comes from the mind of South London native Sam Purcell. Sam has grown up around music being in the world of audio experimentations from his school years. Now with Blank Mind seventeen releases deep and running the incredible Pick A Sound night cementing his firmly well placed spot in the London underground scene it is only time we welcomed Sam to the Off The Record Mix series. Here we get a deep dive into what his taste is about and what inspires his mind musically in regards to curating his night and label. Recorded live from Pick A Sound at Ormside Projects this mixes brings us on a chuggy and bass heavy journey from the start of the night well deep into the dark hours. We had a quick chat with Sam too about his background and more about what he's got going on:

Hollering from the deep south of New Zealand a sound is pumping through the Earth, all the way through to Europe via Munich, then to Berlin and now its travelling to the UK and beyond. That sound is the Big Beat Manifesto. A sound that Mr. Eden Burns has produced to us over 6 volumes and all pressed to wax via the loving hand of Public Possession. This cross over of addictive club sonics and balearic undertones has seen the likes of Solomun, Jennifer Cardini, Jamie Tiller, Huge DJ Party Alerts, Gerd Janson and more taking various systems worldwide for the test drive of their lives with these sounds. Aside from producing these melodies Eden has deemed himself quite the DJ with Boiler Room(a personal favorite of ours), club and festival appearances galore. For this mix Eden picks some of his favorite club cuts but guides us through an hour which seems to be a summary of a set that could easily go into the 4 hour mark. A fine calling card. We had a quick chat with Eden about what hes been up to a little about the mix:

Claire Smith Cullum aka Voys has dedicated much of her years to the love of vinyl and independent radio. Having worked over the years in spots like Sister Rey and Rye Wax, she has surrounded herself in the heart of these cultures, gaining a vast ear for all things in UK sound and beyond. Now sitting as a buyer for Bleep specialising in electronic and dance we are glad to welcome Claire to our series to showcase her expertise, and this mix does exactly that. Commonly recognised as one half of the Souvenir collective with Elle Andrews of Mal Records, also hosting a killer NTS show together has found them providing nothing but quality mixes for some of our favourite labels and shows in the UK and all over(Left Alone, Kindred, LYL Radio etc) as well as dropping a very killer Trilogy Tapes tape not too long ago. For this mix Claire turns to a home listening perspective but still bringing broke down and trippy UK sounds into the cut. We talked to Claire about this excellent mix and a little bit about some project she's been working on lately:

We are delighted to welcome back, former Phonica staff member Prague born, London-based Adriana aka Ariane V, who is next up on our Friend & Family mix series.

Ariane V is known for having a vast taste in disco, UKG, Balearic & house, these are all represented in her Balamii residency that we can't get enough of here at Phonica. She also runs Rhythm Sister, a collective/community through which they support female, nonbinary, and trans DJs and producers by running workshops and hosting events.

For this two hour journey Adriana brings us into the setting of her set at Love International where she just returned from playing just recently. Adriana has taken the records from that evening and reconstructed the setting of a warm summery beach in Croatia to a blissful cosmic connection of balearic sounds & deep house. We had a quick chat with Adriana so she could tell us a bit more about the mix in detail. You can read that over on WWW.OFFTHERECORD.NET

B2 Subb-An - Atlantis by Phonica Records

B1 Subb-An - Higher Frequency by Phonica Records

A2 Subb-An - Salvia Apiana by Phonica Records

As we near our 100th mix in our main Phonica series, we up the game with a journey from New York born and Berlin residing, deep house legend Fred P AKA Black Jazz Consortium for number 97. Deep is truly in the essence of everything Fred does and its honest reflection shines brightest in his two latest albums "Oasis" and "Abstract Soul" which dropped back to back this year accompanied by some heavy in demand 12's on his Private Society imprint. That very essence is showcased in this mix he put together for us. Grooving through all sounds that have inspired the mind of this artist and cutting into deep layered moods of house, funk and techier bits this is a divine look into how Fred P approaches sound.

Brussels based musical activist and collector/selector DJ soFa aka soFa Elsewhere joins us for the 30th edition of our Off The Record mix series after a short break, and what a mix to get it all back kicking off. Known for his excellent Elsewhere compilation series he curates, soFa shows his diverse selection here travelling from chuggy industrial and percussion-y rhythms to acid baselines and pumping house.

I think it would be fair to say that some people whose out put is quite regular suffer from quantity over quality. For Malik Kassim, the Amsterdam based producer also known as Retromigration, this just is not the case. With three records out already this year and plenty more on the horizon including a full LP on Wolf Recordings, it seems Kassim is determined to debunk the quantity over quality theory and prove you can very much be both. His records do the speaking for this argument, with his styles ranging similar to modern greats like Folamour and Kerri Chandler massively influencing off funky and up beat rhythms yet still maintaining that punchy four to the floor techy beat and its in these influences we move on the Phonica Mix 96; Retromigration takes us on a trip through many styles here across jazzy beats, funky rhythms, pumping house and melodic piano riffs, its very much a day in the Sun kinda party mix and he definitely helps us imagine that setting here.