As resident of the revered Taiwanese platform Smoke Machine, diskonnected is both a tastemaker and selector of wide esteem. Having been an integral member of the Smoke Machine crew for over a decade, his vision has shaped both the style and presence of the platform, culminating in a range of cutting edge, high-profile events in Taiwan and around the globe, and the irreplaceable Smoke Machine Podcast, which has comfortably been one of the most respected and insightful sources of truth within the wider techno scene since its inception ten years ago. On a personal level, diskonnected’s wide-ranging and intricately selected sounds are a true local fixture in Taiwan, but his natural prowess and flair as a DJ has seen him reach crowds the world over, with appearances at a multitude of key events in Germany, the UK, Holland, South Korea, Japan, the US and more recently in Streamland, to name but a few. Recorded live at a recent event at Pawnshop in Taipei, Patterns of Perception 83 finds diskonnected in an energetic mood, as he takes a vivid, groove-laden dive into the world of contemporary drum & bass. In this set, an impeccable array of textures flow effortlessly alongside powerful, irrepressible rhythms to exhilarating effect. Feeling simultaneously invigorating and nostalgic, these 81 mins perfectly capture the colour, vibrancy and spirit of a proper club night in full swing. diskonnected's Links: SoundCloud Instagram Facebook Resident Advisor Smoke Machine - SoundCloud Smoke Machine - Facebook Organik Festival - Facebook Spectrum Formosus - Facebook

To introduce Jane Fitz as a legend of the scene borders on understatement. The UK selector has earned an almost cult-like following born out of her annual sets at Freerotation festival, co-founding London’s Night Moves parties (with good friend Jade Seatle), a more recent residency at revered club the Pickle Factory, a monthly show on Rinse FM, and a pre-pandemic touring schedule that took in countless clubs and festivals the world over. She herself admits to being committed to the scene for life, driven by a deep appreciation of the music above all else – and a constant desire to surprise both herself and her audience equally. For her Patterns of Perception 82, Jane has recreated some of the warmth she felt during her visit to Berlin for a b2b with Eric Cloutier at our party in November 2019, an event which remains a vivid memory on both sides. The mix features many records collected over the past year of the pandemic and not yet played out, giving it a sense of urgency and an uplifting quality that, for her, recalls an outdoor festival set in better days. “A bit of me was kind of longing for playing on the side of a Japanese mountain again or for all those festivals you do in the summer,” she says. “I wanted to have people stomping on a forest floor.” Jane Fitz's Links: SoundCloud Facebook Resident Advisor Night Moves - Facebook Invisible Menders - Facebook invisiblemenders.bandcamp.com Jane Fitz b2b Eric Cloutier - Patterns of Perception, OHM - October 2019:

Nicole is one of the most exciting artists to have emerged from Tbilisi’s legendary electronic music scene in recent years. Having been active as a DJ since the age of 17, she has carved out a niche in Georgia and throughout Europe with her energetic, emotive sets that range from old-school acid techno through intelligent minimal and beyond. Her Boiler Room set at local institution Bassiani in 2018, which celebrated that venue’s reopening following a wave of protests against raids and shutdowns of Tbilisi’s club scene, cemented Nicole as one of Georgia’s foremost DJs and producers. She has gone on to release her first solo EP through Marco Shuttle’s label, Eerie Records, and her track “Luna” featured earlier this year on Nina Kraviz’s трип (Trip Recordings) compilation, Hot Steel. This mix for Patterns of Perception explores a range of musical dimensions, taking an expedition into kaleidoscopic, experimental sonic spaces. Nicole's Links: SoundCloud Facebook Resident Advisor

Melbourne-based DJ and radio host Millú has firmly established herself as a vital contributor to the city’s buoyant music scene in recent years. As a true drawcard for the local and global online scenes, and the host of two beloved radio shows, her sunny, groove-laden sound has seen her quickly gain recognition as a deeply skilled selector with an ear (and record bag) perfectly suited to any mood or dancefloor. Both of her shows - Full Circle on independent station RRR and Dischord on Skylab - are renowned for their perfectly-curated oddities, and give Millú a platform to share her love for both musical diversity and the local scene, with guests and co-hosts joining her to explore genres as far-flung as kraut, downtempo and balearic, through to breaks, acid and IDM. Taking these same foundational loves into the world with her as a DJ, Millú has graced the stage at numerous key Australian events, including Inner Varnika, Golden Plains, Pitch and Strawberry Fields, delivering stirring, memorable sets either solo, or alongside regular collaborator and partner-in-crime, Pjenné. Recently, the pair have started work on their latest project, a record label called Companion, which will delve into downtempo and atmospheric iterations of the electronic underground, bringing the language of ethereal 90s electronica, psychedelic IDM and ambient trance and techno to the present day. With Patterns of Perception 81, we find Millú's distinctively warm, dreamy, soulful and adventurous sound in full flight. In this vision, natural soundscapes melt into lush, patient melodies, which in turn rise effortlessly into urgent, liquid rhythms. A seeming disregard for categorisation is betrayed by her careful, well-considered selections and programming, and although countless sounds, feelings and moods pass in the course of this mix, Millú’s uplifting, life-affirming spirit is compellingly present throughout. Millú’s Links: SoundCloud Facebook Instagram Resident Advisor Companion - SoundCloud Full Circle on RRR Dischord on Skylab

For those of us watching from afar, Australia seems to be a litmus test for life without COVID. The electronic music scene – which has been able to reopen with live events at limited capacity – is no exception. So when Naarm/Melbourne-based DJ Millú contributed to our mix series recently, we jumped at the chance to hear more about developments in the local scene. Below, she fills us in on what’s been keeping her busy over the last few months, including the launch of her latest community radio show and a new record label, and shares insights into what it feels like to return to the dancefloor in a country where daily cases hover close to zero. We'd love to hear more about your mix for Patterns of Perception first of all. Was there a concept or inspiration behind this one? I really enjoyed putting this mix together. I finally found myself back in my studio after what was surprisingly a pretty frantic summer of gigs and parties here – the pace of everything coming back to a new ‘normal’ was a bit overwhelming – and this mix feels like a winding down in a sense. Dub-tinged ambience into more atmospheric dnb. My mixes generally tend to be quite introspective, music for home listening with a cup of coffee... How would you describe your sound to those who haven’t heard your music before? I find that my sound as a DJ performing out differs so drastically from my sound as a DJ on the radio or for mix series such as this. I get a lot out of recording mixes that invoke a sense of calm: lots of atmospherics, drawing on elements of psych and shoegaze, and combining them with more conventional electronic sounds. I guess certain elements of this still come through in my DJ sets – an affinity for the more psychedelic and tripped-out sides of dance music. People might know you as the host of the show Full Circle on Triple R 102.7FM, in your hometown of Naarm/Melbourne, which started in February 2020 – only a month or so before the pandemic began. How has the show taken shape over the past year? And has the pandemic forced you to make any changes to how you approach it? I’ll admit it was a bit challenging starting a weekly radio show at the beginning of a global pandemic. My creativity and motivation really suffered last year and I felt like I got off on the wrong foot in a way with the show, but at the same time, it was really important for me to have something to focus on musically each week in the absence of gigs. It encouraged me to still connect with the scene and to keep up with new releases. I presented lots of shows from home at the height of our lockdown here when we weren’t able to leave our homes, and I did a bunch of Zoom interviews. This was all fun for a while until the novelty wore off – in the end, it stripped away a bit of the magic of radio. That all said, I think that radio was a really important thing for people during our lockdown – there was a huge increase in listenership and it felt like people were really enjoying the personality of a radio show as opposed to just putting on a mix. It was like a sense of solidarity or something, it felt really special. What role has the show, and community radio in general, played for you during this time? Community radio is huge here in Australia. We have a really strong relationship with these old school FM radio stations, where one hour you’ve got northern soul, the next you’ve got a metal show, and then there’s a dance slot. There’s a really strong community around these stations, the people who present shows and those who listen and subscribe. It was amazing to feel a part of that during the pandemic; everyone was there for each other regardless of your chosen subculture or genre, trying to navigate this shared experience. I think that was really grounding. It’s also led to a greater sense of connection now that events are back up and running. There is a heightened appreciation for what’s going on in other scenes and I hope this perseveres as time goes on. Australia is in a very different state from the rest of the world when it comes to COVID-19 but Naarm/Melbourne has arguably been the hardest hit of any city from the pandemic. How did the prolonged lockdown there – and COVID in general – impact the local music scene? It feels strange now talking about Naarm as being one of the hardest hit when we look around and see others battling their toughest lockdowns yet. Our lockdown last year dragged on for what felt like forever: 112 days of really strictly enforced social isolation. It was really hard but it was really special to see the dance community stick together in more online spaces during this time, and to see how much support people were willing to show each other. I think this sort of mentality of supporting your friends and those in the scene around you has definitely persevered into the IRL realm now that venues are reopening and the parties are starting back. Guest lists feel like a thing of the past – this expectation that you can go to a gig for free because you know someone. Events have been selling out here, admittedly with lower capacity, but it really does feel like people want to show their support financially more than ever now. There’s this sort of sense of 'we almost lost this'. In terms of Melbourne’s more underground scene, I think it’s going to take a while for things to properly find their feet again. Some of the most prolific parties in this city were the DIY ones, the park parties along the Birrarung with a bunch of people chipping in to hire a Funktion-One rig for the night. They’re the ones that feel like they’ll take the longest to recover. We still have strict capacity limits for public outdoor gatherings and I think there’s a sense of responsibility that we all feel to not fuck this up again. 112 days was a really long time. It’s harder to track people’s attendance at these kinds of events and with that comes an ability to contact-trace if there is another outbreak – no one wants to be responsible for that just for the sake of a rave. I’m excited to see how these DIY spaces will return in new, safer ways. Together with your DJ partner Pjenne, you recently launched the new label Companion which you say “brings the language of ethereal '90s electronica, psychedelic IDM and ambient trance and techno to the present day”. Why did you choose to focus on this sound and this era? Penny and I both have an affinity for the downtempo trance and ambient dub and techno sounds of the early ‘90s. We both play a lot of this on our radio shows and just found that this was our main area of musical overlap as DJs. Melbourne’s electronic music scene at the moment is largely dominated by more dance-floor-oriented stuff – breaks, prog, really driving techy stuff. There are definitely some amazing labels doing music geared towards the after-hours or for home listening (Best Effort, .jpeg artefacts, Daisart to name a few) but it felt like there was still room for a label celebrating the kind of music we hope to curate with Companion. I saw you had an IRL event for the launch of Companion, which seems like such a foreign concept for those of us outside Australia at the moment. How did it feel to be on a dance floor again? It was so surreal! We had the launch party at the Fairfield Amphitheatre, a really beautiful outdoor venue on the banks of the Birrarung. It was a day thing so we started with more downtempo and atmospheric sets and there was a lot of sitting around, catching up with people you hadn’t been able to see for a year. Then, when the sun set, it got pretty wild. People had been fiending for a dance like that I think, even if it was socially distanced. We were so stoked with the vibe of it, it left us on such a high. Can you tell us a bit about the first release(s) you have coming up on Companion? The first release is scheduled for early May. It’s from a Balinese-born, Melbourne-based producer called KiTA. It’s five tracks of sort of hazy atmospheric electro and washed-out breaks – it has a real cinematic feel to it overall. We’ll be pressing 300 copies locally at a new pressing plant here, Program Records, which is really exciting, and we’ve collaborated with Jaime Brohier for the artwork. Lastly, since Australian music makes up such a big part of your DJ sets, which local artists should we make sure to keep an eye out for? There’s so much incredible talent coming out of Australia at the moment – the list could go on forever! It’s a really exciting time to be a part of the community here. Cale Sexton, YL Hooi, Gallery B, Acopia and Cousin are all putting out amazing downtempo stuff, LOIF and Different Shades are killing it with the slammers. And miscmeg and the Vortex collective are doing some really cool stuff on the DJing front too. Follow Companion on Facebook and Instagram for details about upcoming releases.

Once a documenter of the deep techno scene, Chris Hobson, aka Chris SSG, has now emerged as a DJ in his own right. As a co-founder of the blog MNML SSGS, he helped uncover many acts that are now household names in the scene and inspired many others to learn the craft. These days he’s switched gears, playing regular gigs and promoting parties, primarily, though not always, with a focus on ambient. After watching Chris play at an ambient event in Berlin in late summer, we were excited when the recording of his set arrived in our inboxes and jumped at the chance to share it on our mix series. In this follow up interview, Chris offers insights into his sound, looks back at the MNML SSGS legacy and explains why he hopes the term ‘big room ambient’ catches on. Your recent mix for Patterns of Perception was recorded at the Dred Space Cakes event in Berlin. How did you put together the set? What was the response like on the day? The event was held at a beautiful outdoor venue by the river, and that day it was lovely weather – sunny but not too hot. There was a nice crowd, people who understood what the event was supposed to be about. I played as it turned to dusk, so it was a wonderful setting. In terms of the music, I was mainly drawing on ideas that I had been exploring through the summer. It took me about 20-30 minutes to get fully settled but after that I was really comfortable and got in a good flow. What I was happy about was the way my set as a whole came together, it cohered and held together well. People seemed to connect with what I was doing, I got to play for my friends, it was just a very enjoyable experience all around, which is part of the reason I wanted to share the recording. In a techno-fuelled city like Berlin, ambient is increasingly seen as much more than just warm up music, with more stand-alone events dedicated to the sound. Do you see a renewed interest in ambient as a genre? Is it a good time to be an ambient DJ? There has always been a very strong scene surrounding ambient music, but most of the time this exists online and in people’s headphones. In the last couple of years there has been a bit of hype with ambient moving out of its little niche and getting more attention, which has partly been fueled by techno and house artists dabbling in the genre (and mostly quite poorly too, it is worth noting). This has led to some more events trying to organise chill out rooms or including space for ambient artists. Sometimes this works well, and it is definitely positive people are trying. But it is also frustrating that this often ends up as a ‘bonus’, with little budget for it, and often dancefloor artists doing a second set, where they just revert to Aphex SAW clichés. So to get to the final question, I guess it is a bit better time than before, but bluntly put, it is never a good time to be an ambient DJ. The opportunities are much more circumscribed, there are much harder limits on what it is possible for you to do. You run the Sound Garden party series in Tokyo which is dedicated to more ambient and experimental sounds, along with regular MNML SSGS events. What are the key ingredients of a good ambient event? The most important thing for ambient to work is the space. The requirements are different from a dancefloor event. It needs to be comfortable. People need to be able to sit down and relax. This means it requires more effort to set up or find a venue that is suitable, which can be a challenge. But it is better to recognise what is necessary than trying to force ambient to work in a setting that doesn’t fit. Then, of course, good sound and an open-minded crowd are very important. But I think if you get the setting right it is possible to help open people’s minds. My feeling is that a lot more people are open to ambient when it is presented to them in the right way. How does Japan compare to Europe in terms of its embrace of ambient and experimental music? Ambient events and chill out rooms are still pretty limited and niche everywhere, Japan included. We started Sound Garden precisely because we felt that type of thing was missing in Tokyo. Still, there are some points where Japan differs from Europe. On the good side, Japanese crowds tend to be more respectful, they are much less likely to come and tell you to play beats or talk loudly over the top of quiet music. On the downside, scenes tend to be very compartmentalised in Japan. The experimental scene is quite different in terms of the artists who play, the venues used, and the audiences. In Europe there is a lot more space for events that exist in that in-between zone which draws together club and experimental music. This is starting to change a bit, but there is still a lot more blurring of different sounds and scenes in Europe, and this is generally a good thing. What first attracted you to ambient music? Do you have a particular focus or goal in mind when preparing your ambient DJ sets? I’ve been listening to ambient and experimental music for as long as I have been listening to techno. They have always felt very complimentary to me, this has never changed. In terms of DJing, I am a bit unusual as I am primarily an ambient DJ and that is where I started with DJing. I am not sure exactly why, but I never had a great interest in playing techno music out, even though I am equally passionate about it. Perhaps because I already knew lots of fantastic techno DJs, whereas it was much less common for me to hear an ambient DJ, and even more rare to find one I strongly connected to. As I progressed with my DJing I gained a better understanding of what I want to do with my sets. A lot of ambient music is pleasant, unassuming, good to have in the background. This is not what I am interested in. I want to create energy or a specific feeling, to do something that commands people’s attention and has a certain power to it. So strictly speaking, what I am doing is not really ‘ambient’, but because this is the umbrella term that is generally used for listening music without beats, I just use that. I jokingly came up with the term ‘big room ambient’, so let’s see if this catches on. What type of music do you listen to yourself at home, and when you’re out? Are there genres other than ambient that inspire you, and would you consider playing these to a crowd? Almost all of the music I listen to is electronic music, in one form or another, and the genres haven’t really changed over the years: techno, house, electro, ambient, experimental. Just the balance shifts depending on my mood and what I find interesting. Techno is pretty uninspiring now, it is going very hard and stupid, and I really think it is heading in an increasingly shitty direction. But there are still techno DJs and producers I love, and nothing beats dancing to a killer techno set. House has been lame for a while, so not much point discussing that. It is nice to see more people liking electro, but electro is a bit like comfort food: it is kind of always the same and that is why it is good but it is also very conservative. In terms of DJing, I have focused on ambient, as this is where I feel like I am doing something distinctive. But I may have over-emphasised this side of me, as a lot of people assume I only play ambient, regardless of the context, and this is not the case. I do also enjoy playing more dancefloor orientated sets. When I do play beats, I tend to play more light and fun, I don’t like going too heavy and I still try to keep a lot of focus on the tracks I am selecting. But if I am honest, what I love most is playing ambient in an appropriate setting with a good sound system. Which artists do you have your eye on lately – ambient or otherwise? Steve Good is an ambient producer based in Japan, who has just released a new album on his Bandcamp. This is an excellent ‘pure’ ambient album and strongly recommended: https://stevegood.bandcamp.com/album/everythings-inside-everything-else Everything's Inside Everything Else by Steve Good John Elliott and Drew Veres, who were doing Outer Space, have started a new project called Organic Dial and their first EP is up on Bandcamp and also definitely worth checking: https://organicdial.bandcamp.com/releases Pristiq E.P. by Organic Dial There are plenty of other releases, artists and labels I have been enjoying, and I share a lot of what I am listening to on my Instagram and Twitter, so those are the best places to check for more. Despite the closure of MNML SSGS, many people in the scene still refer to the blog as a big inspiration for their sound (Patterns of Perception included!). Looking back, what do you think the legacy of the site has been? We were remarkably fortunate with the way MNML SSGS developed. We never really had any great plans for it, honestly, the blog was originally started almost on a whim, then it just naturally evolved. We had a really good run and we are very proud of what we did with the blog. I don’t know if thinking about a ‘legacy’ is a good way to approach it, but what we did connected with a lot of people and we were also able to play a role in helping artists we believe in. A lot of good and positive things came out of the blog. I am just grateful with the way things happened and that I could make a contribution to something I deeply care about. Where we failed to leave a lasting legacy is in regards to fostering greater acceptance for critical engagement with electronic music. This was always one of our key aims – we come from an approach that sees critique as something that is ultimately constructive, and this is a perspective that differs from the usual boost and high five approaches you get in dance music. Of course, we were never influential enough to be able to have that kind of impact, but it is a shame that kind of independent mentality is becoming less and less common. When we were operating there was a really strong community of independent blogs – most not relying on any external financial support – and they have basically all gone and have not been replaced. Things have become more monochrome, the space for critical engagement has shrunk drastically. Part of this has to do with changes in the way things operate online – blogs have largely disappeared and there are now a couple of major outlets that monopolise the discourse, while promo has become much more deeply embedded. Plenty of people are compromised by working for big corporate money. Artists have to deal with insecurity and being offered rubbish conditions. Social media regularly operates in a very oppressive way to stifle open discussion and enforce consensus. Put all this together, combine it with a bunch of other shitty trends, and you have less independent voices, less intelligent discussions, more hype, more bullshit. It is a bad zone. What’s on the cards for you for the rest of 2018? 2018 has been a year of change and transition. It has been interesting and instructive, but it has also been pretty unsettling and uneven. One consequence is that it has been difficult for me to accept some gigs as my schedule has been unclear. Things are settling now, so I am hoping this will allow me to take more opportunities with my DJing. I have enjoyed having the opportunity to play in some new places and different contexts this year, and with some luck, I would like to do more of that in 2019. Photo credits: Press pic and Contact 2018:  John Atanacio Rural 2018: Yumiya Saiki

As a producer, vocalist and DJ, Tokyo-based Sapphire Slows has a sound that is both indelible and difficult to neatly categorise. Taking cues from minimal, electronica, ambient and off-kilter pop, her own music feels greater than the sum of these parts, combining an unerring sense for space, detail and atmosphere with slow-motion melodies and heady, cosmic vocals to create something personal and truly unique. Since starting to produce music in her bedroom in 2011, Sapphire Slows has released an impressive body of work, with LPs, EPs, tracks and remixes coming out on the likes of Not Not Fun, 100% Silk, Kaleidoscope, Nous, Kalahari Oyster Cult, ninih and most recently AD 93. As a live performer and DJ, she has been similarly prolific, with numerous European tours under her belt, along with regular showings in China, Australia, the US and naturally, her home country of Japan. The diversity of artists with which she has shared the stage (from Lena Willikens, Objekt, Svreca and Ben UFO to Laurent Garnier and The xx) is revealing, and further proof of the chameleonic qualities of her music. Recently recorded at OATH in Tokyo, Sapphire Slows’ Patterns of Perception 79 is a warm, carefully crafted and kaleidoscopic narrative that perfectly captures the many shades of her unique sound. Flitting between cinematic ambient soundscapes, emotive vocals and breezy after-hours energy, these 59 minutes sway comfortably across dappled layers of sunlight and shade, finding a solid underpinning in the swelling melodies and textural layers that are so tightly linked with her own visions. Credits: Recorded at OATH Tokyo, Mastered by Hiranya Access Sapphire Slows' Links: SoundCloud Facebook Bandcamp Twitter

The first time Grant Aaron went to an event with a chill-out room, everything clicked into place. It was the beginning of a long love affair with ambient and experimental music, with its sparsity and often beat-less nature leaving plenty of room for the imagination to take over. Grant went on to take up DJing in chill-out spaces himself before founding the influential platform Mysteries of the Deep in New York a decade ago. Initially a podcast, Mysteries has evolved over time to incorporate an event series and record label, and has established itself as one of the most revered sources for ambient music, both online and offline. 2021 is shaping up to be as busy a year as any other for Mysteries: there are releases in the works from Christina Chatfield, Mosam Howieson and Grant’s label partner Oliver Chapoy, plus plans to bring back the podcast after a brief hiatus. In the midst of this busy schedule, Grant took the time to showcase his cinematic, storytelling-driven style for our own podcast, with a mix recorded in a dense New York winter and inspired by the dampening of sound that comes with heavy snowfall. Here, he speaks to us about his path to ambient music and the special role that the genre plays in the current climate. Hey Grant! How have you been going lately? I’d love to hear what you’ve been up to the last few months. I’d say it’s been primarily work. I have a full-time job in advertising, as head of network operations for a fairly large group of agencies. Prior to COVID I always had a pretty healthy balance between my work life and my music life. That afforded me the ability to focus on the label and my band and my own music. COVID really changed a lot of that because we had to restructure a lot of what we were doing within the company. So my free time sort of evaporated last year, I was just working all the time. Which is interesting because we had one of our biggest years ever on the label last year, too. We had seven releases and we also switched from releasing vinyl, both because that wasn’t so much available to us and because we had some inner dialogue going on about producing more vinyl. Not that we don’t appreciate the medium – we definitely do – but from an environmental standpoint, we didn’t want to continue to contribute to that process. So we decided not to press more vinyl, at least for the time being, and we did all digital releases last year. We had a huge compilation, three chapters in the series, and those went really well. A number of albums, a couple of EPs. So it was a big year. That’s quite a lot considering you say work is taking up so much of your time! Yeah, trying to balance all of that is challenging but we figure it out. I have a good team. There’s my label partner who is head of A&R, Oliver Chapoy. He takes on some of the administrative stuff which has been a huge help. He also mixed Christina’s album and preps all the new releases. The rest of the team is made up of our chief designer Gabriel Benzer, Candace Price who provides photography and video content, Rafael Irisarri, our mastering engineer, and Taylor Bratches who handles release editorial. It’s a great team of people who kind of do their thing really well. I love these people, they’re some of my favourites, and we really share the same vision. Are you able to find time for yourself for music in all of this? Last year no, not really. It was a combination of just being super busy and then the free time that I would have … it’s been really hard to find inspiration. I would find it other ways. I was always still recording mixes or DJing in my own time. Production was tough. I produced one track last year, for my band Birds of Prey. We had a track on the third chapter of our compilation (on Mysteries of the Deep) and I did that cut, which was an edit of a previous session recording. So I produced that one, which was fun, to get my head back into it. I found some inspiration from that so now I’m just trying to turn the machines on as much as I can. Your bio describes your influences as far-reaching. Are there any musical influences that people might be surprised to hear about? Well, I am a product of the ‘80s and ‘90s and a massive Cocteau Twins fan. That’s always my go-to: things like Joy Division and that kind of stuff. It’s had the most influence on me when it comes to how I make music and the sounds that really appeal to me the most. But I think over the duration of 30 plus years of really being involved with music – or at least at a stage where I’m super engaged with music – I think I’ve kind of formulated this sound in my head that appeals to me and I don’t venture off of it too much. But it’s pretty broad, that’s the thing: it can be anything from weird jazz to weird bleepy techno from the early ‘90s. I think it’s just deeper music for me, that’s probably the best way to describe it. Nothing else really appeals to me. What first drew you to ambient music then? I first got into electronic music in the ‘80s and early ‘90s really, when I first started buying records. I think I went to my first rave in ‘91 or ‘92 maybe. I went to an event and they had a chillout room. It was the first time I was really exposed to that stuff and it instantly just clicked with me because it incorporated a lot of the sounds that I would hear in other music that I loved. You take the beats out of stuff and you take the instrumental out of things, and what you’re left with is space. And I was just instantly hooked. I went on this deep dive and started buying up every record I could find from that period of time in ambient: things like Global Communication, Mixmaster Morris (Irresistible Force), all of that sort of stuff. And then I started playing chillout rooms. There was a moment towards the end of the ‘90s, early 2000s where I made the shift from that into super deep techno and went down that path for a very long time, maybe a decade or more. Ambient became something I was just listening to, I wasn’t actively participating in. But that changed when I was living in Berlin. I don’t want to say I got bored with techno – but I got bored with techno. My engagement with it changed and it felt like I wanted to shift gears a little bit. Is this when Mysteries of the Deep began? Do you know Eric Cloutier? He’s one of my oldest friends from New York. When he was still living in New York, I’d had him over at my house and he was digging through all my ambient records. He had never heard of any of this stuff that I had and was just fascinated by it. So he invited me over one weekend and was like, ‘Dude bring a bag of records, let’s get into some weird things and play music all night’. I wound up playing all night long – records I hadn’t touched in over a decade – and wound up recording the entire session and then broke it into these mixes which became the first couple of releases on the podcast. I remember that night coming up with the name for it; it just popped into my head, I can’t really explain how it happened other than maybe psychedelics played a big role in that. I took that and started a Soundcloud account and it just exploded into this whole other thing. It just became this thing: it started with the podcast and then evolved into an event series in New York with a community of friends. What do you think it was that resonated so well with listeners? It happened at this moment where I think a lot of monotonous stuff was happening in New York on the techno front – not that it was bad, there was just a lot of it – and I think people were up for something else. People were open to something new so we decided to do a Mysteries event, and it wound up becoming a multi-year series. And then the label started, which felt like the next evolution of the thing, and that’s done really well too. It gave us the ability to actually promote artists within our circle of friends who were making music but didn’t have a larger platform. That was really the most important thing: to give a platform to people who didn’t have one. It’s kind of amazing that this started from that one night of playing records. Yeah, it was really funny how that whole thing happened. But Eric and I had a million moments like that over the years where we were just hanging out. What defines good ambient music to you? For me personally, I think it goes back again to the use of certain sounds and frequencies. To me, it’s a little strange that I’ve kind of been labelled as someone who only plays dark ambient. I don’t even know what that means. That tag or genre or whatever, it absolutely makes no sense to me because I don’t consider what I listen to ‘dark’ even though I guess it is to other people. For me, it’s about how artists hold space in music. I like ambient music that has deep bass tones and yet has these beautiful melodies that ride on top of it. That is the whole package. It doesn’t have to have rhythm, it doesn’t necessarily have to have instrumentation. It just has to hold space. Sometimes you listen to tracks and they’re so full, that there isn’t a lot of space in your head for imagination. I like world-building in music, when you can listen to stuff and it’s got tones and different things that are happening but there’s enough space there where your own imagination can take over. To me, that’s super important. To make it sparse enough that people can fill in the blanks themselves? There you go. Because your mind will naturally do that, if you give it the chance. How do you go about selecting music for the label? That’s a tough one because we get a lot of links and a lot of demos, but unfortunately, we don’t have a tonne of time to go through them. We’re really particular about how we choose music. To be honest with you, it usually comes through our community of friends. This year for instance, on our roster is this amazing woman from San Francisco, Christina Chatfield, she’s more in the techno space but she’s been working on this album for quite some time for us. She’s one of my dearest friends so I’ve always been super encouraging of her to participate because I know her music. So how we’ve chosen music before has usually come to us through that group of friends. That’s what we try to do – we try to grow that community and keep it inclusive. I’m also curious to hear your thoughts on the role that ambient music plays at the moment. I have some friends who previously wouldn’t have given ambient the time of day but have been getting into it lately. Have you noticed anything similar? Last year for sure, yeah. After the pandemic hit, our next release was in March, which was William Selman’s second album with us. There was such an outpouring of support for that release because people were in a legitimately frightened headspace at that time. The feedback that we were getting from people was that they were loving the fact that we were consistently putting out stuff that they could just sit with and it made them feel better. I think it’s an energy thing. People need or are desiring a more meditative, calm, peaceful state of mind. And I think this music does that. At least it does it for me. Maybe this goes back to your point about imagination: the idea that when we’re lacking external stimulus, ambient allows us to still fill in the blanks ourselves? Yeah, we’re lacking experience. We’re lacking that everyday aspect of being out of the house or going to work or whatever that social experience is that you have. I think I’ve seen my friends a handful of times in the last year and that’s super impactful in what it does to your wellbeing. I can really only speak for myself and the feedback that I get from friends, but I know for me I don’t really want to listen to anything that has an energy that I can’t replicate, that I can’t really harness. For me personally, I would rather just stay in a headspace that I feel comfortable in. Maybe it also gives you calm amongst the chaos. Absolutely, I think that’s what it is. I love techno but it’s not where I’m at from an energy place at the moment. What have you been listening to lately? What has been getting you through this time? A lot of different stuff. I listen to non-music podcasts and audiobooks a lot. Other than that, a lot of Harold Budd. His passing really blew me away, I’ve been such a massive fan of his since forever and ever. A lot of HTRK. Have you heard of this band Demen? They did one album called Nektyr that came out a few years ago and I just can’t escape it, it’s so good. A lot of Biosphere, he has a new one which is really good. The new Alva Noto record was really good, Sophia Loizou’s recent record Untold was fantastic. Pretty much anything on Astral Industries. A lot of compilations, a lot of my own label stuff. I’m also an active listener of my own podcast. There’s just so much to it, I love going back to the early days and listening to what some of my friends were doing at that time. Tell us a bit about the mix for Patterns of Perception. Was there a concept behind this one? To me, my mixes are always fairly cinematic in nature meaning there is a story going on in my head. In a weird way, and maybe that is just the genre itself, it just feels like storytelling to me. The last eight or nine months have been some of the most difficult that I’ve been through in several years. A lot of it has to do with my work situation, which has been incredibly challenging and pushed me to rethink many things in my life. Then you have the pandemic, which has been this overarching theme for so many, most just trying to get through each day. But then there are these rays of light. I always try to be optimistic and hopeful about stuff, even when that can be really tough, so while this mix is very solemn, there are rays of light coming through. Lastly, what’s on the cards for Mysteries of the Deep in 2021? We have three albums coming up, the first one is by Christina Chatfield which I mentioned before. We have one from Oliver Chapoy, his new moniker is called The Spiral. The theme behind that album is how he hears music on psychedelics and it’s incredible, one of the best things I’ve heard in years. And then we have an album from Mosam Howieson, he released on Silent Season and they directed him to us for his next release. It also looks like we will have a few more but they are still in the works. And then the podcast, we took a brief hiatus from that in September for the first time in a decade and so we’re going to be ramping that back up. We have a streaming event coming up in March, which is part of the Common Festival, hosted by Currents.fm. We’re also starting a monthly show on a fairly new live streaming platform called Channel 66, hosted by VANS which begins on March 9th. We’ll be making formal announcements on all this soon. Follow Mysteries of the Deep on Bandcamp and Soundcloud to stay up to date on the upcoming releases.

With roots in Leipzig and her current home, Berlin, Lux’s profile has been steadily growing over recent years. Following a 2019 that saw her tour through Japan, China and Taiwan, play her first gig in Berghain, and perform at the final Nachtdigital, her past year has been – for obvious reasons – a little more introspective than anticipated. Her mix for Patterns of Perception fittingly explores the torn and disconnected states recent events have thrown us into, magnifying and intertwining with the still, introverted atmospheres of deep winter. Tiptoeing on reminiscences of club nights past, this mix sketches subtle lines between different places, spaces, moods, and times, while also bringing together a number of tracks that have been accompanying Lux on her travels for years, never before quite meeting the opportunity to find their place in a mix. Lux's Links: SoundCloud Facebook Instagram Resident Advisor

Followers of ambient music will no doubt know Ario as the man behind Astral Industries, the revered label that fuses reissued work with new releases from some of the most exciting artists in the genre. Despite the challenges thrown up by 2020, this year alone has seen AI releases from Multicast Dynamics, The Chi Factory and Waveform Transmission, among others, and 2021 already promises to be even more prolific for both the label and its boss. Yet London-based Ario is just as much a DJ in his own right, with a sound that evades neat categorisation: drawn to the “deeply ritualistic and primal” side of drone, yet partial to the occasional dance floor set, he is reluctant to get too concrete when discussing his own music. His Patterns of Perception 77 is designed to challenge the listener – built on the belief that, contrary to what many may think, an ambient set is not necessarily designed to soothe and subdue. Ario's Links: Facebook SoundCloud Facebook - Astral Industries Bandcamp - Astral Industries www.astralindustries.co.uk/

Sapphire Slows is an artist we’ve had our eyes on for a while. A producer, DJ and vocalist, she has made her mark with an impressive body of work that began with indie synth-pop and has since veered towards underground electronica, on labels ranging from Not Not Fun and 100% Silk to Kalahari Oyster Cult and AD 93. Her sound is multifaceted with one main undercurrent: everything she does is underpinned by a deep commitment to storytelling. Released earlier this week, her contribution to our mix series has a particularly special story: she created it in honour of her grandmother, who passed away aged 91 last month. It is a deeply personal tribute that is characteristic of the Tokyo-based DJ’s approach to music, one that she describes as consistently built on “emotions, stories and memories”. With this year marking 10 years of her work as Sapphire Slows, she fills us in on the diverse influences and inspirations that have driven her career in music to date. First up: How are you going these days? How has this year started for you? Not too bad actually. I’m not like “better than last year” or “everything will be okay this year”, of course, but I’m getting used to this situation and finding my own way to deal with it. I have a job outside music now, I have lots of time to spend with my family and close friends, also for myself. That is not a bad thing. You’ve said that the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan drew you to pursue a career in music. Why is that? Well, financially I’ve only been able to work as a full-time musician the last couple of years or so (and of course it’s not possible now under COVID). But still, I made up my mind to pursue a music life and career when I started making music in 2011 when I was still a student who was looking for a full-time job. The earthquake was really shocking and changed my whole point of view. It was almost like a revelation or decision in perceptual depth, I simply noticed what I wanted to live for in this life. So it was not a difficult decision but the difficulty of reality, things to learn and my lifestyle shifting of course followed after. Every couple of years I feel I’m lost with a lack of confidence, and I find it hard to take balance with the other parts of life, but I’m still doing okay right now thanks to my music friends and supporters. This year is your 10 year anniversary as Sapphire Slows: a decade as a producer/live performer and five as an active DJ. How has your sound, especially as a producer, changed over this time? Yes! The last decade felt both long and short. Lots of things shifted naturally since I was like a baby at the beginning - and now I’m probably still like a teenager? Or a bit more mature? I don’t know haha… I think the first couple of years when I was releasing my records from US underground record labels like Not Not Fun and 100% Silk, my sound was more like experimental synth-pop or dreamy house music. I was making music in my 20 square metre bedroom with crappy gear. Actually, I didn’t have a techno background at all at the beginning, I was an indie girl who was especially influenced by the US underground music scene. Then in Japan I started working with underground techno people like Chris SSG, Rural (a music festival) and Future Terror (an event and collective by DJ Nobu and Haruka), and my interests slightly started to be inspired by the world of physical sound, synthesisers and the science of emotional action through dancing and psychedelics. In 10 years I also gradually improved my studio environment and skills too, which also gave me a musical change. My last few releases focused on synthesis, ambience and beats more than vocals and keyboards. Also in the last couple of years, I focused on my DJ career and skills, more than playing a live set. But this year my focus came back to producing music and performing again actually. Life is long, so my interest and aims go in different directions over time, but it seems I always come back to find my originality and new inspiration in music. Was it a difficult shift from the indie scene to techno? I think from the outside it might seem I made a big shift between different music scenes, but for me it was a natural shift in terms of internal philosophy and I actually think those few people I trust in any music scene are not so different in terms of passion for music, even if they have different expressions, venues, fashions, etc. I’m not interested in something superficial and commercial, and in that sense the Japanese underground music scene has quite a variety and depth. It’s hard to make money though – I think it’s the same for all the musicians. Breaking into the techno world was difficult in terms of skill-based recognition and my lack of experience, but it was not difficult in terms of passion and philosophy. It was really exciting and now I can’t live without raves and parties! Would you say your musical influences have changed over the years? I would say so. Though I think what I look for in music has something in common: stories, emotions and memories. My early musical influences were my dad’s imported record collection from the ‘60s, ‘70s and a bit of the ‘80s – mostly progressive or psychedelic rock music, and some synth music like Tangerine Dream. In high school I played guitar and vocals in a band, I was mostly hanging out with music and gear geeks. One of my friends from high school who shared my interest in Aphex Twin still fixes my synthesiser even now, which I think is quite impressive! Then after I moved to Tokyo I started digging more electronic music and indie music. In university, I was buying lots of records every week that were limited to like 100-300 copies by completely independent labels. What inspires you the most these days? After I started being active as a musician and DJ, I started being inspired more by contemporary producers and DJs who I saw on tour and at gigs because they shared my own memories and moments. Also, the listening/dancing experience with a sound system is more important now for me, which always feels like a once in a lifetime opportunity. My favourite DJ set last year was by Toshio “BING” Kajiwara, he is totally a legend! The party also had an amazing sound system with Taguchi speakers, which was fully operated by a solar power supply. I really respected the organiser and sound team there. I mean, not just them but I always respect the whole team when I have an inspiring musical experience. It’s not just about lineup or venues. What made you want to take up DJing five years ago? Do you have a particular style as a DJ? I was sometimes playing records in bars with friends around the time I started making music, but it was not paid, and I was not really a DJ. How do I say, it was more like a hobby or side project. I said five years because 2016 was the first year I played in the main room of a big club (it was a mnml ssgs party at Contact Tokyo) and started getting paid OK. I started getting more serious after that, same as producing. I think my style and expression changes in different platforms and environments, so I can’t simply say I’m a techno DJ (and I’m clearly not a techno DJ). Maybe I’m a non-techno DJ in a techno scene? I have some words to express my DJ style though: atmospheric, left-field, hypnotic, ambient, melodic, acid, and BPM is mostly between 90-125. Does it explain anything? In my DJ career, the experience of being a resident at RinseFM in 2018 helped me I think, and in 2019 I played a lot of DJ gigs including parties I admire, which made me happy but at the same time, I think I can still be a lot better in terms of skills and experience. Tell us a bit about your mix for Patterns of Perception: What is the concept or inspiration behind this mix? First I dedicated this mix to my grandma, who passed away at 91 years old last month. I loved her so much. So I wanted to make something personal with memories and stories. I even tied some of the song titles to the concept. I also tried to put my various musical influences and tied them together in this mix: ambient, experimental, minimalism, techno, post-punk, acid folk. I think it worked well. The mixes and music that inspired me to make this mix are for example Music For Screen Tests by Leif and From Bagshot To Silbury Hill - A Mix by Andrew Weatherall. I listened to them really a lot last year. They were and will be my all-time favourites. This kind of music taught me how important it is to tell a story in music and in a set. As a producer, you’ve told us you’re particularly fascinated by the Buchla synthesiser, which has been a great inspiration for your music. What is it about this instrument that you like the most? What I like the most about the Buchla synthesiser is its sound, it can’t be substituted by any other modulars or Eurolack clones. Also, I love it because everything is relative and nothing is absolute. I make and play music quite instinctively most of the time, so I like its relativity and randomness a lot. I also like the Buchla’s cosmic and psychedelic West Coast background and style, which gives the instrument and music a character! What are some of your favourite tracks made on the Buchla? This is quite a nice album that was made with Buchla in 2018: Jonathan Fitoussi / Clemens Hourrière - Espaces Timbrés. Also Maria Teriaeva is my favourite contemporary musician and friend, I started playing Buchla because of her influence. Her second album was out last year and I helped her mix down one of those tracks and made a remix. Maria Teriaeva - Conservatory Of Flowers This is amazingly beautiful too: Donnacha Costello - Stay Perfectly Still Worth seeing: Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - Existence In The Unfurling (Live) Suzanne Ciani’s live set I saw 2 years ago in Tokyo was mind-blowing, this video makes me cry to remember that. How are things going for the scene in Japan at the moment? Were you able to play some gigs there in the last months? Have things shifted online as they have in other places? Japan was actually the only country where parties were still going on every weekend, until we got the second state of emergency that was declared in the beginning of this year. Now all the bars, restaurants, clubs have to close by 8pm so most of the parties are cancelled, some bars doing day parties on weekends but it’s not going well. As for myself, I stopped playing any club gigs since March last year, but I played at five outdoor festivals in the countryside of Japan last year during spring to autumn, played for two online international festivals, which I think I’m quite lucky to be involved in. Online things could be okay when they have particular concepts with visuals or focus on a type of music that fits well in a personal environment. But personally, I think it can’t be a substitute for the actual club/concert experience when there’s no heat, no shaking and no sharing of body, emotions and the sound in the air. Lastly, do you have any plans or upcoming projects for 2021 that you’d like to share with us? I have a very good feeling for 2021 when it comes to my musical activities. Through last year I tied my love and motivation to music stronger, and now I’m working on my own music again. I go to my friend’s studio every week and record or learn something new, which is simply fun! And I hope something will be ready to share this year, for the 10 year anniversary of my project. Another thing I’d like to share is that I will start a regular DJ party in Tokyo at the end of March, when spring comes! The concept of the party is simple: it’s not a replacement of a night club – it’s a small, casual, half-outdoor afternoon party with family-friendly hospitality, with good sound and good regular DJs who play only long sets. This is something I've wanted to do for the last few years but now it has started rolling finally with the venue’s help. Hope I can make some good vibes and grooves in people’s lives.

The first time Grant Aaron went to an event with a chill-out room, everything clicked into place. It was the beginning of a long love affair with ambient and experimental music, with its sparsity and often beat-less nature leaving plenty of room for the imagination to take over. Grant went on to take up DJing in chill-out spaces himself before founding the influential platform Mysteries of the Deep in New York a decade ago. Initially a podcast, Mysteries has evolved over time into an event series and record label, and has established itself as one of the most revered sources for ambient music, both online and offline. 2021 is shaping up to be as busy a year as any other for Mysteries: there are releases in the works from Christina Chatfield, Mosam Howieson and Grant’s label partner Oliver Chapoy, plus plans to bring back the podcast after a brief hiatus. In the midst of this busy schedule, Grant took the time to showcase his cinematic, storytelling-driven style for our own podcast, with a mix recorded in a dense New York winter and inspired by the dampening of sound that comes with heavy snowfall. Of the concept of his Patterns of Perception 80, Grant says: “The last eight or nine months have been some of the most difficult that I’ve been through in several years. A lot of it has to do with my work situation, which has been incredibly challenging and pushed me to rethink many things in my life. Then you have the pandemic, which has been this overarching theme for so many, most just trying to get through each day. But then there are these rays of light. I always try to be optimistic and hopeful about stuff, even when that can be really tough, so while this mix is very solemn, there are rays of light coming through.” Grant Aaron's Links: SoundCloud Resident Advisor Mysteries of the Deep - SoundCloud Mysteries of the Deep - Bandcamp Mysteries of the Deep - Instagram Birds of Prey - SoundCloud