Episode 102 is coming straight at you from Dan Francisco. A lovingly curated 75 minutes of hip hop, funk, low slung chuggers and 105 bpm weapons. This one require repeat listening, get locked in. Catch our interview with him below.
Hey Dan, thanks for coming on the AMF blog. I always like to start these interviews by asking our guests to tell us a bit about themselves. So, can you give us a run down of your DJ journey, when you started and what you’ve been up too recently.
Thanks for the invite – I’ve followed your podcasts & guest mix series for ages so nice to be a part of it. DJ journey for me started back in late 90s up in Bury as a regular in Vibes records, got my 1210s (still in action now!) and in 2002 won an I-DJ mix comp – led to residencies playing breaks & techno in Bristol & Liverpool, and played in clubs like Turnmills, Nation, Lakota. Styles broadened into funk, boogie, deep house & downbeat led to a wider range of gigs & events, and was resident DJ at Hula’s Tiki Lounge in NQ Manchester for a few years. When the family arrived on the scene the late night residencies didn’t work, but still played at some special beach events in Goa, Ibiza & Greece.
The last few years mainly playing on digital radio, was one of the regular’s on Ripe Radio & am a regular DJ & curator of events for LDFM. Still buying too much vinyl and recently bought my niece a turntable and lent her a stack of nice records to pass the bug on!
You’re a regular on Lock Down FM? How did you bag that slot and how long have you been playing that slot and what do you like about playing on the radio.
Quick back story for LDFM. It was started by a collective of DJs & promoters based in Brighton, as a way for everyone to keep playing music and stay connected on video streams during the lockdowns.
My cousin is connected with this group and she invited me on for a guest debut so I put together a 90s techno & acid set and kept getting invited back playing across a range of their shows. I’ve looped in a few class DJs I know & been given the space to curate events for them in a cool digital community. It’s grown quite a bit but keeps its live ethos (no pre-recordings!) with DJs from around the UK, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, USA & India.
Radio’s a great platform for connecting to loads of new people (obvious durr), with a bit of tech setup then it’s really convenient. Admittedly it’s much harder to get the social cues, reaction & energy from a crowd in a bar or on a dancefloor, BUT what it does give you as a DJ is the complete freedom to play the music you love without feeling the need to crowd-please or have to take requests for music you hate!
The name Lock Down FM suggests to me that it’s a radio station that was started in Lock Down?? Crazy time looking back at it. Did you find music and DJ’ing a big help at that time?
1000% – without sounding like a complete tit, I’d quote Danny Tenaglia here… “Music is the Answer to your problems, keep on moving and you can solve them…”
Cringe quote aside – It’s always been a huge passion for me, my degree was in Music Technology and I’ve always been finding new music, DJing & dabbling in production making some bootlegs & edits.
Obviously was a great distraction during the crazy times but it’s also a really cool thing, because of the accessibility of radio format and the social needs of people, you’ve actually come out of these situations with even more friends & connections to like minded DJs than you had before.. Music is indeed the answer.
Moving on to your mix can you tell us a bit about how you put it together? Is it an all vinyl affair and meticulously planned or do you tend to take a more free and easy approach to recording mixes?
Sure – yeah, this one’s all vinyl. I generally do spend some time planning mixes & shows, and I actually really enjoy that as a process in itself – listening to new & old music, creating playlists, mucking about with style changes & blends so that I’m confident things work and it flows well.
I started learning to mix with 90s progressive house & trance, and loved Sasha & Digweed’s Northern Exposure and the early Global underground mixes – all with long, smooth transitions – and I think I’ve always tried to mix tracks, whatever the genre, in this way – so for me, that’s why the planning really helps create that flow.
Are there any standout tracks on the mix you could share with us? Some tried and tested bangers that never leave the record bag?
YES!! A few new stand-out tracks I’ve found for this mix, for example, P-Sol ‘Trust’ & ‘Harlem World’ on PS7 records, Monsieur Pratt’s ‘Believe’ on Too Slow to Disco, and a couple of beauties from Earthy Measures vol. 4.
But I also wanted this mix to include a slice across my record collection – so included some downbeat from NYC’s Naked Music, deluxe hip-hop from Guru’s Jazzmatazz Vol. 1, Carl Craig’s edit of the Congo’s Congoman (on Blood & Fire), and ends with a couple of long-time personal favorite bangers from Cassius & Zero 7.
Lastly, do you have anything coming up on the horizon you can tell us about? Anymore radio shows or gigs where we can see you out and about?
Yes, I’m scheduled with LDFM in July for the Eternal Cru show, and expect I’ll be curating a show in the Autumn, and definitely open to playing at bars, events & gigs in person as/when these opportunities arise. Finally, thanks for having me on, I really enjoyed putting this together and hope the AMF community enjoys it.
Dan Francisco x
Links
https://www.instagram.com/danfranciscodj/
