For this month’s mix, we have Manchester selector Nat Fanuel on the ones and two dishing out 70 minutes of percussion laden house, breaks, and dub perfect for summer day raves and BBQs with friends.
An eclectic mix on all accounts I wouldn’t be surprised to hear this somewhere like Dekmantel or outlook.
Catch our interview with Nat below.
Hey Nat, thanks for coming on the blog. I always like to start these interviews by asking my guest to introduce themselves and tell us a bit about their musical journey. When did you start DJing and why?
Hi mate, it’s a pleasure. Always been hugely into music, from a big music family and started playing the drums around 6. A few Classical concert bands, jazz bands and rock bands later I started DJing when I was about 16. Bought this dodgy little controller I still have. Since then got into producing, had a few releases with different labels and started running events in Manchester. I think the highlight of my career so far would be my glockenspiel solo I played whilst supporting D:ream with my sister’s band in 2012.
Unfortunately this was after Professor Brian Cox left the band.
Your mix is a lovely mix of sounds, genres and tempos. A really nice eclectic set. Where do you draw your musical inspiration from? Do you have any DJs, collectives, or club nights you really respect? Have any influenced you as a DJ?
Thanks for the kind words. I always like to keep my sets as diverse as possible. Some people have a distinct sound and genre they love and stick too but that’s never been the way i listen to music, nor the way i’ve built my sets. I like to think there’s a bit of a sound throughout my selection that links them together but who knows.
In terms of inspiration, I pretty much always have a flavour of the month! Most recently been listening to a lot of early dubstep, also dub reggae. Not sure if that’s an intentional connection there or not, I think it might come from missing sound systems.
Certainly been heavily influenced by labels like Trule and Livety Sound of recent. I think the whole scene has. What those guys are doing is unbelievable at the minute and I’m very much looking forward to seeing them, and the artists’ music they’ve released live soon. Also Anz and the label she’s just launched, OTMI, she’s genuinely one of the best DJ’s I’ve had the pleasure of watching.
Her selection and the way she moves between genres is like no one else. Unfortunately, OTMI’s first release wasn’t out in time to fit into the mix but I think it’s got huge potential and I’m excited to see what the future holds for it.
Lockdown is set to be over soon (fingers crossed) what are you most looking forward to doing music wise when everything opens again? Record shopping? festivals? Clubbing?
I think hearing a full sound system is definitely up there, it’s one thing listening to this music from home, and don’t get me wrong there’s been some amazing music released throughout the year, but nothing quite satisfies that need to hear a track on a full soundsystem. I think as well I’m just looking forward to getting back into the scene, going to see artists I’ve been following, chatting to other promoters and musicians around the city, DJing to a crowd, and also collaborating with other artists.
You’re a close friend and collaborator with Jerk It, how did that partnership get started and why do you think it’s important club nights and individuals in cities like Manchester form a clubbing community as opposed to working solo towards their own goals.
It was actually a bit of a random one how I got to know the Jerk It lads, I’d posted some unreleased track on a Facebook music group and one of them rated it.
They had an event on at Stage and Radio the week after and invited me down to play and it just went from there… I never even ended up releasing the track that got us in contact in the end. They’re such nice guys, after that it was just a case of going to some events with them, watching them DJ, all the while sending them little bits I was working on until they ended up really liking 1 of the tracks and decided to try to get an EP together.
As a label they’ve already had some amazing releases, loose on genre but defined in their sound they’re definitely one to keep an eye on. I reckon they’ve got the potential to be one of Manchester’s big underground labels.
Can you tell us a bit about the mix and how you’ve put it together? Do you like to approach mixes with a plan or just pick a record from random and go from there?
I like to have a bit of a path in my head on how it’s going to go, where it’s going to start, where it’s going to end and a couple of stand-out tracks I want to include. I really can’t plan my whole set through though, it just doesn’t seem to work for me, I overthink it.
I like it to be fluid and more of a performance. I’ve always found it quite alien to record sets to be honest, same with radio shows, without a crowd to suss out and feed off how am I meant to know what they’re liking! I guess you’ve got to be a bit more selfish with recorded sets, just show people what you want to show them. It’s completely different.
Are there any tracks in the mix you could share with our listeners? Do any of them have a personal story attached to them or are they all just things you’re really digging right now?
I know this could sound cliche but yeh basically every track will mean something to me in a different way. Whether it be the artist, the label, the history of a track, the scene it’s from, the samples that are in it. I like music that has little references to other genres too.
One of the statement tracks within the mix, around halfway, is a track by James Blake, Love what happened here. Amazing track, linking Soul/R&B to Dubstep and it just sums James Blake up as a person doesn’t it. Most people know him from his huge achievements like featuring on Beyonce’s Lemonade and when he played Coachella but he also played at the first DMZ night. He’s on 2 of the earliest Boiler Room sets too, mixing this blend of Dubstep & Garage with soul tracks. Which he somehow pulls all together for this one track.
3rd track is a crazy high-energy one called Move2Me by Pluralist. Amazing stuff, out on his Bandcamp. Of course, Livity Sound are heavily represented in the mix too.
I always like to credit artists and try not to gatekeep tracks (it’s hard not to sometimes!) but if anyone wants ID’s I’ll keep an eye on the comments section of the upload so drop a comment if you want to know any tracks.
Do you have any events, mixes, or radio shows in the pipeline you can share with us? Anything exciting on the horizon for you?
I’ve been producing a lot during lockdown, collecting tracks to release and I’ve got quite a few now almost ready to go. Big mix of styles and BPM’s.
Promised myself I will actually release them too, whether self-release or through labels so there’s definitely some new music to come. I’ve got a couple sets lined up for when clubs plan to reopen, however, none have been announced yet so I wouldn’t want to drop anyone in it by saying now but I’ll just end it with shout outs to the Jerk it Crew, Tom2Trax, Lunar, Hit & Run and Warped.
All DJs and Events absolutely smashing it in Manchester at the minute, and people that have always shown me love. Big thanks again to All My Friends for putting the mix out and for thinking I’m interesting enough to interview! Hope you enjoy the set.
