mnml ssgs mx fnl - svreca

Ssgs have been blessed over the years with some incredible generosity of spirit: on the part of the listeners and readers, who have indulged my (PC's) word play and manic punctuation, as well as really given the many great mixes their due. And, of course, when we do consider the mixes ssgs have hosted, we need to think more than anything about the generosity of spirit of our artists, the people who take the time and energy to actually put all this music together for 'us', wherever and whoever we are. In a (first) world of divided attention, interrupting distraction and hungry/needy/content monsters, many of the mixes we've presented require you to suspend yourself, to enter into them, and just go with the flow. This is the challenge and the reward: you can accumulate folders full of mp3s like there's no tomorrow (and perhaps there is); you can tab browse and hyperlink yourself into a paralysis of reference…(but what will you have learned?) but really, the greatness of the medium, here, what's amazing about long mp3 mixes, mixes that CDs can't do (don't forget that) is that you have to really sit down and listen to all of it, in its entirety, from start to finish. Give yourself to it, and it will give itself to you: this is how I would frame what Svreca has done for us.

Chris and I have been pestering Svreca for a mix for a while now. To look at his tracklists (as on this still amazing mix of his from 2010), on first glance he sits in the sound spectrum played by, well, a lot of post-Sandwell techno cats. But first glances and tracklists can be very misleading. And Svreca is really doing something else with this material - I would really maintain this. The tracklisting and programming just has that little bit more care and thought in it, and I can't help but think his ear is exceptionally good, better than many. But it's the way it plays out in the mix that really makes Svreca excellent, for me. It sounds redundant to say of a DJ that he or she is intuitively rhythmic (it should go without saying): nonetheless, Svreca is outstandingly good at building pace, maintaining momentum, but also keeping a live, looseness to his mixing. He can also really throw it down. It grows and builds in a way that is spry, but also can be very powerful in a supple way that is often surprising and effortless. We love Svreca's approach and think he should be regarded as one of the DJs to really have arrived in the last few years with his own 'something to say' and his own inimitable way of saying it.

You need to take your time with this one… put the kettle on, make a cup of tea, but also consider reserving for yourself a 'phone a friend' function, and maybe having a bottle of something much, much stronger on hand for when things really start to get monster… you'll know what to do.



Tracklist to follow. For more information on Svreca, check his booking page at Apelago, and for his label, there is the Semantica homepage and bandcamp. Thanks to Enrique for the time and effort he put towards creating this mix.