This Week's Free Lab Radio - Love Songs from Lebanon 1980s

DJ Umb from Birmingham, calls himself a "Conceptual" DJ". This particular playlist, features gems from 1980's heyday of Lebanese pop and love ballad, and brings Arabic poetry and melody to more Western classical and European and American forms.

"You do not have to understand the Arabic language to fall in love with a lot of these tunes! Indeed, the Arabic Voice and its music is some of the most beautiful & heart-breaking in the whole world, it’s just that many of you don’t know it, just yet!" Dj Umb


All his mixes are made on LIVE/1Cut on Pioneer 1000's MKII CDJ's & a DJM 600 mixer. The mix also featured in the Guardian Playlist: Middle Eastern and North African section.

Free Lab Radio, experiments in dance music, broadcasts Saturday 11-midnight, repeats Tuesday 4am GMT.  Twitter: #FreeLabRadio
 

SpaceDelica - This Week's Free Lab Radio: DJ Umb

Sometimes, you have to look back, to see the future.

A little background to this mix, by previous Free Lab Radio guest DJ Umb. The mix, originally in two parts, was triggered by a cassette mix tape: "The cassette is important because in a way it liberated me."

With retro cassette culture on the rise and labels that regularly launch on cassette (see our recent cassette-label show) it's apt that DJs and producers like DJ Umb give credit to how much these small recordables influenced our formative years.

Generation Bass blog and label founder DJ Umb explains what's behind his SpaceDelica mix:

My much older cousin who was so into Hi-NRG dance culture, gave me a hot mixtape many years ago on cassette. It was the first mixtape I had ever heard, and it blew my mind musically. Several of the tracks that I have now incorporated in this mix were on that tape cassette. The mix recreates that same vibe for me, listening to it, making it, I have that same euphoric feeling at that time. The feeling has not diminished one bit which is a testament to the timelessness of these tracks and the powerful effect of music on our souls.  

 Broadcasts Saturday Dec 19th 11-midnight GMT, repeats Thursday 2am. Listen on 104.4FM across London on you tranny dial, otherwise online with this handy player.

"Zoukesque" Tonight's Free Lab Radio Show, 11-midnight

Dj Umb's Release Zoukesque II

11-midnight on 104.4FM we broadcast an hour's mix Digital-Zouk by conceptual DJ "DJ Umb" provides an hour of Zoukesque music for Free Lab Radio this week. 

The Birmingham producer describes the mix like this:

"As usual, recorded live on semi-ancient machinery: Pioneer CDJ’s 1000 MK2 and Pioneer DJM 600 – 1st cut/ live recording." 

Mastered by JSTJR, "Zouk Bass" is a term coined by Portugal's Buraka som Sistema during their infamous Boiler Room session in Feb 2013 to describe updated club sounds of an Angolan dance genre called "Tarraxinha" or "Tarraxo".

See him in action in Roskilde in this rare video below. Listen in on 104.4FM across London, or on this radio player HERE

Free Lab Radio Show Schedule - Sat nights til Feb 1st

Free Lab Radio
Broadcasts Sat nights 11-midnight, repeats Thursdays 2am on 104.4FM or LISTEN HERE

El Mahdy Jr. on Vinyl

 Sat 11th
No DJs - A bespoke hour of music produced for Free Lab Radio by Turkey-based Algerian producer El Mahdy Jr.  Signed to Boomarm Nation, El Mahdy Jr. has collaborated with ResonanceFM in the past, even submitting tracks for their radio presence at Art Dubai 2012. We'll certainly be taking him to Art Dubai 2014 as well. Super sounds on the very cutting edge of Middle Eastern and Pan-Arabic modern electronica.

Sat 18th
Deep White Sound - Oregan, USA-based free experimental label Deep White Sound supports a community of artists working at the fringe of art, technology and society. Hawaii-born founder DB Amorin is a sound artist and social activist, and he sent Free Lab Radio his selected playlist on request. The mission of DWS is to make challenging, experimental work available via digital download for free and to support and foster a community for artists working at the fringe of technology, the arts and society.

Sat 25th
'Piercing Brightness' - Artist Shezad Dawood and musician/writer Kirk Lake collaborate to create a special radio version of their film 'Piercing Brightness' for Resonance104.4FM. This eerie and engaging science fiction film is set in Preston, Lancashire where the highest number of UFO sightings are reported in the UK, and features an original soundtrack by Makoto Kawabata / Acid Mothers Temple (Japan).

1st February

Digital-Zouk - DJ Umb prvides an hour of Zoukesque music: "As usual recorded live on semi-ancient machinery: Pioneer CDJ’s 1000 MK2 & Pioneer DJM 600 – 1st cut/live recording." Mastered by JSTJR, "Zouk Bass" is a term coined by Portugal's Buraka som Sistema during their infamous Boiler Room session in Feb 2013 to describe updated club sounds of an Angolan genre called "Tarraxinha" or "Tarraxo".