Mumdance
Shared Meanings
Space Afrika are one of the very talented acts coming out of Manchester at the moment. They have a really amazing blissed out sound which sits somewhere between Basic Channel and Logos, weightlessness with echos of jungle, ambience with plenty of sub bass, I highly suggest you go and check out their recent LP, “Somewhere Decent To Live” which has been on constant rotation in my house.
I played at Mutek in Barcelona earlier in the year with Caterina and I was completely entranced by her live show – a fully modular firework display of beautiful cascading arpeggios, tangling and untangling themselves over the course of the performance. I spent the next week or so working my way through her discography and it was extremely rewarding. We stayed in touch and when I asked her for some music for the compilation and as soon as I heard “Molecular Illusion” I knew it was perfect for the project
Chevel is one of my favourite producers, he features twice on this compilation as proof. Logos and I released his album “Always Yours” on Different Circles which is one probably the first “second generation” weightless album. Chevel filtered the ideas from the weightless approach through a deeply personal house and techno prism and the results are amazing. I really love the mood he conveys on “777” – it feels like twilight to me. When I mixed it with Carerina’s track they worked so well together I instantly knew that they were both going on the mix
Shared meanings was a result of me asking literally everyone I knew, met or spoke to if they had any unsigned music they were looking for a home for. I also decided to ask on social media, Monotronique saw my tweet and emailed me a load of really good music “Bounce Your Head” Stood out to me immediately. Since then I have been going through his discography and really enjoying the Ukrainian producers work, I highly suggest his “Heat Absorber” mixtape on Opal Tapes
Homemade Weapons is another one of my favourite producers that Im super proud to be featuring on this project. “Seasick” was made especially for this project after some conversations between us & ideas about using tempo in a non linear way. I wanted a track to straddle the Techno / Drum & Bass axis which could be used easily in a club setting & Im sure you will agree upon listening that he massively, massively delivered!!! – If you arnt already aware of Homemade Weapons I suggest you go and check out his album “Negative Space” and also especially go and find “Tidal Track VIP” one of my most played drum & bass tracks of the past few years.
I discovered Last Life through my good friend Geoff Presha who has introduced me to a lot of great artists over the past few years through his Samurai label and all the orbiting sub labels. Last Life is a producer from Sardinia who makes really interesting drum and bass, what most struck me about his productions is a lot of them have very imaginative drum patterns, instead of relying on the classic “2 step” as soon as I heard “Ancient Lightning” I knew it would sit perfectly next to Homemade Weapons track which I had received the day before.
Torn is a Russian drum and bass / noise producer and is another artist who was introduced to me by Geoff Presha. He is a master of organic, darkside drum and bass rollers. for Shared Meanings I decided to use his track “Loopback” which is a searing industrial beast of a track, which like JK Flesh’s track earlier in the mix is strangely both abrasive and meditative. I would highly recommend going and checking out all the music on Torn’s soundcloud, especially his collaborations with Homemade Weapons
Abyss X is a Greek producer who I initially heard about through her Halcyon Veil release from a few years back. Since then I have become a big fan, especially of her DJing – (Check out her recent Solid Steel radio & Rinse FM mixes) I love “Allegory” as it has a deep tribal, but also industrial feel, it continues the theme of non linear tempo which runs through the entire mix. Its also been a highlight of my DJ sets over the past few months.
Im a huge, huge Sleeparchive fan, been playing tracks off his “Ronan Point” EP in the club for years and I never, ever get tired of it. When I originally asked him for some music he sent me an ambient track, which I loved and was going to include in the mix, but I was secretly hoping he would send over some thumpers. About a week before the deadline he sent over “Smokestack” with a short note saying it was the 1st time he had made techno in years. I knew within 20 seconds of listening to it that it was going on the compilation!!
I had been following Deapmash’s work for a while and then about a year or so ago I played after him at THEM at Corsica studio. We spoke briefly & since then he has just sent me so much amazing music. he’s a very prolific producer and regularly sends me club weaponry. For this project he sent me about 15 tracks to chose from and it took me a long time to work out which one I wanted, but after testing out “Abstract Straight Lethal” at Katharsis in Amsterdam over the summer & seeing the reaction, i knew it was the one for the compilation.
Teachers is a riff on the classic Daft Punk track of the same name & it was originally made for the album “Proto” that Logos & I made in 2015. In the end we decided it didn’t fit exactly on the LP but we had always liked it. this seemed like the perfect place to put it, so we remade the instrumental & brought it up to date, then we sat down and re wrote all the shout outs from scratch & I re-vocalled it haha. The original version is floating around on a few mixes if anyone wanted to compare, but you would need to be a real trainspotter to know which ones…
J Colleran originally got in touch with me about remixing a track of his excellent debut LP “Gardinia” I don’t really take on too many remixes (I think I’ve done 3 in the past 8 years) but I was a fan of the album as it had a real weightless feel to it. I asked him if he had any more material, “Infra01” caught my ear as soon as I heard it & it works as a perfect palette cleanser at the half way point of the mix.
Boylan is a UK Grime solider and part of the Boxed family, we have done a ton of shows an radio together over the years. He has a real knack for making these really ravey and aggressive weightless tracks – check out his remix of Logos “Glass” which we released on a sub label of Different Circles called “Devils” His track “Say Goodbye” is all ravey hoovers and sub bass with hardly anything else, which is exactly how I like it.
Peder and I met last year when we did a b2b on Rinse FM and have stayed in touch ever since, I love his productions because I can always instantly tell its him are him, but I always find it hard to put my finger on exactly why I instantly know its him. He is a very versatile producer and his music is always an off the wall take on whatever area he is working within. “Over My Face” is a highlight of the mix for me
I first heard of the mysterious Galaxian after hearing his LP “Blowback” on Foul Up and also hearing Stingray speak highly of him. I got in touch about the compilation and he sent me a whole wealth of really good music, which took me a really, really long time to listen through and work out which was the most suited to the project. Galaxian makes top notch electro and ambient and I highly recommend you go and work your way through his discography.
Imogen is a young techno newcomer from the UK, Im a big fan of both her productions and DJ sets, which encapsulate the darker & more slamming side of the UK panorama. It been really nice to see her making waves with her DJ sets and moving to the international stage & I feel like she has a very bright future ahead of her.
Nkisi is a London based DJ and producer and one of the founders of NON records. I was a big fan of Nkisi’s release on Warp’s Arcola sub label, so decided to get in touch to see if she had any music for Shared Meanings. She sent over “Kinenga” which sounds to me somewhere between kuduro and hardstyle, two genres which I am a big fan of so it was a no brainier to include it!!
Chevel is one of my favourite producers, he features twice on this compilation as proof, Logos and I released his album “Always Yours” on Different Circles which is one probably the first “second generation” weightless album. Chevel filtered the ideas from the weightless approach through a deeply personal house and techno prism and the results are stunning. “Voice’s Sound In My Head” is one of the peaks of the mix for me, super uplifting but weirdly super grimey at the same time, excellent track.
Isabella is a producer from Boston & her contribution to the Shared Meanings project is one of my favourites, its a super weird & energetic double time track which really gives the ravers a workout every time I play it & also fits in with the running theme of non linear tempo which I wanted to highlight on Different Circles. All of Isabella’s productions are really interesting & off the wall and I highly recommend you go check her work out.
I first heard of Copenhagen’s Repro though his anthem “Club Comfort” off the “Feel Extraordinary EP” on Ectotherm. I have literally been playing that track every set since I first received it, so I knew I wanted to get him involved. He sent me a big zip of tracks and it was really hard for me to choose which one I wanted as they were all great, (in fact it took me about 6 weeks) I decided on “Lies of Commission” after road testing it at Festival Forte in Portugal, it got such a great reaction I knew it was the one for the compilation.
This D. Carbone track is one of my favourites on the compilation, its proper tough and epic trance, I would love to hear more new music in this style. I met D. Carnbone in Berlin round Shapednoise’s house & we stayed in touch afterwards. He runs a label called Reptich with Shapednoise which puts out the best in thumping techno as well as a broad range of experimental and alternative electronic music.
When collecting music for this compilation I decided to ask on social media & was inundated with close to 1000 emails sending me music in the hours after asking. all this music took me about a month to listen to, there was a load of great (and not so great) music in the emails, but Tales Of The Underground stuck out to me straight away, he makes really legitimate sounding hardcore which actually sounds like it was made back in the 90’s. Hardcore is my 1st musical love, so I was so happy to hear some new productions that actually had a quality to them. This is Tales Of The Underground’s first release but I feel like he has a bright future ahead of him.
Cario’s ZULI and I have been friends for a while and Im a big fan of his music, its experimental and progressive, but always has a ton of low end & rave sensibility. He’s just dropped an amazing album on Lee Gambles UIQ label which you should go and listen to. He is also a very accomplished DJ, his monthly NTS show is one of my favourites on the station. “SW Keys” I thought was the perfect end to to Shared Meanings. I was initially going to finish it with “Bliss Overdose” the hardcore track before, but wanted a more contemporary ending, “SW Keys” felt like it echoed the same feeling of 90’s ecstasy like “Bliss Overdose” conveyed but twisted it in on itself and sent through a worm hole 30 years into the future.
Shared meanings are the foundation of any culture. Jack Adams’ sixth major mix project in six years is inspired by this simple but powerful idea, and in particular the dance floor experiences that transcend location and language to unite people.
Shared Meanings comprises 32 exclusive tracks, drawn from a panorama of contemporary electronic music—pioneers, emerging talents, brand new producers—brought together by Adams’ curatorial ear. It’s the natural next step from Radio Mumdance, the far-reaching radio project that saw Adams play back-to-back with some of his favourite artists: Nina Kraviz, DJ Stingray, DJ Storm, Surgeon, Ben UFO, Josey Rebelle and many others. Across a 97-minute session, Shared Meanings draws from the ideas and inspirations Adams’ gained across those 40 weekly shows.
Shared Meanings shows some of the infinite possibilities of modern electronic music. It’s a mix that oscillates in a 3D environment. Unchained from the established A-to-B progression of many dance music mixes, Adams builds a world in which divergent artists and sounds are in a thrilling dialogue. The centre point of the mix is Mumdance & Logos’s “Teachers,” a riff on the Daft Punk classic that pays tribute to the underground innovators who lit the torch that Adams is now attempting to carry forwards.
Shared Meanings is released as a free digital download; a digital, DJ-friendly compilation; a collector’s edition cassette; and a vinyl release featuring five of the tracks.
Buy the compilation as separate tracks
Radio Mumdance
Mumdance Soundcloud
Shout Outs
Ryan Keeling for the guidance and time
Alex Gross for the beautiful design and patience
Ludo & Lauren @ Modern Matters for getting the message out there loud and clear
Keira @ Poly for her knowledge and grace
Sam Hiscox for the photography
Phil Armson for mutating and warping the photography
Geoff Presha for helping me get in contact with the drum & bass community
Logos for lending an ear
Tom Lea for lending an ear
Shlom @ Boomkat for turning around the physical products at warp speed
Portia for just being an all around 24/7 boss
Beau & Susana @ 1087 Mastering for their excellent work
Mat Dryhurst for making me think about the ideas and concepts of attribution
Hamish & Patrick @ Oval Space - Here’s to a good year ahead
Soraya for lending me some CDJ’s - Thank you!!