Upfront 031 / July 27, 2015

Bob Moses

Hand-stitching edits of almost every track to bring them closer in line with Bob Moses' smoky, somnambulant sound world, the NY duo truly burnt the Midnight Oil on this one.

About this mix

Making a mix is an awesome opportunity to dive deep into finding new sounds and vibes that really inspire us. It’s a refreshing experience to find new stuff that excites you, and it’s always a fun and unexpected experience to combine tracks and make edits of tracks in order to create something different.

Instead of just mixing a bunch of favourite records together, we like to fiddle around and cut things up; new ideas, samples and inspiration always come out of the process for us. It always feels like the beginning of our creative process, and it's a way to rethink our own music.

That being said, the only track of ours we've opted to include here is the remix of "Talk" by Black Light Smoke, which really blew our socks off.

We hope you enjoy!

Tom Howie & Jimmy Vallance

Boiler Room says...

"Midnight Oil" does my job for me, really. The fact Bob Moses chose to actually title their Upfront – and with one that both evokes a black slick and alludes to witching-hour sessions dedicated to honing skills – tells you all you need to know.

It's patently obvious that the N.Y.-via-B.C. duo pour a lot of due consideration into their art. It's telling in the music they make: dripping with emotion, and replete with acoustic flourishes, they nail the softly twinkle + light bump with panache. It's fairly close to Frank and Tony, which makes perfect sense, given both acts nestle up on Brooklyn imprint Scissor and Thread.

That they were afforded proper room to develop is fortuitous. Had the boys arrived a few years prior, they may well have been lumped with the slow-mo druggy house set, disappearing into the quagmire for good. Instead, mirroring their music, and opted to pace it gently. Recent release All In All gathered up the various 12"s and EPs but a full-length proper (Days Gone By) will be dropping in a couple of months.

We initially thought this mix would be a direct keyhole into that forthcoming LP – it is, but not as we expected. Instead of leaning heavily on their own material, the nocturnal knights decided to painstakingly restitch, retool and reinterpret key influences instead, bringing it all closer in line with their sound world. Subtle craftsmanship is the name of Bob Moses' game throughout.

And to be honest any mix that finds room for Sufjan Steven is a winner in our eyes.

Gabriel Szatan

Gabriel Szatan

Gabriel is one of the show programmer/hosts, and BR's Editor-in-Chief – somehow.

Tracklisting

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