i-sha feels through a deeply personal session of emotional resonance and cathartic intensity.
For this week’s Fact mix Bristol-based selector i-sha trips through a chasmic session of heavy feeling and gnarled catharsis, a viscous and heady suspension of experimental electronics, machine music and soundsystem alchemy, held somewhere between out-of-body experience and fever dreamscape. “The mix for me doesn’t have a theme, but a lot of my emotions and energy have gone into it,” she says. “It’s something I’ve been working on in the last few months, but I’ve faced many challenges in my personal life which had made it difficult to complete.”
“It’s been a stop and start process for the most part, challenging, but also super therapeutic at the same time. I think it represents my journey in the last few months really, moments of sheer darkness, stillness, grief, disorientation, but brighter parts still manage to lace their way in.” Drawing from her experience curating singular gatherings for The Secret Shade and as resident at Bristol institution Noods Radio, as well for the resolutely explorative label and party series Accidental Meetings, these are raw sounds for smoked-out rooms, music for both soul searching and big picture thinking.
“I’ve got to shout out Bristol on this,” she notes. “I’ve been here for just under two years now and it’s allowed me to comfortably develop my own musical style. I’ve made some amazing friends here, who really feel like family, plus witnessing incredible artists, venues and promoters never fails to inspire me. A big thanks to the Strange Brew crew and to Accidental Meetings, I think this mix is something similar to what you could hear me playing at one of their parties, I always feel like I can do what I want there.”
“The clip towards the end from the Manchester Street Soul tape is a small homage to my parents – really captures the vibe of the music they used to play to me. I guess to be fair, a lot of the tones throughout this mix are influenced by them.”
You can find i-sha on Instagram and SoundCloud.
Tracklist:
Russell Haswell – ‘1/2/3’
Mono No Aware – ‘Nkisi’s Awakening’
Dan Johnson – ‘1’
Dale Cornish – ‘Xeric Pattern 1’
DJ Sotofett & Christian Dugstad – ‘Dynad’
CIA Debutante – ‘Bathouse’
Polido – ‘Twig (Live @ Damas)’
Perko – ‘Marri’
Danny Breaks – ‘Earth Shaker’
Rolf Laureijs – ‘Untitled’
Nkisi – ‘Secrecy’
Terrorrythmus – ‘Gentrizerfickung’
Montel Palmer – ‘Catastropheland’
Muslimgauze & The Rootsman – ‘Abyss-in-yah’
KAKUHAN – ‘MT-DMZ’
Új Bála – ‘The Clock’
Lostsoundbytes – ‘FunkDrunk’
MOBBS – ‘GLASS BOWLS’
Source Direct – ‘Approach & Identify’
Christoph de Babalon – ‘Endless Inside’
Sockethead – ‘I’m Here’
Driftmachine – ‘Sternenmeer’
Petit Gateau & Su-27 – ‘Tribe Orient Express’
R-ZAC – ‘WURLITZER’
ТЕПЛОТА – ‘Skynned’
Sister Marion – ‘B Safe (Version)’
Kinlaw & Franco Franco – ‘Crocs On The Plough (O$VMV$M Version)’
Spliftan & Jay Glass Dubs – ‘Look Up Dub’
jog mode – ‘trackTHREE jm’
All Bad Boy & All Good Girl: Manchester Street Soul Tapes – ‘Side B’
jog mode – ‘trackNINE jm’
Listen next: Fact Mix – LU2K
