Mix & In Conversation: Jake De Glanville

The next mix comes from Identification of Music's Jake De Glanville. With residencies on both Netil and Balamii radio, Jake recently dropped his debut EP on International Rhythm, sub label of Paradiso Records. He now curates the 14th mix in the series for Halcyon Wax featuring a wide range of sounds including snaking acid lines, worldly grooves, tribalistic percussion and a cheeky unreleased track of his own.

We also got a chance to chat with his about his current projects lock in & read more below:

For those who don't know you, can you introduce yourself?

Heya. I’m Jake and I have been putting out dance music related stuff for the past 4 years. I am currently finishing my master’s degree focusing on renewable energy resource exploration (helium gas) at Durham but move between London and Bath when not doing research. My London based work involves two monthly radio shows on Netil Radio and Balamii ☺ Outside of radio, I help run the Identification of Music group with Robbie Murch which I’m sure many people have nabbed a few track ID’s from and also hold a residency with OPAQUE parties.

How do you approach crafting your shows on Balamii and Netil Radio?

The two shows vary incredibly, mainly due to slot time and audience. The Balamii show is on a Sunday morning so I treat it a lot like more like a listening/audiophile session with less onus placed on mixing and spoken content. The Netil Radio show is on a Saturday evening so naturally is more club orientated. This show is the monthly Identification of Music show, in which we play out music that surfaces in the group. These tracks are often more minimal/harder house and italo, so suit this style of show.

Your first EP ‘Locked Up’ was recently released on Paradiso’s baby label ICI International Rhythm. How did the collab with Zach Fox come about?

Yes! Essentially, I became obsessed with this acapella I got hold of from ‘I Wish It Would Rain’ by The Temptations. David Ruffins voice in it is mad, so knew I had to get a tune out of it! I recorded the pads using my Korg at home and then chopped up some drums from an old play-over CD I had and ‘Locked Up’ came from it. The collab with Zach came about as I wanted more of a live feel to the record, so asked him to free-record some sax riffs over the top. I played around with these to try get that wet sounding sax solo which I really love in a lot of older dance records ☺ I sent the demo’s over to Adam Rees who runs Paradiso and he really rated the style and we managed to find a suitable downtempo B-Side in Me, Girl and that was that!

What is your favourite DJ set you have played to date?

Ooooh would have to be about 2 years ago when I played at The Nest in Bath. It was the first time playing back where I grew up and The Nest was the venue where I started clubbing properly at around 16/17! I had all my home crew there and there’s nothing that can beat that. The Nest has now shutdown and turned into another fancy bar, so I guess there’s the added factor that I know I won’t ever be able to play there again.

Would you like to talk us through your recent live shows with めりっさ (Melissa Frateantonio)?

Me and Mel put together this live show for a 3-day charity event recently and it was really lovely as we had great feedback from it. Mel has a beautiful voice that can float over the top of any synth/bassline effortlessly and she is currently working on a few tracks with me. The lyrics she’s been writing for these are all in Japanese, really gathering inspo from J/City pop from the 70s and the project should be finished by the end of 2020 but is under wraps for now.

What is the best DJ set you have watched?

Gideon, NYC Downlow, Glastonbury 2015. First introduction to some echo of the New York queer house scene and it was very special. There was one of the most unique moments I’ve ever witnessed in a club and thankfully, somehow, someone grabbed it on vid. Florence & The Machine had headlined the pyramid stage on the Friday night and had clearly stayed for the rest of the festival. It was about 4am and an enamoured Florence Welch was in the crowd. Gideon invited her up on stage with the drag queens and she belted out a live karaoke version of Spectrum (Say My Name) to a crowd of about 400.

What have we got to look forward to from yourself? Future plans and aspirations?

My main aim at the moment is to finish my research project and then think about music stuff over summer once that’s all wrapped up. At the moment I’m just enjoying getting stuck into radio stuff and am excited to be permanently based in London come July/August time. I’ve also got a nice run of gigs in June lined up with Amsterdam and France on the list that I’m very gassed about…and then hoping to finish some sort of EP with Mel by the close of 2020.