soul-DRENCHED R&B AND BREEZY TRIP-HOP MELD effortlessly ON LAZYDAZE 03.

Sydney’s Tom Johnstone, aka TJ, sways into summer with an expertly crafted selection of R&B, trip-hop and soul, featuring tracks from the likes of Ron Basejam, HNNY, Zero 7, D'Angelo, Marcel and more.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Can you tell us a bit about your journey into electronic music and DJing, and where during that journey that your love for downtempo, R&B and soul music came about? 

My first influence of electronic music came from my older brother. I vividly remember staying up late past midnight to watch The Prodigy's single ‘Smack My Bitch Up’ on Rage because it was too provocative for TV airing any earlier.

The delve into downtempo came later when I had a job delivering pizza. I had hours and hours to kill listening to albums all night and so I dove in head first, educating myself on classic artists like Bonobo and Portishead.

How do you usually approach the process of putting together a mix? And what was the idea behind this one for lazydaze?

I try to get a general idea of the vibe first and gather a big playlist of tracks which follows that. After sorting them all by tempo, I basically just throw them all at each other and see which happy combinations come about. For this one I wanted to keep it lighter and not go too deep or into too much trip-hop.

Are there any favourite moments for you in this mix? Perhaps some tracks you’ve always wanted to include in a set?

I've always wanted to use D'Angelo's ‘Untitled’ but it's 3/4 time signature makes it difficult. I recently heard the two tracks preceding it and they both worked really well. ‘Movie’ almost sounds like Tom Misch took direct inspiration from it, the beat is so similar. Because of this change of time signature in the middle, the mix is broken into three separate parts.

Do you produce any of your own music?

I gave it a crack a few years ago but haven't for a while now. Definitely plan on getting back into it soon. Good thought for a new year’s resolution!

Which artists inspire you in the downbeat/soul/funk realm?

Slacker, Nightmares On Wax, Jessie Ware, Moth Equals, RJD2, Thrupence.

What is your all time favourite downbeat, soul or R&B…

Track? AIR - ‘La Femme D'Argent.’

LP? Zero 7 - ‘Simple Things’

Mix? Todos - ‘Kilchurn Session’

Your most listened to album of 2018?

100% has to be Maribou State's ‘Kingdoms In Colour’. I didn't think they could beat their debut album but they certainly did. Their collaborations with vocalist Holly Walker are always beautiful.

You can check the full tracklisting for TJ’s mix over at SoundCloud.