a Balmy mix of feel-good jams where any bass line is fair game

Sydney selector Mike Antonijevic, aka Miguel D, welcomes in the Southern Hemisphere spring with an eclectic selection of mid-tempo jams from the likes of Linkwood, Jex Opolis, Rick Wade, Mr Scruff and many more.

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Could you please tell us a little bit about your journey into electronic music and DJing? What’s the first track or artist or album you remember having a big impact on you? I was probably like a lot of kids my age in New Zealand that kicked off with Daft Punk’s Homework when it came out late 90s. I had that CD on loop after seeing the videos on MTV. The Big Day Out in 1999 with Luke Slater and Roni Size was my first live exposure to techno and jungle. I was then lucky enough to spend a year in Sao Paulo in 2000 where there was a great club and outdoor rave scene that I explored with a bunch of international kids.

I started collecting records and DJing on belt drives a couple of years after. I was heavily into techno, but drum ‘n’ bass and house were more the flavour in Aotearoa at the time. Ian Pooley and a bunch of Manchester and West Coast US house DJs came through Auckland each summer, and Ed Rush and the Metalheadz crew regularly played a spot called Fubar. I used to buy records from the second hand bins at Real Groovy, which still go well today!

Can you tell us a bit about the Cantaloop crew? How did you, Ed and Tom meet and what kind of vibe do you guys seek to create with your parties? It’s been a while since we put parties on together, as I just returned to Sydney after a few years living back in Auckland. I originally met Tom through Ed who booked him for a night we put on at the old Sly Fox about eight years ago. We’ve stayed great mates with similar tastes since. We aim to keep things eclectic, open and soulful, with equal emphasis on selection as on the mixing. It’s a dance floor-focused worldwide music exploration kinda vibe. All styles and all smiles!

What can we expect from your relaunch this summer? We’re still working through a couple of options on the venue side of things, so the relaunch date remains TBC. When we get there, it’ll be us playing with a selection of guests keeping it freeform and feel-good like we always do. Any bass line is fair game across house, boogie, broken beat or jazz spectrum. Also anything Afro-Caribe-Latin and everything Detroit! Summer sunset selections through late night basement vibes.

How did you decide to approach your lazydaze mix? Any favourite tracks or moments in there for you? I had a bunch of slower sub 110bpm stuff that I thought could work well together, both old and new. I love the series aesthetic and how much ground has been covered over the episodes, so I wanted to put something together that complimented that and worked well as a balearic beach listen or for early in the club. My favourite moment is the French rap sample on ‘Thirty-Three’ by local fella Ruby May Moon.   

What setup did you record the mix on? 2 x 1210s, Pioneer DJM850, with some records and digital tracks running through Serato.

What’s your all time favourite album or DJ compilation in the realm of home listening One album is super tough, but because we won the cricket last weekend let’s go with Lord Echo - Harmonies.

You can check out the full tracklist for Miguel D’s mix over at SoundCloud.