BC192 - Five Mixes: May-July 2026

DJ Priya, via IG

The heat, the book, the other assignments—they’ve kept me working and listening but not always writing about mixes. But looking upon an expanse of likely future entries, I decided to see what jumped out, for whatever reason, and these are the ones that did. I find all of them have a very active pulse, so maybe it’s a counter to the delightful torpor of BC190. In any event, there’s a lot of variety here.

Speaking of variety and a pulse, here is some fun bonus listening (beyond that at the end of the post, a new feature that debuted also in BC190): Franklin Bruno aka Wax Eloquent’s July 20 episode of The Manila Folder, on KSPC/Claremont 88.7 FM, which features forty-two songs, each under two minutes. To give you an idea, one second-half stretch goes Rufus & Carla Thomas, John Zorn, Marianne Nowottny & Barry Schwabsky, João Gilberto, Carla Bley, the Softies, ALA.NI, and Cécile McLorin Salvant, if that tells you anything—it certainly does me. It’s up for a limited time, expiring two weeks from airdate, so act soon.

You can hear all five sets at this SoundCloud playlist.

Anastasia Kristensen, Bleep Mix #318 (Bleep, May 27)

An active pulse need not necessitate a steady-state rhythm. There’s an unhurriedness even when the beats knock hard—the selections average over three minutes each, but they’re so far-flung and yet so right together that the corners seem to come fast. Whenever I walk (back) in on this in mid-flight, I rush to look—because I seldom recognize it. Though I do recognize that I like whatever it’s doing.

Kangding Ray, The Lot Radio (May 27)

Even when Kanding Ray is playing fast—he does so here—there’s a real patience in how the FX or the acid lines roll out. There’s an ever-present undulant quality in his bass lines (he unleashes a few beasts here) and in the percussive undertow of his selections. It’s very Detroit, sure. But it also feels like his—a signature that feels singular even as its sources are always in plain sight.

Remarc, Weekend Rush 92.5 FM—10th May 1992 (Deep Inside the Old Skool, upl. June 2)

I spotlight old jungle pirate tapes a lot here: the music on them still speaks to me, and hearing it in these previously unknown guises can open it up. But this one has a particularly ripe kind of frenzy, peaking with real knive’s-edge mania. It’s there at the start, the first few minutes a countdown of the top four by local shop (I assume) Prime Time Records. Number two is “Powerpill,” and when it shows up again about half into this tape, it’s déjà vu but also welcome, the stage has been set by the titular DJ. The tracks don’t just grow more antic, Remarc plays them faster; the whammo track that enters around @ 39:00 is so overspeeded it exerts a shock; you can’t stop listening to those voices, too fast for words, an overheated cat snarling past again and again.

Mad Miran b2b Loidis, Solstice Festival 2026 (The Lot Radio, July 1)

It’s not perfect—some moments lay back more than others. But it grabs my attention over and over again, and that counts for a lot. Typically, it’s been through dry, crisp, crackling handclaps, percussion, filters, synths—they accrete, not bludgeon. Yet they cut through. So do the bass lines—droll and draggy, they’re just as sharply angled. Minimalism, hurrah.

DJ Priya, Swaraj: Rewind & Reload (Crack Magazine, July 8)

“This mix is made for 1 am,” she sez, when “it’s time to really let your hair down.” The Crack Mag page calls it “Desi sounds as well as breaks and bass, via grime, UKG, UK funky,” which all checks out but reads slightly too orderly; it doesn’t suggest the set’s maximization of its components, nor does it get across how instantly accessible, hooky, it is. What I found most charming—I would—is that in the back half, things get more straightforwardly ravey and stay there, another kind of liftoff.

Further listening and reading

Anastasia Kristensen: BC123

Kanding Ray: BC072

1992: BC006, BC016, BC022, BC039, BC075, BC088, BC105, BC127, BC136, BC174

Weekend Rush 92.5 FM: BC057

Crack Magazine: BC079