One of Dublin’s most regarded heads takes the reigns for our 39th Off The Record mix.
Nevan Jio over the years has found himself in many aspects of Ireland’s striving underground scene, mostly Dublin where he resides, there he helms the ones and twos nearly every weekend in the cities hottest spots the likes of Tengu, Wigwam, Izakaya and more. He has also found himself abroad on many occasions most noticeably opening the year supporting don Ben UFO in The Cause’s new beloved DIY warehouse venue alongside EMA. Nevan has also applied his experience of working in All City records and collecting records in general to go on to running label’s like Pear (With fellow Dublin wiz Fio Fa)which saw an array of house, breaks and tech house from names like Regularfantasy, New Members, Fio Fa and Big Miz as well as more recently the Irish club focused reissue label Aris which has so far seen classics take new light from Fish Go Deep, Bumble and Rob Rowland.
For this mix Nevan has given us a vast genre spanning call card of a mix that shows the selectors diversity and range showcasing some home listening dashed with the club in mind and well into the afters for a few White Claws! We have a quick chat with Nevan to hear about the concept behind the mix and what he has coming up:
Hey Nevan, thanks for joining us! Can you tell us about your mix and what the idea behind it was?
Hey Daire, thanks so much for having me – quite the honour to record a mix for you lot! I basically cobbled together quite a load of random tracks that I have been enjoying over the past few months and tried to make them sing differently together. It’s slightly chaotic and a bit messy, but hopefully in the end a fun listen.
Can you tell us a bit about how you usually approach recording a mix or a set?
Gather some tunes I reckon suit the memo, give them a test drive, finesse them down to something that resembles a ‘listenable’ and ‘danceable’ set, press record and pray I don’t clang.
What are your preferred methods for finding new music—do you still enjoy digging around in dusty crates, or do you prefer to buy online?
I do not discriminate on a preferred method, even the dreaded Spotify has merit for me (particularly for cumbiaton and dembow). However, collecting records is something I’ve done for 10+ years, often to the detriment of my wallet and personal relationships, so my heart will always lie with the record store as my preferred place to discover music. In-fact, the best discovery tool in my opinion is a recommendation from the person behind the desk at your local record store.
You’ve been one of the longtime faces of Dublin’s club culture. How would you describe the scene over there at the moment? It’s been looking very strong!
One of the few who’ve stuck around this beautiful kip, you mean… Look, Dublin as a ‘scene’ is complicated. The clubbing community is tight and prospering for the most part, yet we are constantly fighting against many adversaries (high cost of living, lack of clubs, international DJ fee inflation etc). Despite this, everyone involved is trying to make the best out of a relatively shit situation and it’s quite admirable. There’s also an expected licensing reform, which once enacted will completely change the ‘clubbing culture’ here. It hasn’t happened yet though, so it just feels like we’re all in some never-ending limbo of tease.
You are a bit of a wordsmith and have found yourself writing many of the press releases for labels all over most notably for Arís, First Second Label, Woozy and more. Would you say that the press release is still an important factor in promoting a release these days?
Press releases are a funny thing in this day and age of the attention (or lack thereof) economy. I can’t imagine many people giving much of a shit about reading some wanky grad level marketing speak about a 2 track dance record, and yet I have found great joy in writing just that. I guess they make sense for albums, reissues or releases that tend to get a lot of coverage in the media. Personally, I’ve found they only really mean something, if written well, to the artist(s) involved and to the shops purchasing the records off of a distributor.
If you want to read a dance music ‘wordsmith’, Roza Terenzi is the queen. Her scribing prowess is remarkable, each press release is a literary piece of art.
What do you have up your sleeve for 2023?
Playing with Anz on April Fools (tx Ellen!), a Supper party with DJ Python and Big Cheeks on Easter Sunday, a special NYC edition of Supper with Don-Ri’s Twist crew, a visit to The Lot Radio, finishing up some mixes that are very overdue (sorry Fio and Andrew D), a gig in Austria with my love EMA for the Whammy crew and hopefully learning how to drive.
Thanks Nevan! 🙂
