We take a plane over to Madrid for the next Off The Record mix to hang with Mario G.R. AKA Glossy Mario, the head honcho at Glossy Mistakes; the record label that has been reissuing and unveiling the undiscovered.
With legendary names like Finis Africae, Susumu Yokota and Akira Ito recently getting some of their cult favourite releases reissued, this has proven Mario’s ear is a thriving force of wisdom and knowledge showcased through his label with love and care. For this mix Mario focuses on percussive sounds and older gems with modern takes to combine together a mix that is intuitive as well as club ready! He sat down with our own Alex Egan for a quick chat about the mix as well as what he has coming up!
Thanks for having me! Feel honored. For this mix I wanted to challenge myself. As I am usually pigeonholed under the house & organic umbrella so I put together a mix of songs from strictly contemporary electronic artists with a strong focus on percussion. The purpose was to build a solid atmosphere and then break it into drum passages.
Lately I’ve been running away from the electronic music nostalgia to focus on more innovative, today sounds. I’ve always enjoyed eclectic sets so I took inspiration from dub, techno, breaks, batida or baile funk so that I could feel represented in the vibe.
Can you tell us a bit about how you usually approach recording a mix or a set?
I usually think of a way of starting the set and a way to finish it, then I join the dots with moods instead of genres, still looking for some consistency… I leave it to my imagination while playing. I think great output might come out of improvisation, as it’s the only way to actually make a surprise moment feel authentic.
In this case, the first song is from Felinto, a Brazilian artist who will release soon on Glossy Mistakes, and the last one (only exception to the strictly “contemporary” artists rule) from the ever lasting inspiration Yokota-san.
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 really do both, however I tend to dig physically when travelling as I find it way more exciting. Last weekend in London I found a crate of dub I couldn’t believe. Madrid is not always so great to find gems so I kind of leave my efforts while travelling. Digitally I am using Bandcamp more and more. It really is a game changer in terms of digging. and a fantastic tool to discover new music.
I always wanted to do something related to music and as a naive collector there were too many gems I couldn’t afford so I decided to bring back some of those. I always thought music should be accessible to everyone so that’s part of the label’s mantra.
Actually regarding Om Buschman… I reached out to the artists to propose a reissue and they said: “Why do you want to reissue this record if there are hundreds of copies stored in a warehouse?”. The reason they never made it to distribution was because the covers were matte finish instead of glossy. Glossy Mistakes.
The label has focused mostly on reissues but you have dipped into releasing contemporary music too. Do you plan on putting out more new music alongside sought after classics from now on?
In the pipeline currently there are more contemporary releases than reissues which makes me very proud. One of the label goals was to provide visibility to artists doing music now as that’s the only way to keep the scene alive. There is an incredible album from soFa coming up, one from Martin Glass… And more I cannot yet announce. Hopefully music diggers will crave in 30 years, ha!
We’re looking forward to the new Finis Africae compilation, are you able to let us know what else you have up your sleeve for 2023?
So happy to see that compilation finally. Worked on that together with Urba pretty much since the label’s foundation.
