West London selector, DJ & radio presenter Scarlett O’Malley steps up for the next edition of our Friends & Family mix series with an hour of deep, acid and jackin house sounds. The Rinse FM resident and Club Cowgirl founder has long been recognised in the London scene for her soulful yet party driven house sets and this is what she has given us right here. A true calling card if we ever saw one. We had a brief chat with Scarlett about her approach to music and to see what she has coming up.
Hey Scarlett, thanks for joining us! Can you tell us about your mix and what the idea behind it was?
This mix is an hour of 80s and 90s house, electro leaning dance tunes and 4 on the floor pumpers, all on 12 inch records. The idea behind it was to pay homage to house and all its offcuts throughout the eras. I start early on with an electro tinged track Hashim – Al Naafyish (The Soul) from 1987, and then I go onto one of my favourite tunes of all time, Mr Lee – I Can’t Forget from the same year. Then I move later down the timeline to the 90s with tracks from Hyper Go Go and Paul Johnson, and some mid 90s tech house/ techno with Capella – U Got 2 Know and Cosmic Galaxy – Wolf from the Dream Girl EP both from 1994, and then I bring us up to modern day with a track from myself on the Semi Delicious label called ‘Hey, Party People’ and one from Deetron called ‘Runnin’’. My idea was to give a timeline of my favourite house tunes from the last 3 decades and then some… this is not in exact chronological order though as I mixed it according to sound and tempo so please don’t come for me on that, but these are all sounds I would love to hear out and that get me groovin’.
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 am 100% a dusty crate digger. Unless I am looking for something specific, it is rare that I buy tons online. I would say 90% of my collection has been bought through me sitting on record shop floors or going through random crates in job lots or hitting up secret weapon shops (I got a few of those), but I love picking out records based on label, or judging the record by its cover and finding an absolute banger. So much of life is online that it is nice to find joy in the physical activity of digging.
What is your dream setting for a DJ set?
Probably on a beach, up a mountain or in a jungle, somewhere where you are already in awe of the setting and in amongst it in nature and then you get to party there and play all your favourite tunes, ideal! I am very much one for a stunning setting and a beach girl at heart. OR a dingy little dark and moody sweatbox 100 cap 2am sold out set is perfection to me, being with a crowd and going on a journey and feeling all that energy up close.
What do you have up your sleeve for 2024?
Now that would be telling… but seen as you asked. I have been relentlessly making tunes all year so I have a couple releases up my sleeve, alongside a couple of releases on my Club Cowgirl label bringing other DJs onto the label which I’m really excited about! A third year Club Cowgirl takeover at Glasto this year with tons of friends, more parties, more gigs and more life! Live, laugh love x
