Manchester’s Hidden Spheres steps up for Phonica Mix 109.
A DJ and producer who has not only displayed a range of sound but has dropped a vast amount of records on a wide range of labels over the years.
Hidden Spheres has continued a steady momentum throughout his career since dropping the floor filling anthem “Waiting” back in 2015. With other records following from Church, Fruit Merchant and Talking Drums; real name Tom Harris, has found somewhat of a home on Bradley Zero’s excellent South London based Rhythm Section International imprint having already dropped two EP’s and his latest Tanzen EP with them. The latter proving to be very much a shop favorite. Harris’ versatile taste in production has definitely rubbed into his DJing with his tasteful selections taking him all over the world.
We had a chat with Tom about his mix and what he has been up to lately:
Hey, thanks for joining us Tom! Can you tell us about your mix and what the idea behind it was?
The mix is a live recording taken from a party I played in Bangkok this year for the transport crew, was a pretty great night and I hope the energy comes through in this little excerpt.
Can you tell us a bit about how you usually approach recording a mix or a set?
I usually dread the thought of a pre planned/recorded mix. Really doesn’t gel with the way I approach DJing. So for that reason I have begun to record most of my gigs.
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?
Lots of online shopping takes precedence nowadays, trolling through discogs and bandcamp. But I still enjoy going for a dig, especially when I’m in a new city/country and have the time.
On the production side of things, how would you describe your sound to people who have not listened to you before?
This question makes me squirm a little to be honest. When I make music I tend to just make it without a genre in mind and then it gets put into a pigeonhole buy everyone else. For some reason I got labeled lo-fi house in the early days, never really agreed with that to be honest. But once I’ve finished and released some music it’s up to everyone else’s interpretation I suppose.
Do you have any tips for aspiring DJ’s and Producers out there just getting started?
If your getting started just do what makes you happy! and the same advice goes, if your 15 years deep.
Is there any DJ’s or producers that you have met that you would like to play with or work on music?
There’s a ton of people I would like to work with, but I don’t want to force things, I want things to happen organically. I’m fortunate enough to be working with some super talented musicians at the moment on something I think will be special, that all came about very naturally.
Finally, what do you have up your sleeve for 2023?
2023. More music on the way, my label fruit merchant is starting back up after a COVID forced hiatus. More gigs etc so just more of the same really.
Thanks for having me.
Anytime Tom 🙂
