But here, especially where I live, there’s no one around. There are so many people in London all the time and you don’t have any space to yourself. Why do so many Londoners flock to Berlin? A year later, I’m still here and I’ve got no plans to move. I’d just played a show in Berlin and I hung out with loads of my friends here and I thought I should give it a go. My rent costs were enormous and my tenancy was coming to an end. I’d been in London for nearly five years and I decided I need a change. ‘Poly’ was my favourite track from the album and it worked well at the end of the mix. There’s also people like Benjamin Damage who’s a friend of mine and just released a great album. He makes really good music so I wanted to include him. He does stuff under his own name but I think the PT/B name is to avoid getting sued for sample issues! I’ve met up with him a couple of times he came to see me play at Panorama Bar and subsequently I played a show for him at OHM Gallery. There’s also PT/B, who’s a guy called Phillip Tweball who lives in Berlin. Sakamoto’s on piano and Noto’s doing electronic stuff on the record. I actually saw both of them doing a lecture at Red Bull in New York when I happened to be there at the time. The Ryuichi Sakamoto and Alva Noto record you start with is really interesting. I wanted to showcase artists from Berlin whilst sticking to the usual style I play. I wanted to use artists that are based in Berlin or were based in Berlin when they recorded the track, so that was literally it. I chose the Turkish market because of the hustle and bustle, the textures and sounds: there’s traffic and the canal and boats and people shouting. I record stuff on my phone quite a lot and I just wanted to add atmosphere with those. One was near my flat in Landsberger Allee and the other was done at the Turkish market in Kreuzberg. Your Love Letter to Berlin begins and ends with field recordings of the city. Listen to his Love Letter to Berlin mixtape below, and find out about his track choices as well as his thoughts on life in Berlin as a musician.

His subsequent releases, remixes and decision to move to Berlin a year ago are all testaments to his changing sound, which these days counts techno as its principle influence. Playing with the rhythms and tics of two-step and garage that were in the air, it was deceptively simple music that you’d hear every time you went out, for good reason.īut, as we discuss below, xxxy wasn’t one to get stuck in a groove.

The Manchester-born, Berlin-residing producer and DJ came to everyone’s attention a few years ago with the timeless 12” ' You Always Start It'. Welcome to the first in Parallel's Love Letter series – a recurring feature that sees our favourite musicians, producers and DJs create 40-minute mixtapes dedicated to their cities.įirst up is xxxy (aka Rupert Taylor).

Alva noto ryuichi sakamoto rar