KID AMIGA (aka ANDY IWANCIO; mudpieluv, Super Secret Squirrels)
Top 5 current tracks:
Urbandawn feat.Tyson Kelly, "Come Together" (Hospital Records)
"This track started life as a white label bootleg appearing in the sets of many huge drum & bass artists. The fact they were able to secure the rights for this cover is amazing. The blown-out steps of bass, rolling from deep-to-buzzy, are great and the tears of rock fans declaring this a 'sacrilege' only sweetens it. I tire of having thumb past 30-plus Beatles biographies in bookstores, so let's call it even."
tapecut, "weesh" (not on Label)
"This is a rework of the self-deprecating Skee-lo classic 'I Wish.' To sample a track that samples something already is indicative of the interesting Inception-level layers of context involved in the burgeoning instrumental hip-hop scene. Two years ago, tapecut pretty much predicted the move away from trappish zipper percussion to hard/sharp sounds. The cascading drums here seem like another growth that, I'm sure, will become commonplace sometime in the near future."
Scanty Sandwich, "Because of You" (Southern Fried Records)
"I just finished Rory Hoy's book, The Little Big Beat Book, a fascinating history of the big beat genre. I felt it necessary to share this classic. The northern soul tempo, garish rock leads, high-pitched vocals, and wild TB-303 build, is a perfect crash course in the genre. Highly recommend his remix of Punk Chic's 'DJ Spinnin'' too.
Rachid, "Charade" (Universal)
"This is an older track from 1998, which was produced by the drum & bass legend Grooverider. There is a long, fabled remix by him that is apparently getting a release soon, but the original is dripping with 'Amen' jungle elements, regardless. Not unlike the gay disco re-framing of Chicago's 'I'm a Man,' I play it because it absolutely reads like a coming-out anthem that any transgender kid, like me, can relate to. It is rampantly gender-neutral, too—something I like to seek out in songs I play, when possible."
VŌDŪN, "Started From" (self-released)
"I am a huge fan of VŌDŪN. Their previous incarnation was stoner-metal group Invasion, but they have now evolved into a powerhouse of psychedelia steeped in West African culture and imagery. It's a mystical doom metal band fronted by the amazing singer Chantal Brown, with the driving Zel Caute on drums and shredding sorcerer Marek Steven on guitar. Its hard for me to recommend just one song, as their albums should be listened to as a whole for their full impact. There is a brand-new video that works as a great introduction for the band's work. 'Started From' carries an amazing through-line of revolutionary women of color, who have fought against colonization and oppression."
Crew/label affiliation: "mudpieluv and Super Secret Squirrels."
Styles played: "Hard house, funky house, hard techno, big beat, and drum & bass."
Events organized: "I put on regular shows on a crew called mudpieluv with my friend Mindy Shipley. We're a buncha nerdy dorks who put on raves. We're probably the longest-running female-led rave crew in Seattle: 12 years and counting."
DJing philosophy: "I have DJed for 18+ years and the overarching theme has been to not take myself too seriously. I obsessed for the longest time about sooper-tight mixing, then scratching/beat-juggling/drumming, but I have landed in a place where what I am playing is most important. I enjoy hearing people share music with each other on YouTube. It is the best thing. (Fuck silent discos for robbing this music of its communal nature. They are a vapid dance-floor trend like oxygen bars.) I was a DJ teacher at the Vera Project, but stepped down recently. There I did get to practice these tenets with a wide range of students (a couple have been featured in this column, too!). Dance-music history is huge with me and honoring the roots of these sounds is a focus I also had in my classes, too. Whatever I am reading about, also influences what I wanna hear in sets. I think this Pride weekend will have a lot of gay-ass hard house."
Format: "Digital. I found dance music in the Amiga mod/demo scene in the mid-'90s, so pretending that I even have a relationship to vinyl records is ridiculous. The purism for vinyl is annoying, too. It is a scene that is rampant with toxic masculinity. That said, I dig for records often. Highly recommend Al's in the U district."
Worst request: "A very drunk oil derrick worker at a gay bar asked me to play 'real music' when I was in the middle of a house set. I asked him what 'real music' was, and he stated, 'WHY DON'T YOU PLAY SOME REAL MUSIC, LIKE MAROON 5.' I obliged by playing a remix, but this just angered him more."
Upcoming events:
6/28 Playthey/Genderfukt Pride at Vermillion
"Sooper stoked to play with this crew. Highly recommend the Friday evening park parties called ThiRst."
6/30 "genre is a spectrum. pizza is a flat circle" 2 pm-7 pm at Blue Moon Tavern
"This is a party intended to allow trans/nonbinary folx without previous DJ experience to share music. If yer into all that, bring a USB drive with yer fave music and get a quick lesson and hop on! Also: Pizza."
8/? ? mudpieluv 12th anniversary
"At someplace somewhere with ravey music."
