Joe Muggs is Editor in Chief at Boiler Room TV, and has previously worked as a music journalist, writing for MixMag, The Arts Desk and The Wire, and as A&R for the FineTunes label. Joe contributed his example in 2013, the first year of Harkive.
Here is Joe’s listening day from March 2013:
8.30am Had a bad night with a howling infant so walk to cafe down the road to clear my head. Still in CD Walkman from last night is the new album by Roger Eno & Plumbline. Last four tracks on that then first two on the new Memory Band record take the edges off as I walk down then wait for the cafe to open.
9.00am Cafe, being hearty, healthy and artisanal, is playing Toots & The Maytals, which is nice.
9.10am Last night I was in the studio with Joel Culpepper; his friend Kay Young was on Logic Audio duties and adding vocal ideas, so this morning I check out some of her stuff on YouTube. It’s great: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBfjfKzVf-0
9.25am click through a link on Facebook to see what Young People are listening to in London, and it seems it’s this: http://www.mtviggy.com/blog-posts/adam-cotiers-deep-tech-house-is-where-its-at/ – very, very old sounding house music.
9.37am Cafe has switched to a 2-Tone compilation
9.41am I see Pete Paphides has joined This Is My Jam and has posted this as his “Jam”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLSGYA3GZXs
9.55am Listening to a load of untagged mp3s for a new label I’m working on, run by the man like Quest and featuring a lot of the most talented people from the dubstep scene flexing their musical muscles at other tempos… Exciting.
10.15am back to vintage ska in the café…
10.42am they’re playing ‘My Boy Lollipop’, feeling very jaunty
10.52am a friend messaged me on Facebook first thing, something about “proper techno coming back”, with this link – https://soundcloud.com/tracques/tracques-album-sampler – just got round to listening to it… mental.
11.15am heading out, sad to find that the Timberlake album doesn’t stream on iPhone, so resort to my standard listening choice at the moment which is a free album of amazingly dark and introspective post-Radiohead R&B by this guy Log.Os from L.A. http://theneedledrop.com/2011/11/the-log-os-λόγος/ – it makes the experience of nipping into Sainsburys, which is full of staff standing around awkwardly in deelyboppers and bear costumes for Red Nose Day, rather more interesting.
11.43am got to the office, Timberlake stream on
11.44am it’s not working so watching a clip of a boy playing grime while a girl plays drums http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fToGA-SNWuE
11.52am discover… while researching… that the Timberlake album is all over the Torrents. Obviously don’t illegally download it but struggle manfully with getting the stream to work, zone off into it while taking care of emails.
12.39pm see a link to a bootleg of Julio Bashmore’s ‘Au Seve’. Suddenly realise that I’ve never knowingly heard the “big tune of the moment” so look for it on Spotify, find it – Julio Bashmore – Au Seve – and go “oh it’s THAT one”, then go “not surprised it’s the big tune of the moment.” Then check out the bootleg: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X98ukgpr8T8 Which makes me very happy in its absolute cheesiness and shamelessness. Click through to the buy page on Beatport, and snigger at the fact it’s been charted by “djslagsnake”.
12.44pm back to Timberlake, in the middle of a massive guitar solo
— music free while I try and concentrate —
2.12pm listen to my own old DJ mix while I eat http://thisisluckyme.com/mixtapes/108-joe-muggs-dug-drug-dub-mixtape/ – not entirely out of vanity, but because I just got commissioned to do an article related to the time period it references so it’s revision.
2.40pm bounce through some tracks for the ‘Grime 2.0’ compilation I put together as I do a bit of a social media push on it.
3.55pm: listen through five times to a remix that El-B has done for Joel Culpepper
4.05pm: spot that Pev’s new release is out, listen to it on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9b0hp-g3Jb0 – bemoan that I have no proper speakers in my office. God, it’s good though. Post it on social networks with “THIS IS HOW I LIKE MY TECHNO” next to it.
4.12pm: going through zip file after zip file that I’ve downloaded from emails or Facebook / Twitter tips today… flick through one which is promo of an album by Benoit Pioulard which I downloaded because the PR mail said it was “sumptuous” and it sounds like it actually is, note to listen to it properly later.
4.14pm: unzip an absolutely amazing bit of clattery, organic sounding techno by someone called Stucco – it’s a bit much for me but note that for later too.
4.25pm: head for the bus home… somehow the Justin Timberlake album has found its way onto my phone, which is weird, so I listen to it all the way home.
4.45pm my 3 year old had dancing at nursery today and says he enjoyed dancing to Queen, so I get ‘Under Pressure’ up on YouTube on my phone (first device to hand) for him and plug it into speakers.
— Kids dinner / bath / bed – completely media-free —
7pm-11.30pm: the kids in bed, I have a whole set of reviews to do, so over a couple of beers, with laptop and headphones listen to the Timberlake album one more time, give it five stars, then have a few listens the following which I review as part of the FACT Singles Club:
Justin Timberlake – Suit & Tie (Four Tet remix) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVwtBBpkAJc]
The Knife – A Tooth for an Eye [https://soundcloud.com/brille-records/the-knife-a-tooth-for-an-eye-1]
James Blake feat. Brian Eno – Digital Lion [https://soundcloud.com/selftitledmag/james-blake-digital-lion]
Earl Sweatshirt – Whoa [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anRkutaPS9w]
Hyetal – Northwest Passage [https://soundcloud.com/hyetal/northwest-passage]
Les Sins – Grind / Prelims [https://soundcloud.com/caribouband/les-sins-grind / https://soundcloud.com/caribouband/sets/les-sins-grind-prelims]
Gerry Read – You Don’t Like It [https://soundcloud.com/gerryread/you-dont-like-it]