What a blessing it is to have such a confident DJ array to kick off our podcast series for 2023. We welcome back to the limelight no stranger to the scene, MODIR with a her slick selection of tech house.
Please introduce yourself to those unfamiliar with your DJ life.
My name is Cindy aka MODIR (Mo Deer) and my journey into sound is pretty long having been around the dance music scene since its inception in 1987. Pre that I grew up in a disco, funk and soul fuelled ghetto in Liverpool where my love of music pretty much became part of my DNA.
At seventeen, I went to a warehouse party in Slough with no idea how my life would change, as a direct result of that night.
It was pre the notion of a RAVE. We called them warehouse parties because they where actually in big warehouses that were either broken into or hired. This was also pre any concept of genres and we mainly listened to Chicago house, early hard house, hard floor and German techno. Most of the music were imports with only handful of UK Dj's surfacing at that time.
What we did know is it was never going to be the same again. Over the next eight years I watched what is now the RAVE culture explode.
I played my first set in Corwall at an after party in 1991... Digs and Whoosh had played the Warehouse in Plymouth the party was in a railway siding? If anyone knows what party that was, please do tell :). I played Platypus, Plink Plonk, Hardfloor Respect, Sven Vath, Musk and Underworld tracks and remember the people dancing and smiling like it was last week :)
I lived, worked and played in that culture until 2004, just after the criminal justice bill and some personal issues associated with my distain for CD’s and the party culture. I personally, had just had enough of partying and for me, music production values lost something in those years. I took some time out and went to University and travelled still working events and later working with digital and creative projects just not in the dance music scene.
In truth. I missed the people. The attitude and mindset of ravers is something pretty special and I was called home again in 2016. I went from vinyl straight onto a digital platform. It was curiosity initially. I sorted a Traktor set up and downloaded a few tunes onto my iPad and... two weeks later I was playing for about 200 people at a party in Bournemouth… and yes it was on my iPad ;) that raised a few eyebrows from the sound guys.
Everyone loved it so I played on and upgraded to industry standard kit… going on to grace stages at Boomtown, Clockstock, Give, Boardmasters, Great Estate and Westival to name a few.
I currently have two promotions/stages. HOUSE of MODIR and Culture Seventy Six or C76 that I am building, taking on tour and booking into venues.
Describe your DJ sound.
I have a several passions that include Disco, Funk, Rare-groove and Underground Tech/Deep House and pretty much (in those genres) love anything with a phat baseline and high quality production values.
What is your view on how the live music and nightlife scene has been shaped since the Covid lockdowns?
The impact of the lockdown is still being felt and I think it has a lot to do with new artists, record labels and a new generation of DJs arriving on the scene who missed a few years experience of playing live but had time to work intensely from a home studio or live-casting set up. Radio became very important again during this time and several stations emerged or were relaunched from the older pirate station tribes.
I think the positive was DJs/Producers who had been around a while produced very high quality tracks as they had the time to spend. This set a standard coming out of lockdown for quality production values and that can only be good thing.
The negative was that many Djs just dropped away completely because they had to make living and were not able to keep their hand in. This is shame as the heritage of the music across the genres was thinned out with EDM becoming more prevalent with less origin and analogue sound/samples to draw from or hear as they were breaking through.
Talk us through your podcast mix track selection.
This mix is a consistent minimal tech/house, heart rate journey… simpler then my last mix for Little South but consistent and easy on the mind so perfect for a pre night out party vibe.
Play list:
Daughters (Oliver Schories Remix) - Frivolous
Stay (DJOKO Remix) - Lola Palmer
Swing With Me (Original Mix) - Matt Gillespie
That's It Mate (James Dexter Extended Mix) - Jack Swift, James Dexter
Journey (Mihai Popoviciu Remix) - Beneath Usual
System (Original Mix) - Felman
Information Overload - Josh Baker
Voodoohoodoo (Original Mix) - Audiojack
Don't Make Sense (Original Mix) - Claude VonStroke
Just A Moment (Original Mix) - Audiojack
Sustain (Original Mix) - Some Out Of None
NFT (Original Mix) - James Dexter, Jack Swift
Heads High - Rowan
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