MDC.301 Angus Mills

Dubwise dreams and groovy percussive house with the low end dwelling Moonshoe producer @angusmills

Q. What can you tell us about the mix?

A. Thanks so much for having me on the series, I've been a big fan for over a decade now 🙂 So the mix has been curated with my interpretation of the MDC spirit in the front of my mind. I’ve loved how so many mixes over the years have danced thoughtfully between home listening and warm fictional dancefloor settings. I wanted the music to reflect some of the sounds and feelings that I love and which you’ve touched upon in your next question. Hopefully the music translates back to the listener in whichever setting they happen to be in. Recently I’ve been listening back to the mix at home while standing in our light filled kitchen making dinner, looking over at our whippet Olive while she snores on her bed.

Some of my favourite tracks in the mix include Erzulie (Temple Dub Mix) by Mind Over Rhythm from 1992, Tranquillity by Bamboo Curtain, Nick Kelly’s Track – Dew U Feel Me from Trip ‘N Spin Recordings from San Francisco and the track I close out the mix with is a song that really resonates strongly with me, Soundtrack to a Dying by Phil Western.

Q. You’ve clearly got a real appreciation for deep hypnotic rhythms, tell us about how you became entrenched in this sound, and how long had you been refining things before your debut Moonshoe release came out?

A. Thanks Myles, that’s very kind of you to say. Yeah, I’m pleased with how that release turned out and am just starting to get back to writing some new music again after a busy work period which feels exciting. Shoutout to Jackson as well who heard a couple of early iterations of those tunes and decided to take a risk on working towards a release for me, couldn’t have imagined a better home for the music than Moonshoe.

I’ve been producing music since the start of 2011 and released some stuff under a few different monikers over the years but wasn’t completely confident with my productions until about 2020. I started studying architecture in 2018 and during the degree, didn’t really have much capacity to work on my own music. I was still heavily listening to music throughout the degree and found that having a break from producing during this time helped me to relearn to love making music again. Perhaps there was something about shifting some creative energy away from music for a period?

Q. On your Moonshoe affiliations, I know you have been working with the label for a little while now, tell us about that experience and what have you got in the works?

A. Yes so, Jackson/ Cousin and I have known one another for a while now through going out to parties around Sydney, I used to go and see him and Brad play a lot around town. He met my partner Claudia years back before we’d even started dating and funnily enough, she suggested that we’d probably get along well. I was sending Jackson a bit of music around 2018/2019 and one of the tracks, Transient ended up coming out on the second Limbs compilation, From Inside Out. Jackson ended up getting a job at Sydney University with me in the AV team which hilariously employs many creatives from the Sydney music scene, and we just started hanging out more and regularly grab lunch together. One thing led to another, and he started helping me put Alva together, doing an excellent job of A&R, giving me regular feedback and suggestions for improving the music. I was also giving him some feedback on his own releases for some other labels, which kind of shifted organically into helping him narrow down some music for his upcoming EP on Moonshoe ‘Wake the Town’ which is a 6 tracker coming out in the next couple of months. In the meantime, Cousin has some individual tunes that didn’t quite make the EP coming out through the Moonshoe bandcamp over the next couple of months which I’ve done some mastering work on. Definitely keep watching this space for music coming out on Moonshoe over the course of next year!