Immersion, Remembering José Padilla

10/24/20 • -1 min

José Padilla has been a constant inspiration for all of us here at DJSD. His ability to use a wide range of styles of music to tell a sonic story that expands hours at a time was a pure gift. The key architect of "Balearic beat", Padilla popularized the upbeat form of electronic dance music through his live DJ sets and the releases of the infamous Café del Mar compilation series. This chill, soulful, yet groovy, and optimistic vibe feels like a breath of fresh air in 2020 when many have a weight of a thousand tons on the shoulders.Unfortunately, on October 18th, it came the sudden news that José Padilla had passed away at the age of 64 in Ibiza. This saddens us all. It is only days after the arrival of the news, we start to think about how we can pay tribute to Padilla.Back in 2003, Velizar in the mix was the resident DJ at Midway, New York. The spirit at the time called for freestyle expressions, which reflected itself in New York's club culture. After a long night of techno and house, Velizar would often entertain the inner cycle with an early morning sunrise set. It was an intimate, personal, and meandering after party, and very much in the spirit of the Balearic Beat. As put by Mixmag in July 1990, "What the 'Balearic concept' has taught us is that it doesn't matter what genre the track falls into, as long as the beat 'n' groove move the feet and what's on top of 'em is pleasing to the ear." It was a pure expression.We dug into our archives and found one recording from those early morning sessions, titled Immersion. It feels appropriate to re-introduce it as our way to pay respect to José Padilla, the Godfather of Chillout. His style of music has made the idea of sunset and sunrise such beautiful memories for people. We hope that Immersion will remind all of us of his legacy and what beautifully crafted music story can bring to us.R.I.P. José Padilla.

THE TRACKLIST |

Eugenia Manolidou - Hymn To The Moon Pressure Drop ‎– Elusive Rodrieg Ensemble - BacioLustral - Everytime (A Man Called Adam's Mix)Pink Martini - La soledadKayah & Goran Bregovic - TabakieraGrace Jones - StrangeTodor Kolev - Golemi I MalkiErica Jennings - It's A Lovely DayJosé Padilla - Bosaxi (Touched Mix)Zohar - ByzantineNina Simone - Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair (Jaffa Remix)LISTEN ON APPLE PODCASTS

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THE TRACKLIST |

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Previous Episode

Alien Vibes From the Earth Radio Show, EPS.0q1m by PASSWAR D

ABOUT THIS EPISODE |

DJSD (the DJ’s Daughter) is welcoming Passwardy back to the Alien Vibes From the Earth Radio Show to continue on his sonic adventure from the previous episode. Shortly after recording his live set here at the radio show, Passwardy traveled to Shanghai for some gigs, unknowingly walking right into the world’s first Covid-19 epicenter. Unable to get back to the US as planned, Passwardy utilized this quarantine time to conjure up his very first Album “Personal Cosmology” (coming soon) and some awesome mixes.Strangely for Passwardy, being alone in an unknown city for a prolonged period without the option of getting out proved to be an enlightening experience, to the say the least. "Trapped without feeling trapped was an interesting sensation", said Passwardy. "There was so much chaos, frustration, confusions, sadness, contradictions... Yet, I had all those creative urges. Putting all of those emotions, observations, and energies into music-making, whether my own productions or the mixes I was making, somehow just made all sense".
When we asked him what were his thoughts (if any) behind this mix, Passwardy said "it was to reflect the current mood in which myself along with many others found ourselves in. It was to embrace the loneliness, the ugliness, the heartbrokenness ... all those depressing, end-of-world emotions we are facing nowadays. Yet somehow had this faith that we would all come out of it with a stronger determination than ever. Perhaps it was a utopian idea. But it was really how I was feeling and continue to feel so."

EPS.0Q1M FEATURES MUSIC BY |

Analemma, Pär Grindvik, Deepchild, Rydim, Savas Pascalidis, Ellen Allien, Emmanuel Top, and some of Passwardy’s mix driven re-arranging edits.

THE TRACKLIST |

Analemma Liminal Crisis [Trip Recordings, Moscow, Russia]
Pär Grindvik Silent Below Deck (Solid Blake Remix) [Stockholm LTD, Stockholm, Sweden] Analemma Plunging Asymptote [Trip Recordings, Moscow, Russia]
Pär Grindvik Silent Below Deck (Solid Blake Remix) [Stockholm LTD, Stockholm, Sweden] + Extensive edits by Passwordy
Deepchild IsoGrind 5000 [DCR, Sydney, Australia]
Rydim FOMO (Original Mix) [Pets Recordings, Berlin, Germany]
Savas Pascalidis Resonate (Echologist Cover Mix) [Atrophic Society, Australia]
Ellen Allien Call Me (Emmanuel Top Remix) [Bpitch]
Emmanuel Top Festival Suicide (Closing Night Mix) [Materia]
Pär Grindvik Drift ( Physical Therapy Remix) [Stockholm LTD, Stockholm, Sweden]

Next Episode

RSS at ART3F, Live DJ Set by PASSWAR D, Cannes, May 2019

RSS had the chance to record some great shows during various art fairs in 2019 and we are sharing with you one of our favorite ones. Please enjoy the supersonic storytelling by our very own Passwar D, recorded live in Cannes, May, 2019.