Wild City #259: Chutney Mary

As the person behind the gender diversity-centring club night QRAVE and the informative gatherings Flower Tools, Avril Stormy Unger knows more than a thing or two about making the dancefloor shake. But when it comes to creating a Wild City Mix, the Goa-based drag, stand-up and multi-disciplinary performer who DJs as Chutney Mary keeps in mind how the mix might be consumed (likely private home-listening) and utilises it to experiment with the space between ambient and the rhythmic instead.

Sandwiching in her local contemporaries like Fursat FM and Catatacat in a mix that kicks off with heavyweights like Laurel Halo and Hania Rani, Avril doesn't just sequence the soundscapes but plays with them. The disjointed drums in Etapp Kyle's 'Nolove' seem to answer the call for madness in Pan Daijing's 'Let' while underlining it. When the minimal thump of Mython & Jonas Xenon's 'Nudge', straight from techno mecca Tresor Records, enters, its four-to-the-floor drums feel more like an ambient pulse than a visceral one in the context of the mix. The selections only enter pure dance music territory in its quick-switching final quarter, giving the whole build-up an energetic bass-heavy climax.

"This mix was made at home and moves through the sounds I’ve been exploring and playing with lately, from experimental ambient passages to deep minimal tracks and into the harder territory I’m usually known for, which takes on a different energy outside the club. It sits somewhere between listening, testing and performance. The selection leans towards women and queer artists, whose work I actively seek out and make space for in my listening and sets." – Chutney Mary

Listen to the mix below:

Direct Download Wild City #259: Chutney Mary

Tracklisting

Nostalgia - Hania Rani
Hyphae - Laurel Halo
Let - Pan Daijing
Nolove - Etapp Kyle
Noisy Neighbour - Catatacat
Void - Etapp Kyle
Nudge - Mython & Jonas Xenon
Secrets beneath the leaves - Fursat FM
Vespula Pensylvanica - Polygonia
Last Scene - Azu Tiwaline & Al Wootton
Disig - Carmen Villain
002.01 - Lotic
The Nerve Meter - Pan Daijing
Hold On (feat. LSWR) - Clap! Clap!
Mage in a Rage - Hassan Abou Alam
F.T.S - Mia Koden
The Worm - Bastian Benjamin/Alberta B
Psycho - French II/Bastian Benjamin
001.01 - Lotic