08 BackLabel 30 Cz’s Boogie #11 Profile of UM Records & a free download 10 records with House Music news and from their back catalog for 5 Mag sub- talk by 5 Mag EIC Czarina Mirani. scribers. by Will Sumsuch. 12 preView: SuncéBeat 32 Session Victim Eight years of sun, sea and dance music in On the eve of the release of their new album: a Croatia with Alex Lowes. by Czarina profile by Dustin Kinney. Mirani. 20 AfterParty: Brighton Music 38 Freakeasy! Conference 2017. and the fine art of not giving a fuck. by Will Sumsuch went so you didn’t have to. Czarina Mirani. (But you should have.) 24 Sleepy & Boo: A 5 Mag Mix 47 54 New Releases New mix & interview with the NYC stalwart New music and reissues by 5 Magazine DJ and – increasingly – production duo. staff. Czarina Mirani Will Sumsuch BECOME A MEMBER Editor-in-Chief, 5 Magazine Senior Editor 5chicago.com/membership CEO, Fivestar Boogie Productions [email protected] MEMBERSHIP QUESTIONS & ANSWERS [email protected] [email protected] Rees Urban BUSINESS ADDRESS 100 E Walton Ste 30E, Terry Matthew Senior Editor Chicago, IL 60611 Managing Editor [email protected] [email protected] ADVERTISING INQUIRIES [email protected] Kev Obrien Contributing Editor [email protected] discover free music from the vaults of top dance music labels written and compiled by will sumsuch O UR BACK CATALOG GEM this month comes from New Zealand based label UM Records, the brain- child of British Deep House obsessive Richie Hart- ness. Starting life as a printed fanzine penned in the office when the boss wasn’t looking, UM (“untitled- music”) transitioned from print to digital in website and podcast form, eventually launching as a record label in 2011. Already boasting a frankly stagger- ing social media presence (a Facebook search for “Deep House” brings up a fan-page that UM con- trols), Richie’s approach to promoting his label is refreshingly low-key and artist-centric. In 2016 he took the decision to operate on a non-profit basis, passing 100% of the label’s revenue straight to his artists. As he puts it, the change has “allowed the label to be uniquely focused on creativity and mu- sic, not profit.” DOWNLOAD uw Since its inception UM has acted as a springboard for new artists, with Richie’s passionate patronage trumping any sense of ownership over them. “I’m very proud to have debuted so many producers and continue to listen to untold amounts of shite, ceaselessly searching to find the next one.” 10 DEPARTMENTS: BACKLABEL ISSUE 148 Asked to select a special, slept on cut for 5 Magazine subscribers to enjoy, Richie chose the Yigit Atilla remix of Daniel Ray’s 2015 track “Hide & Seek.” “Daniel Ray and Yigit Atilla are both the kind of producers I love to have on the label; tech- nically excellent, musically emotive and have an intuitive sense of building a great track,” he says. “Yigit and I had done a few things before and I’d long admired Daniel’s tracks, especially those on Matt Prehn’s Oh So Coy label. We got chatting and this, the first of a couple of EP’s, was a done deal. “In terms of its sound, it’s pure UM. A deeper journey, melancholy in places but generally trackLINK: packed with atmosphere and kinda uplifting. beatport.com/release/ I could listen to this stuff all day and night lost hide-and-seek/1581352 in the mood.” ///// labelINFO: um-records.com artistINFO: beatport.com/art- ist/daniel-ray/155133 / beatport. com/artist/yigit-atilla/365226 5CHICAGO.COM BACKLABEL: UM RECORDS 11 SuncéBeat8 years of sun, sea & dance music in Croatia SuncéBeat8 years of sun, sea & dance music in Croatia by Czarina Mirani wo years ago I wrote about the final chapter of one of the oldest running festivals in the world: Southport Week- ender. Not only did I write about it but I also had the privilege of attending and had the experience of a life- time. I’m a soulful head at heart and nurse a UK fetish T to boot, so SPW had me musically satiated for months. The silver lining to Southport’s finale was that there is always SuncéBeat, what they called “the Croatian lovechild of the UK event…” Now going on its 8th year, SuncéBeat is based on the gorgeous island of Tisno. It was awarded the winner of the best Disco and House Festival in Croatia last year, which is no small feat given the proliferation of music events there. So once again I speak with Alex Lowes, founder of both festivals, to get a sneak peek. 14 DEPARTMENTS: PREVIEW ISSUE 148 So I was at the final Southport Weekender. You took such good care of me as press, but even as a regular par- tygoer I was so moved and so impressed by the whole experience. The programing, the vibe, the location, the staff – everything! And everyone was lamenting the end, and here you are doing a one day SPW! What gave you the idea to do it like this? Will this be a regu- lar thing, “SPW London?” Southport Weekender was an opportunity that came along through friends of mine to do some- thing different: a festival, an open air festival on a one-day basis. We thought, alright: capital city, wonderful park (Finsbury Park)... Yes, let’s do it! To be honest, we’ve been absolutely blown away by the response, the number of tick- ets gone on the first few days was just crazy! We sold more on the first few days than we’ve ever had at South- port Weekender, so the demand is undoubtedly there. We are really looking forward to it, I think a lot of people are excited to be gathering together. They haven’t seen each other for awhile and being in the center of London is a great loca- tion. Everyone’s gearing themselves up for a really big day out. What initiated something as massive as an island fes- tival when you were still doing SPW? That must have been nonstop work going from one to the other! And what drew you to Tisno? Tisno is actually again from old friends in Croatia. It gave us the opportunity to have a look at this beauti- ful bay in a beautiful location and we thought travel 5CHICAGO.COM PREVIEW: SUNCÉBEAT 15 is a lot easier nowadays, people are always looking for something different and the whole idea of a hol- iday really appealed to us, and that’s just grown and grown! The amount of DJs and artists there now has turned into another mini Southport Weekender. We would love to be able to get a new set of music lov- ers to come to SuncéBeat. Can you tell us about the dif- ferent parties and stages that encompass the event and what a typical day would be like from start to finish? With SuncéBeat it’s a very leveled worldwide audi- ence – it’s European as well as a UK and American audience. In actual fact I think 150 flew over especially from America, nearly 100 from California and well over 100 from France last year. A typical day would be: going out for breakfast at Magnolia Restaurant, then going down to the Beach Stage to listen to some chilled out vibes, even some of the bigger DJs are do- ing some lovely beach sets to get you in the mood. As the day goes on and picks up, we would then be opening the Olive Grove which a is cool and trendy spot, and we have different things going on like the South African and Detroit Sessions. Then of course you have Bar- berellas Nightclub late at night and the infamous Boat Parties which are incredible: they’re four hour trips in general although we do a couple of picnic boats as well, which go to a secluded restaurant. You have four or five of your best DJs on a 200 capacity boat. You’re right in front of them and even the DJs love the intimacy of it! 16 DEPARTMENTS: PREVIEW ISSUE 148 The village itself is so beautiful, you can take some time out and go to some lovely restaurants – there’s dozens of nice restaurants! National Parks are also around the area - Krka National Park, Kornati Is- land is where the boat goes round, they’re all World Heritage. It’s just a lovely vibe, everyone says hello. I know that a lot of your musical programming is soul- based. Has this changed at all throughout the years? It was originally soul-based, on the House side it’s quite soulful too but we touch all the big forms of music. Like I said we have the Detroit lot coming for both our London fes- tival and our Croatia festival as well. Across the board we are always in- troducing new people like Dan Shake, Anthony Naples, as well as the old guys. It’s just a matter of mixing up the music, old and new but keeping it on a soulful level. What are some of the most memorable experiences from SuncéBeat that stick with you? Beautiful sunsets and people, and the fact that we are attracting peo- ple from all around the world, liter- ally from round the world – from all four corners! Also, the music and the boats. It’s the boat trips that do it for me. Barberellas, the open air nightclub you just don’t get anywhere anymore, it’s a magical experience all round.