kinetic mix 032: Gillan "Beneath"
A meditative journey through ambient textures and the depths of minimal techno from the Dorset based artist.
Welcome to our newsletter sharing our latest mixtapes, merch & events curated by Dj wiggles ๐
After a brief hiatus from the substack, weโre back with our 32nd mixtape from the incredibly talented artist, Gillan.
Gillan brings us a 2 hour meditative journey through ambient textures and the depths of minimal techno, exactly what weโve come to expect from the Dorset based artist.
๐ง๐๐ฆ๐ / ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ง๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ฌ / ๐ฐ๐ก๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐จ ๐ฎ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฏ๐
Ellie Gillan - She / Her - Currently nestled in Dorset
๐ญ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐ง๐๐๐ฉ๐ญ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฑ
My intention with the mix was to encapsulate the more peak-time club energies that Iโm consistently drawn to at the moment, and from this, the natural layering that happened with the mix is a beautiful epitome of how I experience meditation.
At the start of meditating, I go through x amount of minutes weaving through thoughts, sensations, going into a few thought spirals by accident, all on a steady stream towards something. Itโs like the thoughts and feelings are all catching my attention, pulling me in a bit further. And then I get to this breakthrough point where it feels like my mind has completely cleared and I have pushed past the stickiness of thoughts; which the bridge in the mix massively resembles to me. On the build to this, the tempo & rhythm is something that can be followed to this point, resembling the forwards motion taking you from your conscious mind into your subconscious mind. I had quite a profound experience of this at Positive Education late last year. I had the intention for Space Drum Meditationโs set to follow the sounds with my eyes closed and to engage with my body throughout it. The difference I felt in my mind and body afterwards is something that has stayed with me since. It struck a deeper chord on how meditative music is, if you let go and allow it to be. So this is where the concept has occurred quite naturally, where music and meditation meet in taking us somewhere beyond ourselves.
๐ก๐จ๐ฐ ๐ก๐๐ฌ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐๐ง๐ฏ๐ข๐ซ๐จ๐ง๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐ฉ๐๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐ข๐ง๐๐ฅ๐ฎ๐๐ง๐๐๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐๐๐ก ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ข๐?
My Dad has had a huge influence on my music taste growing up, from 90โs rave music to more ambient listening. I was introduced from an early age to the feeling that music gives you, and a lot of this I saw through the way my parents loved it and how we experienced it together as a family. I think a huge influence on me getting into DJing when I was in my teens is from having moments with them being so excited about an artist or album and feeling so full from the feeling of it. This led to me wanting to chase that feeling a little more by bringing all of my favourite artists and sounds together through DJing. Iโm lucky to still experience these memories through moments of nostalgia with my Dad when weโre driving around & selecting tunes together.
After experiencing living in a city for the last 5/6 years and having the chance to go and experience such a beautiful array of music, and connecting with like-minded people and learning from them, my music taste has expanded so much. Itโs had a huge impact on my growth as a person. Especially with how different genres resonate with me & how they accompany my day-to-day with how iโm feeling. Some being super grounding, others to give a feeling from a past time, and some just to simply experience and enjoy.ย
This expansion of love for different kinds of music has impacted how I experience music live too, as I've noticed subconsciously, when I have complete trust in the artist & their craft, I let go more to the experience.
This is something I want to exercise in other club settings where I'm experiencing something new for the first time, as I want to keep discovering and expanding my relationship with music, as itโs one of the best feelings to me coming across something completely new which is exciting and inspiring. These two things are a huge part of my curation process of the mixes / shows / sets I produce. I feel like there is always a new way of being creative with music,and this is something that is a beautiful part of being an artist, is that the learning will never stop, and there will always be something to discover and have fun with. Whether itโs incorporating a new percussive sound that hasnโt been used in your tracks before or wanting the listener to feel certain emotions or simply diving deep into experimental sounds that donโt need to make so much sense. This consistently influences the drive behind my creativity, and making sure to not pigeonhole myself as an artist. As the sets I constantly feel inspired from are the ones that are eclectic, surprising and completely anchor you in the experience, which is something I will continue to hold as inspiration for the production of my future sets.
Living a more slower life in Dorset at the moment, and being surrounded by an abundance of nature, has allowed me to have the mental space to focus on these creative endeavors,ย and also to stay as rooted as possible in the initial reasons why i chose this in the first place - which takes me back to my early experiences of music - the feeling it gives you, the fun & love for it.ย
๐ฐ๐ก๐๐ญโ๐ฌ ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ญ๐ฒ / ๐๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ก๐๐ฏ๐๐งโ๐ญ ๐๐๐๐ง ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎโ๐ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ค๐ ๐ญ๐จ?
๐ ๐ฅ๐จ๐๐๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ญ๐ฒ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎโ๐ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ค๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ข๐ ๐ฎ๐ฉ?
Space lab crew!ย
๐ฐ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ฐ๐๐ฌ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฅ๐๐ญ๐๐ฌ๐ญ (๐ฉ๐จ๐ฌ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐) ๐๐ฅ๐ฎ๐๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ฑ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง๐๐?
Perspectives - unreal curation of the night and visuals alongside!ย
๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฅ๐๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฑ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ง๐๐ ๐ญ๐จ?
Deepbreakfast 255 - Multicast Dynamics
๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฅ๐๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐ฅ๐๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ง๐๐ ๐ญ๐จ?
Approach to Anima - Maya ongakuย
๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฅ๐๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ ๐ข๐๐ญ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ซ๐๐๐๐ข๐ฏ๐๐?
Watercolor paints <3ย
๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฅ๐๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ซ๐๐๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก๐ญ?
Benjy Wernheimer - One Riverย
๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐๐๐ฏ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ ๐๐ฑ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง๐๐ ๐๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฌ๐จ ๐๐๐ซ?
Closing the ambient stage at Above Below on the saturday - the timing of the set in the early morning, the people there, my friend doing the visuals and being able to play some deep percussive ambient music made me come away feeling so full from having experienced a real life dream of mineย
๐ฐ๐ก๐๐ญโ๐ฌ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐๐๐ฏ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ญ๐ฒ ๐ข๐ง?
I havenโt experienced a huge range of partying in as many cities as I would have liked to, but luckily Iโll be visiting Lyon & Paris this year, so I look forward to experiencing the scene more there.ย
๐๐ง ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐ ๐๐๐ฏ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฑ?
Kora - Yin Ambient Set @ Harvest 2022
kinetic mix 032: Gillan โBeneathโ
Note from the editor
I wanted to apologise for being a little behind on correspondence. My gigging schedule across May + the beginning of June has been pretty wild but i finally have a few weeks off and LOTS to fill you in on.
Keep your eyes open for a little May recap over the next few days, including a little rundown of our wonderful event last month, an overview of some of the mixes weโve released and also our monthly recommendations.
Dj wiggles <3
In the meantimeโฆ
listen back to Dj wiggles closing set at our ormside party last month
listen to Dj Flounceโs mixtape
listen back to Ryo Kurashinaโs opening set from our ormside party
listen to Ortensioโs mixtape