A series where music lovers share some of their hidden gems.

Number 70 is by Yela (Oridoo), a Belgian selector based in Antwerp.

Find the record on my soundcloud below:

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Tell me about your musical roots

I was born in Antwerp, Belgium but moved to the UK, to a small town in Chester in the North of England at the age of 12. While growing up, I lived in many different places in England and spent most of my adolescence in the Midlands area. At home, I was introduced to Erykah Badu, Ronny Jordan and St. Germain by my mum, and artists such as Paul Weller, Leonard Cohen and Jackson Browne by my dad. They also listened to a lot of classical music, which I still enjoy listening to now.

It was Birmingham where I was first introduced to the underground electronic music scene, regularly visiting venues such as The Rainbow, Lab11, and afterparties such as Social Underground. I’d say my selections today still carry influence from the deeper minimal sound that was being played out then which is probably why I'm still very much attracted to minimalistic arrangement.

What is Your favourite place to dig and why?‍

I mostly dig on Discogs, I do this with an open-minded approach, digging broadly and checking all genres and years. It works for me because you can easily hop from artists, to labels, to related artists, and sub-labels, and so on. It’s more of a research approach I guess. I think I've discovered my best finds when I haven't been specifically looking for something, just enjoying the action of finding new music.

When I head to record shops such as Wally’s Groove World in Antwerp, Amplitude records in Den Haag or Jackson Records in Berlin, I approach things a little more premeditated. I usually start my journey with a small Discogs preselection to launch myself for a successful digging mission, often combined with some guidance from the shop owners.‍

What do you listen to when you want to chill?‍

‘Elements of Nature’ by Felbm is a perfect album to start the day for me at the moment. Other than ambient and organic field recording stuff, I’m also listening to a lot of dub and deep downtempo, of which the albums ‘Minimal Distraction’ by Bassman and Manutention’s ‘Strictly For Sound System Dub’ are currently getting a lot of plays. When I’m feeling super mellow I’ll listen to some early albums of Leonard Cohen or some classical guitar music by artists such as Marco Tamayo. My listening collection is very broad and I select music to match my energy level and mood.

Can you share with me your favourite podcast at the moment?‍

A few months ago I discovered an amazing podcast my friend Francis99 recorded on Kiosk Radio in 2018 named ‘Sloppy Jazz’. I also really enjoy the podcast Pablo Driesmans recorded for Ojoo.

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