As If. No Mixtapes! Vol. 7 Madame Zhou (INDEX: Records)
Blake Creighton
Madame Zhou, one half of INDEX: Records bring us our latest As If. No Mixtape! With a divine selection of club orientated sounds, including a few forthcoming releases from the INDEX: Records camp.
INDEX: Records run by Amos Turner and Connor Stiles, have been releasing a variation of sounds and hosting parties throughout the UK and in Berlin since 2017. Intrigued by their movements, we ran a few questions by Connor.
Run us through the mixtape. What was the initial thought behind it and where did you want to take it?
I think mainly this mixtape was an attempt to try and capture those moments in the club where the energy is high, everyone’s feeling loose and things have all gone a bit messy. In particular, I’ve been really enjoying the faster realms of techno and electro at the moment, as well as loads of breakbeat, and I guess the interactions between all those sorts of styles. I was also pretty sure that I didn’t want to plan this mix too much or to take it too seriously; my output for mixtapes is pretty lacking (this is just the second that I’ve ever put out) and I think that’s mostly because I tend to overthink them and get too bogged down trying to make every transition perfect. So, this mix has some humour in there, and the approach was a bit rawer/one-take kinda thing, basically like DJing in the club. (That’s essentially my excuse for being a shit DJ who can’t mix properly! lol). It’s also probably a wider reflection of my personality, in that my interests are super varied, and so I think that comes through when I DJ; often I’ll jump around all over the place in a way which makes it more interesting to me somehow. I also always try to include at least a few tracks from the INDEX: Records family, or unreleased productions that I’ve discovered along the way, to try and keep things fresh for the listener. I think that’s important when you’re putting out a mix.
How did the concept for INDEX: Records come about, what intrigues you and Amos about machines?
To be honest, I think INDEX: for me was engendered in Amsterdam back in 2016, whilst me and Amos were living there. We used to go to one of the many lovely parks in the city and hook up my JBL portable speaker to his Korg Volca Sample, and drink lots of La Chouffe. We also spent a lot of time going to clubs like De School, Radion and De Marktkantine, and watching local DJs, particularly people like Interstellar Funk, or from the Rush Hour crew, etc. Those sorts of experiences were pretty formative for INDEX: I reckon.
The ‘concept’ of the label so to speak came mainly from Amos actually. It started as quite an abstract idea where we were going to put out tracks and mixes from artists in a super cryptic way, by releasing them styled around the idea of a ‘CAPTCHA’ (yeah I don’t know how that would have worked either, haha). That didn’t really get off the ground though, and thus spawned INDEX:. One thing that has remained consistent throughout our approach to all this though, is that we had loads of friends who were making amazing music, without a platform to release the tracks or get them out there somehow. I think it’s a bit shit that without having loads of connections in the industry, really talented musicians are sometimes not able to get their music out there. So that’s the main concept for us and it’s getting stronger with each release I think: start localised within our networks, and then globalise!
Yeah, so the machines thing came about when we were trying to figure out what INDEX: was for us, why we were doing it, and to build a bit more intrigue around it. And we started joking around with the concept of a ‘Cyborg Orgy’. We were also really interested in the whole notion of a cyborg, as explored by Donna Haraway’s ‘A Cyborg Manifesto’. It’s a pretty hefty read, but the things I took from it were about the reconstruction of identity and about allowing individuals to have their own affinities and choose their own social groups. Fuck people telling you what gender you should be based on your assignment at birth, you know? Anyway, I digress…
What is the thought behind all of the design?
The design is unique for every release or project; our style is often quite changeable and the complete opposite of prescriptive. Generally, we like to feel removed from the super polished, conformist kind of approach to some people’s perceptions about how the design of a record label should look. Mostly though, the design for INDEX: is Amos’ domain and so the answer to this question would require a further introspection to his brain, and quite frankly, I am scared of that place. Also need to shout out to Max who has started helping out with some of the design work for the label and came up with a pretty mega idea for the centre labels on our new release (buy it to find out!). He also just put out a really killer mixtape on c- under his Aeriform alias, it’s a bit of a masterpiece tbh.
What do we have to look forward to with INDEX: and affiliated labels and parties?
Right about now we are releasing our NZ Electro 2020 compilation on 12” vinyl – which has been curated by the lovely Fray Mysterio – and is a reflection of all the cool shit happening in the New Zealand underground. Pretty excited for that to drop, it comes out on 06.03.2020. We are also going to be working on the genesis of our subsidiary label, Appendix:, which has spawned out of putting parties on in the basement of the INDEX:Studio in Berlin, as well as the sad realisation of not being able to release everything on vinyl! We are also going to be doing a series of parties called INDEX: Prevolution up in Preston – thanks heaps to Paul and Serena for the invite and big ups to them for starting a sick club in a city with little else like it.
And lastly, thanks heaps to Blake for inviting me to do a mix and interview for As If, No Way! It’s been fun <333
Tracklist
Dr. Universe – 7FLACK7 [forthcoming on Appendix:]
Killer DJ’s – Untitled [Planet Euphorique]
Benjamin Damage & Deapmash – Solar 909 [Leisure System]
INVT – TRENCHES [self-released]
Archivist – Weights & Measure
Cocktail Party Effect – Shattered Retina [Tectonic Recordings]
Jam City – The Final Joust [self-release]
Ike – Kiwami Formed [forthcoming on INDEX:Records]
GEN-Y – Phucked up [Going Bananas]
Fray Mysterio – Mane (Peach Milk remix) [Heat Rockers Records]
Holk Hogon – Polystyrene [forthcoming on INDEX: Records]
AN-I + Unhuman – Hate Thy Neighbour [L.I.E.S.]
Assembler Code & Alex Jann – HH Drive [Unknown To The Unknown]
Richard Holhburn – Ideological Costs Included [forthcoming on Diffuse Reality]
Go Nuclear – Hardbass [forthcoming on INDEX:Records]
Jan Loup – Greatness [Comic Sans Records]
HOOVER1-2B2 (Mr. Speaker Mix) [nOWt]
Amos Turner – Untitled [forthcoming on Appendix:]