Shine A Light On… Danvers Ransom Note Mix

Well here's something. Danvers has only gone and delivered a Shine A Light On Mix made entirely from his own productions and remixes… It takes some balls, but, dammit, he's pulled it off. The thing is, Danvers has got a bit more experience than might be first apparent – whilst a relatively new name as a solo artist, Joe 'Danvers' McCabe has already been earning his chops as one half of Summits, a duo he formed with Mark Davies down in Bristol, who released tracks on  Alfresco Disco and Apersonal. Since leaving Bristol a year and a half ago, he's been working on solo tracks, releasing his first record through WotNot and playing at their parties around East London. Now Davies has come up to London, Summits is back on the cards, this time running alongside Danvers keeping up the solo tip – his first full EP is due early 2016. 

Check out his mix below, it's a jaunt through live grooves, cheeky synths and jacking rhythms. Read what Danvers has to say below, and catch him playing live for at The Yard in Hackney on Nov 20th – more info on that here

Please introduce yourself…
Who are you, where are you and what are you?

I am Joe Danvers, I am sat in a hospital ward with a very ill girlfriend, and I am honest. (I'm also a music producer living in Hackney)

Describe your sound without using the letter 'e'.

Odd, sprawling, busy, canorous.

If your sound were a visual thing, what would it look like?

Someone walking home drunk.

How do you go about the music-making process?

I tend to build up loops with a live set up (a drum machine and a few synths). Basically all of my tracks are live jams that have been tidied up afterwards, recently I've started running the lead parts through either an old Tascam tape deck and a battered old ME50 effects board, I find it gives everything a bit more character.

Which figure from throughout history would you most like to meet and what would you ask them if you had only one question?

I would meet Brian Wilson in 1966, and I would ask him "How did you do that?"

What do you think the world will be like in 100 years?

Hopefully they will have better pop music than the crap we have to deal with right now, I want people in 100 years to look back and think "How on earth did Kanye West get famous?"

What’s your greatest vice?

Probably sarcasm.

What one piece of software or hardware could you not make music without?

My NI Maschine – I love how spontaneous you can be with it, you get great unexpected melodies or rhythms out of it all the time, I basically just keep resampling with it until a track starts to form.

What was the first electronic record you ever heard? How did it make you feel?

Pretty boring answer but I reckon it was Discovery by Daft Punk… I don’t think I knew what dance music was before that point.

What do you think the future holds for music if people are no longer willing to pay for it?

It’s quite sad that someone can’t really make a living from purely producing their own material anymore, but I like playing out a lot, and I think that it’s the best environment to hear music (a gig or club). So if unpaid distribution is going to encourage artists to push their live shows further in order to get noticed then I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing, we’ll just have to work with it.

Please describe the best day of your life to date?

The day I wrote out my Ransom Note interview, obviously.

If you had to send one record into space, to introduce extra terrestrials to human music, what record would you choose?

Christ that is a difficult question. Depends what kind of aliens I guess. Mount Liberation Unlimited – Clinton Space Funk OR Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys, depends on their mood.

What are your thoughts on Desperate Dan?

Less cool, I prefer the Beano

Do you have a favourite Dan?

It would have to be my older brother Dan Sydes.

Do you like rivers? How wide a river do you think you could jump?

I actually love rivers, I turn into a little kid whenever I get to go over the Thames because you can see the whole of London around you. I could probably jump a a reasonable sized river as I'm 6'3".

Onto the mix…

Where was the mix recorded? 

In my overpriced flat in Hackney.

What would be the ideal setting to listen to the mix?

Whilst deciding who you should book for your next party.

What should we be wearing?

Some half decent headphones? Maybe take your shoes off too.

What would be your dream setting to record a mix: Location/system/format?

There was an Ableton promo video that showed off Minilogue's ridiculous studio hidden in some Swedish forest. I don't think I've ever experienced more acute jealousy, so probably there.

Which track in the mix is your current favourite?

Hoxton 203 I think, I made it for WotNot the day before I played a radio show with them on Hoxton FM, I think because I made it so quickly in one day it still feels raw and unpolished, which is what I like about it. It'll be coming out on WotNot's next Dancefloor Sweets EP soon.

What’s your favourite recorded mix of all time?

That's quite tough but probably John Talabot's FACT mix from 2012, it really doesn't get old.

If you could go back to back with any DJ from throughout history, who would it be and why?

Also tough – Gilles Peterson would be the obvious answer I guess, although my friend showed me this picture of Soichi Terada the other day, so I’m reconsidering.

What was your first DJ set up at home and what is it now?

I'm actually still on my first setup, 7 years and counting! I use 2 old CDJ400's, a Korg KM402 which I bought because I thought the Kaoss Pad built into it was really cool (how wrong I was). I'm also currently borrowing 2 battered old turntables from my old housemate Campion (you should listen to his music).

What’s more important, the track you start on or the track you end on?

Listening at home people will switch off if the first track is pants, but in a club the last track is the one everyone will remember.

What were the first and last records you bought?

I haven't actually been collecting vinyl for that long, around 18 months or so. I think the first one was Purdie by Snacks, it's incredible and ridiculous. The last were Posthuman's new EP (after hearing the mix they did for you guys actually) and a the new Disco Halal Vol. 3 VA, both ordered a few days ago.

If this mix was an edible thing, what would it taste like?

Something with far too many herbs and spices in.

If it was an animal what would it be?

An Okapi? I had to google some animals to find a good answer.

One record in your collection that is impossible to mix into anything?

Moonraker Phase II by Foremost Poets, I bought it after hearing Kris Wadsworth finish with it in Berlin. I don’t think you’re meant to mix it with anything really, it’s just pure end-of-set stuff, you’ll understand when you hear it.

Upcoming in the world of Danvers?

My remix of Soccer96 has just been released on 12", I'm super excited about that because it's my first track to reach vinyl. I've got a remix coming out for a rather fearless nu-disco Dutch producer called L'Equipe Su Son – I've chopped up a track from his forthcoming album. Finally I have Hoxton 203 coming out on WotNot, no release date yet.

Anything else we need to discuss?

Probably worth mentioning that all the music in this mix was made in 2015, and that there will be more to come. I'm quite into the idea of making music for people rather than sending out existing stuff, so if you run a label and you like any of my music, I would love to make an EP for you.

Grab the latest Danvers cut from Juno here

And stalk him on the socials – Twitter, Soundcloud  and facebook