HNYPOT 220: James Hillard's Spazzed Out Mix
Our love affair with the Horse Meat Disco crew goes as far back as 2007. We first hosted them that year in a seedy upstairs loft space complete with stripper pole and crusty couches in South of Market, SF. Since then we’ve had the pleasure of watching this crew of 4 rocket to stardom and hear how the rigor of international travel and festival gigging can influence and evolve a DJ’s sound. Although all of the jockeys in HMD are young at heart, James Hillard, came to the table with a profound record collection but was not quite established yet as a headlining act. That said, it did not take long for him to convince London and the world of his razor sharp ear and technical finesse on the decks. Honey had the pleasure of hearing James rock dance-floors in every situation. And in many ways you can't ignore his ability to sound fresh after every single spin. That surprising freshness is what sparked us to ask for this mix. It was last December, Honey was going head to head with the HMD crew at XOYO London and it was time for James to go up to bat for his crew for 60 minutes. The room was packed to the brim, full of 20 something kids. You could smell the hormones and pheromones bouncing off of the walls and see hundreds of pupils wide open like tunnels sucking in the retro sounds James was feeding them. The quick moving club lights were periodically blinding and as your eyes adjusted glimmers of being in a club decades past proved to be a mirage. The energy was so clean and so mean we were pretty sure James brought a time-machine modification for the mixer that night. It was yet another example of how James continues to hone his craft with the same tools - great records and clean mixing. We begged him to make us a mix that reflected what was inspiring him that night and he obliged. So here it is.
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