025 - Jo Bubbles
earworm025
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Slow Flotation
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18/06/23
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earworm025 ~ Slow Flotation ~ 18/06/23 ~
Jo Bubbles is a Swedish DJ, Producer, party organizer and dancing enthusiast based in Stockholm.
Behind the name is Jonas, a father figure of Stockholm’s small but abundantly equipped disco scene.
Having taken up DJing in the late nineties, the eclectic spirit of that era has strongly influenced his way of spinning records.
Rooted in classic house and disco records as well as the rave and jungle scene of the time, Jonas has kept digging deeper into a vast variety of styes, from balearic, downbeat and reggae to the harder end of the dance music spectrum.
The Jo Bubbles persona is a fairly new acquaintance among Stockholm’s many DJ’s, and with the new packaging comes new music from Jo’s little studio. This is where his daydreaming of the worlds many colorful dance floors is being translated to harmony.
Songs are crisply electronic, relentlessly groovy and naively melodic, far from “intelligent” and far from the mainstream, but with a solid foundation of throbbing patterns, rhythm and bass.
INTERVIEW
What’s your ideal breakfast?
French breakfast: Coffee and a cigarette, but the reality is very far from that.
What was the first record (or CD) you ever bought?
It was a cassette with the Swedish pop group Trance Dance (and look where it got me!). I think the first record was when Tears For Fears released their Seeds of Love album in ’89.
What’s your musical guilty pleasure?
No guilt in music for me anymore, but if I were to abide to the rules of the guilty pleasure I would probably say American college pop, like Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen.
Does your alias have a backstory?
My alias came from a situation when I quickly had to come up with a name for a track on a compilation. I was watching The Wire at the time and really like this character called Bubbles. The name kinda stuck with me because it’s positive, naive and a little bit cheeky, like my music.
What’s the best thing you’ve ever got for free?
Not an endorsed message, but I was part of the RBMA (look it up if you’re unfamiliar with it) in 2006. That included a free trip to Melbourne, accommodation, food and new friends. And of course a glorious line-up of esteemed lecturing artists.
Do you have a party trick?
No but I’m a really good dancer and that’s usually a party starter. In house parties I’m the guy standing in the corner, deep in conversation.
What’s your current rotation of non-dance music?
I’ve been listening to Ryuichi Sakamoto a lot after his passing. I can’t get enough! Also a lot of slow ambient stuff from artists such as Khotin and Gigi Masin. I’m also really into Laura Groves, Art Feynman and Kendrick Lamar.
Where's your current favourite place(s) in the world (and why)?
As far as cities go, Berlin, because it’s the most open minded place I’ve been to yet. I try not to fly so much these days so favorite places close to home is Norwegian fjords and the forests around my home city Stockholm.
Any other passions besides music?
Cooking, hiking, biking.
What’s something you’re proud of about yourself?
Determination, musicality, openness, sensitivity to injustice.
Describe your Earworm mix
I wanted to step outside my comfort zone but still make something that sounds like me, in a sort of balearic spirit. I really enjoy slow music and wrongspeeders so that’s what I went for. Some of the slowed down trance and acid is defo something I rarely play but I think it came out nicely.
With the release of his first EP on Berlin label TTNoTDB (The Transient Nature of The Disco Business), a home-brewed cassette EP with hidden slow jams and a release on Mark Seven’s seminal Parkway Records, under the alias Joey Beads, Jo is gaining followers from across the board with his bubbling proto beats. More to come in just a few fingersnaps!
Main Photo Credit: Sima Korenivski
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The Art of Noise - Opus 4
Sweet Exorcist - Nice
Reptant - Snitches Get Glitches
X-Dream - This (At 33rpm)
Om Unit - Camo
Velv.93 - October
Die Orangen - Krautback (Full Circle’s Fail We May, Sail We Must Remix)
The Grid - Flotation (Progressive Mix)
Adam Pits - A Recurring Nature
Tokyo Black Star - Violent Rush
Eden Burns - Quakka Rock
Chieko Beauty - Make Me Know It (Version)
Guy Contact - Maya Bay
follow Jo Bubbles:
linktree / soundcloud / instagram / discogs / bandcampearworm posts:
soundcloud | instagram