Moods 06: Emily Mcgill
“Growing up, my dad instilled in me a pretty serious reverence for classic rock bands like Zeppelin, Floyd, Queen, Steely Dan, and Boston," McGill notes. We hear that here with a star-studded mix of Jimi Hendrix to "Your Love." Early on, she joined a small music school in Chicago where she played guitar, sang, and learned in local bars and basement gigs. So, while many techno heads limit Chicago to just a house scene, McGill's experience proves the city's people are more expansive than that: "I still to this day can't forget the lyrics to songs like 'Bamboozled' by Love by Zappa and 'When the Levee Breaks' by Led Zeppelin."
To contrast, Melbourne's influence has led McGill to a more communal bush-party exploration of psytrace and electronic sounds, which are all over in her mix from the opener "Wandering Sadhu" to the hyperdrive dominator "Colors" by Vini Vici & Tristan & Avalon. "The Melbourne scene (at least the part of it that I'm familiar with) has a bigger focus on outdoor parties, festivals, and electronic music in nature which may have to do with their close proximity to wilderness which we don't really have in Chicago. In the summer, the rural area surrounding Melbourne is home to some of the loosest, most turbo music festivals around: Rainbow Serpent, Strawberry Fields, Golden Plains, Pitch Music and Arts, to name a few."
The best part, which should be called attention to: "the music played at these festivals ranges from techno to progressive to psytrance -- they're so not afraid of getting super silly and throwing exclusivity and pretentiousness out the window. It's also music that has such a powerful affect when played outdoors (preferably surrounded by gum trees) and often would be totally inappropriate in a club.
"Both scenes are super fun in their different ways, but you probably won't catch me wearing an apron, oven mitts, and 90s raver fat pants in a Chicago club."
TRACKLIST
Wandering Sadhu- Desert Dwellers
My Love is Waiting- Marvin Gaye
P.E.L.F.- Hardfloor
Past Life- Tame Impala
Bold As Love- Jimi Hendrix
Airlock (Nicolas Rada Remix)- Simon Tagias
Reminder- The Weeknd
No (feat. Butta Verses)- De La Soul
My Friend- Groove Armada
Your Love- The Outfield
On & On- Erykah Badu
Manila (Ewan Pearson Remix)- Seelenluft
Colors- Vini Vici & Tristan & Avalon
Hearts on Fire- Cut Copy
TO SEE
I've paired Emily's mix with the work of Aviva Rahmani. Blued Trees Symphony is a radical work of eco-art through strategically painted trees that, if seen from a bird's eye, create a score for a symphonic overture. The work is also strategically in the way of the proposed Mountain Valley oil pipeline as a way to put art literally on the front lines of protecting our environment. Aviva's work echos Emily's set: both are a complex collection of voices rising.
To learn more about Aviva and support her work, head here.
To keep up to date with Emily, head here.