Moods 27: livwutang
Moods welcomes livwutang to the family (@livwutang), a Seattle-based DJ and organizer known for their work with TUF Seattle and blistering, acidic sets. For Moods, Liv takes us downtempo for these long and humid summer nights. xx
This mix was curated by Crystal Gause. Moods is community-curated and community-supported. By helping us out, you're helping pay for artist commissions, curator fees, merchandise, and materials for parties. Give us a buck, four, or twenty a month here:
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(1) Where did you grow up? Was it a single place or many places? How did this influence the songs you listened to?
I grew up in the suburbs of Denver, Colorado. I listened to a lot of different music growing up and consider myself to have many different musical origins, from mid-2000s indie, to the West African music that was played at my family gatherings, to the rap and R&B that’s mainly included in this mix (I had to narrow it down!). Going to mainly white and suburban schools was limiting, so a lot of my musical exposure came from this radio station in Denver named KS 107.5, my cousins, and my parents. My Dad is Togolese and ran an African radio station, and my mom has a massive disco/soul/r&b/funk record and CD collection. Honestly, my music taste wasn’t too influenced by my non-familial peers until I moved to Seattle in 2014.
(2) Can you pick one song in the mix and explain where you first listened to it?
I can’t pinpoint the exact moment I first listened to To Zion by Lauryn Hill, but it has been a companion album since my mom first bought me The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill CD (alongside Acoustic Soul by India Arie and The Diary of Alicia Keys) when I was around 8 or 9. I’ve had my season with each of the songs on that album, but before I moved to Seattle from Denver, I used to drive around Denver singing To Zion at the top of my lungs, sometimes crying, because I was so moved by the heartfelt ode Lauryn created for her son Zion.
(3) Who “introduced” you to these songs? Was it a person, a radio station, a CD, or something else?
Some of those first few songs were Bandcamp discoveries. Shabazz Palaces came into my life when I moved to Seattle. Some came to me via my sweet friends — s/o Ryan for putting that Blue Iverson track on a playlist for me years ago and Dennis for putting me onto Shawty Pimp and other Memphis rap. But most of the music came to me from the CDs I had growing up, this radio show named Sunday Night Slow Jams that I listened to religiously in high school, and YouTube.
(4) Where and when did you first hear techno? What drew you to it? Who did it sound like it was for?
At some point during undergrad, I started going out to our local dance music club, Kremwerk. I think some of the first people I saw play there were Yaeji, Volvox, DJ Taye, DJ Manny, and Foodman. The person I dated in college was super into jungle and footwork, so that’s how I was initially drawn to dance music, and then I ventured off into different genres on my own after I started learning how to DJ in 2017. I don’t know who I thought it sounded like it was for, but I didn’t learn the origins until I started learning how to play myself.
(5) You’ve got the microphone. What do you want to say to the techno community?”
Pay Black DJs, buy Black producers’ music, and I miss being in physical community with (most) of y’all so much. Hold tight y'all.
Tracklist:
Blue Iverson - Jenna’s Interlude
Space Afrika - oh baby
KeiyaA - I Want My Things!
Pink Siifu - step out (prod. deleon)
Dean Blunt - Punk
Shabazz Palaces - Swerve... the reeping of all that is worthwhile (Noir not withstanding)
Shawty Pimp - Play No Playa (feat. Reddog)
De La Soul - Dog Eat Dog
Ol’ Dirty Bastard - Drunk Game (Sweet Sugar Pie)
Slum Village - Ooo Wee
Da Brat - Funkdafied
Cibo Matto - Sunday Part I
Sade - Flow
Zhane - Sending My Love
Erykah Badu - Green Eyes
To Zion - Lauryn Hill
We've paired their work with Sable Elyse Smith, an emerging visual artist based in NYC whose work prods, pricks, and picks apart masculinity and its failure to show up for women, nonbinary, and trans folk. It's a pair we've been waiting to make happen on Moods for quite sometime. To learn more about Sable Elyse Smith, head here: sableelysesmith.com/