Avenue Red Podcast #118 - COLD

Avenue Red

As we get deep into the winter, we have decided to take inspiration from those who know how to zone out and party hard in the icy cold conditions better than anyone else... here for the first of 3 Icelandic artists on 3 consecutive episodes on Avenue Red throughout December, we welcome Ísar Logi Arnarsson AKA COLD from Reykjavík. Forever a legend on Icelandic techno powerhouse Thule Records, with his Hyper Experience EP (THL001) opening the account back in 1995, Ísar quickly gained the attention of many including Sven Väth, who played the record shortly after it was released to close out his set at the Berlin Love Parade. However, things then went cold (!) on the production front, with him reawakening again in 2017 full of ideas and inspiration, leading to a 6-track release on the experimental new Thule sister label AE Recordings, soon followed by his Dub Safari EP on Thule earlier this year. Here COLD has delivered an impeccably dark, groovy set full of rigid, sharp, bare-bones beats with some tribal overlays, all mingled with those trademark deep, breezy dub-laden Icelandic techno vibes we are all big fans of over in this corner. "The underground music scene in Iceland is pretty active considering the size and number of people, primarily in Reykjavik of course. We have a few venues that make it their goal to accommodate both live performances and DJ's, mostly locals with the occasional international visitor to spice things up. I don't need to go far to get inspiration from the dance floor. My fellow Icelandic producers have been my biggest motivators and inspiration... I can't thank them enough! About this mix: I started by collecting all the music/artists that I found to be inspiring me at the moment and found a way to coalesce it into a tight but blissful, thumping club mix. I picked out a handful of my all-time favourites and some fresh Icelandic ones. Then I ground the songs down to their elements and started the merry-go-round, but as the mix progresses I give the songs more space to breathe and evolve. This is the kind of music that would have me dancing for hours with my eyes closed, with images of larger than life scenery in my mind." Ísar Logi Arnarsson, December 2018 https://soundcloud.com/isar-logi https://www.facebook.com/COLDfromICELAND https://www.discogs.com/artist/12959-Cold