recommendations: july 2026
hi :)! hope you’re having a lovely week so far & enjoyed seeing the solar eclipse last night from wherever you are in the world right now. it was beautiful to see a moment of communal awe. my friend & i spent the hour leading up to the partial eclipse sitting outside of my bedroom window, pretending to be in some chic mediterranean city, talking about how this summer has been a generational run from the world cup & england almost winning to multiple heatwaves, now the eclipse, and who knows what else this summer has in store for us as we head into the final months.
like with any busy travel period, i lose all sense of routine and now i’m back at home for a little while longer, i’m reconnecting with the things that make me feel grounded. one of the most important things for me is journalling so i can try to make sense of this crazy world & purge my always spiralling thoughts. this is kind of what this newsletter will be this month as i try to process what a whirlwind july was 🌪️ i wish i had journaled consistently throughout the month to make sense of it all, but alas. here we are.
going back to the generational run: it’s been a pretty tough summer for various reasons, globally & personally, exacerbated by the ongoing heatwaves (the uk is currently on its fifth heatwave and the looming rain forecast keeps moving further away). amongst the wildfires, droughts, and everything else that comes with these critical heatwaves, it has meant that festival seasons have been more difficult navigate. this landscape combined with 24-hour music schedules, camping, inaccessibility to basic amenities, and over consumption, have meant that some of these festivals this summer have felt like an episode of survivor. a lot of recent conversations are surrounding the future of festivals and how these events adapt to the climate crisis: more local bookings, sustainability put the forefront, the approach to programming with 24-hour timetables (enforcing more downtempo & ambient sets during the programme to give people space & time to fully chill), more areas for chill out, where the festival’s are situated, and potentially the festival season moving - the latter has already been happening with the likes of waking life, for example, already moving their festival from august to june due to the rising temperatures. there’s been a lot to learn from this season already and i really do hope that promoters, djs and punters alike leave this summer reflecting on the ways that we can both individually and communally combat some of these climate issues we’re facing and the effect it’s having on the industry. i hope to write about this a bit deeper once we have had the time to process.
<3 july festival diary <3
to kick off july, low end psychedelia christmas arrived <3 it was the debut edition of memóri and as with any first edition of a festival, this came with its teething issues. i didn’t spend as much time as i would like to on the main site for various reasons, one of them being the heat & feeling quite overwhelmed by the amount of people there - in both capacity & how many aquatinces were there, where it almost felt like ‘ade for heads’ (the term we once used for dekmantel, now the baton has been passed on). it was very different to their previous festival, pe:rsona, which was 1000 capacity and two stages that alternated shifts (a layout i personally prefer as i get older and feeling more sensitive to stimulation as the years go by). this one was 5 stages and double the capacity and it felt like you could really feel that shift. the beauty of that meant there was a lot more room for programming of course and i got to see some of my favourite artists play such as trickpony, souzo & a strange wedding debuting a new live set, andy martin live, kia, joannah, c. coiffure and zara & command d. one of the most important things memóri did is put this emerging scene in the wider map. i’ve seen a lot more coverage on low end psychedelia and the artists booked at this festival, a lot more people talking about in general and people travelling all over the world to experience it in real life - because what is a scene without feeling like you are a part of something? i’m really proud of the team for making this impact. the influence knows no bounds and it brings me soooo much joy to see this scene getting written about and excited by because it’s truly one of the best out there right now!!! <3
as i mentioned in my report of refractor festival, i love any festival that gives you the space to lie by the dancefloor/soundsystem and enjoy the music in a more low stakes kinda way. that was the sunday of memóri for me - a day that was about reconnection with myself, friends and the surrounding setting. i really enjoyed playing two sets across the weekend: at the secret stage after the useless seconds crew and closing out the ambient stage (my favourite stage, it was so cosy & beautifully decorated!) the secret stage set was crazy, i think i fully dissociated during the two hours and came back to at the ending for the sexy & fun r&b singalong moment. a lot of ‘what the fuck is going on, this is nuts’ to my best friend. all of these early morning set times are teaching me the art of patience and pace - the teaching being that i need to be sober for these experiences (and sober for life in general) and i’m starting that journey now. excited for what’s ahead.
next up was polifonic in puglia where i finally got to tour like dua lipa (my biggest goal in life is to make every trip feel like a holiday even when it’s not). my friend & i spent four days before the festival exploring bari’s old town and various beaches along puglia’s coast, which is so gorgeous btw! i got food poisoning on the plane on the way there though, from a pret tuna sandwich, which meant i was always trigged eating out as the district is renowned for its seafood (the thing i was most excited about, sad). we didn’t get to spend that much time at the festival site as i played on the friday from 11pm-1am, sandwiched between local residents joaiah and z.i.p.p.o but the new rinse france stage was really cool! a little pocket of deeper, experimental soundscapes inviting the audience to sit with the unknown. it was really fun to hang with the rinse france crew, see their programme come to life and explore the vast beautiful festival site with towering cliff edges taking centre stage.
the next day i flew straight to outlook festival, marking my first multi-country gig weekend! i haven’t been to croatia in almost 10 years. the last time i was there was for the second edition of dekmantel selectors, many moons and lives ago. it felt very strange to be going back now, as a dj, and reflecting on how much everything has changed since the first time i was at the garden (and how little that festival site has changed in the meantime). obviously over the years i have heard so many stories about outlook festival, it almost felt like a right of passage for any british person interested in bass music to attend the festival but i never had the calling to go there, until the last one or two years i would say. only really since the legened that is rishi has taken over the programming have i been interested in attending. he’s really shaped the festival into something that both honours the foundations of what has made outlook what it is for the past 18 years and where it’s heading, making space for the old and the new in such a refreshing way. i’m really inspired by rishi’s approach. i will say that i had my own idea in my head of what this festival was going to look and feel like, much to my own detriment, and to my surprise, it was nothing like i had imagined. the crowd is so cute, so nerdy and wholesome, really just there for the love of the music, which is what music festivals are all about right? it feels like we have lost our way a little but outlook showed me that not all is lost. so many different communities and scenes existing in one location and getting gassed over their favourite artists, collectives and tracks playing. it was a really nourishing 48 hours, despite playing three sets and doing one talk during that time. i love playing b2b with beatrice m. and alicia <3 i loved chatting about the state of the music industry with rishi, arnii, jayahadadream and denham audio (although i felt like i was a lot more negative than usual…) <3 i loved playing on the angel audio soundsystem with a trip hop set late monday evening <3 i loved seeing the source come to life, a little bit of respite within the outlook ecosystem <3 i loved seeing my friends smash it <3 i loved laying by the beach listening to richard akingbehin & azu tiwaline play <3 i loved seeing yungfya & ema play on the awkwardly social boat party <3 i loved finally overcoming my fear of boats <3
the thing i hate the most is not having the energy or time to stick around to see a lot of music… another thing i’m learning from this summer is how to preserve my energy levels & not take on too much (which is a never ending lesson in my life tbf)
i only had 24 hours at home after outlook festival before i needed to leave again for dekmantel festival, which i’m actually going to leave for the august edition :)
i’m really so so grateful to all of the promoters booking me for this whirlwind summer adventure, it has been a dream come true <3
⋆ other bits ⋆
𖦹 released a mix for the legendary monument series <3
𖦹 caroune’s latest spiralling, naturally radio show
𖦹 we’re throwing our first party!! going to do an in-depth post about this in the coming weeks but i’m really excited to be teaming up with expert death for our first-ever soiree. we’ve got a dreamy lineup with azu tiwaline, ophélie and sarjan playing :) hope to see a lot of you there! tickets here :)
⋆˙⟡♡ Listening Session ⋆˙⟡♡
❀ Releases ❀
♡ the bug / dis fig - vanishing
♡ o.m. theorem - lemma1-b1 (170 vip)
♡ chris guillotine - rise n shine
♡ sub basics & pugilist - control
❀ Mixes ❀
⟡ EMA at Dark Skies, Horst Festival 2026
⟡ Simisea’s Minimalicious Villalobos Focus Set
⟡ MNMT 528 - Human Space Machine
⟡ Patterns of Perception 131 - ophélie
⟡ CARRÉ & INTROSPEKT 21.7.26 (TEMPA X KINDRED)
⟡ Pacing the Platform 34 w/ upsammy on NTS (09.07.26)
⟡ james K - Trip Lick - NTS July 2026
⟡ bookmarks ⟡
Furniture Without Memories: The Blog?
Why the smartest person you know is watching Love Island
the best conversations help you hear yourself
ricardo villalobos slipping through time
~ books read ~
Dave Randall - Soundsystem The Political Power of Music
Lauren Martin - Aftershock
⟡ 909’s july features ⟡
⋆˚࿔ untitled 909 podcast 278: martyn ⋆˚࿔
⋆˚࿔ untitled 909 podcast 279: joanna oj ⋆˚࿔
⋆˚࿔ untitled 909 podcast 280: annebel ⋆˚࿔
⋆˚࿔ untitled 909 podcast 281: kohra (rituals takeover) ⋆˚࿔
⋆˚࿔ untitled 909 podcast 282: peachlyfe (rituals takeover) ⋆˚࿔
 | A guest post by
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🥹 you were so NOT negative during our talk! may i say, real and genuine - a lot of the times these talks tend to glaze the state of things and talk only about how cool it is to be a creator flying to Croatia for a weekend. ur just a real wholesome person, every time i get an email with promos and your name in the header im so excited and im happy to have finally met u irl <3