For our latest FADER Mix, we tapped Chrome Sparks, the alias of Brooklyn-based producer Jeremy Malvin whose form-shifting beats seem to resonate with spaced-out chillers and hyperactive party kids alike. His most well-known song, "Marijuana," sounds as languid as you'd expect and it was recently repurposed as a backbeat for Tumblr-rap trailblazer Kitty. The title track off his newest EP, Goddess, is a larger-than-life instrumental that, I imagine, got people really excited at his Electric Forest set this past weekend. This mix is appropriately scattered, full of songs that Malvin says he finds to be "thoughtful, beautiful, and groovy." PSA: the Stereolab song it ends on is so pleasant it might make you unable to do anything remotely productive for the duration of the day. Download the mix, read a short interview and also look at Malvin's cute Tumblr featuring photos of the people he eats lunch with.
Download: Chrome Sparks' FADER Mix:
Where are you right now? I'm in my mother's kitchen in Pittsburgh. I see old class photos of my sister and me, my bandmate Bill's steel drum, a large framed poster of a Marc Chagall painting in which a man and woman are embracing while riding a giant chicken.
How would you describe the mix? How were you feeling when you made it? As I'm currently working on new music, I've been listening to a lot of tracks that inspire my own creative process. Most of the artists and specific songs in this mix have contributed so much to what I consider to be thoughtful, beautiful, and groovy music. Those are the three aspects for which I strive. I'm really obsessed with most of these songs—Mort Garson is one of my early synth favorites, that Syreeta track is absolute fire (thanks to Stevie Wonder playing all of the parts), and Yosi Horikawa is a household name in the making. That guy makes such gorgeous and inventive tracks. I've been listening to nothing but Metronomy for the last two weeks, the Stereolab track is from one of my favorite albums of all time and Daniel Snaith aka Caribou aka Daphni aka Manitoba can do no wrong. I like letting the tracks speak for themselves by not cutting them off too early on, as I would do with a dancier mix. These tracks need to breathe.
What's the last thing that you read that was meaningful to you? I recently finished a book of transcribed stories from the colossal storytelling collective, the MOTH. It's pretty much a collection of some of their best stories by some pretty amazing storytellers who are not professional orators in the least bit. They all are just ridiculously inspiring tales. One of them, by DMC, detailed his crippling depression and how Sarah McLachlan's music literally saved his life.
When you cook for yourself, what do you like to make and how do you make it? Per my New Years Lunch Resolution to eat lunch with a new person every day (see: lunchwithjeremy.tumblr.com). I've been eating out practically every afternoon, so I'm into cooking cost effective dinners in bulk. My recent favorite is a ginger-garlic chicken stir fry with a medley of veggies-- peppers, onions, mushrooms, carrots, broccoli, bamboo shoots, and water chestnuts. I marinate the chicken in soy sauce with ginger, garlic, brown sugar, crushed red pepper, and a little bit of cornstarch (for that thickness) in the fridge for 30 minutes or so (let's be real, who plans this shit out hours in advance?). Then, you just cook the chicken and the veggies, combine them with that thick marinade, and ta-da, you did it. Make rice too.
What's the weirdest thing that happened to you on the road this year? We were staying with a buddy of mine in New Orleans who lived in half a duplex and had access to the other half, which was vacant. The last guy to live there was named the Candyman, because he would go to bars, ask girls for their IDs, and then give them candy. As there were four of us crashing at my friend's, he offered to let my girlfriend at the time and me into the other half of the duplex to stay in the vacant master bedroom. After passing what looked like a dried pool of blood at the foot of the fridge, we made our way to the bedroom, which had three locks on the inside of the door. She was too creeped out, so we went back to my friend's half of the duplex and offered up the creepy master bedroom to the drummer at the time, Dave—who took it. The next night when he went back to crash there, the lights were on, the door to the balcony was open, and the drawers were pulled out of the dresser. The Candyman had returned and trashed the room, presumably because he saw that someone had been staying there the night before. Dave came running back and we were severely spooked for the rest of our time in town.
Track list:
Mort Garson- Ode To An African Violet
Syreeta- I Love Every Little Thing About You
Space Art- Love Machine
Baths- Inter
Dirty Art Club- One Nine Seven Three
Yosi Horikawa- Bubbles
LCD Soundsystem- Hippie Priest Bum-Out
Metronomy- The Bay
Black Moth Super Rainbow- They Live In The Meadow
Luke Abbott- Swansong
Daphni- Ye Ye
TRS-80- Night Flasher (10” Mix)
Digitalism- Echoes (Siriusmo Remix)
Seapoint- Nautical Day
Little Dragon- Precious
Other Lives- Tamer Animals (Atoms For Peace Remix)
Jacques Greene- These Days
Theo Bass- Mr Stellakis
Magical Mistakes- Laid Out
Stereolab- Flower Called Nowhere
