EXCLUSIVE: Astral Black’s Jossy Mitsu Shares New Bushido Cut From ‘Frass FM IIII’ Comp

This Thursday (January 11), Jon Phonics' boundary-demolishing Astral Black will release the fourth volume of its ever-brilliant Frass FM compilation series. You can cop Frass FM IIII on cassette or grab it as a free download (so you can guiltlessly take in that newness from Drae Da Skimask, Impey, Loom, Rapture 4D, Lil Jabba, Creep Woland and more). Ahead of the comp's release, we've got the exclusive first play of "Through The Glass", the clattering, carnival-ready contribution from Glasgow DJ and producer, Bushido. Not only that, but we caught up with one of the label's central figures (and their resident at Alibi), Jossy Mitsu. She explains the process of mixing the new comp and how she first connected with the label.

You host the Astral Black radio show on Radar Radio, and you're also a resident at their club nights in London. How did you become a member of the crew and what's your favourite memory from the Alibi residency over the years?

Involvement came about from a student night I played at the start of 2016, where they booked Jon Phonics and I was there on a warm-up set. Then, after seeing me play, Jon and I kept in touch and he asked me to warm up at Bushido's EP launch a couple months later at Rye Wax. At that time, I was itching to play more of the music I liked as I didn't really get to play anything outside of student events. That night opened so many doors for me because I first met some of the Astral family and people from Radar, where I got my own show about six months later, and I also met some of my best friends who I'll have for life! All the Astral nights at Alibi have blurred into one, to be honest, but my favourite memory is definitely going B2B with F17 at Kamakaze and Massappeals' Royal Blud EP launch.

What can you tell us about the new Astral Black residency?

You're gonna have to wait and see, but expect a dark room and a big system!

What is the ethos behind the new Frass FM comp, and can you tell us a bit about the process of putting the mix together?

So the ethos was to put out some of the sickest tracks from the Astral fam, tracks that might not fit onto their individual releases but we all feel still deserve to get heard and some tracks from friends that we like to play in our sets. As for the process, I got sent a folder of tunes marked 'Track 1', 'Track 2' etc, and knew I had to make them into two mixes of roughly equal length for the tape. Jon said he didn't send me a tracklist because it might be fun for me to try mixing them without knowing who the artists are. I recognised a few of them from dubs I'd had a few months earlier, and there was some where I could just tell who it was; like I knew which one Drae's was, because I know his style. Then I just sat and ordered them by BPM and listened to them on iTunes and tried to think of which ones would mix well together. I came up with two playlists and went to practice mixing them at Radar, then just recorded it the next day. I didn't have a lot of time, as I needed to head to Sheffield that day, so there was no time to obsess over it being perfect. But I'm really happy with how the tracks blended together overall.

What direction is Astral Black headed in, both as a label and club night?

Just putting out some bangers for the club and some more rap music, with new releases from the gang: Xao, Bushido, Drae, Polonis and Creep Woland. We'll be pushing the club night with the same residents but in a completely different space, so watch out for that. Also, keep an eye out for our Radar Radio show every third Saturday of the month from 6-8pm, where Drae and myself will continue to host and bring through new guests.


Posted on January 09, 2018