TROVE 029 | DJ Earl Grey

Last November, Nik T (DJ Earl Grey) took a bold step.

With his partner Steph by his side, he opened Tender, an architecturally designed, acoustically tuned, multi-purpose space on Sydney Road in Brunswick, Naarm/Melbourne.

Inside Tender’s four walls, you’ll find yoga classes, live music, and an eclectic mix of gatherings; movement meditations, massage workshops, and even the odd acupuncture session. One of the spot’s signature get-togethers is a deep listening experience coined the Tender Listening Room. A 3-hour window every Thursday, where guests lie down and sink into an assortment of records spun by Nik, Steph or an occasional guest.

1. Marco Passarani | “Rendez Vous At 2099”

My favourite day of the year so far was the very first one—New Year’s Day at Diega Festival. Cinzia had booked the funnest day of music, and the Techworld set was a diamond among gems. Weeks later, my buddy Jack sent me one of the track IDs—Criticise by Marco Passarani. Rendez Vous at 2099 is a sleazy vocoder jam I stumbled on while digging through more of Marco’s tunes. It also features one of my favourite lyrical themes: the perpetuity of house music.

2. Picasso | “Sub Rosa [l.o.v.e]”

A mysterious producer out of London who does a great job fusing dub, jazz, and electronics. Despite my best efforts to sometimes stay in one lane genre-wise, I can’t help myself from going all over the shop—even during the increasingly short sets of modern-day DJ’ing. I really treasure tracks like this one because they’re like a musical capybara, making friends with songs from all different genres.

3. DJ Q | “Optimum Thinking”

I’ve been enjoying both sides of this DJ Q release lately. High-quality disco loops in the French touch style. This sound was really formative for me when I first got into dance music.

4. Tom Chasteen | “Salome”

Guitar doesn’t often make an appearance in [good] dance music, but Tom Chasteen nails it on this one. I had this track ready to go at both Inner Varnikas, but it never eventuated. The moment finally felt right years later at Ooranook Festival in the Blue Mountains, during a really special sunset slot.

5. Rings Around Saturn | “Skywatch Dub”

It’s not unique to say this lately, but I’ve been REALLY enjoying dub techno over the past few years. I wanted to include something in this list, and Rory’s 2018 track popped up first in my Rekordbox under the tag (perhaps wrongly) ‘Dub Techno’. RAS is definitely one of my personal G.O.A.T.s of music making, and this is up there with my favourite of his productions. Working with him on the release of All Things Shining was an incredible experience—I’ve never been more grateful for an insight into an artist’s workflow, philosophy, and humility.