A Mixtape For Exploring Strangetown
Ella Blou is a DJ seeking the worlds we find only in dreams. Non-spaces, non-objects, and dereality preoccupy her imagination, but it isn't enough to be simply far from home. The visions and feelings in Ella's beckoning mixes are that of the impossibly familiar.
DRAT BROADCAST is created with love from fond memories of places we've never been, dear relationships with people who don't exist. It is a cryptic, playful challenge to the bizarre gloom that nostalgia so sweetly evokes. Explore your new hometown, face the strange. Dream while waking.
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In early 2021 I had the pleasure of compiling and mixing a soundtrack for the online launch of Drat Magazine. Holding a deep affinity with the themes and semantics behind Esmeralda’s vision for the publication, I felt compelled to capture the essence of the digital escapism we grew up on.
Honing in on the ambient, orchestral movements of god-player-mode PC gaming soundtracks that evoke the 3D rendered spaces and simulations of what modern suburban civilisation should look like, whilst later delving into the melancholy, bratty, ethereal, raw, emotional reality of a bygone youth. Featuring music from near and far, friends, enigmas, and heroes, here is a highly considered jumble of audio vistas.
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Explore further with more mixes from Ella Blou here, see her website here, and you can follow along with Ella's adventures here.