Unguilty pleasures: Bored Lord’s ecstatic broken beats will have you grinning through your bass face

You had a non-stop output of new music over lockdown – what drives that and how do you stay consistent?

Just like we were talking about with the DIY aspect, I’ve always made a lot of music and especially over lockdown, I didn’t really understand how many eyes I had on me – or maybe I didn’t have them on me just yet – so I just released music when I made it. It wasn’t about releasing the next EP or whatever, there wasn’t much else to do! I’ve always thought like that. The last thing on my Bandcamp is a collection of tracks where I thought, ‘Well these are all done and it’s my birthday, here are some songs’. I did zero promo for it.

You have a new release on T4T LUV NRG soon, ‘Name It’. What can we expect from that?

It’s a full-length album, and it’s a lot heavier than other things I’ve released. Emotionally anyway, not exactly sonically. I’m excited about it. It’s a double-disc vinyl release and it’s a lot more concentrated, not as referential as a lot of my other works. I’m nervous about it!

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How did you get involved with T4T – is it a label you hold quite closely?

Yeah! Eris and Maya have been like family for me in my inner personal life, but also in navigating industry stuff. I met them right before the pandemic, or early 2020. I played a rave with them in LA and we already knew each other’s music because we were all making rave music that was about being trans on the dancefloor. They just put out their first collab EP and I’d just put out this album, ‘Transexual Rave Hymns’, so I think we knew we were doing something similar. When we played together, we were like, this makes sense. The first time we met we all just hugged.

They asked me to put out an EP and because I make stuff all the time, I just had one ready to go. We’ve been really close ever since, it’s special. It’s good to have a label where it’s still super DIY, a very small team, even with bookings and PR. I can trust that they’ll listen to me, I know that I can do anything I want but also not do things I don’t wanna do!

Are there any queer DIY collectives, artists, or club nights that you think people should be on the lookout for at the moment?

They’re all over, right?! I feel like I almost exclusively play with collectives like that everywhere. No Bias and the Bay Area are obviously very close to my heart, and then there’s Health & Beauty in Bristol, and Raiders in Berlin, I really love working with them. Just so many people, there’s probably a collective popping up right now!

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What’s next for you?

The album is the big one, I’m gonna be touring around the States. I love playing in smaller cities over here so I’m gonna try and do that. I’m just really prepping for the album, and hoping the rollout goes okay and that people get it in their hands.

Can you tell us about your Impact mix?

This mix is a snapshot into my DJ sets lately as I’ve been on the road. I always love blending both American and UK styles, the house with the hardcore, the club with the UKG. It’s what I think best represents my taste as both a DJ and producer. I threw in both recent tracks from myself or my friends and also some older classic tunes from my crates. My hope is that you can hear my love for the dancefloor inside the one-hour span – it’s meant as a medium of love for the craft.

Bored Lord’s next LP, ‘Name It’, is out on T4T LUV NRG on October 27. Pre-order it here.

Gemma Ross is Mixmag’s Assistant Editor, follow her on Twitter

Tracklist:

Bored Lord – feel your love
Dukeyman & Technics – The Power
Gynoid74 – Rain
CHANTS – Dance The Crevice
Nikki Nair – Justtryingto
agropol – DUBSTAB
Devoye – Radius Clause
Bimbo Hypnosis x Bored Lord – Cherry
DJ Tameil – Everybody
Introspekt – Luv U Right
OSSX + TAH – GABBY
Bored Lord – There’s More
Juan V. – To Da Sky!
Booman – Break What?
Kelela – Happy Ending
Front Bench – BRRROOOMMLLYY
Soundbwoy Killah – Oh Baby
Ordinary People – Baby You Make My Heart Sing
Идиот & Jahanam – catching the vibe (Bored Lord Remix)
Paul Johnson – Tenacious
Blair Sound Design – Give It 2 U