As Freunde Von Freunden upload their 100th Show to Mixcloud, we ask them about the story of their site and the ethos behind their content.
Here are Managing Editor Matt Earp’s responses to our questions:
1. Can you tell the Mixcloud community a bit about FvF and how it got started?
Sure. FvF is an independent, international, digital publication. We cover inspiring stories from diverse, creative people of all cultural backgrounds around the globe. We take our strength from our ever-growing network of guests and contributors — our friends! We launched in 2009 as an extension of the design agency NoMoreSleep — we’ve been running strong ever since.
2. How long have you been doing the mixtapes, and what do you hope to achieve with them?
In one sense, we’ve been making, collecting and trading mixtapes since we were kids! But for FvF, basically since the beginning of the site – the first 10 were just the soundtrack to the office, with favs from the team. Then we moved on to selections from friends who we hadn’t featured yet, then to guests we had – sort of like a soundtrack to accompany their interviews. It grew from there – now the mixes are full-on editorial stories.
We’ve been on Mixcloud since 2011. As for what we want to achieve? Music’s universal – think of our mixtapes as the soundtrack to your FvF experience.
3. Do you have a few favorites or recommendations from the series, and what makes them special?
Would have to leave that up to the individual readership – everyone has their own tastes. But a few highlights that have stood the test of time are from Kris Chen (#41) and the few we’ve done with our Ghostly International associates (#29 and #54). A current favorite is the Nu Goteh mixtape (#97) — we loved it so much that we basically played it 10 times in a row during this year’s FvF Christmas Pop-Up Shop. It’s that good.
4. Can you describe the latest 100th show, and what listeners can expect?
This one comes from the guys behind Red Light Radio in Amsterdam, on recommend from our friend Gabe Jaffe. It’s the 5 year anniversary of RLR, and Hugo and Orpheu have been doing fabulous things with it since they started. They bump shows we often have on in the office. Be warned, the mix is kinda weird — lots of obscure funk, disco, and art rock from over the last 30 years. In their words: “Rare, wavey tunes.” But we respect them so much that we let them run with it, and love the results.
