Selections: Manuka Honey
In this series, we invite DJs, producers and label heads to dig into their digital crates and share the contents of their collections. This week, Manuka Honey spotlights disorienting club treats, timeless drone metal, and dizzy, sexy, ethereal dancefloor bangers
Marissa Malik is back on Club Romantico with six tracks that prove nobody does it quite like Manuka Honey. Packed with steely beats and jagged synths that undulate to sultry, syncopated rhythms, ‘3Eternities Beneath You’ is oily, industrial and intoxicating. ‘Sinners Dirge’ and ‘Inconsolable’ are woozy marches, with carnivalesque touches that feel raw and ritualistic alongside cold, cybernetic enhancements.
On ‘I Like It’, Malik teams up with Safety Trance (aka Cardopusher) to build a deep, cinematic soundbed for La Favi’s vocals, which slip and slide over like loose silk, while ‘Miniskirt’ with label boss Florentino is all itchy percussion and raging hoovers. ‘Te Aviso’ cranks up the tempo, with Malik driving the kicks hard before switching to a grinding halftime pulse. Closer ‘When Oracles Watch’ goes in the opposite direction, with a sparse beat embedded in the kind of squelchy, smoky ambience that makes the air itself feel dense.
It’s these kinds of heady tracks, productions that merge the tough, the sexy and the psychedelic, that have seen Malik’s profile rocket globally. They’ve had regular bookings in the US, UK and across the EU in recent years — including 2023’s Sónar Barcelona — and toured Asia last year. In March alone they’ll be performing in Chicago, Detroit and New York before hopping across the pond to take in Porto, Amsterdam and Bern.
Here, Manuka Honey shares some tracks you might hear at those shows, alongside some other inspiring music.
“This compilation is so expansive and deranged — just the way I like it. Full of functionally dysfunctional, disorienting club treats. Shout out to Aries angel Precolumbian <3.”
“I love when a dancehall tune that I adore gets remastered, like this one. I’ve had it on repeat since it (re)dropped in January. Top of my shower playlist, Gaza forever.”
“The album I listen to when nothing else sounds right. When I return to Earth, it’s for a type of sonic comfort that soothes my current and teenage self at the same time.”
“Ruiseñor is one of the absolute gems of the CDMX scene and she delivered on this single. The plucky strings over frenetic rave hoovers complement the track’s wide and deep kicks so well. Every DJ needs this one in their kit.”
“There’s something so beautifully lonely about this record that I really resonate with. It’s like a Sunday morning sitting room after everyone has left the afters. *Chef’s kiss*.”
“Puro fuegooooo. Baby Cocada always comes through with the heat and merges pop-reggaeton with her own oddball flavour so perfectly. I can’t wait to play this at loads of sexy summer parties.”
“As a fellow lover of all things sexy, Clara! really nailed it with this release. Perfect for the pre’s, club, and afters. The consistently ethereal tone of her voice is so gentle yet cutting. Amoooo.”
“Dizzy, low-slung and slow. There’s something so sexy about heartbeat-esque sounds like these. SPE:C has been so consistent with the pulsating bangers; out to Darwin for the incredible curation every time.”
“I’m very loud and proud of my love of shatta. It’s probably the genre I keep up with the most regularly. I’ve been absolutely rinsing this one since it dropped at the end of last year. Mikado productions never disappoint.”
“Isn’t it wild that this release is 10 years old?! DDD tracks are so hypnotic and I’m a sucker for anything that has the ability to entrance me. 10/10. Timeless, chuggy cumbia.”
