Fredfades is the ultimate musical polymath. A record producer, DJ, label boss and artist, he’s got his fingers in so many pies in Oslo’s scene it’s hard to keep track of everything. Whether he’s rapping on- or producing tracks for Toyen Holding or working on his many Mutual Intentions’ affiliated projects, there’s always something happening in the world of Fredfades and it’s always different than the last.
It’s reflected in his DJ sets too, and whether, he’s playing high energy House, or rare Boogie records there’s always something unique that he brings to every situation. It was the same for this Jaeger mix. Going into deeper realms than we’ve heard him go in recent times, Fredfades delivers a mellow set, moving between pastoral textures and low-slung grooves. It evokes the early moments of a burgeoning dance floor with Fredfades programming a serene mood throughout his hour-long turn at decks.
The mix draws us into autumn with sonic hues of a dusky summer coming to an end, bringing to a close a busy season for our DJ. Touring a fair bit, in and outside of Norway, Fredfades has had a demanding schedule this summer, but the year is far from over for the mutual intentions man.
Hello Fred. We’ve noticed, you’ve had a busy summer. What have been some of your highlights from the season?
Yeah it’s been a busy summer for sure. I was contacted by Schibsted this spring and was offered a new job, so I sadly had to leave Apps, where I’ve been working as the only designer for the last 11 years. So now I’m actually a neighbor of Jaeger while at work.🙂 My girlfriend didn’t have too much summer holiday this year due to work, so I did some traveling and some abroad gigs while waiting for her to start her holiday. So that resulted in a quite busy summer where I went to some European cities as well as the US, Canada and the Lofoten Islands. It’s been a super nice summer packed with record shopping, new friendships and great DJ sets.
Artist, DJ, producer, record collector, label boss, event organiser, and then you have a full-time job on top of it. How do you find time for all of this and what keeps encouraging you to do these things in music?
I don’t really organize parties though, except for myself, Mutual Intentions as a crew, plus I throw some raves now and then and do bookings at my favorite bar Oslovelo. I quit the other two booking jobs I had during the pandemic, which again gives me more time for personal projects :) But yes, I don’t know? People ask me this question quite often. To be honest…. the people I know who never have anything on their program, are the same people who say they don’t have time to do any sort of shit and also never manage to get shit done at all. The people I know who stay on top of a million things are the same people who always have time for new ideas, time for a beer with friends, and find time for more fun, more work and more projects! Just go to work early in the morning and do whatever you feel like on the weekends and evenings I guess. My favorite thing to do in my spare time is to read about, to dig and scroll for, to purchase, listen to and mix records.
Oh, and I almost forgot, there’s wine as well. It seems that there’s some connection between that hobby and collecting records. Do you think it comes from the same place and what inspires it?
I think they both are hobbies that appeal to people with good memory. You need to know the producers and their style, and how it evolved across different vintages, the genres, the labels, the grapes, the districts, the communes, the single-vinyards. Record collecting and wine both work well for people with great memory. And it’s fun too, as smell is the most memorable sense we humans have – that’s why some of us manage to recognize wines without even tasting them at the blind tastings. Just by looking at the color and smelling them. Another parallel is: if you like rarities (I’m always a bit ashamed to admit that I do – because it’s such a stupid thing to care about really) it also appeals to you easily as there’s so much collectable and limited stuff both in the worlds of wines and records. I spend most of my money on records though, as I can enjoy them over and over again and because they are easier to store. Everyone can fit ten thousand records into their crib, but not ten thousand wines maybe?
Tell us a bit about the Jaeger mix. Was there a particular theme? And am I right in assuming this mix is a bit deeper than the stuff you usually play out, and how do you usually approach these recorded mixes differently from other sets?
My first idea when I was asked to come and record a new live mix for you was the same as last time – that I was gonna play records from my collection I have never played outside of my studio or in a mix before. That made me start thinking about why I never played those records out, and the answer was because they’re all a little too mellow and deep compared to the stuff I usually play out, I immediately also saw that a lot of them are kinda «new» records. Not saying they’re all box fresh, but those who know the style of my selections know that I usually also play more obscure and quite old electronic music. A lot of private stuff, from untypical countries and cities, often from the late eighties and early nineties. That’s what I am mostly into right now, but I also buy BIG LOADS of new records every year, but tend to not play them out too much. I always tell my friends that if you don’t buy more than 365 records a year, you ain’t really buying records. The goal is 730. Which is the reason why this mix now exists, haha! So for this mix I kind of wanted to shine some light on musicians who are not yet bent over a walker, placed in a wheel chair, or buried. And of course I hope to also shine some light on the good independent labels that took financial risk in, believed in, and put out all this great music. I hope that these labels are all going strong! I know most of them are!
You always bring out some rare treats for us. What records were there in this mix that you were eager to share with us?
No secrets! I attached a full tracklist for you 🙂
Lootbeg – They Wonder Why (Jan Ketyel Remix) (Tieffrequent)
Dr. Rhythm – Paradise (Cold Blow Records)
Ex-T – Portal Vision (Kali Mix) (NAFF Recordings)
Manabu Nagayama & Soichi Terada – Low Tension (Utopia Records London)
JT Donaldson & Ben Hixon – D.I.P. (Dolfin Records)
*trainwreck & spinback*
Florist – Marine Drive (Internal Dub) (All Caps)
Local Artist – Dancer (Mood Hut)
Earth Trax – L’Avventura (Dub) (Phonica Records)
Pjotr – Waves From The Past (Ethereal Sound)
Lazare Hoche & S.A.M. – The GB (Perfect Pushup)
Dr. Rhythm – Hit The Vibe (Cold Blow Records)
DJ Soch – The Power Of Poetry (Distant Hawaii)
Roberta – Gentle Is My Love (Worldship Music)
Pender Street Steppers – Openin’ Up (Peoples Potential Unlimited)
Deep88 – Flute (Arcane)
Julio Cruz – Feelin’ Tipsy (Hen & Goose)
Omar S – Solely Supported (FXHE Records)
Glory B – Fracture (Grow! Records)
There’s always something cooking on the Fredfades front, what do you or Mutual Intentions have lined up that you’re eager to share?
For sure! I’ve spent the last two years wrapping up three personal house EP’s and a 7″ I am looking forward to release. I also have a nice and kinda overdue project with my Swedish friend SRAW that’s coming out, after spending ten years creating it together through a very sporadic collab process across the borders! We’re also wrapping up a third Tøyen Holding record as we speak! That goes for my own music. Besides those, I’m really looking forward to release Ivan Ave’s next project, Arthur Kay’s spiritual jazz project «Arthur Kay’s Healing Orchestra» that we recorded this summer and I’ve also put together a nice house EP compilation that should be out kinda soon-ish!