The Goodie Room
Written by Jack Helme and edited by Felix Jones
You’re 9 years old and have spent the last two hours hauling yourself around town in the wake of a parent Christmas shopping. Just as you’re about to return home, a glinting shop window catches your eye. Not only does your dragger-arounder agree a change of course, they also guiltily slip you a £5 note as you step inside. Upon entering, your eyes widen to rows and rows of glass jars brimming with sweets. Baby pink and white striped lids cap each jar and high on the wall, an antique sign reads: Welcome to The Goodie Room.
“a relaxed but organising principal for a platform that now delivers the same sense of awe felt by sweet-toothed children within arms’ reach of e-numbered indulgence”
Here is where my conversation with the Exeter, Barcelona, and Madrid based music platform began. They explained how the name made its way from the lines of Ben Stiller’s satire Tropic Thunder into their own in-jokes. It soon accrued new associations with childhood memories of ‘a classic old English sweetshop’ and the concept stuck. It would become a relaxed but organising principal for a platform that now delivers the same sense of awe felt by sweet-toothed children within arms’ reach of e-numbered indulgence. The only real difference is that the Pick ‘n’ Mix series opened by George Askaroff, Oliver Bennion, and Rory Bartram has swapped out the edible treats for the sonic variety, think UKG, Ambient, Jungle, Italo, Bass, Breaks, Jazz, Electro and much, much more.
Our conversation soon turned to the age-old topic of digitisation within musical production, performance, and experience. I wanted to hear TGR’s thoughts on how Covid may have affected this process, and whilst they agreed that digitisation can’t ‘replace the thrill of in-person events’ they felt as though the spike in livestreams may well leave a lasting impression. George also pointed towards the ‘shift away from the dancefloor’ oriented sounds over the last year, citing the recent Ilian Tape releases as an example of a label responding to the absence of in-person events. There was a sense of anticipation in the air as we considered how DJs and producers will react to the return of packed-out dancefloors. How and how soon will the lockdown zeitgeist die and what will we see rising from the ashes this summer?
Taking on a more serious tone, Oliver also offered his hopes that ‘with a year off and all this time to reflect, and in the wake of BLM and women’s movements, there will be a push to respect the diversity of the scene.’ We circled back to this later in our conversation with the boys providing a frank reflection on their own responsibilities as curators: ‘We’ve realised we have a huge lack of women in our series, only one, in Daisy Miller, who runs the Wobbly Mob.’ The boys then affirmed that ‘reflection isn’t enough’ and they discussed how they have already taken steps to address this and disarm the ‘traps of a male-dominated industry’. With George and Oliver currently studying in Barcelona, and the trio collectively scouring the globe for new sounds, it’s both exciting and heartening to know their continued search will lift up DJs and producers as diverse as the sounds they’ve featured so far. No difficult task given the talent on offer.
Reflecting on their journey thus far, the boys highlight their commitment to supporting and collaborating with friends in the scene: “When we began, It was very much based around people that we knew, and it’s still like that but now we’re branching out into friends of friends”. As the platform grows, they continue to connect with other entities, developing a loose but enlivening ecology of collectives alongside organisms like Bonse1, Vandelay Radio, Completely Different, and More Cowbell. As a mix series for now, but with the heady potential of their own events in the future, The Goodie Room is an exciting place to be. A place through which established artists will pass through, though one in which ‘the sounds of those we know’ will always hold pride of place. So, get to know.
